Pay Parity for Private Laboratory

Our campaign to raise wages for workers at Awanui, Pathlab and Medlab continues.

APEX Laboratory Division

Pathway to Parity

APEX’s ‘pathway to parity’ approach seeks to progressively lift pay rates at corporate lab employers to the same rates as APEX members are receiving at Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora.  

Step by step, we are seeing this approach pay off.   

10-15% Pay Rises with New Pathlab Agreement

In September 2026 a new contract with pay rises of between 10%-15% was voted up by APEX members at Pathlab. 

The collective agreement between APEX and Pathlab covers laboratory workers and phlebotomists across Bay of Plenty, Waikato and central North Island including those at Tauranga, Whakatane, Rotorua and Taupo Hospitals.  

The salary increases follow an 8-10% increase during the last agreement and ensure between April 2025 and July 2028 Pathlab workers will have received 18%-25% pay increases. 

Awanui Bargaining Begins Again

APEX has initiated bargaining for a new collective agreement which would cover every laboratory scientist, technician, phlebotomist and assistant employed by Awanui – from Kaitaia to Invercargill, New Plymouth to Christchurch.  

In 2025 we secured salary increases of 9.2% and in upcoming negotiations our priority is on ensuring we get the next uplift in salary rates, protecting our rural and community lab services and improving workforce wellbeing.  

Medlab Negotiations 2027

After securing a $4000 lump sum and salary increases 0.5% ahead of the Awanui rates in 2026, APEX and Medlab will be back in negotiations in May 2027.  

Lab Workers United

A coordinated approach to bargaining across medical laboratories makes our campaign stronger. If you are working in Awanui, Pathlab or Medlab – join APEX and the pathway to parity today.  

How important are Laboratory Workers to NZ’s health system?

Without them, everything falls apart. Watch (and also share!) this short video, to understand how vitally important this highly trained, hardworking and often invisible workforce is to NZ’s healthcare service.

Press Releases

The geography of privatisation

A patient’s blood sample shouldn’t have to cross half the North Island to get an answer.

 

This map shows the reality of how Gisborne Hospital laboratory samples are currently processed: flown or driven hundreds of kilometres away, vulnerable to weather, breakdowns, and delays along the way.

 

When planes are grounded and courier vans break down, diagnostics don’t just slow down — patient care does. These aren’t abstract logistics issues; they translate directly into longer waits for results, delayed treatment decisions, and avoidable risk for patients in Tairāwhiti.

 

Geography shouldn’t determine the quality or timeliness of healthcare. Neither should privatisation.

 


850 Medical Laboratory Workers Notify Looming Week of Rolling Strikes

On March 6 2025, APEX issued strike notices on behalf of 850 medical laboratory scientists and technicians to corporate providers Awanui, Pathlab, and Medlab. The rolling strikes, spanning seven days from 22 March, will impact at least 123,000 patient tests and cut off medical laboratory services for at least 72 hours in over 70% of New Zealand’s towns and cities, including Tauranga, Rotorua, Palmerston North, Gisborne, Wellington, and Dunedin. The action follows a two-day strike over Waitangi weekend, which led to only modest progress in closing the 30% pay gap between these workers and their Te Whatu Ora-employed counterparts.

View Press release

Picket photos

Our private laboratory workers have been out on the picket lines across the country, kia kaha!

February and March 2025 picket lines.

Media Round-up