My name's Catia and I work for a private contractor in the linen store at a hospital in South East London.

I love my job, delivering a service for the patients and being an integral part of the NHS is so important to me.

Watch Catia feature in our Building a 21st Century Union film

We work hard in our roles but unfortunately my colleagues and I aren't paid the same as other NHS workers because we aren't directly employed by the NHS.

The company we work for wasn't listening, not seeing that we should be valued equally to others working in our NHS. 

"Being in GMB means we're stronger by standing together, an experience I found so empowering." 

Catia Chanca

Me and my colleagues knew we were going to have to fight for fair pay. We joined the GMB and went on strike to demand a pay increase which we won.

We will keep on fighting for fair pay because we know the job we do keeps the hospital functioning - being a part of GMB is essential if we want to carry on the fight.