‘Great courage’

Following talks between Unite and Serco last week, workers at Barts Health NHS Trust have voted in favour of a deal on working conditions and pay.

The deal puts an end to the long-running dispute which saw domestics and porters at the Trust take 24 days of strike action over the summer.

As part of the deal, in addition to the 1 per cent consolidated increase, staff working over 20 hours per week will receive ÂŁ170 and staff working less than 20 hours per week will receive ÂŁ85. Meetings will start immediately to discuss pay awards for 2018 and possibly 2019, aiming to reach agreement by December 2017.

A new agreement to be agreed to improve employee relations at a local and cross-site level will also be included. All new employees will become part of the collective bargaining unit.

 
A cross-site meeting will be scheduled to address workload issues. Regular monthly site based meetings will also be convened to discuss local workloads.

 
Finally, a Pay Protection Policy will be agreed by December 2017 so that anyone whose pay is affected by shift changes or a change to regular hours will not lose pay.

Peter Kavanagh, Unite regional secretary for London and Eastern said, “After several days of negotiations we have reached a deal which puts some money in workers’ pockets and addresses the poor treatment of the workforce which was a major reason for the strike action.

“The agreement will address the very real problems involving workloads and working conditions and also means an immediate start to the next round of pay negotiations.

“Our members have stood together and fought a long and dignified campaign to secure commitments from Serco on pay and conditions. They have already secured the London Living Wage and successfully campaigned for an end to zero hour contracts.

“During this dispute some of the lowest paid workers at the Trust have shown great courage by taking further action to secure a better deal on pay and better treatment at work.”

76 per cent voted in favour of the deal.