Northumbria NHS workers strike

Details

Thursday, 23 August 2012

Written by Northumbria SA sellers

UNISON members employed by Northumbria Healthcare Trust took strike action today in response to the decision of the Foundation Trust to slash mileage rates from 47p per mile to 24p. The workers concerned are Community Nurses, Occupational Therapists, Technical Instructors and Social Workers, who are required to use a car for work, because they work in the community covering large distances to meet the needs of vulnerable, often elderly patients.

The dispute has been going on now since June 28th. UNISON negotiators report that members are furious at the cynical moves the employers have used essentially to break national terms and conditions of service.
24p per mile simply doesn’t cover the cost of petrol, maintenance, business insurance or the cost savings the trust makes by dint of staff transporting essential equipment to patient’s homes. The trust has already stopped monthly lump sum payments for car users. Workers who want to remain on 47p per mile can only do so by signing up to an expensive commercial lease car scheme run by the trust. Even then the Trust reserves the right to turn down an application for the lease car scheme.
All this comes on top of the 12% cut in real wages that the Government’s pay freeze has imposed over the last couple of years. NHS staff working in the community are now being asked to subsidise their employer as they do their jobs. The Trust, which covers North Tyneside and Northumberland, covers a huge area, including isolated rural areas.
UNISON members who refused to use their own cars for work have been threatened with disciplinary action, UNISON’s response was to ballot members to legally protect them. UNISON argues that if members are only being paid Public Transport rates then logically they can use public transport to do their work. The lunacy of the Trusts position of course is that the cost and inconvenience of using public transport, particularly in rural areas means that workers can do far less in a day.
The Trust’s response was to threaten members:
“The  Trust  reserves  the  right  to  advise  them  that  part- performance  of  their  duties  will  not  be  accepted,  and  to  withhold  pay accordingly”.  
  “To  summarise  the  Trust’s  position  on  pay  and  part  performance:  staff who carry out their full workload will be paid as normal.  Staff who offer less  than  their  normal  workload  will  either:    be  informed  that  the  Trust will not accept part-performance, in which case they will not be paid and should  not  attend  work;    be  expected  to  carry  out  tasks  as  directed  by the Trust, for which they will be paid pro-rata.”
As UNISON points out:
The  Trust  cannot  have  it  all  ways.  They  either  should  provide  a  pool  car  to staff  who  do  not  wish  to  take  up  the  option  of  a  lease  car,  OR  pay  them  the appropriate  standard  rate  of  mileage,  and  not  the  public  transport  rate  which has been imposed.   
 Staff  who  provide  their  own  private  vehicles  to  undertake  their  workload  in  a timely  manner  and  reduce  significant  wastage  of  journey  time,  should  not  be penalised by the Trust by having to subsidise their own travel.
 The  Trust  is  responsible  for  this  period  of  industrial  unrest,  NOT  UNISON members.    Instead  of  negotiating,  the  Trust  has  sought  to  bully  and  intimidate UNISON CBU members participating in legitimate, legal industrial action. 
Public Sector Managers in the Health Service, Local Government and elsewhere see member’s terms and conditions as an easy target. But there is a world of difference between the Boardroom and the front line. The example of Northumbria Health Trust is replicated in many areas. In some areas, management attacks go far further than this.
As the Con Dem austerity measures place more and more pressure on the public sector, disputes like this are likely to become more widespread. Services are being cut to the bone and there are limits to what workers can take. UNISON and the other Public Sector Unions need an industrial strategy that will stop the Government in their tracks.