More than 800 Unite members employed by Health Services Laboratory (HSL) and sister company The Doctors' Laboratory, are due to take three days of strike action on 3, 4 and 5 September.
The pathology workers provide more than 70% of all diagnostics in the health service and operations across seven NHS hospitals in North London could be cancelled, including at Royal Free, North Middlesex, UCLH, Whittington, Ealing, Northwick Park and Barnet Hospital.
Unite claims staff at the HSL laboratories, who conduct blood, skin, and tissue tests for two London healthcare trusts, are 'furious' over the lack of transparency in their grading.
The union says the privatised service, despite being a supplier to the NHS, does not adhere to NHS pay scales, and staff earn less money than if they were directly employed by the NHS.
Sharon Graham, Unite general secretary, said: ‘This is yet another example of the failure of privatisation within the NHS. A service being run for profit, that cuts corners and puts both staff and patient safety at risk by focusing on volume rather than quality.
‘Our members are being short-changed and a byzantine grading system means HSL are trying to get away with a race to the bottom over pay. Unite simply won't allow such practices to continue.'
Unite is also campaigning for an improvement in the terms and conditions of laboratory staff. This would include paid special leave, which currently does not exist, an increase in annual leave based on length of service and an increase in paid sick leave which currently stands at 20 days.
Unite regional officer, Mark Boothroyd, added: ‘Our members at HSL are standing up for the health service and simply want the same conditions as their colleagues in the NHS. They have had enough of being exploited and underpaid.
‘The NHS desperately needs more investment in staff for the benefit of patients, but instead we have a multinational company more interested in paying out millions to shareholders.'
In response, HSL said: ‘Unite's decision to call strike action at a number of our London facilities in early September is regrettable. We have been engaging with recognised trade unions since February and remain ready to meet at any time to resolve matters constructively.
'We are proud that our laboratories are among the highest quality by any measure in the country according to recently published data, all our laboratories are UKAS ISO15189:22 accredited, and that profits are proportionally distributed to our NHS partners.
‘Our services are fully operational and plans are in place to ensure that we continue to provide safe, high-quality care for patients while supporting our employees. In the event of a strike, we will work with all our employees and customers to keep disruption to a minimum.'
