NHS workers are celebrating victory over their privateer employers after winning a 14.7 per cent pay rise after taking 26 days of strike action.

The 50 workers, including porters, cleaners and caterers, are employed by contractor OCS working at hospitals and clinics run by Lancashire and Cumbria NHS Trust in north-west England.

Unison said that in addition to being paid less than their directly employed NHS counterparts, the OCS staff received only statutory sick pay of £99.35 a week when ill, while NHS staff receive full pay.

The workers were not paid extra for night, weekend and bank holiday working, the union said.

Striker Joanne Thompson said that the “spark” to the action was their treatment over the bank holiday weekend marking Elizabeth Windsor’s platinum jubilee.

“Our colleagues employed by the NHS received a £50 bonus for working during the bank holiday, while we received an extra 10-minute break and a chocolate biscuit,” she said.

“It was insulting, we were disgusted. It represented the kind of unequal treatment that has left me and many of my colleagues feeling divided and separated from the rest of the team.”

The workers voted 92.3 per cent in favour of strike action, with the first taking place on June 29.

Picket lines won support from other unions and the public.

Ms Thompson said that the strikers were “overwhelmed by the amount of support they received.”

Unison regional organiser Dale Ollier said: “These employees have stuck together over a very long campaign and this victory is testament to their determination to end the injustice of being treated differently by their employer.”