Auckland, March 14 NZPA - Radiographers in Counties Manukau are set to take work-to-rule industrial action in support of a pay rise from tomorrow.

The action by medical radiation technologists (MRT) at Middlemore Hospital and Manukau Superclinic is the latest in a series of measures taken nationwide following nine months of negotiation.

Deborah Powell, national secretary of the MRT staff's union Apex, said the industrial action was as a result of being offered no pay rise.

"There's been a 3.19 percent increase in DHB (district health board) funding and the staff have made productivity gains of 10-15 percent, which isn't being disputed," she said.

"They are feeling utterly devalued because they are being offered nothing."

She said the radiographers were seeking a cost of living increase of 2-3 percent.

Counties Manukau DHB chief operating officer Ron Dunham told the Herald on Sunday the work to rule action, where staff work strictly to the rule book and no more, would mean patients would be processed more slowly than usual.

Ms Powell said nine other DHBs had taken some form of industrial action, while three others were headed in the same direction.

A separate contract had been signed with staff in Taranaki, which has a contract with a private radiography service.

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