850 Medical Laboratory Workers Notify Looming Week of Rolling Strikes

March 6 2025

  • At 0900 this morning strike notices were issued by APEX to three corporate laboratory companies – Awanui, Pathlab and Medlab.
  • Over 850 laboratory scientists and technicians across New Zealand will take rolling strike action over seven days beginning on 22 March, with at least 123,000 patient tests impacted.
  • Over 70% of New Zealand towns and cities including Tauranga, Rotorua, Palmerston North, Gisborne, Wellington and Dunedin will lose access to medical laboratory testing for their public hospital, or primary care system, or both for a minimum of 72 hours.

Strike notices were issued this morning on behalf of 850 medical laboratory workers by APEX union to the three corporate providers of hospital and community laboratory services – Awanui, Pathlab and Medlab.

The week-long rolling strikes come after a two-day strike abutting Waitangi weekend resulted in only modest progress in collective bargaining toward closing the 30% pay gap with the laboratory scientists and technicians employed by Te Whatu Ora.

“Those who use and rely on laboratory services need to brace for impact. We estimate that over 123,000 tests normally carried out as part of urgent or routine patient testing will not be performed during the week of strikes,” said Dr Deborah Powell, APEX National Secretary.

“We are keen to work with the laboratory employers to resolve this dispute. In addition to issuing strike notices, this morning we have asked the Employment Relations Authority to provide urgent assistance with these disputes,” continued Dr Powell.

“We are in the weird situation where the employers agree with us – pay parity between public and corporate employed lab scientists and technicians is the only fair, just and sustainable solution to this dispute. Unfortunately, the lab triopoly are refusing to pay parity without further government funding. Our view is that further funding should be forthcoming but conditional on Te Whatu Ora taking an ownership stake in these laboratory corporations.”

“Patients, clinicians and laboratory workers are now stuck between the rock of underfunding and the hard place of corporate ownership of the medical laboratory sector. To avoid these rolling strikes, we need all parties to the dispute to work together to come up with a creative and sensible solution which works for everyone,” concluded Dr Powell.

 

ENDS

Dr Deborah Powell is available for comment on 021 614040 or comms@apex.org.nz

 

For a high resolution version of the lab strike map please click here or on the image below:

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Further information
What is a Medical Laboratory Worker?
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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.

Contact APEX