Linen overtime ban ends

Press, 11 May 1984, Page 4

Linen overtime ban ends

Hospital laundry workers have ended an overtime ban which was threatening to disrupt services at Christchurch public hospitals. Staff at the Canterbury Hospital Board’s central laundry agreed at a meeting yesterday to call off the ban, after being told that negotiations on staffing levels would resume on Monday.

The board’s deputy chief executive, Mr Bill Watson, said laundry staff would work overtime this evening and tomorrow to start clearing the backlog of dirty linen. The ban had led to linen rationing and the cancellation of a few non-urgent patient admissions at some hospitals this week. Mr Watson said he was sure that the prospect of many more cancelled admissions next week had been a factor taken into

consideration by the Canterbury Laundry Workers’ Union. A board officer had managed to reach union officials on Wednesday evening in Wellington, where they were spending the week at a Federation of Labour conference. His telephone conversation had led to union officials recommending yesterday’s meeting which ended the ban. A Christchurch industrial conciliator, Mr Brian Gray, would chair the Monday meeting between the board and union. In the meantime, Mr Watson said, the board was employing extra staff to bring the staffing level to 105. The union says 120 workers are needed in the Sunnyside Hospital laundry, which had 95 staff, including six part-timers, when the ban was imposed.