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More than 300 Bradford hospital staffers are scheduled to strike this week in a dispute over what union leaders have described as a "back door privatization" of the NHS.
The porters, cleaning agents and security personnel voted against plans from the Bradford teaching hospitals, the NHS, to create a new company to manage the facilities.
The Unison union said the decision was part of the gradual privatization of the NHS and would deprive up to 600 workers of the protections they enjoy as its employees.
The seven-day strike, scheduled to begin Monday morning, comes as the Conservative government is increasingly calling for the abandonment of a law that has led to large-scale privatization of health care.
Bradford's proposals address its areas, facilities and clinical engineering services and do not include the privatization of patient care. The NHS Trust has denied the privatization of its services, insisting that the new company will be "wholly owned and operated for and by the NHS".
The Trust's hospitals include the Bradford Infirmary and St. Luke's Hospital. Unison voted with its 313 affected members when the plans were unveiled in May and 97% voted for a strike action.
Natalie Ratcliffe, regional organizer of Unison, said union members were unhappy with the proposals presented as they meant they would no longer be employed within the NHS.
The NHS Trust said it would ensure that affected staff would maintain their existing salary and working conditions for 25 years – a promise, Unison, stating that its members could be "easily broken".
Ratcliffe said, "We urged confidence to remove plans, or at least to put them on the back burner, as there will likely be general elections this year or next year and the 100-year-old branch creation policy. % will probably be dropped.
"In the UK, other trusts have abandoned or abandoned their plans, but Bradford's confidence seems determined to impose this company on our members and they are angry and worried enough to have decided to go on strike."
The trust said provisions had been made to "ensure that the workers' strike would not compromise patient safety and level of care" and that essential services, such as emergency procedures and surgeries urgent, would be maintained normally.
He advised patients to go to their appointments as usual and added: "There will be pickets in front of the entrances to the trust's hospitals and we expect them to behave responsible way; they will not be allowed to interfere or intimidate patients and visitors and you will be admitted to all our hospitals as usual. "
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