Intellectual disability and mental-health services provider Pact says it may lock out staff taking part in industrial action because it risks client safety.
About 200 of Pact's 300 support workers in Dunedin, Invercargill, Balclutha, Oamaru, Hokitika and Greymouth are union members and start a paperwork ban tomorrow to protest a 1% pay offer.
Pact director of corporate services Paul Chamberlain said whether Pact locked out staff depended on how many workers adhered to the paperwork ban.
"We won't make a decision until we know how much of a problem we've got."
Paperwork was essential to client safety, and a ban could lead to Pact losing contracts, he said.
He had been contacted by about six union members who were unhappy with the action.
Mediation with the Service and Food Workers Union (SFWU) on Monday failed.
The union was being unreasonable as Pact did not have enough funding to increase its offer, Mr Chamberlain said.
SFWU Dunedin organiser Ann Galloway said Pact's stance left members little choice but to take industrial action. They were "angry" about the 1% offer and felt galvanised by public support.
About 700 members of the public had signed a union-organised letter imploring Pact to pay its workers more.
"We are having very, very few people refusing to sign them."
Where client safety was at risk, members had discretion about whether to apply the paperwork ban, but in general it was expected they would adhere to it.
Locking out members would be an unusual and heavy-handed step, she said.
