Health workers vote to strike over plan to move staff to new company

Health workers have voted for strike action over plans a union warns could see thousands of employees transferred out of the NHS.

Unison said its members in Dorset, including porters, caterers and cleaners, overwhelmingly backed industrial action in protest at plans to move them from the NHS to a new company.

The union warned there could be further walkouts by NHS staff in other parts of the country unless hospital trusts are stopped from “farming out” support services to subsidiary companies, known as subcos.

Unison said Dorset HealthCare University, Dorset County Hospital, and University Hospitals Dorset want to move more than 1,700 mainly low-paid support workers to a subco.

The union is bringing a motion on subcos to be debated at the Labour Conference, which begins in Liverpool on Sunday, saying it wanted to bring to the fore the promises the party made to reverse outsourcing.

Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said: “Before the election, Labour promised to bring workers on private contracts back into public services.

“They need to make good on that promise and quickly, or they risk seeing widespread disruption in the NHS in coming months.

“The overwhelming vote by Dorset support staff demonstrates just how strongly health workers feel about any erosion of their pay and conditions.

“The NHS depends on support staff to keep hospitals clean, safe and running efficiently.

“Many are already low paid and farming them off to subsidiary companies will leave them with an even worse deal.”