The facilities workers are employed by a private sector outsourcing company, Grosvenor Facilities Management (GFM) despite working in an NHS hospital. They are not paid on NHS pay scales and earn less than colleagues directly employed by the NHS doing the same facilities roles such as chefs, domestic assistants, porters and maintenance.

The central demand is that staff are paid the same as their NHS equivalent, a proper sick pay policy is introduced and that the company recognises Unite for collective bargaining.

The union says the issues were first raised with GFM in December 2024, and after two initial meetings, GFM ceased responding to the union in March 2025.

Unite general secretary, Sharon Graham, said: ‘This is another example of the private sector's race-to-the-bottom approach to workers. Paying poverty wages, refusing sick pay, refusing to recognise unions and bullying our members. Meanwhile they are making millions out of NHS contracts.

‘This is disgraceful behaviour and Unite and our members will not stand for it. We have tried negotiating to no avail so now GFM will see the anger of our members on the picket line.'

In response, a spokesperson for GFM, said: ‘We are disappointed that Unite decided to rush into strike action when they have failed to provide us with essential information about how many union members they have at Newham Centre for Mental Health, despite repeated requests since January. We cannot move forward with discussions and negotiations unless this, and other, vital information is provided – something they are aware of – and we remain ready to engage further once we receive this information.

They added: ‘It is completely inaccurate to suggest we have stopped responding to Unite's demands to negotiate, not least because we've been in continual discussions with them since January and even in the past few days around increasing pay for colleagues receiving less than the London Living Wage, which we are addressing.

‘We have also invested in recent months in improved facilities for our staff and we are committed to resolving any issues. We await the union's response to our very reasonable questions.'

The spokesperson added: ‘We are doing our best to minimise any disruption to cleaning, catering and portering services during strike action and have contingency plans in place.'

East London NHS Foundation Trust, which operates the facility, said: ‘We are in ongoing discussions with GFM and are working to ensure that there is no disruption to care and support we provide throughout the period of industrial action.'