Unison members in the non-emergency patient transport service in Greater Manchester have voted to strike over low pay and disparity of terms and conditions between workers doing the same job.
Workers voted unanimously for strikes, on an 86% turn out. The workers are employed by the North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust, but the service was outsourced to Arriva between 2013 and 2016. Arriva employed workers on inferior terms and conditions, and these have remained in place after the service was transferred to back to the NHS. This resulted in some workers being on inferior terms and conditions for doing the exact same job.
Workers recruited on the Arriva contract earn £2.40 less an hour, and have fewer breaks and less sick pay than those recruited by the NHS.
