St Helens and Whiston Hospital staff strike for 'equal pay'

Around 180 staff members, employed by private contractor Compass within the St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, went on strike today (Wednesday).

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These included hospital cleaners, caterers, porters, receptionists and security workers who picketed outside Whiston Hospital.

The strike is over their their employers’ failure to match NHS pay rates and working conditions, says UNISON.

The picket line outside Whiston Hospital

The employer has expressed its disappointment at the industrial action and says it remians open to a "constructuve dialogue".

The union says most of the 252 hospital workers affected are paid only the minimum wage rate of £8.21 an hour, and yet work alongside colleagues who are employed directly by the NHS, where the lowest rate is £9.03 an hour and that this difference of 82p an hour is worth £1,600 a year for full-time staff.

On top of the lower hourly rate of pay, Compass staff are also disadvantaged by receiving no shift bonuses for working weekends and bank holidays, UNISON adds.

In addition, they receive only statutory sick pay, whereas their NHS colleagues are able to access a comprehensive sick pay scheme, says the union.

The staff are employed by private contractor Compass, within the Trust.

The workers formed a large gathering outside the hospital's entrance, holding placards and chanting.

Many passers-by were heard to beep their vehicle horns in support.

And a rally was held at 12.30pm in Henley Park, opposite Whiston Hospital with speeches made by regional UNISON representatives.

The rally at Henley Park

Staff were also on strike today at St Helens Hospital.

Secretary of the St Helens and Knowsley UNISON branch Tony Lockhart said to the Star: "We want equal pay for equal value.

"We want pay for our contracted staff and we want parity with NHS colleagues.

"We're just asking for the same terms and conditions as the NHS staff."

Paula Barker, regional convenor at UNISON North West, added: "I hope this shows Compass how serious UNISON are in supporting their members and how serious their employees are.

"It has been an absolutely fantastic reaction from the public, people feel extremely passionately about the NHS and rightly so."

Jean Johnson, a catering assistant employed by Compass at Whiston Hospital said: “I work together with colleagues who do exactly the same job, we all work incredibly hard preparing food for patients and yet some are paid a lot more than me. It’s just not right.

“I don’t go off sick lightly, but I had an operation and couldn’t go into work for three months. I struggled to pay my bills because I wasn’t receiving full sick pay.”

“It’s especially bad at the weekends as some colleagues are getting enhancements for working unsociable hours. I’d happily do more overtime but it just seems completely unfair to go in and earn so much less than others.

Since the hospital staff announced their plans to strike, Compass has met with UNISON to seek to find a resolution to the dispute. UNISON says the company did make an offer in order to try to prevent today’s strike but this was unanimously rejected by the Whiston and St Helens Hospital workers at meetings which took place over the weekend.

A spokesperson for Medirest, of Compass, said: “People are at the heart of our business and working alongside our clients, we are committed to trying to resolve this issue. Pay rates are set out in our client contracts and agreed in partnership with our NHS Trust clients.

"On this basis, Medirest has been discussing pay agreements with employees, union representatives and our Trust clients since May, endeavouring to reach a fair settlement.

“While we’re disappointed with UNISON’s decision to take industrial action, our focus is to ensure that we maintain our duty of care and the high standards expected from Medirest and our Trust clients during any strikes.

"We remain open to an ongoing, thorough and constructive dialogue to find a resolution.”