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Mediation between hospital service workers and their employer was unsuccessful today and the workers face another lockout, the union representing them says.
Service and Food Workers Union (SFWU) spokesman Alastair Duncan said 800 cleaning, kitchen and orderly workers would be locked out of 12 hospitals around the country from midnight tonight.
Their employer, Spotless Services, met with union representatives in Wellington today.
"Spotless came to mediation unwilling to change their position," Mr Duncan said.
"Once again they are standing outside the framework of a national settlement reached with every other employer in the sector."
Mr Duncan said Spotless on one hand claimed it wanted to pay low-waged workers more than its competitors but when the company was asked for details, "the silence was deafening".
He said the SFWU would be calling for community and district health board support during the lockout, which was expected to run for at least two weeks.
The SFWU threatened strike action from last Thursday but that was pre-empted by a lockout on Wednesday.
Spotless said the strikes posed a health and safety hazard for the hospitals, and responded with lockout notices, which SFWU, appealed to the Employment Court.
However, the court confirmed the health and safety grounds were sufficient to warrant the lockout action.
Mr Duncan said there was only a short time frame for a resolution from today's meeting and the hopes of achieving one had not been high.
Affected hospitals are Invercargill, Palmerston North, Hastings, Wanganui, Tauranga, Rotorua, North Shore, Waitakere, Middlemore, North Shore, Whangarei and Northland.
Spotless spokesman Peter Jennings this morning said strike notices from the service workers were still in place and as soon as that changed the lockouts would be also lifted.
In the meantime the company needed to concentrate on maintaining its service to the hospitals.
- NZPA
