Central Region APEX Laboratory Workers Withdraw All Labour for 72 hours
27 June 2024
Laboratory workers in Palmerston North, Wanganui and Gisborne will withdraw all labour next week from 0001 Monday 1st July to 2359 Wednesday 3rd July.
The continuation of strike action from central North Island laboratory workers is in response to receiving an inflammatory offer from the employer. Sonic Healthcare, which operates both Medlab Central (Palmerston North & Wanganui) and Tlab (Gisborne) has tabled an offer which includes less of a cost-of-living adjustment than previously offered, albeit within a shorter-term agreement.
The claim the union has on the table is for a genuine cost of living increase as well as a retention payment to entice workers to ‘stick it out’ with their employer during a tumultuous time of wage inequity. At present there is a 20%-30% pay differential between Sonic Laboratory Workers and Te Whatu Ora Laboratory Workers rates of pay. Both of these groups of laboratory workers perform essentially the same work and have historically had wages that were much more closely aligned.
APEX Advocate Sam Heimsath said this morning “Sonics North Island laboratories have been propped up by staff’s goodwill. The public/private pay gap means that a qualified laboratory scientist with 5 years’ experience working for a private provider could earn upward of $27,000 more per year in the employment of Te Whatu Ora. Who wouldn’t entertain making the jump to public?”. Advocate Heimsath goes on to say “Such a significant difference in wages is untenable, even in the short to medium term. We are already seeing the diminishment of Sonic’s ability to recruit and retain staff and if the employer doesn’t act quickly, the public may be put at risk by deficits in the delivery of an essential hospital service”
The employer’s most recent offer would see APEX members receive less of a cost-of-living adjustment than other members working for other private laboratory providers like Awanui Labs and Pathlab Limited. The offer also does not feature a retention payment, which has become a lynch pin issue over the course of this dispute.
The union and Sonic have a day of meditated bargaining set for the 5th of July.
For further information please contact:
Sam Heimsath – APEX Advocate
Cell phone: 021 811 878
Email: lab@apex.org.nz