STRIKING hospital cleaners were due to bring the picket line to hospital bosses today as they begin day two of a week-long strike.

Unison members will keep two picket lines, outside the main entrance of Southampton General Hospital and outside the Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust (SUHT) offices on the site.

This is the sixth time cleaners at the hospital, who are employed by Medirest, have taken industrial action over their claims that the trust has failed to pay agreed NHS rates to cleaning staff despite Government funding to do so.

Andy Straker, regional organiser for Unison, said: “The trust owes their cleaners money, this is their opportunity to do the right thing and treat the cleaners fairly.”

The trust has introduced sick pay, increased basic pay rates and said it had invested more than £1m over three years to do this. But no agreement can be reached on the union’s demands for sick pay to be backdated to 2006.

Steve McManus, chief operating officer at SUHT, said: “We are extremely disappointed Unison has instructed its members to take this action despite the trust meeting in full the agreed plan to uplift both the pay and the terms and conditions of our cleaners to the level they would achieve as NHS employees under Agenda for Change.”