Len Hockey, Unite Barts Health branch secretary
Workers at Barts Health Trust hospitals, who are members of Unite, have voted overwhelmingly for strike action against the government’s imposed real-terms pay cut for health workers. This represents a decisive rejection of the Tories’ policy of running health services into the ground, and lays a marker for the upcoming pay round that workers will not countenance more attacks on wages and patient care.
One theatre member told me this week that since the 5% rise was put into workers’ wages in June, he was now taking home less money when factoring increases in pension contributions.
Former Serco workers, now returned to the trust following our landmark victory in 2022, are livid at the trust’s decision not to pay them the £1,655 lump-sum payment that other colleagues have received.
Quite rightly, these domestic and catering members, who made up the majority of ex-Serco staff, are asking why – when they were also exposed in the pandemic to Covid and suffered its effects – they are being denied this payment. My branch – unlike another union in the trust, which consulted its members on whether they were prepared to accept £725, less than half the amount – is demanding equality and the full lump-sum payment for our members.
Among other issues in the ballot was the trust’s failure to take length of service into consideration at the point of assimilation to an Agenda for Change (AFC) pay point. Also, their refusal to provide assurance in the review that they would not cut rates for workers employed on ‘bank’ terms (not on contracts). And the demand that these rates be uplifted in line with the national rates, so that workers undertaking extra hours or shifts as overtime get the AFC rates.
Additional issues include failure to increase pay for members on old terms and conditions (frozen AFC), and cuts to the branch secretary’s union facility time.
Unite members at Guys and St Thomas’ trust have already taken strike action and we will now be coordinating our campaign with them and members at the East London and Barking, Havering and Redbridge Trusts.
