DOMESTICS, porters and catering staff, employed by outsourcing giant ISS, are moving deeper into a trade dispute in Princess Royal hospital in Kent and this week they are taking their first 48 hours of strike action. 

The story of these vital hospital staff serves as a reminder that there is no such thing as good privatisation. The one thing that breaks a pay deadlock is organising a workforce properly, within a union to take militant action against the worker exploitation and deterioration of services that is integral to outsourcing. 

Princess Royal is a private finance initiave (PFI) hospital, which means that three separate parties, the NHS trust, ISS and the PFI leads are given the ability to blame each other for pay stagnation and the workers being driven downwards into poverty. 

Partnership working was simply not working for GMB members in Princess Royal and it was a complete sham designed to waste the time of the rep. In spite of the best efforts of the union to enter into wage negotiations in good faith we were bounced from post to pillar and back again. 

What is even more disgraceful is that empty promises were made to the staff about pay uplifts, back pay and the non-consolidated NHS pay award that were not honoured, meaning that the workers were left high and dry. At this point trust and confidence in management started to break down completely.

The other significant problem facing the union was that there was little organisation on the shop floor. Too many workers held back from joining the union and the attitude that the union “should do something for them” prevailed. 

The servicing approach, as important as that is, dominated the mindset of the workers. Years of the impact of individualistic thinking also had to be contended with in that workforce in particular.

The prevailing attitudes and opinions had to be challenged head on and it became important to tell the workers that trade union membership is an active thing that requires some effort on their part and building solidarity is key. 

It took time and patience to start to win over the heard and minds of the workers and, as always, it started with building a team of competent union reps within the workforce. 

Organising is about inspiring confidence in workers because they know better than anyone else that the GMB union is asking them to take high-risk action to fight for their rights. 

Instead of putting up with exploitation they are now being presented with a choice: sit on low pay forever or join the union and fight back together. 

The more alert and conscious layers of the workers realised that they have little choice but to fight back and that ISS won’t do the right thing unless they are put under pressure from below. So we have had a steady stream of workers join the GMB and get on board with the fightback.

As we ran an indicative ballot for strike action we also had a protest outside the hospital to gauge the mood of the workers and to build confidence further. 

This was very well attended by the ISS workers in spite of attempts by ISS management to harass and dissuade the workers. This laid the groundwork for the workers to secure a strong mandate for strike action in a civic ballot which will culminate in an escalating programme of strike action across King’s College NHS. 

Under growing pressure ISS was forced to put a pay offer on the table and GMB union balloted our members on the offer in good faith. More than 90 per cent of our members rejected the offer on the basis that it was inadequate and divisive so planned strike action goes ahead. 

ISS is now scrabbling to get an army of scab workers from other hospital contracts to break the strike which began yesterday. 

As a trade union we are calling on comrades across the movement to offer full support and solidarity to these brave striking ISS workers. They are not only fighting for themselves they are fighting against the deterioration of the quality of the cleaning, the meals and the portering to Princess Royal hospital. 

Improving the pay and conditions of these workers are integral to maintaining high standards and the experiences of these workers show that this can never be achieved by outsourcing. They know they are not the first ISS hospital workers to rise up and fight back and that last year their colleagues in south London and Maudsley won a staggering 17 per cent pay rise and other benefits after a 13-day strike. 

Organising outsourced workers, making demands and organising militant action is slow, patient work but it is an important step on the road to building consciousness and ending outsourcing for good. 

Helen O’Connor is a trade union organiser and former nurse. Follow her on Twitter @HelenNhs.