UNIONS are warning of further strike action in Hartlepool nursing homes if care bosses refuse to meet them for talks.

More than 50 care workers took to the picket lines on Wednesday in a dispute over pay cuts.

Residents in the Charlotte Grange, Throston Grange Court and Gardner House homes were cared for by a skeleton staff while the rest of the workers protested.

Unions say they will hold another 24-hour strike in a month if bosses at Community Integrated Care (CIC) continue to refuse to meet them for negotiations.

Unions balloted workers after CIC, which took over the homes from Hartlepool Borough Council two years ago, moved employees from the council's terms and conditions to their own, signalling cuts in pay of up to 60 per cent.

Holidays and sickness allowances for the transferred workers look likely to be slashed, and night and weekend pay will be cut to the standard rate.

The development came after CIC, a non-profit making trust, claimed that it was making a loss of £50,000-a-month and closed Stranton House, one of the four homes it took over from the council, leading to 27 redundancies.

Unions are accusing CIC of mismanagement and demanding the homes are taken back under the council's control.

Edwin Jeffries, Unison branch secretary, said unions were open to negotiations, but CIC had not agreed to meet them.

He said: "It is fantasy island. CIC can't be losing £50,000-a-month only two years after it took on the contract from the council.

"We know these strikes are upsetting for the elderly people in the homes, but we feel we don't have any choice but to take action."

Robert Black, project manager for CIC, confirmed that the trust was losing money, but added it was difficult to calculate exactly how much.

He said it was due to new government regulations, brought in since the homes came under CIC's control, which had caused extra expense and brought about the closure of Stranton House.

He denied mismanagement and said that the decision to move staff under CIC's terms of employment had been a difficult one.

Unions are to meet with Hartlepool councillors next week in a bid to resolve the situation