Linen and laundry workers are joining junior doctors and consultants on the picket line until 4th October

NHS workers on the picket line outside Royal London Hospital last month, Credit: LDRS

Outsourced linen and laundry workers for Barts Health NHS Trust have joined doctors and consultants in striking this week over “unsafe” staffing levels and inadequate pay.

The strike action is being organised by Unite. Over 1,000 workers at the trust are in dispute over pay, safe staffing levels, bank rates and lump-sum payments. Unite says that workers are experiencing staff shortages which threaten patient safety and the welfare of staff.

Staff at Barts and Synergy (an outsourcing company providing linen services) will be joining the industrial action already being taken by staff across the trust.

The Barts and Synergy workers began their strike today (2nd October), tomorrow (3rd October) and Wednesday (4th October).

Unite members will be on a picket line at Whipps Cross on all strike dates and they will be joining the junior doctors, consultants, and TFL staff for a day of action and protest beginning at 10.30am on 4 October at Royal London Hospital.

Unite regional officer Tabusam Ahmed said: “The forthcoming strike action will cause disruption, delays and cancellations at the affected hospitals. The NHS, however, is in crisis everyday due to chronic staffing shortages which are exacerbated by low pay.”

“NHS employers and the government have had years to tackle the staff shortages and low pay that are forcing people out of the NHS but have failed to do so.”

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Our NHS members are fighting for fair pay and to protest at the dangerous problem of staff shortages – something that puts patients in danger and which the government wants to ignore.”

“It is intolerable that our members at Barts, who are some of the lowest paid staff in the NHS and who are living hand to mouth, have been denied the one-off payment they fully deserve.”

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