Latest news with #Mitie
Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mirror
CHRISTINA McANEA: 'Workers at private firms delivering NHS services rarely get a good deal'
Unison General Secretary Christina McAnea writes for The Mirror on private firms delivering NHS services, saying: 'No one should be making a profit from running public services' Since Labour came to power, things are looking up for the NHS. We've seen record investment and waiting times falling. But this progress risks being derailed. The government plans to transfer thousands of low-paid health workers out of the NHS. Ministers are allowing hospital bosses to set up their own companies to save cash. Before the election, Labour promised to bring workers on private contracts back into public services. But in power, ministers are doing the opposite. Plans to create a company in Dorset are underway. But more than a thousand cleaners, porters and caterers at local hospitals say they want to stay in the NHS. Hospital managers have said there'll be no impact on patients. Nor on staff pay, pensions or jobs. But Unison thinks otherwise. Ten years ago, Tory ministers had the same terrible idea. Health workers didn't like it then. And they don't like it now. The NHS needs help to get back on its feet, recover from the pandemic and years of Tory underfunding. No one should be making a profit from running public services. Workers at private firms delivering NHS services rarely get a good deal. I recently met a group of cleaners from east Lancashire working for contracting giant Mitie in health centres. The company regularly gets their pay wrong. The cleaners often receive less than they should, leaving them struggling. To make matters worse, Mitie refuses to pay staff bonuses given to other NHS workers during Covid. So far, the cleaners have taken eight days of strike action. But the firm still refuses to act. One in five payslips is incorrect. That's unacceptable. Company execs would be fuming if their wages were regularly wrong and they were denied bonuses. The staff take real pride in their jobs. But what really grates is that last year Mitie boss Phil Bentley took home £14.7m. And the firm's profits were £234m. Unison's calculated that giving staff the £1,655 Covid bonus would cost Mitie £70,000. Mr Bentley earns that in just ten hours. Neighbourhood health centres, like the ones the Mitie workers clean will be at the heart of the government's ten-year plan. This promises a revitalised NHS that works for patients. The plans mustn't be blown off course by unnecessary and unpopular privatisation, which doesn't work. Finally, this week I went to Gloucester in a shower of rain to meet phlebotomists who've been on strike for 121 days. These dedicated staff specialise in taking blood from patients and want to be paid fairly. But bosses won't budge. Other hospitals have paid up. It's time NHS managers in Gloucester did the same. Millions to benefit from workers' rights reforms Millions of workers will soon benefit from what's in the employment rights bill. It will stop people on zero-hours contracts being exploited, give workers sick pay as soon as they're poorly and make it harder for bad bosses to sack staff. This is the biggest set of workplace changes in a generation. But lots of people don't know much about it. The government should be shouting it from the rooftops. Filming of frontline workers for clicks has to stop Working on the front line is tough. The likes of paramedics, police officers and firefighters see and deal with horrendous things all the time. They deserve our thanks and respect. What they don't need is people making life tougher for them. But that's what's happening. Research from my union Unison found that one in seven health workers had experienced unwanted filming or photography in the past year. Staff being filmed as they treat heart attack victims. With the footage being livestreamed or put on platforms like TikTok. Someone filmed a car crash with seriously injured people. They refused to stop and had to be escorted away by the police. This ghoulish filming for clicks has to stop. Let our dedicated public servants do their jobs. Put the phone away.
Times
20-07-2025
- Business
- Times
Poorly designed workplaces cost the UK economy £71bn a year
Poorly designed workplaces cost the UK economy as much as £71.4 billion each year, according to research from Mitie. A survey of 3,000 employees across the UK from the facilities and security company said that UK employees lost 68 minutes each week to tasks such as finding a room with good internet access for a meeting. Slow lifts and a lack of space for collaboration were also draining workplace productivity, the company said. Scaled across the workforce, Mitie said the time wasted by such poorly designed infrastructure amounted to a weekly salary cost of £485.2 million to employers. Over a year, this figure could reach £71.4 billion. Fifty-one per cent of respondents said a poorly maintained workplace was a top cause of their job dissatisfaction, while 88 per cent said a safe working environment contributed to their job satisfaction. Eighty-nine per cent of workers who were satisfied with their workplace were also satisfied with their employer. In contrast, 23 per cent of those who were dissatisfied with their workplace environment were satisfied with their employer. 'Currently, across the UK, there are a number of friction points within office environments that adversely impact employee satisfaction, which directly impacts productivity,' Mark Caskey, the managing director of projects at Mitie, said. 'But all is not lost, some are within the employer's control: for example, ensuring that the right spaces for the right tasks are readily available, from collaborative through to quiet spaces, and that any tech is in full working order.' According to the research, recreational amenities were less popular than commonly thought. Twenty-nine per cent of respondents said that recreational amenities such as gyms and social breakout areas contributed to their overall satisfaction. 'When workplaces are designed with people in mind and managed effectively, they become powerful enablers of collaboration and transformation, high in both productivity and satisfaction,' Caskey said. 'People want to spend more time in them. People thrive and communities benefit, leading to a workforce that ultimately helps the economy gain critical momentum.'
Business Insider
18-07-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
EY's London cleaners are picketing its office after over a third were told their jobs could be cut
Tough hours and layoffs can affect anyone working at the Big Four — including cleaners. At EY, over a third of cleaning staff contracted to work at the firm's London offices have been told their jobs are at risk. The proposed job cuts affect roughly 20 employees. The workers are not directly employed by EY — the firm outsources cleaning services to the British subcontractor Mitie. Their union representatives told BI that at least 48 of the 55 cleaners for EY's London offices walked off the job this week in protest. Roughly 20 cleaners had formed a picket line outside the firm's Canary Wharf office on Wednesday afternoon. Blaring horns and shouts could be heard from two blocks away when Business Insider arrived, disrupting the lunchtime buzz of Canary Wharf's otherwise pristine corporate atmosphere. Two suited men sipped beers on a restaurant terrace across the road, watching as the protesters shouted their demands for a reversal of plans to cut 37% of cleaning staff and better working conditions for outsourced workers. They were joined by representatives from the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB), a trade union that represents them. Picket lines were set up at EY's Canary Wharf office and the firm's London Bridge HQ from Tuesday to Friday this week, and the strikes are scheduled to continue next week, the union said. "Whilst partners at EY take home an average of £723,000 a year ($969,000), the already overworked cleaning workforce who make just £13.85 an hour are being told that over a third of their jobs are at risk," said Henry Chango Lopez, IWGB's general secretary. Rosa Jarrin, a 63-year-old cleaner whose job is on the line, told BI she's worked in EY offices for 15 years. "I come to work sick or not. I give it everything I have," she said. When asked what would happen to her if she were laid off, she became emotional and said it was difficult to think about the future. "I'm feeling really vulnerable because this is how I make my daily bread. I would like to keep working until I retire," Jarrin said. IWGB said cleaners had reported overwork before the redundancies were announced and that some had expressed concerns that if the proposed layoffs go ahead, they would push an "already high workload" onto a smaller number of staff. Mitie has also introduced changes to workers' shifts that disrupt childcare requirements or are untenable with second or third jobs that some of them have, Chango Lopez told BI. Jimena Rosero, a 61-year-old who has been cleaning EY offices for the past two years, said Mitie had offered to extend her shifts from seven to eight hours. She said the company hadn't specified what the future workload would look like, and that this worried her. "I asked them, 'If I stay, what's going to happen to my job? If you fire 11 people in this office, am I going to have to clean two floors now?'" Jimena told BI. Mitie is consulting with the cleaners and their representatives in the union about the proposed changes, a company spokesperson told BI. Under British law, a consultation period of at least 30 days must be held if layoffs impact 20 or more employees. "We are supporting colleagues during this difficult time, including exploring opportunities for redeployment as part of the consultation process," the spokesperson said. In email correspondence between the union's legal team and Mitie, which BI has seen, the union said that they had been "given three completely different explanations for the proposed changes." These included an "alleged agreement with the client to reduce staff in order to secure the contract," a "desire to change working hours from part-time to full-time," and a "general improvement of the cleaning service." The cuts to cleaning staff come as EY grapples to recover from the post-pandemic slowdown in demand for consulting services and reshape operations for the AI future. EY doesn't report individual results for its UK business, but the growth rate for its Europe, the Middle East, India, and Africa (EMEIA) division fell to 6.9% in the year ending June 30, 2024, down from 16.9%. In December 2024, the firm cut 150 jobs from its UK consulting division. EY's CEO and global chair, Janet Truncale, has initiated a significant restructuring of the organization's business divisions since taking over as head of the firm last year. EY confirmed to BI that Mitie provides its workplace and security services in the UK and that the consultation process is ongoing.
BBC News
18-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Sellafield contract workers set to strike over pay
Hundreds of contract workers at Sellafield - the UK's largest nuclear site - are set to strike in a dispute over of the GMB union employed by Mitie, including cleaners and security staff at the west Cumbrian site, say they will walk out for two weeks from 1 200 workers overwhelmingly rejected a 3.5% pay offer, with the union's regional organiser Fran Robson saying: "Without these workers, Sellafield cannot operate safely or securely."Mitie said it was committed to reaching a resolution and that "strong contingencies" would be put in place to avoid disruption if a strike were to go ahead. Sellafield manages more radioactive waste than any other nuclear facility in the Robson said: "If Mitie refuses to return to the negotiation table with a meaningful offer, strike action will go ahead, risking significant disruption to this critical nuclear site."We call on Mitie to provide a pay rise that genuinely recognises the essential contribution of these workers."Meanwhile, Mitie said it was in continuous talks with both Sellafield and GMB union to agree an offer."As always, our priority is to ensure continued service delivery and in the unfortunate case of a strike going ahead, we will put strong contingencies in place to avoid disruption to the site."A Sellafield spokesman said it was not involved directly in the dispute but said: "As always, the safety and security of the site, our workforce, and the local community is our priority." Additional reporting by PA Media Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
BBC News
07-07-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Campsfield House immigration centre to reopen under same management
A company criticised for how it ran a controversial immigration centre has been awarded a new contract to run the same facility House, near Kidlington, Oxfordshire, was operated by Mitie but shut in 2018 after years of problems, including riots, escapes and complaints about was announced last year it would reopen, and Mitie has now been given a six-year contract to run the site. Mitie, which expects the centre to open in December, said it would ensure Campsfield was a "safe and supportive environment for all". Bill MacKeith, a member of Keep Campsfield Closed coalition, said awarding the contract to Mitie was "shocking". "Mitie does not have a good record," he said. "Its time running Campsfield was marred by a major fire, suicide and three mass hunger strikes."Green councillor for Oxfordshire County Council, Ian Middleton, added: "The fact that this is the same company who ran Campsfield immediately before its closure doesn't bode well for future detainees." The government said the site would have "robust physical security measures and appropriate security procedures in place to ensure the facility operates safely and securely."A petition to keep the site closed has more than 1,600 signatures. Last year, the chief inspector of prisons said Mitie-run Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre (IRC), near Heathrow, had the worst conditions they had seen in immigration detention. 'Strong leadership' In a statement, Mitie said its new contract to operate Campsfield was "the result of our commitment to upholding the highest standards of welfare, safety, and dignity for all residents in our care.""His Majesty's Inspectorate of Prison's most recent report on Harmondsworth following a review of progress, recognised the centre's exceptional response – highlighting a respectful and positive culture between colleagues and residents, as well as significant improvements to living conditions and facilities since the previous inspection," it added. "We are proud to be bringing the same dedication, compassion, and strong leadership to the running of Campsfield IRC, ensuring a safe and supportive environment for all." You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
