MORE than 100 Ealing Hospital porters, domestic, catering and help desk workers took their first day of strike action from 6am-6pm yesterday and are holding their second day today.
The GMB members voted by a massive 98% majority for strike action against the privateer Medirest, in support of their claim for a pay rise, sick pay and additional annual leave.
Liban Hassan, a porter, told News Line: ‘We are striking for better wages, working conditions and sick pay. We’re on minimum pay when everything is expensive, everything is going up.
‘You’re meant to get time-and-a-half when you do overtime, but we get nothing extra.
‘They are making so many cuts here. We’ve only got five wheelchairs in the whole hospital and the worst of it is we spend hours looking for them. And when we raise this with Medirest managers, they say it’s nothing to do with them, it’s down to the NHS.
‘It’s a really good turnout today. We are all united, standing together and proud of each other.’
Joy Yesudas, a domestic worker, said: ‘We get the minimum wage of £6.32, which is not enough to live on in London, with rent, gas, electricity, bus fares, food prices, phone bill, clothes, everything going up.
‘We need a pay increase, overtime payment time-and-a-half, sick pay and holiday pay. When people leave they are not replaced – the rest of us just have to work harder. They are cutting our pay all the time.’
Payal Paul, catering department, said: ‘We are fighting for our rights, for a pay rise and for sick pay. We are hospital workers and we should be employed directly by the NHS.
‘We are working harder and harder and being paid less and less, putting in overtime, but not getting paid for it.’
Nighat, from catering, said: ‘This is a money-cheater company. The management is no good. I’ve worked here for 12 years. We are going to win.’
GMB Rep, Bhim Raj Rai, said: ‘We all joined the GMB union and started a legal process and a pay claim.
‘We asked the company in a nice way for over a year for a pay rise, but they would not listen.
‘I’ve visited 10 hospitals, including Chase Farm, Barnet, High Wycombe, Kings College, Homerton, where the same Medirest company is paying its employees higher minimum wage, London Weighting and some of them pay sick pay.
‘We’ve met with them several times and they have refused to negotiate.’
‘We are proud to be taking strike action today. We have to win.’
