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Trust responses to pay cartel report

Cartel trusts have held board meetings in March and April to discuss the final report of the South West terms and conditions consortium. The trusts are now deciding their positions, in light of the report recommendations, which include that boards should agree in principle to reinstate the active work of the pay cartel in the future.

Eight trusts have now given a firm commitment to national terms and conditions and said that they will not return to working with the pay cartel if it should reform.

This number may increase once further board meetings are held in April. As expected, some trusts intend to stay working with the cartel, but they will find this more difficult now so many trusts have withdrawn their ongoing support. The status of each trust that originally joined the cartel is outlined here.

This RCN campaign against the pay cartel has been a great success. As well as South West trusts pulling back from their proposals, it has also resulted in the Government withdrawing support for regional pay and giving a commitment to maintaining national pay across the NHS.

Pay cartel publishes latest report

The South West terms and conditions consortium published their latest report on Friday 1 March 2013. The cartel originally stated that they intended to apply local changes to staff pay and terms and conditions to save money, but this report does no more than set out ways to better utilise the current AfC pay system. 

This outcome is the result of an excellent campaign by the RCN and other unions against the pay cartel’s original plan to introduce regional pay.

On Monday 4 March Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust, on receipt of this report, announced that they want no further part in it. The RCN, together with other unions, welcome the trust's renewed commitment to partnership working. We are now calling on the 18 trusts that remain in the cartel to formally withdraw their membership.

Find out how you can get involved too, by viewing the Frontline First South West Pay Cartel pages.

Valentine’s Day cards success

The Valentine's Day card campaign has been hugely successful, with Chief Executives, Executives and Non Executive board members at the pay cartel trusts receiving hundreds of postcards from members concerned about their terms and conditions.  

Important local meetings to update members on the pay cartel

Helen Hancox, Project lead for the pay cartel campaign, will be hosting a number of member meetings over the next few months to share the latest information on the pay cartel and discuss the next steps for the campaign. 

Events will be taking place in workplaces all over the region to ensure accessibility for members. Members will receive a email inviting them to attend the nearest event. The meetings will also be featured on the South West events site.

The RCN remains committed to our campaign against the pay cartel. We will continue to put pressure on employers in the cartel until they announce that they no longer pursue the implementation of local terms and conditions. 

Meeting dates:

For more information about these meetings, please see the South West events site.

The current situation

For the latest news and information on the south west pay cartel go to the new Frontline First south west pay cartel pages.

Read the cartel's mission document, where they discuss their aims to undermine your pay, terms and conditions:- Project Initiation Document [PDF 348.65 kb] (published in May 2012).

Jeannett Martin, Director, RCN South West, believes:

Jeannett_opt“It is really quite shocking that, at a time when the NHS is so strapped for cash, 20 trusts are ploughing £200,000 into a scheme to cut pay, terms and conditions for hard working NHS staff. In addition, there will need to be significant internal HR and financial resources employed to deliver this agenda."

“This is money that should be spent on improving patient care in the south west – not on a project that aims to leave staff working longer hours, with less annual leave and for a smaller pay packet. The history of the NHS has been littered with similar attempts to introduce local pay in the past and the employers have consistently been unable to deliver on this. Agenda for Change, the national pay system, provides a fair, transparent system. It means that in any part of the country, employers know they can recruit staff with the right skills and experience to give patients the care that they need."

“The Government should be focusing on sustaining the morale of nurses, many of whom are working under extreme pressure to deliver care for patients. We believe morale and motivation across the NHS workforce could be further damaged by a move to local pay and that this could have serious implications for the recruitment and retention of staff. If this proposal is implemented in the South West it will have serious implications for patient care.”

The RCN is working closely with other unions on this issue; we are united in the fight against this move by employers to move away from the national agreement.  

To read the latest news and information on the cartel go to the new Frontline First cartel news site.

 

Campaign resources

To download campaign materials to help fight the proposals for regionalised pay go to the Frontline First cartel resource page.

Other resources including adhesive stickers, car stickers, and hard copies of the downloadable items are available through your lead steward or by emailing paycartel@rcn.org.uk.