Nick Hart, West Midlands Socialist Party
Outsourced caterers, cleaners and maintenance staff at Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley have resumed their campaign of strike action.
Despite working alongside directly employed NHS workers all through the pandemic, tight-fisted bosses at Mitie are refusing to give them the £1,655 Covid bonus.
This comes on top of years of payroll problems, with some of the lowest-paid workers in the hospital not receiving their correct wages from month to month, or their long-service payments.
And this from a company set to make £190 million profits this financial year by leeching off the NHS and other contracts for public (and formerly public) services!
In a sign of how vital these Unite members are to keeping the hospital running, in catering it’s taken two managers or other Mitie employees to fill in for each striking worker! Meanwhile, 16-year-old apprentices have been left to cover maintenance duties they have not yet been trained for, potentially putting patients and co-workers at risk.
Time for these workers to be paid what they’re owed, as a step towards a real living wage for all NHS staff and an end to cowboy companies profiting out of healthcare!
Linking up across Trusts
Workers from Dudley joined with Unite members from two other NHS Trusts – Barts in east London, and Kent – in a protest outside the Department of Health on 18 December. They have all been refused a lump-sum bonus for what they did during the pandemic. Sam, West Midland Unite NHS branch secretary, said: “We worked hard throughout Covid. We’re just fighting for what’s ours.”
Ian Pattison, Enfield and Lea Valley Socialist Party
