Health staff beat back privateer
Friday 01 February 2013
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EmailHealth workers whose jobs were privatised last year forced their new employer today to abandon compulsory redundancies and halve the number of jobs under threat.
Brighton and Sussex Hospitals Trust handed 700 cleaning, catering, housekeeping and portering jobs at Brighton and Haywards Heath hospitals to privateer Sodexo.
The firm declared almost 100 compulsory redundancies.
There was also chaos over payment of wages over Christmas and New Year, with staff being underpaid or even receiving no pay at all.
The GMB members were balloted on strike action and staged protests.
Bosses back-pedalled even before the result - an overwhelming vote for action - was announced.
The staff have now accepted a settlement meaning no compulsory redundancies, reduction of job losses to between 35 and 45, and £75 compensation for short-changed staff.
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