Unions have been offered further talks with the company at the centre of a pay dispute which has sparked strike action at a Glasgow hospital.

An estimated 250 domestic and cleaning staff are taking part in the two-day stoppage at Glasgow Royal Infirmary.

Sodexho said its door was open for further discussions - but the two sides have already clashed over the action.

Unison has accused the French company of showing "contempt" for staff contracted out to Sodexho.

Workers will strike for 48 hours

In return, the firm has voiced its concerns over the actions of those on the picket line outside the hospital.

Porters, cleaners and domestic staff went on strike at midnight on Monday.

The workers are seeking a 5% pay increase, which would be equivalent to �1,000 a year.

Sodexho said its offer would give some staff a 12.79% rise on top of the 3.6% awarded earlier this year, followed by a further increase from April next year.

Lengthy discussions

Talks about contingency arrangements during the 48-hour stoppage took place on Monday evening.

Unison's Carolyn Leckie said a "reasonable level" of emergency cover had been agreed after lengthy discussions.

However, she accused Sodexho of taking advantage by bringing in outside labour.

"I think that demonstrates a contempt for the staff that are already here and a complete lack of understanding about the jobs that they do," said Ms Leckie.

I would re-state that the door is open for Unison to come back and discuss the position

Wilson Barrie Sodexho

"If I was a patient I would be worried about outside people with no training in acute hospital settings."

She said the company had lost the goodwill of the workers.

"I think it is amazing that it has taken 12 years since these people were privatised for them to get so angry that they are prepared to take strike action," she told BBC Radio Scotland.

Sodexho said it had only been granted 19 staff to keep essential services running during the strike instead of the 80 it requested.

"That is very disappointing," said Wilson Barrie, managing director of Sodexho Healthcare.

Linking hands

"I would re-state that the door is open for Unison to come back and discuss the position."

He also said that those on the picket line were linking hands and blocking essential supplies like bread, milk and linen.

"The key issue here is about feeding patients and keeping a major hospital clean," he said.

In the 1990s many hospital trusts sacked their cleaning and hospital staff to employ private companies.

'Think twice'

An increasing number of hospital trusts are now bringing those staff back in-house.

Dr John Garner, the chairman of the British Medical Association's Scottish Council, described this process as "an evening up of the pendulum".

"We are certainly not opposed to the concept of contracting out, but some of the experiences we have had with firms have made us think twice," he said.

"Perhaps it is because we have been concentrating too much on price rather than quality of service."