Rolling medical laboratory strikes underway across New Zealand
March 23 2025
- Rolling medical laboratory strikes began yesterday in Gisborne, Whanganui and Palmerston North.
- Strikes and protests spread to Rotorua, Bay of Plenty and Waikato on Monday, then Wellington, Taranaki, Northland and the South Island on Tuesday. Strikes will continue until Friday and will backlog the processing of some lab tests by weeks.
- Workers are reporting parts of the national laboratory network are now on the brink of collapse due to understaffing or equipment breakdowns.
Rolling strike action by 850 medical laboratory workers covered by collective agreements being renegotiated by the APEX union are now underway across the country. APEX estimates that over 123,000 tests will either not be collected or processed as a result of the strikes.
“Although bargaining in the last few weeks resulted in limited progress towards closing the 30% pay gap between Te Whatu Ora and corporate employed medical laboratory workers,” said Dr Deborah Powell, APEX union national secretary “it was not enough”.
“By Wednesday strikes will be impacting the collection and processing of patient tests across laboratories run by Awanui, Pathlab or Medlab. We need urgent good faith negotiations in the next 24 hours if we want to avert the worst of the strike’s disruptions to our health care system.”
“Our members are furious they are being offered pitiful increases at the same time as the owners of these lab companies are announcing big profits. The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, one of the major owners of Awanui just announced their fund’s assets grew by over $23 billion. Sonic Healthcare which owns Medlab, made over A$511 million in profit in the last financial year,” continued Dr Powell.
Over the last week staff shortages and machine breakdowns have been leaving diagnostic pathology services in some parts of the country on the brink of collapse. For example:
- Last week two obsolete laboratory machines broke down in one laboratory. Now hundreds of samples are being driven across the country to a lab with machines that can analyze the samples. In the chaos a chilly bin filled with samples was lost for over 48 hours. Samples became too degraded for testing resulting in not only urgent diagnoses being delayed for patients but samples having to be recollected.
- Laboratory staff are currently working up to 19 days in a row to cover vacancies in short staffed laboratories. Hutt Valley, Oamaru, Gisborne, and Invercargill have particularly low staffing. The expected workload of those remaining is now unsustainable. Where a scientist once validated 80 slides in one day, it is now common to validate closer to 200. At this rate of testing, it is not feasible to maintain accuracy of test results.
- Staff are being pressured to work outside their scope of practice or experience to fill gaps in rosters, putting patients at higher risk of diagnostic error.
“Our union has made it’s bargaining teams available over the weekend to seek compromise settlements and we remain available to meet tonight or tomorrow morning if the corporate laboratory employers want to resolve this dispute,” concluded Dr Powell.
ENDS
Dr Deborah Powell is available for comment on 021 614040 or comms@apex.org.nz
PICKETS BY APEX LABORATORY WORKERS NEXT WEEK:
- Hamilton: Monday 24 March 9:00 AM, Pathlab 58 Tristram Street Hamilton
- Palmerston North: Monday 24 March 11:30 AM, Palmerston North Hospital
- Dunedin: Tuesday 25 March 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM, Dunedin Hospital
- Wellington: Tuesday 25 March 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM, Parliament Grounds
- Whakatane: Wednesday 26 March 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM, Whakatane Hub
For a high resolution version of the lab strike map please click here or on the image below:
Further information
What is a Medical Laboratory Worker?
Medical Laboratory Workers are registered health professionals who run laboratories and test, interpret and report laboratory results. They are trained to identify disease and abnormalities
through studying blood, tissue and other bodily samples. Laboratory workers work ‘behind the scenes’ but remain an integral part of the health system whose work is vital to patient treatment. More than 90% of prescribed treatments require laboratory input to aid/confirm diagnosis or to monitor drug levels or disease progression.
Medical laboratory science is a bit like detective work. Workers look for answers to the disease ‘puzzle’ to help doctors diagnose and treat their patients. They answer questions such as: are these cells abnormal? What do these blood cells tell us about this person’s health? How does it fit in with their other symptoms? How much of drug ‘x’ is in this person’s blood? Is it working effectively? What bug is making this person sick?
Medical Laboratory Workers take on a high level of responsibility, often needing to make important decisions under pressure. Emergencies can occur at any time, day or night, so laboratory workers have to prioritise and use their initiative, often without much back-up. If the doctor needs to know the answer, they have to deliver. Sometimes this means working through the night providing results while patients fight for their life in another part of the hospital or a surgeon waits, mid-operation, for a phone call.
Responsibilities include developing, adapting and applying scientific methods of analysis and ensuring high standards of quality assurance. An understanding of the methodology and theory behind complicated, technical and automated equipment is essential, as is developing the skills necessary to identify and interpret abnormalities under the microscope or via other diagnostic technology. Laboratory workers are highly regarded and sought after worldwide.