Unions put strike plans on hold

Vicki Taylor, Redroof's Resthome delegate. Photo by Peter McIntosh
Vicki Taylor, Redroof's Resthome delegate. Photo by Peter McIntosh
Workers at Redroofs Rest Home in Dunedin will now not be walking off the job tomorrow, after the unions representing them placed plans for nationwide strikes on hold.

Members of the Service and Food Workers Union and the New Zealand Nurses Organisation working at 30 rest-homes across New Zealand had been due to strike tomorrow, over unresolved pay negotiations with Oceania Group.

However, SFWU and Nurses Organisation spokesman Alastair Duncan released a statement yesterday confirming the strike action had been cancelled, amid concerns about the care of elderly residents in the absence of union staff.

In Dunedin, about 12 staff at the Redroofs Rest Home had been due to strike in three four-hour blocks tomorrow morning, afternoon and early Thursday morning, he told the Otago Daily Times.

They would instead work "as normal" tomorrow, although the threat of further strike action remained, he said.

"We haven't said there will not be more strikes. We've said we've put a temporary hold on them."

The unions remained at loggerheads with Oceania over pay talks, with the union now seeking a 2.6% increase - down from 3.5% - with back pay, after government funding for Oceania increased by 2.6% last year, he said.

"We're closer on the dollar figures but the issue is the back pay," he said.

Mr Duncan could not say whether Redroofs staff were among those to express concerns about the care of residents in their absence, but national reports would be investigated and more information gathered over the next 10 days.

The unions would then present their findings to the Health and Disability Commissioner and seek an investigation, he said.

Oceania chief executive Guy Eady could not be reached for comment late yesterday, but last month he denied similar claims residents were not being properly cared for during strike action by union staff.

"We do not allow untrained people to be responsible for our elderly residents during this industrial action, as the union is claiming, or at any other time," he said in a statement at the time.

 

 

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