Hospital staff win Sodexo pay battle

On December 1 Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust transferred 700 staff jobs over to privateer Sodexo.

The workers include cleaners, porters, catering staff and housekeepers.

Shortly after the privatisation, Sodexo declared just under 100 redundancies, with staff, who are members of the GMB, responding with a ballot on industrial action.

To add to the redundancy confrontation, around 300 workers found that they were being paid the wrong wages with errors over hourly rates, overtime and tax codes.

Some staff were paid "deficit" wages because of tax code errors, with one worker owing £70 a week for the privilege of working.

Sodexo refused to pay what it owed saying every individual's case must be examined.

The result of the ballot on industrial action was due today.

But after GMB and Sodexo management met this week a joint statement declared that the company had pledged to solve the wages problems, compensate under-paid workers with extra holiday, attempt to reduce the number of redundancies and seek volunteers.

The plan is to be put to staff and if today's ballot opted for industrial action, the action will be suspended while staff consider the proposals.

GMB organiser Gary Palmer said: "This has been an extremely stressful time for staff on site but we are hopeful that a way forward has been found."

Sodexo HR director Greg Austin said: "We recognise that this is a difficult time for our employees and our focus is on resolving the issues as quickly as possible and ensuring that patient care is not affected."