NHS staff strike over pay and conditions is back on

A strike by hospital staff in response to plans to take them out of the NHS is back on.
Pinderfields HospitalPinderfields Hospital
Pinderfields Hospital

Workers at the Mid Yorkshire NHS Hospitals Trust, which covers the sites at Pinderfields, Pontefract and Dewsbury are locked in a long-running dispute with management about pay and conditions.

£50,000 worth of gin under the hammer after Yorkshire Gin Festival goes underThe trust wants to set up a wholly-owned subsidiary (WOS), to which the contracts of cleaners, maintenance workers, IT staff and canteen staff would be transferred.

The subsidiary could then be sold off to a private company.

Pontefract HospitalPontefract Hospital
Pontefract Hospital
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Industrial action was originally planned for the start of July, but was postponed to allow the trust to take further advice from the Department of Health about the move.

But now unions say a three-day strike will take place between August 20 – 22, unless they are given a guarantee that staff will be kept in the NHS.

Teenagers putting their lives in danger at old fire stationAdrian O’Malley, UNISON’s regional branch manager said: “The ball is in the trust’s court now.

“The trust have said that they won’t set the WOS up until the end of the financial year. We’ve said that’s fine, but we want to make sure that no members of staff will be transferred into it.

Dewsbury HospitalDewsbury Hospital
Dewsbury Hospital

“We’re still waiting for that guarantee.”

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Opponents to the WOS, which have included Wakefield MP Mary Creagh, have argued that it would create a two-tier workforce and would be a step towards NHS privatisation.

The trust says the move is necessary to make savings and that they want with unions on the new model.

Walking from Wakefield to Wembley in memory of EvanMark Braden, director of estates, facilities and IMT at the trust said: “We are continuing to have discussions with Unison colleagues and are extremely

hopeful we can reach an agreement to suspend the planned industrial action in the next few days.”