Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110

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Brighton hospitals pay dispute: an update

Further to last week’s story regarding industrial action by cleaners and some of their support service colleagues at Brighton & Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust,  this joint statement has been issued by the GMB union and Sodexo, the employer:

Following negotiations between GMB and Sodexo that took place in London to resolve the ongoing dispute about Sodexo’s contract in Brighton & Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, a proposal has been made to resolve the dispute which will now be put to staff on site.

The dispute centered around planned redundancies on the contract and the Company’s difficulties in paying staff properly.

The proposal to resolve the dispute includes a commitment to ensuring any pay queries are immediately resolved, that all affected employees will receive an additional annual leave allowance to compensate them for the problems they have encountered, a commitment to actively seek voluntary redundancies before any compulsory redundancies are made and a further reduction in the maximum number of compulsory redundancies that could be made.

If the current ballot for industrial action provides a mandate for industrial action, this will be temporarily suspended to allow time for GMB to consult members to see if they accept the proposal.

Greg Austin, Human Resources Director Sodexo, says: “We are pleased that we have been able to reach an agreement on a proposal to resolve the dispute. We recognise that this is a difficult time for our employees and our focus is on resolving the issues as quickly as possible and ensuring that patient care is not affected.”

17th January 2013