Invercargill laboratory workers want pay to reflect their qualifications

Friday, 4 September 2020

The Southern Community Laboratories collection centre in south City, Invercargill, was closed on Friday, as workers strike for better wage increases.

Southern Community Laboratories workers in Invercargill are striking for better pay rises that reflect their qualifications and responsibility, a senior union delegate says.

Southland Apex delegate Lynda Hampton said workers were not demonstrating, but would stay away from work for 24 hours.

The majority of the 40 workers at the Invercargill laboratory and collection centres were union members and were involved in the strike, she said.

Southern Community Laboratories chief executive Dr Peter Gootjes said he was disappointed by the industrial action, and that a generous offer had been made during two days of bargaining earlier in the week.

* Private lab workers say planned strike is all about fair pay

* Laboratory workers suspended without pay as partial strike under way, union says

Strike action also took place at SCL labs in Hutt, Kenepuru, Wellington, Nelson, Wairau, Timaru, Christchurch, Oamaru, Dunedin, and Queenstown on Friday.

Southern Community Laboratory workers say they’re dealing with heavy workloads during the coronavirus pandemic. (File photo)

In total, 460 of SCL’s1200 staff members were on strike, Gootjes said.

The collective agreement between Apex and SCL came to an end on June 30.

Apex’s national laboratories advocate David Munro said SCL had offered workers a two per cent wage increase for 2020.

Gootjes said the offer made by SCL during the last round of bargaining would see wages increase by an average of four per cent each year for the next three years, but Munro said this wasn’t enough.

“Unfortunately, the employers’ offer does not improve the situation for a large number of low paid members,” he said.

Hampton said some workers were earning the living wage, despite having to study up to four years.

The increases being offered, and what was needed, varied between pay scales, she said.

SCL staff had been struggling with high workloads since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Hampton added.

Covid-19 tests are processed in Dunedin, but swabs from Southland are prepared and registered in Invercargill.

“There’s a trickle-on effect for smaller laboratories,” Hampton said.

Staff also experienced a significant increase in the number of patients visiting collection labs for their routine tests after the nationwide lockdown came to an end, she added.

“People are just exhausted. We’re tired.”

Non-union members would still be working during the strike, to ensure urgent testing was available, Hampton said.

Gootjes said Covid-19 testing would continue as planned, but there was likely to be a delay in results.

The lab worker strike follows a nationwide strike by primary health care nurses on Thursday, with general practice staff asking for the same pay as their district health board counterparts.