Hon Tony Ryall MP
National Party Health spokesman

21 July 2007

Health unions using members as political pawns

Unions should not use their members as pawns in some sort of ideological battle to push independent businesses out of the health system, says National’s Health spokesman, Tony Ryall.

He is commenting on a leaked email, apparently from union secretary and prominent Labour Party member Jill Ovens, which says: ‘It'd be really great if an outcome of all this was that the DHBs got rid of Spotless altogether and, even better, if it started political momentum to get rid of contractors out of the public sector’.

"The union is telling people this industrial action is all about a fairer deal for low-income workers, but this email reveals there is a deeper, more political agenda at work.

"Businesses have been providing good service to parts of the health system for many years. Trade unions should not be using their members to advance some latter-day North Korean ideology of ‘only the state can provide’.

“It's that short of backwards thinking that stops innovation and value for money,” says Mr Ryall.

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