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| Lab worker suspensions only pouring fuel on the fire |
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| Written by Sue Kedgley | |
| Tuesday, 22 May 2007 | |
 The Green Party says the decision by West Coast District Health Board and Counties-Manakau DHB to suspend health workers striking over the lab workers’ dispute is punitive, and will only entrench positions on both sides of this rapidly escalating conflict – and the Greens are urging other DHBs considering similar action to pull back from the brink.“This dispute is over a vital health service, and industrial action is spreading beyond the initial seven workers suspended at the West Coast DHB. The Counties–Manakau DHB has now shown its willingness to suspend some of the 120 workers at Middlemore Hospital who are striking in support of the lab workers. Other DHBs are likely to follow suit over the next fortnight,” Greens’ Health Spokesperson Sue Kedgley says. “This dispute is not only about wages. A key issue is also whether workers at private labs will be forced to take a cut in wages and conditions, given that they have so far been denied a collective agreement to cover the lab work for DHBs that is being contracted out. “The workers’ fears are well founded. The private labs are already said they don’t wish to have their health board work covered by a collective agreement – so contracting out this essential service clearly opens the door to a cut in wages and conditions first at the private labs, and then back within the public health system,” Ms Kedgley says. “This conflict could easily end up in a similar situation to the National Distribution Union/Progressive Enterprises dispute last year. That outcome would be a disaster for the workers and their families, for patients and for DHBs,” Greens’ Industrial Relations Spokesperson Sue Bradford says. “The Greens are calling on the chief executives of the DHBs and union officials to resume negotiations before the next stage of this conflict kicks in. Suspended workers cannot help out in an emergency in the same way that striking workers can, and the public cannot risk having these essential workers sidelined for the duration of this increasingly bitter dispute,” ” Ms Kedgley says.
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