A strike by hundreds of NHS staff at hospitals in Swansea, Neath and Port Talbot set for this week has been suspended after health board managers made an improved pay offer, says UNISON today (Monday).
Healthcare support workers were due to walk out at eight hospitals* in the local area from 7am tomorrow (Tuesday) until 7pm on Wednesday.
The union says it is now to put the improved offer to the healthcare assistants over the next two weeks to establish whether they want to accept or reject the proposals.
The dispute centres on Swansea Bay University Health Board’s refusal to pay staff for extra work they have been doing.
Hospital workers say their wages should reflect the more complex extra tasks they’ve been doing for years and that they should have been paid at a higher salary grade.
According to NHS guidance, healthcare support workers on band 2 of the NHS Agenda for Change pay scale should only be providing personal care such as bathing and feeding patients.
However, healthcare assistants employed by the board have routinely undertaken clinical tasks such as monitoring blood, performing electrocardiogram tests and inserting cannulas. These should be paid at band 3 rates, says UNISON.
Not only should the support staff be on the higher grade, but they should also be compensated for the time they’ve not been paid fairly, the union says. In the recent ballot, 99% of staff who voted backed strike action.
UNISON has been successfully campaigning for these workers to be re-banded and given a suitable level of back pay at dozens of NHS trusts in England.
UNISON Cymru regional organiser Lianne Owen said: “It’s good to see the board making an improved offer even at this late stage.
“Nobody wants to go on strike, but it’s frustrating that it took the threat of action before board managers were prepared to offer more. The improved deal will now be sent to the staff involved in the dispute to establish what they want to do next.”
Neath Port Talbot Hospital healthcare support worker Hollie Arnold said: “We love our jobs, but we want to be paid fairly for the work we do.”
UNISON Swansea Bay branch secretary Andrew O’Leary said: “These undervalued staff would much rather be at work caring for patients than on strike. But it is only through them making a stand that this improved offer has been put forward.
Notes to editors:
– *The eight affected hospitals are Morriston, Singleton, Neath Port Talbot, Cefn Coed, Gorseinon, Cimla, Tonna and Glanrhyd.
– Band 2 clinical support workers should only undertake personal care duties, according to NHS guidance.
– UNISON is the UK’s largest union with more than 1.3 million members providing public services in education, local government, the NHS, police service and energy. They are employed in the public, voluntary and private sectors.
