The action comes amid a pay dispute concerning former Serco employees now working for the NHS
Workers at Barts Health NHS Trust, which manages Whipps Cross Hospital, have voted in favour of strikes by a margin of 95%.
The industrial action was backed by members of Unite and comes amid a pay dispute concerning former Serco employees now working for the NHS.
Last year Unite activists and union reps secured a landmark agreement which transferred 1800 workers to NHS employment. The cleaners, caterers, porters, security guards, ward hosts and domestic staff had previously been employed by Serco.
Unite said that more than 1,000 workers who transferred onto NHS terms after 31 March 2023 were not paid a £1,655 lump sum by Barts trust, which the union says was part of the agreed NHS pay deal.
Unite says a “significant number” of workers are losing out financially due to how the NHS “disregarded” their length of service while they were Serco employees and because of Barts trust paying workers “inferior overtime rates”.
A spokesperson for Barts Health NHS Trust said: “A number of our staff were still employed by Serco on 31 March 2023 and do not qualify for the lump sum under the terms of the national NHS pay deal.”
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