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Many of the country's biggest hospitals could be crippled by rolling staff strikes in less than three weeks.
About 800 cleaners, kitchen workers and orderlies spent much of yesterday striking because their new wage increase - to have been paid from July 1 last year - had still not arrived. Up to 300 of those workers picketed the Auckland headquarters of their employer, Spotless Services, yesterday while many more were present outside their respective hospitals.
But yesterday's strike was also combined with a ballot for ongoing action, and provisional results showed an almost unanimous approval for further strikes.
Service and Food Workers Union industrial co-ordinator Shane Vugler said it was too early to confirm the new strikes as complete counts had not been officially signed off, but it was very likely they would begin in the third week of April.
They are expected to be rolling strikes, on the hour every hour at every hospital where Spotless workers are employed. Similar strikes by the same workers last year left those hospitals' services crippled.
Mr Vugler said they were some of the country's lowest paid workers and were already financially burdened by the failed delivery of their new wage rates.
But the workers felt they were being used by their employer and had no choice but to strike, he said.
"Spotless want to put pressure on the DHBs to effectively pay them more money. And they're using our workers as a bargaining tool."
Spotless Services said it could not pay its workers more, as they had not yet been paid the funds to do so from the district health boards.
District Health Boards New Zealand said that was true, but it could not hand over the money until Spotless had signed the contract - which it had not.
Spotless had made accounting errors during the contract negotiations, and effectively asked for $3 million for the new wages when it should have asked for closer to $4.5 million. Spotless Services employment relations manager Peter Jennings said that had happened because the initial estimate was never put forward as a final figure, and was based on incomplete data.
Now the company was expected to dig in to its own pockets to provide workers a wage increase the Government hadn't adequately funded DHBs for, he said.
"Someone needs to fund us. We believe the quantum amount needs to be increased. But we don't believe it should be the DHBs digging in to their coffers."
Craig Climo, lead chief executive representing the health boards, said they were still working hard to solve the issue.
No details of what work is being done could be revealed.
