HOSPITAL staff will go on strike in a protest over pay.

Cleaners, porters and catering staff will be conducting a 48-hour strike at Royal Bolton Hospital next month as the next step in their campaign to receive the same pay as their NHS-employed band one counterparts.

The staff who have voted to strike are employed by iFM Bolton, a wholly-owned subsidiary company of the hospital and have not been awarded the 2018 pay rise awarded to staff directly employed by the NHS.

Tim Ellis, UNISON regional organiser said: “Local health bosses are letting hospital workers down.

"They are trying to preserve poverty pay rates in Bolton while workers doing the same jobs in other hospitals are rightly getting significant pay rises.

“The wholly-owned subsidiary model is now wholly-discredited.

"The treatment of hospital workers in Bolton shows how unfair it is to divide up the NHS team.

"All NHS staff should be getting the nationally-agreed pay rise.

“Staff feel that they are being treated unfairly and they are determined to see this through.

"Health bosses need to act quickly and ensure that hospital staff get the pay rise that they need and deserve.”

Last week it was announced that in a ballot of UNISON members 97 per cent voted to take strike action with a turnout of 65 per cent.

Staff employed by the NHS on band one were given a pay rise worth around £2,000 this year, a percentage increase increase of around 10 per cent.

Previously iFM Bolton has said it has not implemented the pay rise because the pay scale is not directly transferable to its staff but that it was willing to work with staff to negotiate a wage increase.

A pay rise of two per cent was previously rejected by UNISON members.

The 48-hour strike will take place on Thursday, October 11 from 7am until Saturday, October 13 at 7am.

A spokesman for iFM said it had been notified of the strike. He added: "The iFM executive management team will continue to work with senior trade union officers in the continued hope that we can reach a mutually-agreeable solution on this pay matter.

“iFM is putting together contingency plans to ensure a safe level of service is maintained for patients."