UNISON and Unite’s general secretaries today warned outsourcing giant Mitie that strikes will continue if hospital workers are not paid the lump sum they are owed.  

They wrote to Mitie chief executive Phil Bentley ahead of two days of strikes by some 370 cleaners, porters and catering employees, which began today and are planned for next Friday.

Their letter says a £1,655 one-off payment was part of a deal agreed by the government and health unions last year following strikes in the NHS, and has already been awarded to “hundreds of thousands of NHS employees.”