Their protests have highlighted the snowballing crisis in public health services after decades of government underfunding. Many of the hospital workers’ demands focus on the growing inability to provide the level of patient care that is necessary. They point to staff shortages throughout the country’s health-care system, resulting in treatment delays, overwork, and safety risks. Nationwide, public hospitals are short 2,000 nurses, as well as junior doctors, laboratory workers, and others.

Last December, Minister of Health Annette King announced that "cost growth"--and therefore wage increases--for District Health Boards with big budget deficits must be capped at 2 percent. District Health Boards operate local groups of public hospitals.

The largest, in Auckland, has been told it must pull itself "out of the red" within three years. In July, its chief executive ordered nearly $4 million cut from "direct treatment costs"--bandages, drugs, blood supplies, and food (NZ$1=US$ 50 cents). It is the health-care workers’ widespread refusal to accept such restrictions that has triggered strike actions.

In Auckland, 36 heart and lung technicians who carry out both diagnostic and therapeutic procedures struck for three days beginning October 23 and again for three half-days from November 19, in addition to taking strict breaks and refusing overtime. The technicians, who are members of the Association of Professional and Executive Employees (APEX), want a 9.2 percent pay hike. Like many other health-care workers, they argue that the health board’s offer of 2 percent does not cover inflation, or the expansion of skills needed as medical technology and procedures become more sophisticated.

Ninety radiographers at four Auckland hospitals who are also APEX members, struck for four days October 29, and again for two days November 14, demanding a 10.3 percent wage increase. A third four-day strike planned for November 27 was called off at the last minute after the health board bosses agreed to enter arbitration talks with the union.

The radiographers, who perform X-rays and other diagnostic procedures, point to their mounting workload resulting from staff shortages. Nationwide, 13 percent of radiographers’ jobs are vacant, as higher pay rates overseas and in private facilities attract staff away from public hospitals.

The health board has responded to the radiographers’ actions with an aggressive campaign backed by the big-business press attempting to highlight the "disruption" caused by the strikes. X-rays are needed for 80 percent of patients, especially accident and emergency cases.

The board placed advertisements in Australian newspapers to recruit radiographers to cover the November 27 strike. They also paid private facilities to provide X-ray services and hired radiographers from elsewhere in New Zealand. The employers offered pay rates of NZ$44 per hour, as opposed to the usual NZ$17, with airfares and hotels thrown in. The Australian radio–graphers’ union, the Health Services Union of Australia, responded by urging their members not to take up this offer, and extended their support to APEX.

Four Auckland hospitals were also hit with strike action by 230 orderlies, kitchen staff, and home aides in July, who walked out for two days and picketed to protest the health board’s offer of a 2 percent pay increase. Hospital managers were forced to move patients around and deliver boxed meals.

Protest action by workers involved in mental health care, who are members of the Public Service Association, has also drawn attention to the severe crisis in providing these services. They have taken various actions since March, including refusing to work if there are too many patients for them to care for. The unionists point to conditions that are unsafe for patients and staff, with overcrowding at emergency care facilities forcing acutely ill patients to be transferred around the country, housed on mattresses on the floor, placed in unsuitable general hospital wards, or in frequent instances, in local jails.

A number of health-care workers have made significant gains as a result of their actions. Last December, for example, after 3,000 Christchurch region nurses and other hospital workers struck for two days, a 6 percent pay raise was won for the nurses, with a further 2 percent this year and next.

That same month, radiation therapists, who treat cancer patients, struck for 48 hours in Auckland, Hamilton, and Palmerston North over their contract. Their action drew attention to the outrageous waiting times for radiation therapy caused by shortages of radiotherapists.

In Auckland, as radiation machines sit idle for lack of staff, half of all cancer sufferers are waiting six weeks for treatment, and many up to 18 weeks. Mastectomy rates for breast cancer are rising because other medical procedures are not available. As publicity grew about the treatment crisis, the government arranged for patients from regions with the longest waiting lists to be flown to Australia for medical care.

In January, the Auckland radiation therapists cancelled plans for a further seven-day strike and accepted pay increases of 20 percent to 25 percent, with similar settlements in the other regions.

Meanwhile, Health Minister King announced on November 21, the week prior to the radiographers’ planned third strike, that the government was stepping in to provide funds to health boards to wipe out their budget deficits by next July.

Felicity Coggan is a member of the National Distribution Union.  
 
 
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