Rally held outside Shire Hall as longest NHS strike nears anniversary
37 phlebotomists, who specialise in drawing blood, from Gloucestershire Royal and Cheltenham General hospitals walked out in March last year
Gloucestershire hospital workers who are fighting for better pay in what has become the longest strike in NHS history rallied outside Shire Hall yesterday (January 27).
A total of 37 phlebotomists, who specialise in drawing blood, from Gloucestershire Royal and Cheltenham General hospitals walked out in March last year amid a dispute over low pay.
Some of the workers, who have now been on strike for more than 300 days, attended a Gloucestershire County Council meeting yesterday (January 27) at which councillors scrutinise hospital chiefs.
Caroline Hayhurst, Cheltenham phlebotomist and Unison rep, spoke about the dispute the night before at the Gloucestershire Association of Trades Union Councils banner unveiling event.
“We, the small group of phlebotomists, started our campaign a few years ago asking for our skills to be recognised and be paid appropriately,” she said at the meeting at The Pavillion in Up Hatherley on January 26.
“We’ve been ignored for years. Over a year ago we decided it was time to do something about it.
“We walked out on March 17 last year determined that we would stand our ground and would receive proper pay for a job we love, that we want to stay in.
“That battle is still going on 306 days later. We believe it has been the longest strike of NHS employee history.
“It’s not something anything should be proud of really, certainly not for our chief executive.
“But we are still there and we are still strong.”
She said they have been made offers and are hoping the dispute comes to an end soon.
However, she said what started as a struggle for better pay has become a fight for their jobs.
“The offers unfortunately are all about denying us the right to continue working as phlebotomists and pushing us into health care support roles,” she said.
“What started out as a fight for fair pay has now evolved into a fight for our jobs. But we are still standing firm.”
Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Chief executive Kevin McNamara updated councillors on the pay dispute at the health overview and scrutiny committee on January 27.
“We’ve made two offers to phlebotomy colleagues,” he said. “One of those is that we jointly with Unison commission a national independent panel to review the joh role and determine whether it is a band two or band three.
“We’ve offered that because we know phlebotomy colleagues have expressed a concern about their trust and confidence in our internal processes.
“While we’ve tried to provide reassurance and assurance, that external and independent and objective view would be helpful to both parties.
“We’ve said we would be bound by the outcome of that panel.”
He also said they have made an offer of a new “higher-banded” role.
“A phlebotomy outpatient healthcare support worker role at a band three,” he said.
“That is the issue ultimately at dispute around a band three salary for our phlebotomy role”.
He said that role would be an outpatient only role and for at least 50 per cent of the job to be phlebotomy based.
They would also protect weekend enhancement some phlebotomy workers benefit from, he said.
And would also make a discretionary one-off payment to recognise the length of the dispute and offer those with more than two years’ service to the top of a band three salary.
He said the union is balloting on whether to accept the offer this week.
During the meeting, public health cabinet member Paul Hodgkinson (LD, Bourton-on-the-Water and Northleach) said he was really shocked by how low phlebotomist’s pay is in the county.
“We’ve all had blood taken out at some point,” he said. “It’s such an important thing.
“We are relying on the skills of those individuals to get it right to keep us safe.”
He asked what the difference in salary is between a band two and band three role.
Mr McNamara said a band two would be around £24,465 and a top of band three, which is the offer given to those with more than two years of experience, would be £26,598.
Conservative Councillor Andrew Gravells (Abbey) praised the work of phlebotomists and said he found it “so sad” the health scrutiny committee could not do anything to end the dispute.
“They don’t strike me as a bunch of people who are looking for a fight,” he said.
“They are dedicated people who want to get on with their work and help to save lives as part of a very big team at Gloucestershire Hospitals Trust.”