Health workers on limited strike
Work-to-rule action for two weeks aims to boost wage offer
MMany of these 10,000 workers . . . are leaving for higher paid jobs Public Service Association
ore than 500 allied health workers around the region have started a two-week “work-to-rule” strike. They include 130 workers from the Lakes District Health Board and 422 staff members in the Bay of Plenty District Health Board.
A “work-to-rule” strike, in this case, meant members would be “strictly taking their entitled breaks” and not undertaking any unpaid work outside of their agreed hours, Public Service Association district health board campaigns organiser Will Matthews said.
If the strike continued, the association would be exploring “escalated work-to-rule actions” such as a ban on overtime and on-call working, he said.
A Public Service Association statement on Friday said 10,000 allied health workers nationwide would start two weeks of “work-to-rule” industrial action this week and would also strike for 24 hours on May 15.
Allied health workers are a group of 10,000 workers across 70 professions such as anaesthetic technicians, oral health therapists, alcohol and drug clinicians and sterile sciences technicians. The statement said as of Friday, it had not received an offer that would pay this group of “overworked and undervalued workers” what they deserved.
“In the meantime, many of these 10,000 workers can’t pay the bills and are leaving for higher paid jobs at KFC, or being actively recruited by Australian health agencies. We will be taking industrial action from Monday, and will continue to do so until the employers bring an offer to the table that truly recognises the value of these workers.”
A Lakes District Health Board spokesperson said industrial action would result in the disruption of allied services. It could also impact some inpatient services and outpatient clinics where allied staff were required would need to be deferred.
When asked what the board was doing to minimise the impact on patients, the spokesperson said the board worked with the national contingency planner and a business continuity plan.
Local contingency planners worked with the departments to ensure the safety of patients was “ongoing” where services were impacted, the spokesperson said. This included any life-preserving services agreements required with the Public Service Association.
Bay of Plenty District Health Board allied health, scientific and technical executive director Sarah Mitchell said the action taking place was a “workto-rule” action. During this period, the board would ensure services continued as normal. No cancellations would occur during this period.