Hundreds of Medirest workers at Northwick Park Hospital have voted to strike.
Staff are locked in a dispute over pay, conditions, disparities in contracts and a missing £1,300.
GMB members - including caterers, ward hosts and porters – will walk out for several days from Friday 12 July after a majority of 97 per cent voted for industrial action.
Angry Medirest workers have not been paid £1,300 from last year’s NHS pay deal – cash already paid to directly employed and some outsourced staff.
They also suffer worse terms and conditions than NHS staff and have significant disparity in terms even with each other – despite often doing exact the same job.
Finally, GMB has received credible reports of Medirest management intimidating members and attempting to dissuade them from taking strike action.
Bhimraj Rai, GMB Representative at Northwick Park, said:
“Our members are dedicated NHS workers and we do not take industrial action lightly. But we are at breaking point.
“This dispute is about fairness. We work just as hard as full NHS staff and members who do the exact same role are doing so with less pay and with far worse terms and conditions.
“Medirest is a multi-billion pound international business that has a contract with the trust worth almost £20 million a year.
“They can and must afford to treat their workers fairly.”
