Yesterday afternoon, UNISON members working for Medirest at Glenfield hospital accepted an offer from their employer in settlement of our dispute over the introduction of Agenda for Change. As a result, UNISON members working for contractors within the UHL will, henceforth, receive full Agenda for Change pay, terms and conditions as set out in the national framework agreement, and they will also receive back-dated terms and conditions (AfC pay rates have already been introduced in line with the framework agreement). For the period from April 2008 to date, the staff will receive full backpay funded by the UHL. For the period between October 2006 and March 2007, Medirest and Serco staff will receive 50% of the backpay specified by the framework agreement, funded by their direct employer.

Leicestershire Health UNISON branch agreed the attached motion to note the successful conclusion of the dispute last night.

Personally I'm delighted we managed to win so much money for our members, from employers who were initially unwilling to cough up. That's down to the hard work of our action committee reps and a really strong campaign with a good response to the union from members whenever we balloted or consulted them. I'm also glad that the final decisions were made by our members themselves, and not by the union machinery - it's a good principle and one that we should follow more often.

Obviously it would have been better had we been able to force the UHL to shell out the full back-dated elements of the deal, and I have some frustration that they've managed to 'get away' without having to pay. But we should simply redouble our efforts to make them bring the contractor staff back in house so this kind of two-tier workforce can never happen again in Leicester.