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.”

The workers are contracted at three hospitals run by The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust and are among the lowest-paid staff in the NHS, say the unions.

On claims the payments are unaffordable, the letter says: “If that is the case, then we struggle to see how Mitie could pay the £5.9m remuneration package you [Mr Bentley] received last year, or your annual bonus.”

Mitie was contacted for comment.