Strike action will continue until porters at Ninewells Hospital are compensated for years of underpayment, union bosses have pledged.
As many as 120 porters will take part in the industrial action and will stage the first in a planned series of walk-outs next week.
Unite regional organiser Colin Coupar served notice on NHS Tayside bossesthat staff will begin by offering reduced services on Wednesday.
Thereafter there will be half-day stoppages every Friday and Monday for a fortnight as the union bids to turn the screw on the health board.
Unite has been threatening industrial action since last summer when claims that hospital porters had been underpaid for a decade first came to light.
It believes staff are due as much as£6 million in back pay but NHS Tayside is adamant there has been no error on its part.Are you concerned about how strikes might affect your care at Ninewells? If so, please phone 01382 575861 or email mmackay@thecourier.co.ukBosses have criticised the union forfailing to abide by the findings of a review in which it cleared itself of any wrong-doing.
Talks were held at Ninewells on Tuesday evening between Unite officials and NHS Tayside but, far from working towards a resolution, it is understood the two parties did little more than restate their positions.
Mr Coupar said: “We will review thesituation after a fortnight and, if the strike has not worked by this point, we may need to the increase the regularity of this action.”
He added that Unite would remain open to talks and that the action had been taken reluctantly although he is adamant it isnecessary.
“In any public sector organisation, whether the NHS or refuse collection, you don’t want the service to be anything other than its best,” Mr Coupar went on.
“You do not want the public to suffer and at this stage I don’t know what the impact of this strike action will be.That being said, you cannot have employers ripping people off.”
NHS Tayside maintains it has made no mistake in its payments of porters at Ninewells, despite claims they have been paid less than colleagues at other hospitals.
It has said a review “demonstrated that no error had been made”.
A spokesman said a detailed contingency plan was in place and stressed that the strike would not derail services.
“Patient safety, care and treatment will always be our overriding consideration and we will be working tirelessly to ensure that we continue to deliver the highest standards of care to all our patients at all times.
“We will be continuing our discussions with Unite the union.”’A vital role throughout NHS hospitals’Despite claims that the strike action will have “no impact upon patient services”, the NHS itself spells out the importance of porters to hospitals across the country on its own jobs portal.
The document says they play “a vital role throughout NHS hospitals” and “without them hospitals could not function”.
“They move frail and often very ill patients between different departments and wards in safety and comfort,” the NHS says.
“They also transport complex and valuable equipment that may need expert handling.”
That assessment of their importance is one shared by the Scottish Patients’ Association.
The association said the loss of porters, even for a few hours, would have a “massive impact”.
Chairwoman Margaret Watt said: “They take patients from one ward to another and they are very much needed. If they went on strike, there would be nobody to do it.”