Unison union members at East Lancashire hospitals were celebrating this week as trust bosses announced that security guards are being brought back in house.
The workers, currently employed by multinational giant Engie Services, were set to strike this week.
At issue was the firm’s failure to pay NHS rates.
But security staff at the Burnley General and Royal Blackburn hospitals have now been told that their contracts will return to the NHS within six months.
In the meantime, the workers will be paid NHS rates of pay and overtime.
Unison organiser Rebecca Lumberg said, “This is an excellent victory for this group of dedicated hospital workers, who stuck together.”
There are many similar battles taking place in the NHS. This victory shows that workers’ action can win.
Maintenance workers at housing charity St Mungo’s were set to begin an indefinite strike from Thursday this week over “appalling treatment” by senior management.
The strike was called after workers’ complaints against management were dismissed.
The Unite union says that a workplace representative is being unfairly subjected to disciplinary proceedings due to raising grievances.
St Mungo’s workers staged walkouts last year, in part due to what the union says is the charity’s “unbalanced and unfair use of disciplinary procedures”.
Unite regional officer Steve O’Donnell said, “We believe our reps are being targeted with formal procedures to prevent them from being able to stand up for staff, who are also suffering from management’s hostile approach.”
Workers at aerospace parts firm SPS Technologies in Leicester have called off strikes after reaching a deal with bosses to end fire and rehire threats.
Plans would have seen the 200 Unite union members losing up to £3,000 a year.
More than 90 percent of strikers voted to accept the deal. It cut the amount they will lose by over half.
But what’s gone through is still a substantial attack.
Nearly 300 workers at the Jacobs Douwe Egberts site in Banbury, Oxfordshire, are set to start an overtime ban from Saturday 1 May over fire and rehire plans.
This will escalate to strikes in June.
Unite union members voted 87 percent yes to strike over the decision by the company to fire and rehire its 291 employees.
Workers from the tenant referencing department of London‑based Goodlord are on strike over fire and rehire plans.
This will see wages cut by £6,000 and force many out of the city as planned cuts will pull pay below the London Living Wage.
Unite union members have been striking since the end of February but escalated to an indefinite strike at the beginning of March.
A staffing crisis in the NHS
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Bus workers rejected an offer and came back out
