By Pauline Gorman
In August this year, more than 300 porters, cleaners and catering staff at St George’s, Epsom and St Helier Hospital Group (GESH) backed strike action. 98% voted in favour on an 81% turnout.
The dispute concerns the employment of hospital porters, cleaning and catering staff who had been outsourced by the Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust to the private company Mitie. After Mitie’s contract ended, GESH reinstated the workers as NHS employees. However, the workers have been systematically excluded from the NHS’s Agenda for Change (AfC) pay and conditions. Until recently, the workers were also mistakenly excluded from the NHS Pension Scheme.
A report issued by their union, United Voices of the World (UVW), claimed that workers may have lost out on £30 million in benefits and pension contributions over the past four years, with individuals underpaid by up to £10,000 each year. Meanwhile, former GESH CEO Jacqueline Totterdell reportedly earned £315,000 before stepping down in July 2025, according to a May 2025 Taxpayers Alliance study.
The predominantly migrant workforce, coming from all over the world, including countries as distant as Nepal and Ghana, are calling for the same pay and conditions as colleagues on the national AfC framework, which sets standard rates for most NHS staff. UVW says that despite being brought back in house more than four years ago, they still receive lower pay, less annual leave, inferior pensions and no enhancements for night or weekend work.
Dennis Gyamfi, a cleaner at Epsom Hospital and UVW member said: “I’ve cleaned this hospital for seven years. My fellow cleaners, porters and caterers do essential work — yet we’ve never been treated with the same dignity as other NHS staff.”
St Helier is made mostly from 1930s red brick – it is imposing and gives a sense of durability. But get closer and it is clear that it is in a state of disrepair. Throughout the NHS, staff are overworked as the health service struggles with chronic underfunding, staff shortages and aging facilities.
Sutton Council has acknowledged that St Helier is in need of renovation; it was one of the hospitals that would have supposedly been rebuilt as part of Boris Johnson’s broken promise to build 40 new hospitals. Around £60 million has been spent in the past five years improving facilities across the hospitals. But the ageing hospitals are deteriorating faster than the NHS can fix them, and construction has been subject to various delays.
Fight to win
UVW says its efforts to negotiate with the hospital group have been fruitless. “We implored them again to have a meeting to discuss the demands and to find a way forward. And they refused,” said Petros Elia, the UVW’s General Secretary.
A shocking new report by UVW union, NHS at 75: The Hidden Cost for Low-Paid, Migrant Workers at St Helier and Epsom Hospitals, exposes the institutional racism entrenched in the NHS.
According to the findings, hundreds of largely Black, Asian, and migrant facilities staff – including cleaners, porters, and caterers – employed directly by St George’s, Epsom, and St Helier Hospital Group (GESH) have for years been systematically excluded from the NHS’s Agenda for Change (AfC) pay and conditions. The union has described this as ‘institutionally racist’ treatment of staff.
To win a full victory, we need to force the hand of the employers. Next month, resident doctors will walk out for five days of strike action. Facilities workers should make links with other NHS staff and other public sector workers taking action to build for coordinated action that can maximise pressure on the bosses.
We need a democratically-run, socialist health service, run by and for workers and the wider community, rather than overpaid ‘trust’ managers. This also means kicking out public-private partnerships and PFI schemes, and funding massive investment to overhaul services to begin address the chronic crisis in NHS waiting times, hospital beds and crucial services.
