CLEANERS, porters and caterers at Royal Bolton Hospital could strike in a row over pay, which could see them earn less than their counterparts in other trusts. Mary Naylor looks at why staff feel this is the only option.

THE dispute over pay is the “last straw” for people suffering from poor morale and living in what one person described as an “us and them” environment.

One cleaner at Royal Bolton Hospital, who has worked there for about 20 years, described a work environment in which people feel downtrodden and do not want to come to work, where once they enjoyed their jobs.

The man, who did not wish to be named, said: “They feel people look down on you, that “you’re a cleaner or a domestic”.

READ MORE: The catering dispute

“Some people are nice but some overlook you and ignore you. You get that off management as well. You might say “good morning” and they ignore you. It’s horrible.

“It’s like us and them, like Victorian times. It’s not nice.”

This week it was reported in The Bolton News that staff on the lowest pay band in the hospital had unanimously asked to be balloted for a strike.

Their union, UNISON, said the staff were contracted to a wholly owned subsidiary company of the Bolton NHS Foundation Trust (which runs the hospital) and when this subsidiary, Bolton iFM, was set up it was agreed staff pay increases would be made in line with NHS increases in the so-called Agenda for Change pay scale.

However, the most recent iteration of Agenda for Change is a reconfiguration of pay says iFM and so is not transferable to iFM staff.

READ MORE: What happens next?

The trust has said it wants to work out a rise for band one workers not on NHS Agenda for Change contracts.

For 2018 the NHS contract for band one staff is £8.92 an hour, rising to £9.89 an hour over two years while iFM staff are currently on £7.83.

The cleaner The Bolton News spoke to starts work at 5am every weekday, completing a 30 hour shift and sometimes picking up extra Sunday shifts for double time.

He said: “A normal day can vary but when I get in I get the equipment and sweep the corridors for dust and rubbish that’s been dropped.

“Then I’ll do some offices, some toilets, then wash the corridors off and buff them and give them a wipe down.

“There’s lots to do. I know what I’m doing and I find it quite easy but it’s physically hard work.

“It’s not simple work. You need to know about the chemicals we use and things like that.

“It’s not an easy task, it’s not just pushing a mop around.

“It’s quite physical and sometimes it’s really, really hard.”

“And you get spillages all over the show, coffee or someone who’s been sick in a toilet ­— nobody else is going to do it.

“I clean the theatres sometimes. That’s quite a lot of responsibility. It’s not as easy as people think, you get a lot of training.”

Speaking about the dispute he said: “Everybody is just fed up and angry. We’re angry with the way we have been treated, we’ve been angry for years. This is the last straw.

“We’re underpaid, overlooked and overworked.”

He said staff were “stretched” in their work and often found themselves moved around at short notice to cover staff sickness, having to clean three or four wards a night. He said people were also off work suffering with depression or anxiety.

Tim Ellis, UNISON regional manager, said at the most recent meeting this week iFM told UNISON they were still considering the matter and expected to come back to them in early September.

Mr Ellis said: “It’s good they are coming back but the issue is still people aren’t receiving the pay rise everyone received.”

Another cleaner who spoke to The Bolton News anonymously said the discrepancy in pay made work uncomfortable.

He said: “We’re on £7.83 an hour then we have guys in laundry on £8.92. That’s what we want.”

that’s what we are fighting for, we just want equality with everybody else because if domestics and porters walked out the hospital would fall on it’s knees. You can’t run a hospital without it being clean.”

A spokesman for iFM Bolton, said: “We have said in an earlier statement UNISON has raised the issue of pay with us and we are discussing it with them.”