LABOUR Party chairman Ian Lavery visited the picket line at the Bradford Royal Infirmary (BRI) today. 

More than 300 staff who work in the estates, facilities and clinical engineering departments at the Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which includes the BRI and St Luke’s Hospital, are currently in a two-week strike against plans to create a ‘wholly-owned subsidiary company’.

The Unison union fears the transfer will strip workers, including porters, domestic and security staff, of the protections they have as NHS employees.

The trust has denied it is privatising services and says the new company is the “best way of continuing to provide high quality care for patients”.

The industrial action began last Thursday and follows a week-long strike in July. 

Mr Lavery, MP for Wansbeck, joined Jo Pike, Labour’s parliamentary candidate for the Shipley constituency at the BRI.

He spoke of how he had been on strike for a full year during the miner's strike, but said that it was the right thing to do. 

"It's difficult being on strike, it really is," he said.

"Keep fighting comrades, keep fighting. This is for the people here, at this hospital."