Nearly 200 essential staff at Airedale Hospital will take seven days of strike action in a fight for pension equality.
Workers, including porters, domestic, catering and security staff, will walk out from 20 January to 26 January
The workers, outsourced to AGH Solutions (AGHS) a wholly owned subsidiary of Airedale NHS Foundation Trust in 2018, have already won major victories to bring their terms and conditions closer to NHS standards.
However, the issue of pension harmonisation remains unresolved.
Currently, some AGHS employees receive the NHS pension, while many others do not. The disparity is stark:
- NHS Domestic: 6.5 per cent employee contribution | 23.78 per cent employer contribution | Defined Benefit Scheme
- AGHS Domestic: 4 per cent employee contribution | 3 per cent employer contribution | Defined Contribution Scheme
Joe Wheatley, GMB Organiser, said:
"The Chief Executive of Airedale NHS Trust is on £202,000 a year - the director of AGHS is on £184,000 a year.
"Effectively, these well-paid administrators are telling our frontline NHS workers, who are on £24,465 a year, that they don’t care if they can't afford to retire."
“We have ten senior managers at Airedale Trust whose combined salaries would almost cover the cost of uplifting 300 frontline NHS workers onto the NHS pension.
“This dispute is about whether NHS workers retire with dignity or in poverty.
“We invite the administrators of the Trust and AGHS to answer that question.”
