Spotless staff prepare to strike over pay dispute

MATTHEW MARTIN | 1st April 2008

Rotorua Hospital cleaners, orderlies and kitchen staff are set to strike over failed pay talks. About 22 Rotorua Hospital members of the Service and Food Workers Union (SFWU) will join members around the country and strike for 24 hours from 6am tomorrow. They are caught up in a national pay wrangle with employer Spotless Services Ltd which is yet to pay workers a wage increase promised last May. Spotless says it can't pay the increase as it is yet to receive its full funding allocation from the country's District Health Boards.

However, the DHBs says the pay wrangle is an issue between Spotless and the SFWU, and that Spotless overestimated how much the pay increase would cost.

The strike is not expected to impact on hospital services with outside staff being brought in to cover for those on strike.

Mediation between the union, Spotless and District Health Board representatives has failed and 800 hospital workers around New Zealand will strike.

Rotorua Hospital cleaner and SFWU member Inez Galvin said workers felt like "the meat in the sandwich".

"It's terrible, our members feel despondent and upset that we haven't got our pay yet. It seems the hospital and Spotless are arguing about it now and in the meantime we get nothing," she said.

Spotless Services spokesman Peter Jennings said the company would pay staff immediately once Spotless received full funding from the country's DHBs.

"Spotless has still not received the full payment as agreed," Mr Jennings said.

National DHB spokesman Craig Climo said Spotless miscalculated its position during contract negotiations with the union.

"If Spotless now finds the cost of the agreement is higher than the funding it asked for, it's up to Spotless to work through the issue. It's an employment dispute between Spotless and the union."

Last May the Government approved an extra $16 million to bolster wages for low-paid workers in public hospitals.

Employees were promised their pay would increase from $11.25 an hour to $14.25, backdated to July 1, 2007.

Lakes DHB communications officer, Sue Wilkie said the strike was not expected to disrupt the delivery of health services to patients.

Union industrial co-ordinator Shane Vugler said Spotless and DHBs had had nine months to sort out funding issues. "It is totally unacceptable that low-paid workers in our public hospitals are being forced to lose income ... because Spotless and the health boards can't do simple arithmetic," he said.