THIS May, Friday the 13th was bad luck for Mitie as, against the odds, domestics and hostesses in St George’s hospital secured a mandate for industrial action. The workers will be taking their first 24 hours of strike action on May 30, which will include a lunchtime march of strikers right through the heart of Tooting.

The strike ballot was triggered by outsourcing giant Mitie withholding wages. This created a nightmare for our members who found themselves unable to afford public transport costs to get to work. They are demanding modest compensation to enable them to pay rent and feed their families.

As Mitie held back the wages of hourly paid workers across the country the company publicly announced the acquisition of telecoms company 8point8 for £10 million.

From Mitie press release dated on May 3: “Total consideration is £10m and the acquisition will be accretive to earnings and funded through existing facilities … ”

This has added fuel to the fire of our trade dispute as workers are questioning the reasons why Mitie have delayed wage payments.

The deliberate introduction of a two-tier workforce has driven wages, terms and conditions to rockbottom for the majority of the Mitie workers in St Georges hospital. GMB members are demanding one NHS contract for everyone. “One Mitie, One Contract” will be their rallying call as they embark on an escalating programme of strike action against the outsourcing giant.

The strike ballot result was achieved in the face of intensive and aggressive union busting tactics. Mitie managers wrote out to every worker and lied about the negotiations with GMB which angered our representatives.

Managers urged the workers not to vote for a strike saying they would lose pay which is ironic given that the loss of pay and the constant driving down of pay, terms and conditions by the company is creating so much anger.

GMB branch secretary Francis Dwum was told he would be removed from a meeting if he spoke which is now the subject of a grievance that the company has yet to respond to.

On the day the strike ballot opened workers staged an impromptu protest because pay was withheld. Managers confronted myself, the reps and the members in a deliberate effort to try to silence the workforce and subvert their right to engage in collective trade union activity.

Also of grave concern are reports that workers were threatened with the sack if they voted in the union ballot and this led to some initial reluctance to vote.

Ultimately the scare tactics didn’t work because our members know that they are right and Mitie is wrong. They are fed up of being mistreated by their employer because their hard work has secured the contract for the company.

The workers are fighting not just for themselves but for their families, for the future of services at the hospital and on behalf of every outsourced worker in the country and they know it.

The demand to take the contract back in house has been raised and our members will expect South West London & St Georges NHS Trust to listen.

Being paid in full for hours worked is a basic human right in any free and democratic country but this is being undermined by NHS privatisation. The Mitie workers have had enough which is the reason so many of them have found the courage to vote in the strike ballot.

The realignment of the pay structures has led to hardship and suffering and this is why our members will take all steps necessary to oppose these ruthless cash-grabbing antics that appear to be integral to outsourcing.

If it the daylight robbery of wages can happen right at the heart of the NHS it can happen anywhere. It is also of concern that Mitie managers seem to think they have a green light to trample over the hard won rights of workers to organise themselves within a trade union.

The flagrant abuse of the rights of the Mitie workers is on the cards for every other worker in this country if we don’t take this company on and win. The way the Mitie workers are being treated and the resulting adverse impact on hospital standards means that every effort must be make to end outsourcing across the NHS for good.

This is why GMB is appealing for everyone right across the labour and trade union movement to join our picket line on May 30 and march alongside our striking workers as they embark on their epic struggle against Mitie and against the rotten nature of outsourcing.