About 115 allied health workers at Lakes District Health Board went on strike for "fair pay" today, with one saying they felt "undervalued and underpaid".
Two groups of workers stood at the Rotorua Hospital entrances on Lake Rd and Arawa St, with signs saying "Toot 4 fair pay" and "essential but overlooked".
The strike was organised by the Public Service Association. In a media statement on Friday, the association said 10,000 allied health workers nationally were striking for 24 hours because their employer refused to offer a fair deal to conclude their collective agreement negotiations.
"These workers are an integral part of the health system and they have been overlooked, overworked and undervalued for too long."
The strike took place amid a two-week "work-to-rule" strike that started on May 9. This meant members would be "strictly taking their entitled breaks" and not undertaking any unpaid work outside of their agreed hours.
The Rotorua Daily Post spoke to allied health professionals who participated in the strike.
Lakes DHB occupational therapist Bridget Davey said she was striking for "fair pay and equality".
Davey said she was paid "substantially less" than other colleagues because she was paid on an allied health pay scale despite having equivalent qualifications and doing the same work.
She led a team in the community mental health department.
"Soon the nurses on that team will be earning more than me as the leader because I'm paid under allied health.
"Because of this, we can't get staff, so we're notoriously understaffed.
"Staff are leaving in droves to go overseas. We could earn so much more money overseas.
"To be able to provide a good health system for the community ... we need to be able to look after our staff too ... I don't think the DHBs are looking after their staff."
Lakes DHB physiotherapist Grant Tuhaka said many workers did not realise how many extra hours they were doing until the PSA pushed the "work-to-rule" initiative.
"We didn't realise how much extra time that we put in during our breaks, after work and how much we'd stay behind to finish it up.
"At the end of the day, everyone's either leaving or we're burning out and we're just really tired, so to not have any appreciation, we're kind of over it."
Lakes DHB physiotherapist Inez Okeremi said she was striking because "we feel like we're undervalued and underpaid".
"A lot of our work is really essential for getting patients out of the hospital and trying to work with them to just improve their lives and get them better."
Lakes DHB physiotherapist and PSA delegate Nathan Clarricoats said many members found it hard to "work-to-rule" because they did not realise "just how much time we donated to the DHB".
"We've always come in half an hour early to look at our patient lists, set our computers up, get changed into our work uniforms, maybe finish up notes from the day before.
"I'm always leaving half an hour later than I should be.
"Some members struggle to take their breaks on time because they find it easier just to work through them, but that's not right."
He said allied health workers had been bargaining about pay with DHBs for the past 18 months.
"We're yet to receive an offer that we believe is fair and just for essential workers who have been putting time, effort, their lives on hold for their work during the Covid pandemic and prior to it as well.
"We don't want to strike again - we want to meet them [the DHB} at a fair offer and put this to bed."
A Lakes DHB allied health professional and PSA delegate, who spoke on the condition of she was not named, said she was striking because it was "really hard" to retain staff on the current pay.
"It's just about fair pay and keeping up with the rate of inflation."
She described allied health professionals as "the invisible workforce" that "the hospital can't do without".
In a media statement on Sunday on behalf of all district health boards, DHB spokesperson Keriana Brooking said DHBs would aim to restart pay talks with the PSA this week.
Their focus was on the range of hospital, community and outpatient services postponed during the 24-hour strike which started at 11.59pm on Sunday.
Brooking said the continued industrial action including Monday's strike was "preventable" as a "comprehensive pay offer" was presented to the PSA on Friday but was rejected without being put to members for consideration.
"We've offered decent pay increases with a focus on increasing pay rates for our lower paid assistants, technicians and trainees.
"We need to settle the pay bargaining so DHBs and the PSA can focus on the issues of pay equity that we both agree on."
Brooking said pay equity had its own legislation and involves other unions, and the Government – none of whom were part of these pay talks.
"We acknowledge bargaining has been protracted and both PSA members and DHBs have been waiting for some time – the sooner we can settle these pay talks, the sooner we can focus on the pay equity claim."
A Lakes District Health Board spokesperson said the board recognised the essential role of allied health workers in caring for patients and it respected the PSA members' right to strike.
"Our focus is on addressing their concerns as well as meeting the needs of patients and hospital services."
The spokesperson said industrial action may result in the disruption of allied services and some inpatient services. Some outpatient clinics where allied staff were required had been deferred.
Both hospitals remained open for emergency services and patients affected had been contacted by DHB staff.
The board had worked with the national contingency planner and local DHB service managers to develop a business continuity plan.
"This is to ensure the safety of patients is ongoing with any impacted services and includes any Life Preserving Services agreements required with the PSA."
