NHS staff strike at Royal Hospital as pay row rumbles on

More than 100 NHS porters, cleaners and catering staff are taking part in five days of strike action as a long-running dispute over money owed to them continues. The GMB union says that after the staff’s contracts were transferred from a private firm on April 1 last year, they missed out on a lump sum payment by one day as they were not employed directly by the NHS the previous day – the cut-off point for payments.

The one-off bonus payment is worth £1,655 and was for the work and pressures faced by staff during the Covid 19 pandemic. Staff at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital and Broadgreen Hospitals will be taking to the picket line between 8am and 2pm every day this week up until Friday.

The industrial action follows a series of walkouts earlier this summer, and the Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust says the dispute is between union members and outside provider ISS, who previously employed the staff. One of those taking industrial action, who did not wish to be identified told the ECHO: “None of us want to be out [on strike], but there is a small portion getting the money, and the rest of us aren’t.”

Kerry Nash, senior organiser at the GMB union said: “The GMB union is outraged as it’s members have taken 17 days of strike action in response to LUHFT's (Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust) refusal to pay them the NHS Lump Sum/Covid Bonus. Despite risking their lives and the lives of their families during the pandemic to support patients and colleagues, they feel disregarded by the Trust.

“LUHFT tried to suggest they had put forward a proposal to their executive team to support reaching a resolution however they rejected this. The trust has now decided to pay the Bonus only to Agenda for Change (AFC) contracted staff, which GMB members view as an attempt to create division and inequity among the workforce.

“GMB members are firm in their stance: they demand to be paid what they have earned and to have their roles respected. They reject the notion of working under a two-tier system, where some are treated as second-class citizens. GMB insists that LUHFT must come forward with a fair and morally acceptable offer to resolve the dispute.”

In response, a spokesperson for Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “The Trust has followed national guidelines in accordance with the criteria for applying non-consolidated pay awards. We continue to work with the trade unions to seek a resolution to the current dispute.

"We’d like to reassure patients and our communities that we have robust plans in place to ensure we continue to provide patients with safe care and that they should attend their hospital appointments as planned.” If no resolution is found to the dispute, a fresh ballot for strike action will need to be held, which could lead to a ten-day walkout.