12 Jan 2011

Medical laboratory workers accept pay offer

6:33 pm on 12 January 2011

Medical laboratory workers have accepted a pay offer by district health boards, ending a bitter 14 month dispute.

About 1000 lab workers employed by 12 of the country's 20 DHBs and the Blood Service ended months of strike action in December last year while they considered an offer.

They have now accepted two wage increases of 1% from December, and a further 1.5% in March this year.

They have also agreed to adjustments to annual leave, long service leave and on-call allowance rates, and to maintain a single employment contract for a further 25 months.