Airedale Hospital porters and caterers to strike in pay dispute
Hospital porters, caterers and other staff are to stage a three-day strike in a dispute over pay and conditions
More than 150 members of the GMB employed by AGH Solutions (AGHS) at Airedale Hospital in West Yorkshire will walk out on October 1, 2 and 3 after industrial action earlier this week.
The union said that unlike NHS colleagues, AGHS staff do not receive standard NHS terms and conditions, including the pension scheme, sick pay, annual leave entitlements and enhanced rates for Sunday working.
Joe Wheatley, GMB organiser, said: "Despite three strike days and significant disruption to the hospital, the trust's management still refuse to have a grown-up discussion around our members' issues.
"It can't be right these vital workers are treated worse than their colleagues in the same hospital. It makes no sense and it's morally repugnant.
"The last thing they want to do is go on strike again, but their voices must be heard."
Jon Wilson, assistant director of facilities at AGHS, said: "We offer very competitive pay, terms and conditions which continue to attract talented individuals to the company and provide valuable opportunities for local employment.
"Offering our own terms and conditions means that we have more flexibility in being able to offer competitive rates of pay, particularly for skilled tradespeople, where the NHS terms and conditions would be more unbending.
"We remain committed to continually improving AGH Solutions Ltd as a place to work and, following recent negotiations with GMB, we put forward an updated proposal with improved elements. However, this proposal was rejected.
"We're disappointed that we couldn't reach an agreement and avert further strike action but we are working through our contingency plans and applying learnings from the previous round of strikes to maintain the services that we provide to Airedale NHS Foundation Trust."