After a wave of industrial action, facilities workers at Imperial College Healthcare NHS trust are to be brought back in-house, meaning hundreds of outsourced cleaning and catering staff will be paid thousands of pounds more a year.
The workers employed by outsourcing firm Sodexo, some on minimum wage, will receive NHS pay rates, sick leave and pensions.
Almost 200 workers at St Mary’s hospital began a wave of strikes and demonstrations in October. The concessions will apply to 1,000 outsourced workers across the trust. Prof Tim Orchard, the chief executive of Imperial, announced the decision in a letter addressed “to porters and cleaning and catering staff” on Thursday morning.
The Guardian reports that after news of the decision broke, facilities workers outside St Mary’s cheered, danced and applauded, tearing off their Sodexo uniforms and throwing them away. According to their union, some of them will receive pay rises of up to £10,000.
Full story in The Guardian, 30 January 2020
