QUEEN Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, south east London, saw GMB members employed by privateer ISS out in force yesterday for a 24-hour strike from 6am in a dispute over a two-tier workforce in the NHS.
Members want an end to the two-tier workforce within the hospital, with the same pay rates, weekend enhancements and unsocial hours rates as directly employed staff, says GMB.
GMB members are employed by ISS at the hospital as cleaners, security, ward hostesses, caterers, on the switchboard and as porters. ISS employs 368 staff at this hospital and 240 are in the GMB.
ISS workers are paid between £7.10 and £7.32 per hour. The lowest rate for directly employed staff is £7.33 per hour, which moves in yearly increments to £7.51 and £7.69 under the current NHS pay progression system.
ISS staff who work unsocial hours get between 90p-£2:05 per hour. As direct staff they would be entitled to time and a half.
ISS staff working on Saturday get time and a quarter. As direct staff this would be time and a half. When they work Sunday or a bank holiday they get time and a half. As direct staff this would be double time.
Nadine Houghton said: ‘GMB members want an end to the two-tier workforce within the hospital. They want the same pay rates, weekend enhancements and unsocial hours rates as the staff directly employed by the Trust.
‘GMB does not accept that outsourcing means that public sector employers can simply outsource the responsibility for the staff and duck their responsibilities by arguing that they are employed by someone else.’
She continued: ‘GMB contacted the Lewisham and Greenwich Trust and ISS months ago and no attempts have been made to meet us to settle the dispute. The Trust should step in to force the PFI contractor for the hospital, Meridian Hospitals PLC and ISS, to enter into negotiations to avert this stoppage.
‘Meridian Hospitals PLC paid a dividend of £2,772,000 last year. A fraction of this money could be used to pay our members what they deserve.’
Alan Pearce, GMB steward and ISS porter, said: ‘We are not living in the 80s. It’s 2014, but we still have PFI (Private Finance Initiative).
‘The cost of living has escalated and the company are not giving us enough pay to live life at a reasonable standard.’
Tom Bradley, porter, said, ‘Most of us feel under appreciated and this shows up in our pay. All we are asking is for a fair wage.
‘Why should people working for the same company not get the same pay for doing the same job?’
A demonstration at Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust board meeting on the 14th October is being considered, as well as a protest outside the offices of HCP Social Infrastructure (UK) Ltd at 6 Middle Street, London EC1A where Meridian the PFI Operator is located.
