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UNION HOPING FOR FAST DECISION ON HOSPITAL LOCKOUT
(New Zealand Press Association Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Wellington, July 23 NZPA - The union representing locked out hospital workers hopes to get a decision this evening from the Employment Court on the legality of the lockout.
Hundreds of cooks, orderlies and cleaners have been locked out of hospitals around the country by their employer, Spotless Services, after threatening to strike over contract disagreements.
The case being heard in Auckland today is scheduled for one day and follows on from the union's unsuccessful attempt to get an injunction stopping an earlier lockout imposed by Spotless.
Spotless successfully argued that strikes by the workers posed a health and safety hazard for the hospitals in terms of important jobs and procedures being abandoned.
Service and Food Workers Union (SFWU) spokesman Alastair Duncan said he hoped to at least get an indication of the judge's thinking by this afternoon.
Spotless human resources operations manager Peter Jennings said yesterday he hoped the court would acknowledge the validity of its health and safety concerns.
``And that we continue to have the right to apply lockouts for genuine health and safety reasons if the union continues to strike,'' he said.
Mr Duncan said payment of lost wages would be one of the remedies sought if the court decision went their way, but if not, the workers faced serious hardship.
He said the pressure for a resolution was building fast and that district health boards (DHBs) could end up being arbiters in the dispute.
The Green Party today called for Spotless to end the dispute.
MP Sue Bradford said the party supported the workers and ultimately wanted to see the ir jobs taken back inside the public hospital system as opposed to being managed by a contractor.
Ms Bradford said wages were low for many hospital workers and the situation was made worse by the fact those working under contractors often watched colleagues working directly for DHBs get better pay.
(SEEKING COMMENT FROM SPOTLESS)
NZPA WGT co kk nb
Copyright 2007 New Zealand Press Association, Source: The Financial Times Limited
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