South London hospital dispute to escalate despite partial victory on pay
This is only a partial victory and the dispute will continue until ISS meets the pay claim submitted in 2022, says GMB union
GMB members working as cleaning catering staff across South London and Maudsley NHSFT are celebrating a partial victory in their long-running dispute.
The members, who are employed by Danish outsourcing giant ISS, will be receiving pay rises previously owed to them in the next pay round.
Their dispute over pay has been going on since April and has seen them take 13 full days of industrial action so far.
Union members will be taking a further 8 days of strike action, commencing Monday 31 July.
Helen O’Connor, GMB Regional Organiser said:
“While our members are pleased that they are getting some of the pay they are owed from previous years, they are disappointed they have had to resort to strike action to force ISS to hand over monies owed.
“This is only a partial victory and the dispute will continue until ISS meets the pay claim submitted by GMB in 2022.
“If ISS and the trust fail to come around the table, the strikes are certain to escalate and cause more disruption.
“Longer term, GMB is very clear that this contract is clearly failing and breaches in contractual service provision are being recorded every single day.
“SLaM NHSFT need to bring these staff back in-house and give them the pay and conditions they need to enable them to go back into work and deliver the five-star service to which the patients have become accustomed.”
Media enquiries: Helen O'Connor on 07506 711574
