UNION officials have warned that a pay dispute between staff and St Helens & Knowsley Hospital Trust may result in strike action.

Domestic staff, porters and catering staff from St Helens & Knowsley Hospitals have been pressing for a pay increase for several months but have failed to reach an agreement.

Staff, who currently earn £4.24 an hour, claim they are among the lowest-paid employees in the Trust and in many cases receive little more than the national minimum wage. They have already rejected rises of 3.7% and 5% and their anger has been heightened by their claims that the trust has failed to eliminate low pay. It is believed they are looking for a rise to £5 an hour.

Mike Donovan, Unison branch secretary for St Helens & Knowsley, said: "Five per cent may seem a lot to some people, but for our members, 5% of nothing is nothing. I am appalled that the Trust was not even prepared to commit itself to the principle of trying to eliminate low pay in the NHS. It seems that there is a lack of understanding of the difficulties that poverty pay inevitably generates. Our members would be better paid if they worked at a supermarket stacking shelves."

Unison is now completing the necessary legal requirements before carrying out a ballot of its members. However, Mr Donovan added that they will re-enter talks at any time if the Trust is willing to act in a "sensible and sensitive manner".

A spokesperson for St Helens & Knowsley Hospital Trust confirmed that Unison had rejected their latest offer and added that a further meeting was currently being arranged.