MICROBIOLOGY workers began a three-day walkout today as they escalated strikes at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust in a row over pay bands.

The Unite members, who are responsible for carrying out diagnostic tests, have said that they are on the pay band below what they should be for the work they carry out.

Their number of night-time and weekend call outs have also been increased without consultation due to the trust agreeing to undertake extra work for another trust, Unite said.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Airedale trust’s leadership are treating these staff disgracefully. They are already being paid too little, and now the trust is demanding they take on out-of-hours work on top of heavy existing workloads.”

They previously took strike action from December 18 to 25 and are also set to down tools from February 18 to 20, the union said.

The trust was contacted for comment.