Facilities workers at trust in London to be brought in-house after series of strikes

Hundreds of outsourced cleaning and catering jobs are to be brought in-house at one of England’s biggest NHS trusts, meaning staff will be paid thousands of pounds more a year, after a wave of industrial action.

Facilities workers at Imperial College Healthcare NHS trust in London, some of whom were earning the minimum wage three months ago, will receive NHS pay rates, sick leave and pensions.

Almost 200 workers employed by the outsourcing firm Sodexo at St Mary’s hospital began a wave of strikes and demonstrations in October. The concessions will apply to 1,000 outsourced workers across the trust.

Prof Tim Orchard, the chief executive of Imperial, announced the decision in a letter addressed “to porters and cleaning and catering staff” on Thursday morning.

“Each of you plays a vital role in caring for our patients,” the letter said. “I want to you to feel properly valued and part of our wider team so that together we can provide the very best care for our patients.”

After news of the decision broke, facilities workers outside St Mary’s cheered, danced and applauded, tearing off their Sodexo uniforms and throwing them away. According to their union, some of them will receive pay rises of up to £10,000.

United Voices of the World (@UVWunion) St Mary's workers celebrating their historic & unprecedented victory - which was won in a record 4 months - which has led to 1000 workers across 5 Imperial Trust hosptitals becoming employees of the NHS from 1 April. Sodexo uniforms are getting torn off & thrown away as we speak! https://t.co/YFZL0Xq6q2 pic.twitter.com/tP6ZfBp804

“Today marks a huge victory not just for these brave workers but for all outsourced workers in the NHS,” said Petros Elia, a lead organiser at the United Voices of the World union, which called the strikes.

“Our members were told they would never win this fight, but with the full backing of UVW and mass picketing, blockades and occupations they’ve won against all odds. This victory sets a historic precedent which we hope other workers will follow in demanding an end to outsourcing across the NHS.”

Workers at St Mary’s – one of five hospitals controlled by Imperial Healthcare – staged their first strike on 28 October, walking out for three days. They followed that up with two further three-day strikes. The decision to bring them in-house was announced on the day they had threatened to begin an indefinite strike.

The trust will initially directly employ support staff for a one-year trial period, after which it will “decide whether to continue to employ you directly – and bring you all up to full NHS (Agenda for Change) terms and conditions – or re-tender the contract with an improved specification.”

When the workers began their industrial action, 50 doctors at St Mary’s wrote an open letter in support. One of the signatories, Tom Gardiner, said on Thursday: “[It] was nothing compared to the efforts Sodexo staff and their union, United Voices of the World, went to, but I hope it encourages a sense of solidarity amongst NHS staff that we are one family. We stand together with a shared dream of an NHS that is both a world-class health service and a world-class employer.”