Why are laboratory workers striking for a third time?

New Zealand medical lab workers feel like they’ve been hidden, suppressed, commoditised; and in some cases, like they’re screaming into a void.

Others are warning that the sector is perilously close to collapse – with dire consequences for the rest of the health system.

“There’s no sugar-coating this,” former New Zealand Institute of Medical Laboratory Science president Terry Taylor said: “If we’re not there, nothing happens.”

Years of fragmentation and a lack of central governance or strategy have left the workforce frustrated and underpaid.

Taylor traced the problem back to when former district health boards began contracting private laboratories individually.

All the providers were now “doing their own thing” because there was nothing “saying what they have to do”, he said.

Medical laboratories have historically been the cogs behind the scenes that keep churning results out.

They were thrust into the spotlight during the Covid-19 pandemic when all of New Zealand revolved around the results of PCR tests.

After speaking to politicians and government leaders, Taylor said many were horrified at how the sector’s workforce had been neglected for so long.

“It’s well acknowledged that our technicians are being paid ridiculously low amounts,” he said.

And as a side effect of under-investment in the industry, there was little scope to harness the profession’s ability,” Taylor said, referring to science research.

“I have watched when funding and improvements for our sector have been guaranteed and then taken away because scientists are perceived as less important and influential than doctors and nurses are,” he said at a national conference last week.

How low is ‘ridiculously low’?

Awanui Labs, which was previously known as Southern Community Laboratories, operates around 70% of the country’s medical labs, covering most from Wellington south.

The private company’s workers are preparing for a third round of strike action after union wage negotiations reached a deadlock.

Nelson Awanui staffer Lyn Moore said lab technicians earned a starting salary of $22.70 an hour while those who had trained for several years were earning $28 an hour and scientists were earning between $25.65 and $38.37.

The living wage will rise 9.9% to $26 an hour from September 1 – up $2.35​ on the current living wage of $23.65​.

Apex union members are asking for a wage increase of around 23.5% for scientists, technicians and phlebotomists to achieve parity with other similar health professions.

Awanui initially offered 5%, but increased their offer, representing a 6.5% increase in cost to the business over a 12-month period, during further negotiations Friday.

Speaking to the new offer, Apex advocacy lead David Munro said: “It doesn’t get them anywhere near the rates that are already being paid to Te Whatu Ora lab workers.”

Bargaining for a new collective agreement for Te Whatu Ora workers covered by Apex starts on Wednesday.

An Awanui Group spokesperson said the company was finding the high inflation environment particularly challenging to meet rising operational and business costs under our current funding model.

The company went into bargaining Friday with the intention of negotiating a resolution, but Apex had made no discernable movement, the spokesperson said.

“Their request for 23 to 30% is an unsustainable increase which our current funding model does not support.”

But Munro refuted this saying the 30% would be what’s needed to boost rates for the lowest-paid workers.

Effectively, Apex is asking for a $14,000 a year increase for senior scientists – those that have studied for four and a half years and worked in the role for eight – to increase their annual salary to $94k.

Under government’s new settlement claim, graduate nurses would be earning about $100k per annum, he said.

The Awanui spokesperson did not answer questions asking how much shareholders were paid in dividends, how much it was paid to process PCR tests, what it was doing to strengthen workforce numbers or how it would respond to workers who felt like they had been intimidated.

‘We feel invisible’

One of those workers, Lyn Moore, said her emails were blocked after she disputed comments made by a manager about union negotiations.

As more people leave the profession, those that are left behind are overworked, compounding the situation, Moore said, adding that in her team half a dozen people had left in the past nine months.

Many are leaving for better pay and hours working as meat packers or caregivers.

Moore believes government or Te Whatu Ora should be stepping in to demand change.

Also from Nelson, Awanui phlebotomist Beth Holland said her DHB counterparts earned at least $3 an hour more than her and her colleagues who are often dealing with 12 patients an hour.

“It’s skilled work. We’re expected to just suck it up and get on with it. We’ve just been forgotten, we feel invisible,” Holland said.

Awanui phlebotomists in Dunedin, Dunstan, Invercargill, Oamaru, Nelson, Timaru, Queenstown and Wairoa in the North Island are planning to withdraw services completely on Thursday, August 24 and Monday, August 28.

Lab workers will withdraw services on Friday, August 25 and Tuesday, August 29; with a possible rally planned in Dunedin on Tuesday.

Te Whatu Ora working on it

Te Whatu Ora hospital and specialist services national director Fionnagh Dougan said the agency acknowledged the concerns raised by the pathology sector.

“We recognise, in particular, that pressures on lab staff have been sustained for a period of time due to a range of factors, including the effects of the pandemic, staff sickness, continuing increases in the need for and complexity of care, and the difficulty in filling vacancies amidst a global shortage of healthcare workers,” she said.

Te Whatu Ora had negotiated increased funding of pathology services with providers, and the health agency had no role in wage negotiations, Dougan said.

Te Whatu Ora would carry out an independent assessment of health and safety practices across labs operated from its facilities, she said, and was working with the Australasian College of Pathologists and other professional bodies to develop a roundtable to address workforce shortages and establish service standards and expectations.

“This work is in its early days, but we see it as important to this essential service.”