Leicester HCAs are determined to secure justice (Picture: @UnisonEastMids Twitter)
The battle for proper pay for health care assistants (HCA) intensified this week as hundreds of workers at Leicester’s three main hospitals walked out.
Unison union members are furious that for years they have been wrongly placed on the band 2 pay scale, making them some of the poorest workers in the NHS.
That’s despite many of them performing clinical duties, including taking electrocardiogram (ECG) readings and inserting cannulas, as well as assisting patients with personal care.
Every HCA knows their ward or clinic could not function without them. Yet the bosses have for years treated them as “unskilled”.
The NHS trust has already agreed to move most HCAs from NHS band 2 to band 3.
That will see many long standing workers adding around £2,000 a year to their salary.
But, as in most other HCA disputes across England, the real question is how many years of backpay will the bosses cough up?
HCA Debby Taylor told the Leicester Mercury newspaper, “I’ve done all my clinical training and every manager I’ve had has asked for a review because I wasn’t getting the correct pay.
Every time, I was told no. “So, I really want the backpay because it’s money that I’ve earned.
“They’ve offered us two years and seven months, that’s not enough. We should have six years’ backpay.”
Unison has already won HCA pay deals that go back to 2018. This ought now to be the benchmark and no one should settle for less.
Sangeeta Doy works at University Hospitals of Leicester and is Unison’s lead representative. She’s particularly angry at the way being underpaid affects women.
“This impacts so much on female workers. And I want all the women in Leicester to come and support us on the picket line because every time women have to go out there and fight for what’s owed to them. This is their money.
“If you get overpaid you have to pay it back, so why is it when you’re owed money, you are given the excuse ‘we haven’t got the money’?”
Sangeeta is right, and the HCAs must now be prepared to follow through with their plans for further action this month and next.
Recovery theatre Practitioners at the Arrowe Park hospital on the Wirral, Merseyside, struck for two days last week—and are striking again this week.
The Unite union says the workers, who care for patients recovering from serious operations, are paid a grade below their level of responsibility.
The workers walked for a third day on Tuesday of this week and are set to be out again the following Thursday.
The PCS union strike ballot spanning the civil service in Britain—launched on 18 March—continues.
A national survey had seen workers vote overwhelmingly in favour of continuing the fight for better pay and conditions.
The dispute involves nearly 150,000 PCS members across 171 employers in the civil service and related areas.
The union’s pay claims are for an above inflation rise, pay equality across departments and a minimum wage of £15 per hour.
Union members are working hard to surpass the 50 percent threshold and held a day of phone banking earlier this month.
This involved 10,000 union members encouraging fellow members to take part and vote in the ballot.
According to a union reps’ own analysis, this initiative has helped the PCS branch for DWP Edinburgh, Lothian and Borders to reach a 78 percent turnout. Other branches are replicating these tactics.
Around 600 Border Force officers are set to strike at London’s Heathrow airport. Action, which was postponed before, is now planned for next Monday to Thursday.
The strikes could be covered by the latest set of anti-union laws, but the government had not moved to use them at the start of this week.
Around 600 PCS union members at the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have voted by 73 percent to strike.
The dispute is over bosses’ plans to force a 40 percent return to the office after working from home.
The PCS will announce strike days in the next few weeks.
Another day of mass resistance
Plus: 500 on Leeds unity march
