KEY POINTS:
By Sophie Hazelhurst
Picket lines were this morning being raised at 12 of the country's hospitals after mediation failed to resolve the lengthy dispute between contractor Spotless Services and about 800 cleaning, kitchen and orderly workers.
Spotless, and its employees - about a third of the country's public hospital service workers - have been at loggerheads over the company's refusal to sign an agreement reached between district health boards, three other contracting companies and the remaining two thirds of the workforce.
Affected hospitals are Invercargill, Palmerston North, Hastings, Wanganui, Tauranga, Rotorua, North Shore, Waitakere, Middlemore, North Shore, Whangarei and Northland.
Threatened strike action by the workers last week was superseded by lockout action from the company, which said the strikes posed a health and safety hazard for the hospitals.
The Service and Food Workers' Union (SFWU) appealed the lockout to the Employment Court, but the court confirmed health and safety grounds were sufficient to warrant the action.
A temporary stay on the lockout notices over the weekend was removed last night after mediation failed to resolve the situation, and workers were again locked out from midnight.
Spotless spokesman Peter Jennings said the union had refused to withdraw the strike notices and negotiate details of an agreement, despite Spotless making key concessions and guarantees about wages.
He said the starting position for bargaining was that Spotless staff would receive the same base rate, penal rates and overtime rates as those paid by the DHBs and there would be opportunities for some to receive more.
The company was also keen to discuss a targeted link between pay and competencies for new employees and senior staff, but Mr Jennings said the union didn't seem to be interested in that.
SFWU spokesman Alastair Duncan said the company had not been forthcoming on details around its pay offer.
The company had a poor track record on pay, and had come to mediation unwilling to change its position.
"Once again they are standing outside the framework of a national settlement reached with every other employer in the sector."
The union's workers were now facing 14 days of lockout notices - matching the original strike notices.
There were no immediate plans to resume mediation.
Mr Duncan called on the district health boards to pull their contractor into line.
"We'll be raising the importance of the DHBs taking interventionist action with Spotless and telling them we don't want our hospitals turned into a place of conflict," he said.
A helpline had been set up to raise donations for the locked out workers.
The helpline number is 0900 LOCKOUT or 0900 562 5688.
- NZPA
