‘Crunch talks’: Staff at The Cumberland Infirmary Carlisle should be given the pay they were promised, say union officials UNION officials have gone into “crunch talks” with the firm contracted to provide support services at The Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle in a last-ditch attempt to avert a strike. More than 150 porters, cleaners, catering and switchboard staff have backed a walk-out next week over a pay-deal which Unison and GMB union officials say was agreed more than a decade ago but never paid. The workers - employed by the private firm Mitie rather than the NHS - were ‘promised’ enhanced pay rates for working unsocial hours.