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HUNDREDS of health service staff are launching a fifth round of strike action tomorrow after privateer bosses dumped a pledge to pay them NHS wage rates.
Blackpool and St Helens NHS Trust in Lancashire has transferred the jobs of non-medical staff, including cleaners, porters and catering workers, to health profiteer Compass.
The company pledged that any wage rises won by directly employed NHS staff would also be paid to the transferred workers.
But when NHS workers won a breakthrough pay increase last year, Compass reneged on its promise.
Members of public service union Unison have already staged 12 days of strikes and today launched another 48-hour walkout, with about 300 staff members joining the action.
Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said: “These hospital staff deserve to be paid NHS rates — it’s as simple as that.”
He said outsourcing created a two-tier pay system.
“The sooner the next government stops the creeping spread of privatisation in public services, the better,” Mr Prentis added.
