Pro-NHS Demos

Lifted from Unison South West:
“UNISON Members Fight for the Future of the NHS Across the South West

UNISON members are lobbying the board meetings of each of the twenty Trusts in the South West Pay Cartel, throughout September and October, and asking them to pull out of the cartel with immediate effect.
UNISON members are angry at proposals which may lead to 15% pay cuts, on the back of years of pay freezes and rising workloads.  They are demanding that Trusts involved, put their frequently stated commitment to patients and their staff into action by leaving the cartel immediately.

Most of the Pay Cartel Trusts, termed a Pay and Conditions Consortium by the Trusts involved, have board meetings and AGMs scheduled throughout September and October.

Joanne Kaye, UNISON South West Regional Secretary, said:

‘Our members are lobbying these Trust Boards now because the future of the NHS in the South West is in their hands.  We need to ensure that Trust Boards members are aware of the risks they are taking with the health service.

‘The members who make up each Trust Board are charged with upholding the integrity of the NHS and ensuring the best possible patient care.  Cutting pay, destroying morale, and forcing nurses, midwives, doctors and other healthcare workers to leave the area or find other jobs will harm patient care and undermine the Trust’s performance in every way.  Ultimately every one of us, whether we work in the NHS, have children or relatives who need the NHS, or whether we are patients ourselves, will lose.

‘NHS workers make the NHS the national treasure it is.  We know that many Trusts have only joined this Cartel because they are worried about the opinion of their counterparts in other Trusts.  They will make the ultimate decision at individual Trust level and they shouldn’t let themselves be bullied by a few hardliners.  UNISON is asking each and every Board Member to forget about what other Trust Boards will think.  We are asking them to recognise the true value of their staff and the services they provide.  We are asking them to remember that their duty is to their local people, communities and businesses by voting to pull out of the Cartel immediately.’

Joanne Kaye continued:

‘National negotiations are at a critical stage.  The Cartel are undermining these negotiations and moving too quickly, trying to force the next round of Trust Boards meetings into make rushed ill-informed decisions that will bring regional pay to the region.

‘Our members are prepared to fight the Cartel to safeguard their future and the future of the NHS.  There are a massive 20 lobbies of AGMs and Trust Board meetings taking place next week, and this lobbying action is part of a wider UNISON campaign against the cartel which includes a national petition, individual petitions, meeting MPs individually and parliamentary meetings.  UNISON’s campaign is gaining support all the time and recent reports* have provided clear evidence that introducing regional pay is wasteful and time consuming – which is why most national, multi-site companies in the private sector do not use it, preferring national pay structures with additions for London and the South East.’

ENDS

Notes to Editor

South West Pay Cartel Background Information

Twenty South West Trusts have set up a South West regional pay consortium, also known as the ‘Pay Cartel’, to fix pay, terms and conditions and to create a regional pay system.  Each Trust has paid in £10,000 of public money to pay for consultants to look into plans to set up a regional pay structure.  This plan would take affected South West healthcare staff out of the nationally negotiated Agenda for Change Terms and Conditions.  Leaked documents show the Cartel are considering increasing working hours and cutting holiday entitlement; reducing pay; cutting sick pay; introduce performance related pay progression and reducing unsocial hours payments.  UNISON claims the consequences for the region will be disastrous and that skilled health workers will be driven out of the region, taking money out of the local economy and deepening the healthcare postcode lottery.

- More information is available on the UNISON South West’s Pay Cartel campaign webpages

- *Crowding Out – An independent report by Incomes Data Services.  For a copy of the report contact Jenn Gollings.

List of Lobbies taking place over the remainder of September

BRISTOL
Wednesday 26 September
Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust
Lobbying of Board meeting from 9am
Location:  RICE Centre, RUH

BATH
Lobbying of Annual Members’ meeting from 6pm
Location:  Assembly Room, Bath
Contact: Catriona Scott on 07506 292973

BRISTOL
Thursday 27 September
University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust
Lobbying of Board meeting starting at 9am
Location:  outside the Trust Headquarters, UBHT, Bristol
Contact: Jayne Jackson on 07508 080346

BRISTOL
Thursday 27 September
North Bristol NHS Trust
Lobbying board meeting from 10am
Location:  Outside the Trust headquarters by the Tennis Courts, Frenchay Hospital, North Bristol Trust
Contact: Jayne Jackson on 07508 080346″