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Press Statement

18th July 2007

Councillor: Calls Manukau To Support Locked Out Workers

A call has been made to the Manukau Community and the Church leaders to support the Middlemore hospital workers who have been locked out by their employer, Spotless.

Manukau City Councillor, Su’a William Sio, says those workers have families to feed and need to be supported. The workers are not just fighting for themselves as they are also fighting to improve the living standards within the Manukau local communities.

Councillor Sio said the people of Manukau should not turn a blind eye while members of our communities are being bullied into submission by an Australian based transnational company like Spotless.

“I can’t stand by while honest, hardworking mothers & fathers from my community are locked out from their jobs for two weeks because they have asked for better working conditions. These are the same workers that often will go the extra mile in serving you when you’re in the hospital,” says Cr. Sio.
“I am appealing to all the local churches to please give support where you can to these locked out workers.

Eight hundred members of the Service and Food Workers Union in New Zealand have been locked out from their jobs as cleaners, kitchen staff and orderlies in ten major hospitals, including Middlemore Hospital.

Spotless, the local arm of an Australian based transnational, has locked the workers out for two weeks in an attempt to force them to agree to bargain outside the framework of a national pay settlement for other public hospital workers.

Twenty-one other employers have signed up to the deal, Spotless, (the largest employer in the sector), has refused to be part of national agreement and insists on completely separate bargaining.

The Service and Food Workers Union is asking the public to support them by sending messages to lobby the District Health boards to intervene and require Spotless to lift the lockout.

Ends.

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