Support staff at Great Western Hospital who are employed by Carillion, are to be allowed to take their full claims of racism and bullying by managers to an employment tribunal.
In this long running dispute, the staff – many of them cleaners and mainly from Swindon’s Goan community – have taken to strike action.
In a victory for the GMB union, a judge ruled that 170 amendments to the claims submitted by the support staff in 2012 can be heard. A thirty-day tribunal hearing is expected later this year.
Carillion holds the hospital’s service contract as part of its Private Finance Initiative funding scheme, and has been under pressure from GWH management to improve its performance after questions were raised about standards in its food and cleaning provision.