Ali Mansfield
“They’re playing games with us”, was how one worker put it on the picket line in a renewed round of strike action in Leeds Hospital Trust.
Theatre assistants, who perform specialised clinical work in operating theatres, have been in dispute over pay banding. They have been kept on Band 2 pay despite the specialist nature of their work, and despite the same work being paid at Band 3 in other trusts.
The management had met with Unison to agree rebanding – only to later claim they had used the wrong paperwork, adding delays and putting the agreement into question. If this was an attempt to disorientate or demoralise the strikers, the turnout and mood on the picket line showed this would not work.
Throughout the strike, the trust has offered Band 6 staff to cover work usually done by the theatre assistants at enhanced rates of overtime pay, though an appeal by the theatre assistants seems to have had some effect on these shifts not being picked up.
