Hairmyres Hospital staff to strike over unpaid wages

Staff at Hairmyres hospital will strike next month in their fight to reclaim wages withheld by their employer ISS following the introduction of a new pay system.

Around three hundred staff received just two weeks’ pay for three weeks work in May after ISS bulldozed through its new "Project Greenfield’ payroll model, resulting in fortnightly paid staff waiting an additional week for the receipt of their wages.

Over 91% of staff voted for strike action through a statutory ballot in an attempt to leverage the return of the monies owed, a figure which GMB estimates would total just £72,000. However, despite mediation and further consultations, ISS are refusing to budge.

A twenty four hour strike will now commence at 00.01 hours on Monday 2 September and end at 00.01 hours on Tuesday 3 September, affecting key services such as cleaning, portering, maintenance, housekeeping and security at the East Kilbride hospital.

GMB Scotland Organiser Karen Leonard said: "It is utterly shameful that dedicated staff on the front line of NHS Scotland are being treated with such contempt - there is no excuse for withholding wages from your employees.

"We have given the employer every opportunity to do the right thing but the intransigence they have shown to staff, NHS Lanarkshire and the Cabinet Secretary for Health is staggering.

"Let me be clear this is not a decision taken lightly; we know a strike will cause significant disruption but no credible trade union would stand by and allow an employer to take their members’ wages.

"What the public need to know is that the threat of a strike could be over tomorrow if ISS show our members the respect they deserve by simply paying what they owe. Everyone should now be calling on ISS to do just that."

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