More cleaners for hospital

Press, 11 June 1984, Page 9

More cleaners for hospital

PA Auckland Crothalls Hospital Services has been told by an industrial conciliator to increase the number of fulltime cleaners it employs at Auckland Hospital. The order has been given by the conciliator, Mr Gerry Ditchfield, in a decision released yesterday after a dispute which led to a 38day strike by cleaners at the hospital late last year. Under the terms of the decision the company has been told to “take immediate steps” to hire additional full-time workers to bring the staff to 106. In November, when the dispute arose, Crothalls was employing the equivalent of

97 5 full-time cleaners. In an interim decision on December 19, Mr Ditchfield ordered that a further six people be hired, bringing the total then to 103.5. The strike began on November 12 when the cleaners, members of the Auckland Hotel Workers’ Union, objected to what they claimed were unacceptable workloads and staff levels. They maintained that hygiene "standards were being lowered as a result. The Minister of Labour, Mr Bolger, appointed Mr Ditchfield to chair a compulsory conference to investigate the union’s allegations.