After four years of waiting for nationally agreed terms and conditions to be paid by Bucks Healthcare and the Medirest/Compass group, Medirest workers at Amersham and Wycombe Hospitals have had enough and voted to take strike action.
As we have reported in The Socialist, Medirest workers have been waiting patiently for a number of years while Unison has tried to negotiate sick pay and other terms and conditions that the Department of Health, bosses in the CBI and unions have agreed to for workers working for private companies in the NHS.
The Department of Health funded this agreement and money was put into hospital trust budgets. Despite this, the hospital trust denies that they have ever had the money and refuses to fund the contract.
The workers have voted overwhelmingly to strike and are taking 48 hours of strike action from 10am on 15 December.
Bucks health branch of Unison fully supports this action.
- Please send messages of support and donations to the hardship fund (Bucks Health Hardship Fund) c/o Steve Bell, Unison, Union Office, Tindal Centre, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire HP20 1HU.