Radiation therapists go on strike

Hundreds of cancer patients nationwide are having their radiation therapy deferred today, as radiation therapists go on strike.

The therapists are walking off the job for 14 hours in protest at the rejection of their claim for a cost of living rise. They say the district health boards are offering them a zero increase.

But DHBs say radiation therapists are already getting between two and six per cent more this year, as part of a package negotiated in 2002 to address the severe shortage of trained people in their profession.

They say the therapists' salaries have increased 25 per cent in three years, and there's now no shortage.

The DHBs say radiation therapists are not just claiming a cost of living increase, but also want a six per cent superannuation contribution and an extra week's leave.

The strike affects 480 cancer patients. They will receive the treatment they miss out on today, at the end of their course of therapy.

- NEWSTALK ZB