Hospital workers hand in petition ahead of walkout

A petition with more than 7,000 signatures has been delivered to hospital bosses ahead of a week-long strike.

More than 200 porters, domestics, catering and security staff at Airedale General Hospital plan to walk out in Keighley on Tuesday.

The dispute relates to jobs outsourced to NHS subsidiary AGH Solutions, whose staff said they received lower pensions than those employed by the NHS.

AGH Solutions has said it had made "significant improvements" to its pay, terms and conditions and would work with the GMB Union to try to resolve the dispute before the strike.

The petition was handed in for the attention of Foluke Ajayi, chief executive of Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital.

It asks for full alignment for all AGH Solutions workers onto NHS Agenda for Change pay, terms and conditions including pensions.

GMB organiser Joe Wheatley said: "The strength of feeling and support for GMB members at the hospital has been overwhelming.

"As we gear up for the next round of industrial action, it's not too late for Airedale bosses to see sense and return to the negotiating table to resolve the pension debacle."

A series of walkouts last year resulted in what the union called "significant improvements" to bring the workers' terms and conditions closer to NHS standards, but its members are still calling for equal pension rights.

The strike is set to last until 26 January if an agreement is not reached, GMB said.

The roles of the affected staff were moved to AGH Solutions, which was set up in 2018 by the trust.

Dennis Kentrop, managing director of AGH Solutions, said the firm was a wholly-owned subsidiary of the trust.

"We value each of our employees, which is why, working with GMB, we have recently made significant improvements to our pay, terms and conditions offer to colleagues on AGH Solutions terms and conditions.

"Offering our own terms and conditions gives us the flexibility to continue to attract talented individuals and secure the technical skills required by the company."

He continued: "It also means that we can aim to provide a more flexible pension option compared to the NHS pension."

Kentrop said the firm was "disappointed" that its improved pension offer had been rejected by GMB.

He concluded: "Should industrial action take place, we will work through our contingency plans and apply lessons learned from the previous rounds of strikes to maintain the services that we provide to Airedale NHS Foundation Trust."

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