Negotiations to take place after called-off GWH strike action
The meeting was set up by MP Will Stone to settle a pay dispute
Great Western Hospital’s lowest paid workers will be meeting with Serco and MP Will Stone today to negotiate a long-running pay dispute.
Caterers, porters and security guards are demanding a one-off payment of around £1650 to honour their hard work during the pandemic.
It is part of a national NHS pay deal, but Serco bosses have so far refused to pay the money.
Tom Kennedy-Hughes, regional officer at trade union UNISON, said: “Great Western Hospital workers are not being greedy or asking for a huge pay rise – they simply want to be paid the same as NHS staff elsewhere. They're clear they will take strike action if they have to.”
The workers were originally due to walk out on Thursday and Friday last week – for the third time since September.
However, the strike action was called off when the MP for Swindon North, Will Stone, intervened by organising for all parties to come together.
Mr. Kennedy-Hughes added: “UNISON will be turning up to the table to try and find a resolution that means they can continue to do the jobs that they love, but also to have the payment to acknowledge their hard work.
We encourage all parties – Great Western Hospital and Serco – to come the table with proposals that can bring an end to this dispute.
What is proportionate or reasonable will be determined by the UNISON stewards, who are housekeepers, porters and cleaners, at that meeting”.
Should the negotiations fail, UNISON stressed that they will not hesitate to organise further walk-outs.
“The UNISON industrial action committee paused the strikes to enable those negotiations to happen – but they also agreed new strike dates in the future”, explained Mr. Kennedy-Hughes.
A Serco spokesperson said: “We have lobbied the Department for Health and Social Care to fund the one-off payment, but this has so far been rejected. We remain focused on finding a solution”.
Should the parties be unable to come to an agreement, the union will notify Serco of the new strike dates at the “right time”.