Dozens of GMB Union members marched through Croydon this weekend, calling for the hospital’s cleaners and porters to be employed directly by the NHS and not outsourced from the private security and services supplier, G4S.
Helen O’Connor, GMB regional organiser, said: “We are marching because the G4S workers want to be part of the NHS. They want Croydon hospital to take them back in house. The NHS is being destroyed by cuts and privatisation and we need to oppose both inside and outside hospitals.”
G4S cleaners and porters previously protested outside Croydon University Hospital in January over Covid sick pay, which led to the formation of a strike committee.
These protests were followed by accusations that G4S were using “bullying tactics” to silence GMB union members.
However, planned strike action by cleaners and porters employed by G4S was called off in April after they met the demands of the union members, resulting in a 24 per cent pay rise and an occupational sick pay scheme.
The G4S workers at Croydon University Hospital were awarded eight sick days, which one porter said was “simply not enough”.
Croydon University Hospital is the main site of Croydon Health Services NHS Trust. The hospital has over 500 beds and treats nearly 120,000 people in its A&E department every year.
Croydon Health Services NHS Trust awarded G4S a seven-year contract in 2017 worth £41 million. Under the agreement G4S provides cleaning and porter services to eight of the trust’s sites, including Croydon University Hospital.
O’Connor said: “Outsourced workers cannot rely on private companies to provide even the basics like legible payslips or pay their workers on time for hours worked.”
Romeo Fernandes, a porter at Croydon University Hospital, said: “Today we are going to demonstrate and request that the NHS takes us as porters [and doesn’t] give us to third parties, where we are deprived of all the benefits, especially sick pay and London weighting.”
Fernandes has been employed by G4S for seven years and cannot afford to look for work elsewhere at the moment: “I will stick with G4S and be their slave with all the pressure and only eight days sick pay, which is not sufficient as a porter.”
A porter, who asked to remain anonymous, said that he has been “forced” to go into work when he has been unwell because of the limited amount of sick pay G4S workers are permitted: “I had to come in to survive…the staff are stretched to the bone.”
Another G4S member, who requested to remain anonymous, said: “We’re doing the same job [as those employed by the NHS] so we deserve the same amount of sick pay.” They are sceptical about the future of the NHS: “It depends on the big guys up top.”
Fairfield ward Labour councillor, Chris Clark, said he was “absolutely opposed to outsourcing” and that “these outsource companies are here to make profits and they do that by reducing the cost of services and ultimately that’s by shredding the terms and conditions of staff and the quality of service.”
Labour’s Leader of the Opposition at Croydon Council, Stuart King, blamed the Conservative government and “twelve years of austerity” for the decline of the NHS: “I think everyone is really worried about the state of the NHS at the moment…I think people in Croydon are really worried about the state of the NHS under this government.”
A spokesperson for Croydon Health Services NHS Trust said: “Our portering and domestic teams play a vital role in the care we deliver to our patients and our support for them, as with all of our staff, remains a top priority. Whilst the terms of an individual’s employment are a matter for them and their employer, we have ensured that all contracted staff receive fair pay and conditions, including providing additional funding to ensure they receive the London Living Wage and providing full sick pay when needed.”
