Support hospital workers

As I mentioned a few days ago DHBs and contractors are in negotiations with the Service and Food Workers Union for a Multi-Employer Collective Agreement for service work within hospitals. The parties were on talks on Thursday and Friday and the union was prepared to continued negotiations over the long-weekend, but the employers refused. Now the employers are threatening to lock-out four thousand workers from midnight Monday night (ie Tuesday morning). From the union:

Four contracting companies, Spotless, OCS, ISS and Compass dominate the provision of key services in our public hospitals. They have launched a vicious and abusive attack on some of the lowest paid workers in the public health system.

If the companies go ahead with their threats to lock workers out I will post hte ways you can support locked-out workers. But the first, and most important, step will be to make your way down to a picket line. Sub-contracting by the hospitals has driven down the pay of cleaners, orderlies and hospital workers, support them in fighting back.