Strike over hospital pay changes

Staff are being paid monthly instead of weekly

Staff at Clatterbridge and Arrowe Park hospitals in Wirral are planning to stage a two-day strike next week in a protest over changes to their pay.

Instead of receiving weekly pay, about 180 low paid workers such as porters and technicians are now paid monthly.

They claim the new three-week wait means they are struggling to pay bills.

A spokesman for Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said it had worked hard to help staff affected over the pay transition.

The change is part of a move towards harmonised pay and conditions for all staff, and affects approximately 500 people - about 8% of the trust's total workforce.

We have been in discussions with trade unions over the last 12 months about this change Sue Green, NHS Trust

The trust has introduced a number of schemes to help facilitate the transition.

These include the ability to request an advance of pay and for some staff to access locked away or frozen annual leave.

The trust has also made a £60 goodwill payment to all staff affected.

The strike, which will run from 0600 BST on Thursday until midnight on Friday, will be the third instance of industrial action taken over the pay changes.

Staff, who are members of the Unite union, staged a walkout last Friday morning until midnight on Saturday.

Brian Nelson, of Unite, said: "This change in the payroll has come at a particularly difficult time for our members, with massive increases in gas, electricity and food prices and comes on top of the recent abolition of the 10p tax rate."

Sue Green, the trust's human resources director, said: "We have been in discussions with trade unions over the last 12 months about this change.

"These were acceptable to other trade unions, representing about 60% of the staff affected."

The trust is planning to meet with officials from Unite on Monday.