Cleaners and orderlies plan strike

Hospital cleaners and orderlies at some hospitals plan to go on strike tomorrow over pay negotiations with their employer, property services company OCS.

The 300 workers are members of the Service and Food Workers Union Nga Ringa Tota, and the union's northern regional secretary, Jill Ovens, said today OCS was being unreasonable by refusing to offer the same increase as that given by district health boards DHBs and other contractors.

"A 2 percent pay increase is being paid to nearly all of the 50,000 public hospital union members," she said.

"Our members employed by OCS are asking for the same deal, and we think it is very reasonable in terms of the wider state sector bargaining.

"If these contractors don't sign up for this deal they are giving the signal to the DHBs and the union that they don't want to be part of the public hospital collective arrangements."

The cleaners and orderlies who work for OCS at Auckland, Greenlane, Rotorua, Hawke's Bay, Wairarapa, Burwood and Christchurch hospitals are asking for a 2 percent payrise backdated to April 1, which is the same as other hospital workers employed directly by the DHBs or other contractors have already been offered.