Outsourced staff at several NHS healthcare sites in Ormskirk are threatening strike action if their employer does not bring their pay and holiday rates in line with their NHS-employed counterparts.
Unison, the UK's largest union, claims domestic employees (staff who clean and cater at healthcare sites) are being put in situations where they are forced to work even when ill due to what they consider unequal pay and rates from their employer, the facilities management giant OCS. The union is now balloting around 50 workers throughout Ormskirk and other healthcare sites in Lancashire with the aim to take strike action.
Unison said last year OCS, and Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust at whose sites the employees are based, did agree to raise pay to match that of domestic workers employed directly by the NHS. However, this did not include sick pay, annual leave or evening/weekend allowances.
