Planned strike action by porters employed at Southampton hospital has been suspended after the workers accepted wide-ranging proposals to end bullying and harassment. The hospital is now constructively committed to implementing a 67-point plan to resolve the dispute and significantly improve the situation of hospital porters. The 60-plus porters had overwhelmingly voted for extensive strike action. The trade union Unite also raised concerns about financial bullying through the unfair allocation of shifts to private agency workers while NHS porters had to survive on a minimum wage, many resorting to food banks to feed their families. Porters advocating for patient safety, sufficient staffing and equipment, and a safe culture at work were ignored or disciplined.
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For more information, please contact Paul de Beer or Oana Ciuca, De Burcht (Scientific Bureau for the Dutch Trade Union Movement) p.t.debeer@uva.nl or the Head of communications at the ETUI, Mehmet Koksal mkoksal@etui.org. For previous full issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit https://www.etui.org/Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter or consult the archive with all articles in our database at www.cbnarchive.eu.
You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org.