More than 50 scientists, technicians and phlebotomists converged in the Octagon to call for a better offer in a standoff with their employers, Awanui Labs, formerly Southern Community Laboratories (SCL).
Apex union representative Carol Carruthers said such a small increase would not resolve the issues of a profession in crisis.
Their roles were often vital to making diagnoses that underpinned much of the health system, and it was skilled work.
It took four years to complete a bachelor of medical laboratory science, as well as a further six months to be registered, yet graduates started on less than the living wage, she said.
People were overworked and underpaid, and were leaving for jobs in Australia, or in other industries — some former colleagues were working in retail, or packing meat.
It was an "incredible loss" of their skills, she said.
Many in the workforce were nearing retirement, yet there was a lack of younger people to replace them.
"Politicians will talk about recruitment and training, but that’s only any good if you pay them enough to make them stay."
Workers had made "very real personal sacrifice" during the Covid-19 pandemic, working long and late hours and dealing with the inherent infection risks that were part of the job.
It was disheartening to compare their pay to that of other health workers such as nurses and midwives, and they had thought these issues would be recognised with a pay rise as the old collective agreement expired.
Yesterday’s protest follows four days of strike action earlier in the month, as laboratory staff from Wellington to Invercargill working for Awanui Labs pushed for better pay and conditions.
Initially they were not offered "nothing", although this was later increased to an offer of 5% during mediation.
"You can understand why people are so disheartened, and feeling pretty undervalued."
Management were not listening, and the union would keep going until it was heard, she said.
Many phlebotomists were on minimum wage, as reported by the ODT earlier in the month.
The union wanted a 23.5% average pay rise for scientists, technicians and phlebotomists, it said in a statement at the time.
"This is the minimum required to regain parity with other similarly-qualified health sector workers and to maintain that against current cost-of-living pressures."
SCL Group general manager Vicki McKnight yesterday confirmed an offer of a 5% pay increase had been made, and said the union was "unwilling to shift from their unreasonable position of 20%–35% pay increase".
It was challenging to meet rising operational and business costs in the high-inflation environment, she said.
"We remain open and committed to reaching a settlement."
A letter from SCL Group to staff provided to the ODT said it was negotiating in good faith but said the union’s claim was "not sustainable".
This was met with disbelief by one union member, who wrote back and called the 5% offer an insult.
"It doesn’t even meet inflation increases, so your statement that you recognise we are in a high inflationary environment is rubbish. If you truly did you would be ashamed to be offering a miserable 5%."
