Deal Concludes Barts Health Strike

“We have raised our heads high”

- Paula Mitchell

After Unite the Union members’ meetings on all sites and a democratic ballot in the hospitals, cleaners, porters and catering staff in Barts NHS Trust have voted to accept an offer made by private company employer Serco.

24 days of strike action brought the brightest of pickets to the four east London hospitals involved: Whipps Cross, the Royal London, Mile End, and St Barts.

The pickets were alive with chanting, singing, dancing, speeches, and numerous visits from trade unionists and socialists from across London and even the world. The picket lines were supplemented with rallies and demonstrations, including one addressed by John McDonnell.

Serco, a billion-pound multinational company, dug in. Serco’s boss Rupert Soames’ five-year plan for the company involves taking no more contracts from the private sector and concentrating on sucking the life-blood from services such as the NHS.

Unite members had threatened a week of action to “up the ante”, including mass meetings, strikes and protests. The strike action and this bold plan brought Serco to the table. They realised that their months of distortions, pressure, and use of agency staff were not going to make this campaign buckle.

On top of a 1% increase for the workers on the original NHS contract and an uplifting to the London Living Wage for the workers on the new contract (to £9.75 from as little as £7.50), Serco offered a nonconsolidated lump sum payment to all permanent staff, the amount of which the negotiators managed to increase.

Bank it for the future