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SCORES of outsourced staff working at Barts hospital protested for pay justice today.
More than 60 Unite members, who are employed by outsourcing firm Serco, protested outside the board meeting of the hospital’s trust to demand that the hospital and its contractors fund a pay rise which is equal to that for workers directly employed by the NHS.
Thousands of workers with NHS contracts have been offered a pay rise of approximately £2,000 a year. The 1,600 staff currently employed by Serco at Barts want this same pay increase — a jump from the London Living Wage of £10.20 an hour to £10.83 an hour.
Outsourcing is at the heart of inequality. Only collective unity in the trade union movement can topple the Establishment’s obsession with it, says SAM GURNEY
Our members face daily abuse, being spat at, sometimes even deadly assaults, and employers fail to take the issue seriously despite the increasing danger, writes RMT general secretary EDDIE DEMPSEY