48-hour strike over pay to start at Luton and Dunstable Hospital on Monday

Staff at the Luton and Dunstable hospital will walk out from Monday in a pay dispute, UNISON has said.

Workers will begin their 48-hour strike from 7.30am on Monday, March 11, as part of, what the union calls “their campaign to be rewarded fairly for their work and to secure back pay”.

Staff will be on picket lines from 7am on Monday with a rally at 10am. And on Tuesday, they will be on the picket line from 12pm with a rally at 2pm. More than 400 workers from both the Luton and Dunstable hospital and Bedford hospital are expected to strike.

According to NHS guidance, healthcare assistants on salary band 2 of the Agenda for Change pay scale should only be providing personal care, like bathing and feeding patients.

But UNISON has said: “Most of the staff have routinely undertaken clinical tasks that would normally be done by people on band 3, such as taking blood, performing electrocardiogram tests and inserting cannulas.”

In a ballot last month, staff backed strike action with 99 per cent voting in favour.

UNISON Eastern regional organiser Julie Trundell said: “Like anyone else, healthcare assistants deserve to be paid fairly for their work.

“They don’t want to be on strike. All they’re asking for is to be fairly rewarded for the work they do and to receive back pay for the extra they’ve already put in.“The trust should follow the lead of other employers around the country that have acted properly by grading and paying their staff.”