Health minister John Denham has intervened in the long-running Dudley Hospital private finance initiative dispute by issuing a statement confirming the government's refusal to re-tender the project.Mr Denham's statement came last week as 600 mainly ancillary workers staged a 12-day strike, the sixth in their campaign against transfer out of the NHS in a PFI deal.Mr Denham said the trust had offered 'powerful guarantees' to staff transferring to a new employer, including a union veto on changes to pay and conditions, a pension 'broadly comparable' with the NHS scheme and a £250,000 voluntary redundancy fund. Dudley Unison joint branch secretary Angela Thompson said the offer would create 'a two-tier workforce' as new staff were not guaranteed the same conditions.

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