By Sarah Ensor
Downloading PDF. Please wait... Issue 2337

Five-day strike to hit Yorkshire NHS

This article is over 13 years, 7 months old
Medical secretaries and ward clerks at Mid Yorkshire NHS Trust were set to begin a five-day strike on Monday of next week.
Issue 2337

Medical secretaries and ward clerks at Mid Yorkshire NHS Trust were set to begin a five-day strike on Monday of next week.

The mainly women workers, in the Unison and Unite unions, are fighting bosses’ plans to slash jobs and pay.

Some 200 workers would lose up to £2,700 a year under the plans.

Over 500 staff in both unions struck at hospitals in Dewsbury, Wakefield and Pontefract for four days in November last year.

Bosses had tried to victimise a striker but have since backed down.

Yet they are refusing to negotiate with unions—except over how quickly those workers downgraded to lower-paid positions would have their wages cut.

Bosses gave an “offer” of 18-24 months pay protection for downgraded workers. Workers unanimously rejected this at meetings last week.

The trust’s new chief executive grabs £250,000 a year. It paid consultants Ernst & Young over

£3 million to think up the cuts package.

Elsewhere the Save Lewisham Hospital campaign is preparing for a second demonstration on Saturday of this week.

The hospital faces cuts due to PFI debts at the neighbouring South London Healthcare Trust.

The trust’s administrator, Matthew Kershaw, has recommended closing the A&E, intensive care, maternity and children’s services at Lewisham Hospital. Health secretary Jeremy Hunt is expected to confirm that decision next month.

Send messages of support to Yorkshire strikes to

[email protected]

Go to savelewishamhospital.com for details of the campaign in Lewisham

Sign up for our daily email update ‘Breakfast in Red’

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Latest News

Make a donation to Socialist Worker

Help fund the resistance
One-off