WORKERS at York Hospital are being balloted on whether they want to take industrial action.

More than 200 members of union Unite, who work in estates and maintenance for York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, have been asked to say whether they want to take action up to or including a strike.

The ballot has been set up after disputes over the trust’s move to form a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP), wholly owned by the NHS. Unite believes the move would allow the trust to avoid paying tax, could affect workers’ pensions, and is a step towards privatisation.

In August, a consultation ballot was held among members, and more than three quarters (77 per cent), called for a formal ballot for industrial action, which launches today (Thursday, September 6) and runs until Thursday, September 13.

Chris Daly, Unite lead officer for health in Yorkshire, said the change “could lead to a Pandora’s Box of Carillion-type meltdowns”, with “adverse knock-on effects on patient services and jobs”.

He said: “Our members consider that the identity of their employer is a condition of their contract of employment and do not wish that being changed unilaterally, as is proposed in this case. They have a strong desire to remain employed by the trust and not to be employed by this subsidiary.

“We are seeking an undertaking from York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust that it agrees to continue to employ all our members and not transfer them to this new subsidiary with all the negative connotations that will flow from that decision.”

A spokeswoman for the trust previously told The Press: “If and when strike action is announced, we will ensure that we have plans in place to enable us to continue to deliver services safely for our patients, as we have done during previous periods of industrial action.”

Speaking on Wednesday, she said: “The LLP is wholly owned by the NHS as staff have told us that this is important to them. Staff moving to the new organisation will keep their current NHS terms and conditions.”