A south London NHS hospital trust is set to spend tens of thousands of pounds on Ubers and other private hire transport as they attempt to break a strike by union members, according to the GMB.
Parked up: non-emergency ambulances working at St Helier will be subject to strike action tomorrow
Members of the union employed as care assistants in the patient transfer ambulances for the Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust claim that they are each owed up to £1,300 by the Trust, which has failed to honour its agreements to meet the London Living Wage.
The workers will be striking tomorrow, April 24, as well as on May 2, May 3 and May 7. The strike will affect transport ambulances, not the vehicles that attend emergencies.
Union officials are furious after discovering the Trust’s plans to hire taxis and private mini-buses for the strike days.
“The Trust looks set to pay for private hire vehicles for patients on the strike days but not to pay these members what they’re owed,” a GMB official said.
Inside Croydon contacted the Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust for a comment about their strike day transport plans, but had received no response by the time of publication.
The Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust has not denied that some of its ambulance staff are owed backpay, as the GMB maintains.
Helen O’Connor, the GMB’s regional organiser, said: “It is simply staggering that Epsom and St Helier NHS management are burying their heads in the sand as their staff are due out on the first day of strike action this week.
“We are hearing that the trust is willing to spend extortionate sums of public money on private hire vehicles for patients on the strike days. There appear to be limitless pots of money to try to break a strike but no money to pay wages owed to hard-working staff.
“The ambulance care assistants work hard to deliver an outstanding service for the patients. Withholding wages is nothing more than a kick in the teeth.
“GMB is demanding that the Trust resolve this dispute before the first strike day because clearly the money is there for the trust to pay ambulance care assistants what they are owed.”
A spokesperson at St George’s, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals and Health Group has told Inside Croydon that they will be fulfilling their legal responsibilities as employers to implement the London Living Wage by May 1.
“As of this month, all staff now receive the London Living Wage,” the Trust said. There was no denial regarding the thousands of pounds of unpaid backpay.
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Fully support NHS patient transport workers in their strike action to get the back pay they are owed
These vital workers are paid far too little as it is. The Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust, and every other organisation, shouldn’t be paying them less than the London Living Wage