{"id":12751,"date":"2017-07-05T15:55:49","date_gmt":"2017-07-05T14:55:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=12751"},"modified":"2017-07-05T16:14:01","modified_gmt":"2017-07-05T15:14:01","slug":"until-we-get-what-we-deserve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=12751","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Until we get what we deserve\u00e2\u20ac\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

More than 700 Unite members walked out of their jobs yesterday during the biggest NHS strike of the year.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hundreds of cleaners, porters and security guards began four days of industrial action over pay at four Barts NHS Trust<\/a> hospitals in London.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The low-paid staff \u00e2\u20ac\u201c employed by Serco<\/a> at the Barts, Mile End, Whipp\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Cross and Royal London hospitals \u00e2\u20ac\u201c are striking for a 3 per cent pay rise which would increase their hourly wage by 30p.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As well as picketing all sites, the workers also held a rally at London Royal Hospital and vowed further action if their demands are not met.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Serco won a \u00c2\u0141600m soft services contract for Barts Health NHS Trust last year. Despite making a profit of \u00c2\u014182m per year, and paying its chief executive more than \u00c2\u01411m a year, the company has refused to grant the pay rise.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Addressing the rally, hospital domestic Mary Agyei said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe want fair pay. We demand the 3 per cent.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWithout cleaners and porters there is no hospital. It would be dirty and there would be infections. I am proud to be a domestic: we are important and we will fight until we get what we deserve.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite regional officer Gloria Sindall accused Serco of time-wasting tactics, saying the firm invited the union to talks with the conciliation and arbitration service ACAS on 28 June despite having nothing to offer.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Living standards dropping <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bCleaners, porters and security staff have seen their real living standards drop year on year. Workers are now demanding a 30p per hour wage increase. Serco made over \u00c2\u014180m in profit last year but managers are refusing to share these earnings fairly and protect the living standards of the workers,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Sindall said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bRather than try to settle this dispute the private contractor Serco wasted valuable time by offering absolutely nothing new for the workforce at talks with ACAS last week.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite members are fed up and are preparing for a series of strikes to demand a fair and proper pay rise which recognises the contribution they make to Serco and to Barts.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The action was well supported with picket lines at all sites and a march and rally at the Royal London.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The strikers marched along Whitechapel Road, chanting, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bSerco, hear us,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 \u00e2\u20ac\u015bwe want fair pay\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and \u00e2\u20ac\u015bthe workers united will never be defeated.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Passing drivers showed their support.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A kitchen hostess, who asked not to be named, told the Morning Star<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0she would \u00e2\u20ac\u015bfight to my death for this pay rise.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe have too much work and don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have enough staff or equipment. Things have got much worse for us since Serco took over. It was lovely before.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite branch secretary Len Hockey said he was proud to be a striking porter. He told those gathered outside the Royal London, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis branch blew the whistle on a patchwork quilt of poverty pay and exploitation.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mr Hockey said that a 3 per cent pay rise was \u00e2\u20ac\u015ba modest claim.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 He added: \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe will win, and I promise this will be a famous victory for the east London working class.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe cap that is talked about by Theresa May doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fit any more \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and we won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t wear it.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Solidarity <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail brought a message of solidarity, telling the hospital workers that 1.5m Unite members \u00e2\u20ac\u015bare standing behind you today.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI thank you from bottom of my heart for the work that you do. Without you, the NHS wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t work.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If progress is not made the current strike will be followed by a seven day stoppage\u00c2\u00a0starting on Tuesday 11 July<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0and then a 14 day strike\u00c2\u00a0starting on 25 July<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Further strike action will also be planned for August and September.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than 700 Unite members walked out of their jobs yesterday during the biggest NHS strike of the year.   Hundreds of cleaners, porters and security guards began four days of industrial action over pay at four Barts NHS Trust hospitals in London.   The low-paid staff \u00e2\u20ac\u201c employed by Serco at the Barts, Mile […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12752,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[767,130,768],"wps_subtitle":"Barts Serco staff say no to low pay","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12751"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12751"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12751\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12753,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12751\/revisions\/12753"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}