At my trust, North Bristol NHS Trust, this issue was raised at Joint Union Committee (JUC) following the national agreement and as the RCN representative I was involved, engaging to support other trade union colleagues and representing our members who were affected.
While the trust could see they needed to re-band many staff they were concerned about training requirements and other financial implications. We had some great support from HR and the Chief Nurse but despite this we went into dispute when 12 months on, negotiations were ongoing.
We local trade union representatives were being supported by our full-time officers to ensure that processes were strictly followed.
We engaged with members locally by producing information to raise awareness and answer questions.
A significant area we negotiated along with the re-band was compensatory pay for those staff who had been undertaking clinical duties while being paid at band 2 for many years.
We negotiated compensatory pay of up to £4,000.
The trust also liaised with neighbouring trusts who recognised the need for them to offer as good a package or due to the trusts' geographic proximity, staff would vote with their feet.
The benefits of this deal have not only been for those individuals directly affected. The trust has been able to retain health care support workers and has expanded its education offer to them.
These negotiations were lengthy and at times it felt like we may never get a successful outcome for our members. Thankfully our JUC leads, both of whom have paid time allocated by the trust for them to undertake this role, did most of the day-to-day work, and I covered the JUC secretary role at the beginning of this year as they could see how committed I was to the work.
I had amazing support from Andrew Christaki, my Senior RCN Officer from the South West region and together we have built fantastic relationships in the trust.
I am aware, from my work on the RCN Trade Union Committee, that other areas across the NHS have not been able to conclude this issue and many band 2 staff are undertaking roles which should have them paid at band 3.
Our JUC was strong, committed and worked together to do what was needed for members.
It’s frustrating that the NHS push these issues to local negotiations to sort out the detail.
I don’t believe it’s the best way of doing it as it took a very long time for local representatives with local officers to get a resolution.
There will also be variations to agreements. It doesn’t seem right that staff doing the same work will inevitably have different outcomes.
The negotiation process felt quite ‘high stakes’ with a good deal riding on our actions for members.
I was grateful for Andrew’s support; negotiating and knowing when to make an agreement is a definite skill.
That said I’m so proud to have been involved with getting the right outcome for health care support workers across our and the neighbouring trust.
This work has strengthened relationships with the trust, with other trade unions and across the nursing profession in the trust.
While the trust could see they needed to re-band many staff they were concerned about training requirements and other financial implications. We had some great support from HR and the Chief Nurse but despite this we went into dispute when 12 months on, negotiations were ongoing.
We local trade union representatives were being supported by our full-time officers to ensure that processes were strictly followed.
We engaged with members locally by producing information to raise awareness and answer questions.
A significant area we negotiated along with the re-band was compensatory pay for those staff who had been undertaking clinical duties while being paid at band 2 for many years.
We negotiated compensatory pay of up to £4,000.
The trust also liaised with neighbouring trusts who recognised the need for them to offer as good a package or due to the trusts' geographic proximity, staff would vote with their feet.
The benefits of this deal have not only been for those individuals directly affected. The trust has been able to retain health care support workers and has expanded its education offer to them.
These negotiations were lengthy and at times it felt like we may never get a successful outcome for our members. Thankfully our JUC leads, both of whom have paid time allocated by the trust for them to undertake this role, did most of the day-to-day work, and I covered the JUC secretary role at the beginning of this year as they could see how committed I was to the work.
I had amazing support from Andrew Christaki, my Senior RCN Officer from the South West region and together we have built fantastic relationships in the trust.
I am aware, from my work on the RCN Trade Union Committee, that other areas across the NHS have not been able to conclude this issue and many band 2 staff are undertaking roles which should have them paid at band 3.
Our JUC was strong, committed and worked together to do what was needed for members.
It’s frustrating that the NHS push these issues to local negotiations to sort out the detail.
I don’t believe it’s the best way of doing it as it took a very long time for local representatives with local officers to get a resolution.
There will also be variations to agreements. It doesn’t seem right that staff doing the same work will inevitably have different outcomes.
The negotiation process felt quite ‘high stakes’ with a good deal riding on our actions for members.
I was grateful for Andrew’s support; negotiating and knowing when to make an agreement is a definite skill.
That said I’m so proud to have been involved with getting the right outcome for health care support workers across our and the neighbouring trust.
This work has strengthened relationships with the trust, with other trade unions and across the nursing profession in the trust.
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