Hospital workers strike over disputed Covid payment

About 40 Unite members demonstrated outside the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in Margate on Wednesday

A number of hospital workers are striking from Tuesday until Thursday over a disputed Covid payment.

Unite said members contracted to 2gether Support Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of the East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust (EKUFT), have been denied the payment despite working through the pandemic.

They provide services such as catering, cleaning and portering in hospitals.

The trust said it "respects their right to strike".

The union said 2gether confirmed it will not give the bonus - worth between £1,665 and £3,789 per worker - to staff who cover estates, facilities, domestics, housekeepers, and catering departments.

General secretary Sharon Graham says the trust is behaving "disgracefully".

"It has outsourced workers to a company it entirely controls, is paying them some of the lowest rates within the NHS outside Agenda For Change terms and is now refusing to fund the lump sum payment.

"Its actions would shame even the most penny-pinching private sector employer," she said.

Unite said industrial action is also taking place in east London and Dudley over the same issue

Kushi Hussein, Unite regional officer, said: "These are some of the lowest-paid workers in the NHS, struggling to make ends meet during a cost of living crisis.

He said they were not being "paid fairly" for the work they did over the pandemic.

He added members have been left with "no choice but to head to the picket line".

A spokesperson for EKUFT said: "We are focused on ensuring that it is business as usual for our patients and that they can access the care they expect from us every day of the week.

"We are very grateful to the many staff from 2gether Support Solutions who support us to ensure patient services run smoothly, and respect their right to strike," they added.

Analysis

By Mark Norman, BBC South East health correspondent

This is not as straightforward as perhaps the unions or indeed the trust would want.

NHS England has provided details of who is responsible but it's not clear if the East Kent Trust has actually received the money from NHS England.

The employment status of the staff in East Kent and the company structures put in place over the past few years is muddying the waters and there doesn't appear to be any clarity or solutions forthcoming.

East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust runs the Kent and Canterbury Hospital, William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in Margate, Buckland Hospital in Dover, and the Royal Victoria Hospital in Folkestone.

NHS England said it would not be adding to the statement provided by the trust.

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