Earlier this month, Awanui Labs employees took their placards to the front of Timaru Hospital to join their colleagues around the country.
Two days of strike action were taken to highlight the pay disparity between Awanui Labs employees and Health New Zealand/Te Whatu Ora (HNZ) lab staff elsewhere.
Spokesman Grant Cook said at one stage lab staff across the country were all paid the same, "but now they are being paid 25%-30% more due to a pay equity settlement".
Their plight did not solely affect them; it was also affecting the speed of cancer diagnoses nationwide, Mr Cook said.
In a recent submission to HNZ, the laboratory accreditation agency (IANZ) highlighted slow turnaround times for some cancer diagnoses due to staff shortages.
Mr Cook said those staff shortages were due to a high turnover of staff due to work pressures and low wages.
He said it showed how "bloody important" laboratory staff were.
He said with 100% of cancer diagnoses supported by lab results (as well as 80% of medical diagnoses), lab workers were an integral part of the hospital.
Despite their importance, they were not paid directly by HNZ, as some lab staff in other areas around the country were.
Instead, they were employed by Awanui Labs, which is contracted by HNZ.
Awanui Labs — which claimed to be funded insufficiently by HNZ — had been lobbying the government agency for increased funding to pay their workers more.
"The general public think we are part of Te Whatu Ora and are being paid the same as them, but we are not," Mr Cook said.
"We are contractors."
He said lab staff are part of an essential but hidden profession.
"We work in the back room.
"The public perception of the work we do is poorly understood.
"During Covid lab staff were called the ‘pandemic heroes’ but government has quickly forgotten this."
Like all people around the region, lab workers were struggling with inflation, "particularly the lower paid ones".
He said a few of the phlebotomists had more than one job just to make ends meet.
He said they could work somewhere with lesser responsibility and get paid more.
After two years of campaigning there was "a lot of battle fatigue, but a determination to achieve pay parity".
MP for Rangitata James Meager said he was aware of the industrial action at the hospital but had not been contacted by anyone directly in his capacity as the local MP.
"I do acknowledge that these strikes will have varying impacts on health services in hospitals and communities, and encourage both parties to continue to talk and negotiate an outcome that benefits all of South Canterbury," Mr Meager said.
HNZ had advised the Government extensive planning had been undertaken by both the private laboratory providers and HNZ teams to ensure continuity of care and manage patient safety, he said.
