By Dave Blackhurst
The Sentinel
STAFFORDSHIRE, England — Ambulance staff who transport critically-ill patients at a hospital are to go on strike in a row over pay.
They are set to walk out at private ambulance firm E-Zec, which transfers hundreds of high-risk patients across the University Hospital of North Staffordshire each month.
The dispute centres on claims that some of the 45 E-Zec paramedics and first responders are paid an average of £1,500-a-year less, with worse sick pay, than other colleagues doing exactly the same jobs.
A ballot for industrial action, including strikes, has already been supported and workers could walk out as early as next week.
Last-ditch talks were today being held with health union Unison to try to stop the walkout.
Unison regional secretary Ray Salmon said today: “The company has run this contract for four years and it is only in the past 12 months that relations have deteriorated.
“But now feelings are running so high that a vast majority of staff went for industrial action, including strikes.
“Having two levels of pay and conditions for people doing the same work from the same depot is grossly unfair.”
E-Zec won the NHS contract for high-dependency transfers from the former Staffordshire ambulance service following the death of Longton teenager Luke Gallimore.
He died from leukaemia in 2004 after waiting two hours for a vehicle to move him just 300 yards to intensive care.
The delay was partly blamed on the high number of ambulances tied up on 999 calls or waiting to drop patients off elsewhere at the hospital.
The private firm was brought in so the hospital had a fleet and workforce solely dedicated to transferring patients within the sprawling Hartshill site.
NHS paramedics who switched from the ambulance trust to E-Zec had their pay and conditions protected by law and the company initially gave the same rates to new recruits.
But as the ex-public sector staff enjoyed NHS pay rises, the wages earned by the rest started to lag behind.
Surrey-based E-Zec, which has a depot at Newstead, also collect patients who have been injured abroad from airports and moves casualties between hospitals.
An E-Zec spokesman said: “We have assured the hospital that we have contingencies for cover if there is a strike. Talks are ongoing and we hope to resolve the dispute.”
In 2009, staff working for private ambulance firm Parkwood settled a similar dispute with their employer.
About 50 employees had been receiving less pay than colleagues whose jobs had been transferred over from the NHS.
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