The strikers first walked out earlier this summer (Photo: Guy Smallman)
Estate workers at the South London and Maudsley (Slam) NHS Foundation Trust walked out this week for a second round of strikes in a dispute over pay and conditions.
The Unite union members—decorators, electricians, gardeners, joiners, painters and plumbers—work at sites across south London, including Bethlem Royal, Lambeth, Lewisham and Maudsley hospitals.
The workers are paid at bands 3 or 4 on the NHS pay scales and are demanding to be on band 5.
On Wednesday, around 30 of the workers rallied in front of the Maudsley Hospital, across the road from the King’s College Hospital which is part of another trust.
“I’m a painter at Bethlem Royal. I’m on band 3. But in that building there are people doing the same work as I am, on band 5,” Finnie, a striker, told Socialist Worker, pointing to King’s College Hospital.
“That could be a difference of up to £10,000. We all work for the NHS, so we should be paid the same,” he added.
But the strikers have met with nothing but resistance from the bosses since first walking out earlier this summer.
“They put an offer on the table, which would lift up pay for some, but only for workers in substantive roles,” Luke, Unite’s health and safety rep at the Maudsley, told Socialist Worker.
“That means team leaders and tradespeople—like electricians, painters and plumbers. But workers in other roles—gardeners, for example, or trade assistants—would be left behind,” he explained.
Maz, a Unite regional officer, slammed the move. “It’s an attempt to divide and rule. But these workers aren’t willing to take it.”
Finnie agreed. “They’re trying to play one part of the workforce off against another. But we’re standing strong and we’re standing together. We want pay raised for all,” he said.
He said the workers weren’t angry about pay alone, but about how they were treated at work.
“We’re professionals. We know how to do our jobs, but we’re constantly being micro-managed by bosses who wouldn’t have the first idea how to do what we do.
“We’re not paid well. And so it often takes seven or eight months to fill a position. In that time, we’re all being asked to do more. The simple solution would be to pay us properly,” Finnie said.
“But they’re refusing. There are bosses in this trust, already on band 7 and 8, who have been banded upwards—and without even asking.”
When the workers first walked out, they did so with a strong mandate—97 percent voted in favour of the strike. Luke stressed that the strike remains strong.
“We put an informal poll up in our WhatsApp group after the offer was made and 75 percent of people have responded so far—100 percent of them have said they would reject the offer.”
Ref: CEF strike
Account name: UNITE LE/7105L
Sort code: 60-83-01
Account number: 20469210
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