Newham Centre for Mental Health (UNITE) Strike Calendar

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. These issues were first raised with GFM in December 2024. After two initial meetings, GFM ceased responding to Unite in March 2025. Due to this silence, Unite members determined to improve their pay and conditions and voted unanimously for strike action.