Oamaru Hospital service workers strike

Striking Oamaru Hospital orderly Alec Tasker was vocal on the picket line in Severn St yesterday....
Striking Oamaru Hospital orderly Alec Tasker was vocal on the picket line in Severn St yesterday. Photo by Sally Rae.
Striking service workers formed a picket line outside Oamaru Hospital yesterday, saying they had no other option.

The 24-hour strike, which started at 6am, followed a breakdown in negotiations between Compass group and the Service and Food Workers' Union.

The union's members are unhappy they have not received the national pay rates and conditions, which all other hospital service workers received earlier this year.

Another 24-hour strike is planned for Monday, starting at 6am.

The 15 affected workers were employed in kitchen services, cleaning, orderly services and security.

Union organiser Michelle Thomas said members rejected an offer on Thursday and mediation was planned.

She hoped settlement could be reached, otherwise workers would be back on the picket line and the action would be increased.

She said they were not being unreasonable, they were just asking for the same meca (multi-employer collective agreement) rates as workers in other hospitals.

A cleaner was paid $12 an hour while the Meca rate was $14.62.

Union delegate Jeanette Doran said she was "bloody angry" and while she was against strikes at hospitals, "we felt we had no option in this case".

Workers in all departments at Oamaru Hospital were behind the striking staff, which was "awesome", and Waitaki District Health Services had done "everything in their power" to help get the funding, she said.

Medirest general manager Ross Cameron said it was "business as usual" at the hospital, with Medirest management staff providing services during the strike.

Medirest is a subsidiary of Compass.

They would be able to cope if there was further strike action past Monday, he said.

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