NHS Unions respond to South West Pay Cartel Discussion Document

Published: 23 August 2012

For immediate release: Wednesday 22 August 2012

Following a meeting of NHS Trades Unions today (22 August), on potential proposals to cut pay, terms and conditions for NHS staff in the South West, NHS Staff-Side chair Christina McAnea, said:

“Today we give notice that we do not recognise this pay cartel. NHS staff are paid on national terms and conditions and any negotiations to alter them should be on a national level. This organisation has no status, or authority to enter into negotiations, and the Trades Unions will therefore not be engaging with any proposals made by the cartel to cut pay, terms and conditions of our members.

“We have made it clear that these moves to cut pay, terms and conditions would have a serious detrimental impact across the whole of the South West. NHS Trusts would start to lose skilled staff to organisations elsewhere that pay more. In turn, patients would be short-changed as their local hospitals lose the skills required to deliver effective patient care. These moves will also drive down pay and conditions across the South West, including in the private sector, harming the local economy in these uncertain times.

“NHS Trades Unions have always said that, while terms and conditions arrangements must be made nationally, they would continue to work constructively with individual employers to address local issues such as productivity and workforce planning. However, it beggars belief that at a time of financial constraint across the NHS, 20 Trusts have ploughed £200,000 in total into a scheme whose only outcome will be to penalise hard-working staff. This short term fix designed to address cost pressures is a negative move for employers, staff and patients.

Ends

Notes for editors

1) The South West Pay Cartel is formally known as the South West Pay, Terms and Conditions Consortium
2) The NHS Trade Unions at the meeting today were BMA, Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists, Unite, Unison, RCN, RCM, Society of Radiographers, Chartered Society of Physiotherapists and GMB
3) For more information, contact the Royal College of Nursing press office on 020 7647 3633