A dispute over a new national pay system for NHS staff escalated today when hundreds of hospital workers began an overtime ban ahead of a proposed one-day strike.
Porters, catering staff and cleaners at four hospitals in Newcastle upon Tyne are involved in a wrangle with management over pay scales, which union leaders claim favour new recruits over existing employees.
The overtime ban, scheduled to run for weeks, will involve around 600 staff, but Monday's strike could involve up to 1,200 workers if many refuse to cross picket lines.
Unison, the UK's largest public sector union, claims that new staff are being paid more than long-serving workers under the Agenda for Change pay system - a phenomenon known as "leapfrogging".
Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust, which oversees the four hospitals including Newcastle general hospital and Freeman hospital, maintains it cannot stray from the national pay agreement.
The trust's chief executive, Len Fenwick, said today it was following the national pay agreement and accused Unison of "cherrypicking" problems. He also claimed that all other trusts in the north-east of England offered better pay rates to new recruits than equivalent existing workers.
Mr Fenwick said: "In essence, the issue is national, not local, and at this time we are unable to determine where strike action is to be taken other than here in Newcastle."
Unison regional officer, Ian Daley, claimed that the trust was simply refusing to negotiate a local deal.
He said: "The chief executive claims that they cannot vary a national agreement, but the truth is that trusts and unions up and down the country have been quietly negotiating local agreements within the national framework to their mutual satisfaction. This has happened in Newcastle hospitals on other issues.
"Unison has consistently pushed for negotiations to resolve the issue, but, faced with a management which simply refuse to address the problem, we have no other option but to proceed with the overtime ban and strike."
