\n Union UNISON said staff will take action in the coming weeks unless bosses improve their offer on back pay.\n<\/p>\n
\n The row centres on healthcare assistants being regraded to a higher NHS Agenda for Change band after years of carrying out complex tasks above their pay rate.\n<\/p>\n
\n The trust has only offered seven months of back pay, however,\u00a0UNISON says that falls far short of what staff deserve for years of extra duties.\n<\/p>\n
\n Despite months of negotiations, the union says the trust has failed to put forward a fair deal. In a ballot that closed yesterday (August 27),\u00a099.4 per cent of staff backed strike action.\n<\/p>\n
\n This is the fifth trust in the North East to be hit by such a dispute. Successful campaigns have already taken place in Teesside, South Tyneside and Sunderland while the dispute in Northumberland is still unresolved.\n<\/p>\n
\n UNISON Northern regional secretary Clare Williams said: \u201cHealthcare assistants across County Durham and Darlington provide exceptional care to patients. But they feel undervalued and let down by the trust.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cDespite repeated chances to do the right thing, the trust has failed to improve the offer on back pay.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cBeing paid for just a matter of months rather than years fails to reflect the complexity of the tasks they’ve been doing for so long.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe trust should recognise the vital role healthcare assistants play and ensure staff receive decent compensation for their work, instead of forcing them into a strike no one wants.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n A County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson said: \u201cWe highly value the hard work, dedication, and contribution of all our healthcare assistants, who play a vital role in patient care across the Trust.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe are continuing to engage in constructive discussions with UNISON to reach a resolution on this matter.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cOur priority remains ensuring the safe delivery of high-quality care for our patients, and we are working closely with staff and union representatives to avoid any potential disruption.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe remain committed to treating our staff fairly and in line with national NHS agreements.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Union UNISON said staff will take action in the coming weeks unless bosses improve their offer on back…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100178,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-100177","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}