CLEANING staff at Bury's Fairfield General Hospital have voted to strike in a pay dispute.

About 60 domestic workers at the hospital, along with colleagues and porters at North Manchester General, were "overwhelmingly" in favour of staging a walkout within the next two weeks.

A Unison spokesman admitted that the action could put patients "at risk".

He said: "The staff are responsible for cleaning on all the wards and in some theatres. They are responsible for 99 per cent of the cleaning in Fairfield Hospital.

"Cleanliness is a top priority in hospitals to stop the spread of infection. Hospitals are clinical places and need to be cleaned on a daily basis. If they are not, there are risks to patients."

He added: "We have not taken this industrial action lightly and we hope patients will understand why we have been forced to to do so."

The dispute over pay with contractors ISS Mediclean started last August, when domestic staff asked for a pay rise from £4.61 to £5 per hour, in line with colleagues at other hospitals.

Unison branch secretary Pete Hinchcliffe said: "If these people were directly employed by the NHS, they would be on far better pay and conditions. Because they work for a contractor, they have to exist on poverty pay.

"We call on ISS Mediclean and Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust to end the inequity of this two-tier system. We know that our patients want to be cared for by well paid, motivated staff, not by demoralised staff on low wages."

Strike action will start with a one-day stoppage, and workers have threatened to take indefinite action if their pay demands are not met.

A spokesman for ISS Mediclean said of the industrial action: "This is news to us. We are disappointed that we have not been informed officially. We look forward to hearing from them and continuing our dialogue."