More than 40 domestics and supervisors employed by private firm Mitie at NHS health centres in Burnley, Blackburn and Rossendale will stage their eighth strike day as they battle to get the wages they are due, Unison says.

The union says the workers have been taking industrial action over the company's failure to pay staff correctly and overhaul its payroll system.

Staff say mistakes in their payslips have been happening for more than a year, even before Mitie took over the contract.

In addition, the staff are in dispute because they're still waiting to receive compensation for the company's failure to make the £1,655 NHS recovery bonus, given to other health workers in 2023.

Unison North West regional organiser, Sam Doherty, said: ‘Mitie is a company making huge profits, but it is refusing to do the decent thing and sort out its payroll system.

‘Instead, these already low-paid cleaners are having to contact their employer every month to ask for errors to be fixed and the correct wages to be paid.

‘This is causing extreme distress and real financial hardship. The workers simply can't pay their bills because they have no spare cash to tide them over each time their pay is short.'

He added: ‘The company should step up and resolve the dispute. Staff are prepared to take more strike action if that's what it takes.'

Unison has calculated the cost of compensating these workers for the failure to pass on the Covid recovery bonus would be around £70,000.

The union claims that Mitie says it cannot afford to make any additional payments and highlights that the company's operating profits were £234m last year.

In response, a Mitie spokesperson said: ‘We have made every effort to find a resolution where possible, including correcting pay errors and securing a pay uplift for supervisors, so are disappointed that Unison members have decided to take industrial action.  

‘The dispute over the Covid bonus pay was a historic grievance which Mitie inherited when it took over the contract. As the application process closed in March 2024 before Mitie took over the contract, it was not possible to apply for the funding.  

‘As always, our priority is to ensure that our services continue to be delivered, and we have strong contingency arrangements in place to avoid any disruption.'

The Mitie contract for East Lancashire is commissioned from Community Health Partnerships, a company owned by the DHSC.