A 24-hour walkout is set for November 2 - with a 72-hour strike on the ballot
More than 600 medical lab workers across New Zealand have a strike date locked in - and the clock is ticking.
The Employment Relations Authority issued a determination on October 12 ordering urgent facilitation - a process where the Authority steps in to help the parties reach a deal - between the Association of Professionals and Executive Employees (APEX) and Canterbury SCL Ltd and its related companies, a group of medical laboratory providers now trading under the Awanui Labs brand. The employer group operates under long-term contracts with Health New Zealand across Northland, Auckland, Taranaki, Wellington, and the South Island.
The dispute centres on a replacement collective agreement covering around 620 workers across multiple employers. APEX kicked off bargaining on September 4, 2026, with the existing agreement set to expire on October 30.
But the two sides never got that far.
Since late June, the parties had been going back and forth over two preliminary documents - a Bargaining Process Agreement, which sets the ground rules for negotiations, and a Life Preserving Services plan, which ensures essential lab work continues if workers walk off the job. They met on September 8. They could not agree on either.
The employer's position was clear: sort out the process agreements first, then bargain. APEX took a different view. On September 9, the union raised concerns that the employer was...
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