The NHS workers in a Mitie fight for fair pay

It’s a classic case of David v Goliath, with part-time hospital cleaner ‘Dudley Denise’ facing up to Mitie CEO ‘Miami Phil’. But in Denise’s corner, she and her colleagues have UNISON. And when a group of them visited UNISON Centre on Wednesday, general secretary Christina McAnea (pictured above) made sure they knew the union is proud of them and that they’ll get all the support they need. The members, who are employed by private contractor Mitie at Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley, walked out on their first day of strike action at 5am this morning (Friday), along with colleagues in UNITE. The company continues to refuse to pay a COVID bonus payment that the government agreed last year as part of a wider settlement to the NHS dispute. This is despite Mitie being signed up to Agenda for Change, which means members of the NHS workforce that it employs should not be treated differently to those employed directly by the service. The bonus would be worth around £1,600 for the lowest-paid staff. There’s long been a perception among some people that non-medical staff in the health service are not as ‘important’ as the medical staff. But as was crystal clear from a round-table conversation with Christina, the health service cannot run without them. From porters to cleaners, from cooks to switchboard operators and those providing sterile services, not only are they key workers in the NHS, they were key workers throughout the pandemic – and their experiences of ...
Source: UNISON meat hygiene - Category: Food Science Authors: Tags: Article News Mitie NHS private contractors West Midlands Source Type: news