health - whipps cross hospital
WORKERS, JULY 2003 ISSUE
Unison members working for the private contractor ISS Mediclean at Whipps Cross hospital in Leytonstone, north east London, have taken strike action for the second time in a month. Following a two-day strike in May, they held a three-day strike on 18-20 of June to support their demand for equal pay.
The dispute is over the two tiers of pay and conditions for workers doing the same jobs at the hospital. When cleaning, catering and portering services were contracted out to the private company at the hospital, existing staff retained their NHS pay rates and conditions, but new staff were taken on at new inferior rates. This situation now includes workers in transport, security and switchboards, and average hourly pay for the newer workers is £4.62. Staff turnover means that a majority are now on the lower pay rates.
Anger about the employers' refusal to address the problem has led to a growth in Unison membership, from 60 a year ago to 263 at present, out of a workforce of 360. The Agenda for Change NHS regrading exercise has evaluated these jobs at £5.35 an hour. The Whipps Cross employers have offered £5, with a promise to equalise pay by April 2006 - an important concession given their previous intransigence - but the workers are not willing to wait that long.
On the first day of the strike the picket line was around 50-strong. Many of the workers are members new to trade unionism. They have been quick, though, to recognise the lesson from other similar disputes around the country that, in the words of the Whipps Unison branch secretary, "Where you organise, you can win."