Strike vote over Mid Yorkshire NHS trust payroll plans

The trust plans to transfer some roles to a separate company

Hospital staff have voted in favour of strike action in response to plans to remove them from the NHS payroll.

Workers at Mid Yorkshire NHS Hospitals Trust, which runs Pinderfields, Pontefract and Dewsbury hospitals, are set to take action next month.

The trust wants to transfer the contracts of cleaners, canteen staff, IT staff and maintenance workers to a separate company.

Unions said it would create a "two-tier workforce" and called it an "insult".

The plan would mean they would lose NHS terms and conditions and their contracts could be sold to a private firm, says the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

'An insult'

Unison said 479 ballot papers were issued; 277 papers were returned (58%) and 269 (97%) of those papers backed strike action.

Adrian O'Malley, regional branch secretary of UNISON, said the result had sent a "clear message" to the trust's management.

He said: "Members are really angry and to say to these people that they won't be part of the NHS is an insult. They don't work in hotels.

"At the end of the day, we want discussions with management and we want a commitment from them that there won't be a two-tier workforce."

An exact date for strike action has not yet been decided, though Mr O'Malley said it was likely to take place in July.

Jules Preston, chairman of the Trust said: "I can confirm that we have received the results of the ballot from Unison and that its members have voted in favour of pursuing strike action.

"I wish to make it clear that the board has agreed to progress to a final business case but needs approval by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care before a final decision on the Wholly Owned Subsidiary can be made."