THE growing working-class fightback against poor pay and working conditions gathered pace today as Unison members in health and social care became the latest to strike. 

Outsourced porters, caterers and cleaners began a 72-hour walkout at eight NHS sites in Lancashire demanding employer OCS provide the same sick pay and annual holiday entitlements as in-house staff.

And care workers employed by Bristol-based firm St Monica Trust held the first of many planned strikes over the use of fire-and-rehire tactics to impose pay cuts. 

In the north-western dispute about 50 workers at hospitals and mental health units in Blackburn, Blackpool, Ormskirk and Preston say that they are also missing out on unsocial hours payments given to their directly employed colleagues.

Unison’s Dale Ollier said: “Strikes are always a last resort, but workers have no other way to make themselves heard — they deserve to be treated the same as those working for the NHS.”

A spokesperson for the Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Trust claimed it had “robust contingency plans in place” to minimise disruption. OCS was also contacted for comment.

In the south-western dispute, up to 100 registered nurses and residential home staff demonstrated outside St Monica Trust’s four care homes in Gloucestershire and Somerset against plans to sack workers who refuse to accept weekend pay rates being slashed by 21 per cent.

Other employees face a 10 per cent wage cut as well as reduced sick pay and reductions in working hours, warned Unison, which confirmed four more walkouts are planned before mid-July.  

General secretary Christina McAnea said: “The wellbeing of elderly residents is being sacrificed to cut costs. The trust must think about the damage it is doing and abandon its fire-and-rehire plans.”

The company was contacted for comment.