UNISON has accused a hospital trust of being unwilling to compromise as a bitter dispute over the creation of a ‘wholly-owned subsidiary company’ shows no sign of letting up.

Staff who work in the estates, facilities and clinical engineering departments at the Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which includes the Bradford Royal Infirmary (BRI) and St Luke’s Hospital, are embroiled in strike action as they fight to “stay within the NHS”.

The union fears the transfer will strip workers, including porters, domestic and security staff, of the protections they have as NHS employees, but the Trust has denied it is privatising services.

Unison members are due to start indefinite strike action from August 26, following a week’s walkout in July and a two-week bout of strike action which ends today.

The union met with the Trust for talks last week in a bid to try and find a resolution.

In a statement, it said: “Unison offered other options which were rejected by the Trust. Matthew Horner, Finance Director, who said ‘the Board have made their decision’ was not even prepared to look at other options. The Trust suggested that staff that would be transferred into the wholly-owned subsidiary company could own shares in it. At a members’ meeting held on August 8, Unison members unanimously rejected any kind of shared ownership in the Private Limited Company."

Unison says it "urgently seeking" a meeting with Board and says the Trust is not willing to compromise to find a resolution.

The Trust has said the company - Bradford Healthcare Facilities Management Ltd - will be 100 per cent owned by the NHS, but concerns have been raised that it will not be able to guarantee workers' terms and conditions for 25 years.

When pressed on this by the Telegraph & Argus, the Trust said: “We have already guaranteed that all staff will transfer to Bradford Healthcare Facilities Management Ltd with their existing NHS terms and conditions protected for the length of the contract with the Trust, which is 25 years. All staff will have their terms and conditions protected by legislation (TUPE) at the time they transfer to the new company. Our additional 25 year commitment is over and above TUPE and protects staff’s current rate of pay, sick pay entitlement, unsocial hours payments, bank holiday pay rates and annual leave, redundancy pay and maternity pay entitlements.

“They will also have their membership of the NHS pension scheme protected; we will protect their terms and conditions if they get promoted, or increase or reduce their hours, and we will look to match the annual NHS pay awards to our existing staff. We continue to engage with Unison and we are meeting with the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) next week in a further bid to resolve this dispute. In the meantime we continue working towards an anticipated transfer date of October 1, 2019.”