Porters, cleaners, catering workers, call operators and security workers across Nottinghamshire’s NHS have begun balloting, according to GMB Union.
GMB union has today announced that workers at three of Nottinghamshire’s biggest hospitals have begun balloting for strike action.
Employed by private contractor Medirest, over 150 workers are being balloted by the union in a dispute over pay parity with NHS-employed staff.
GMB says that Medirest, a major provider of facilities and services across Nottinghamshire’s Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Trust, is facing anger from workers due to the less favourable terms and conditions they are employed on compared to directly employed NHS staff.
It adds that ‘the breaking point came last year after NHS employees received a Covid recovery bonus payment, which was not applied to staff in the NHS employed by Medirest.’
Last year over 200 Medirest workers signed an open letter to company bosses calling for pay fairness, but to date, no action has been taken.
Cameron Mitchell, GMB Organiser, said:
“We are on the verge of a spring of strike chaos in some of Nottinghamshire’s biggest NHS institutions.
“Medirest workers deliver key services, keeping our hospitals clean, patients fed and the hospital community cared for.
“They deserve so much better than to be treated as second-rate staff.
“Strike action is always a last resort and GMB remains committed to resolving this dispute, but we must see urgent action from company bosses before its too late”.
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