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STORIES NHS RAIL No to divisive
NHS pay Unite pledged to fight the imposition of changes to Agenda for Change (AfC) in February, which will slash the pay and conditions of more than one million NHS staff in England and introduce divisive performance related pay.
Unite and other health unions rejected the plans tabled by NHS Employers warning the introduction of locally negotiated performance pay would further hit low staff morale and patient care.
The employers’ move comes against a backdrop of pay freezes and rising pension contributions leading to cuts in take home pay of up to 30 per cent for some health workers.
Unite accused NHS employers of ‘unpicking’ Agenda for Change to soften the NHS up for the privatisation, warning the changes could open the way for equal pay claims and allow rogue employers to push ahead with plans to cut pay and conditions.
The changes are set to be implemented from March 31. They will see health workers’ pay progression determined by performance through local negotiations on a trust by trust basis, and abolish unsocial hours payments for when staff are off sick.
Unite national officer Rachael Maskell said, “We cannot stand back and let employers break statutory obligations for equal pay for work for equal value or press ahead with further cuts to our members’ terms and conditions.”
Strike threat looms
The London Overground faces the very real possibility of severe disruption to services as workers maintaining the trains prepare to vote on strike action.
Bombardier UK maintenance engineers are furious over changes to shift patterns which will mean extra travel and more disruption to their home and family lives. Bombardier wants to impose new shifts on the workers and has ignored Unite’s concerns about the consequences.
FINANCE
RBS staff should not pay for scandals
Unite demanded Royal Bank of Scot- land (RBS) does not sacrifice branch and back office jobs to pay for scandals and mismanagement, which have led to a £5.1bn loss.
Since 2008, 30,000 jobs have been lost at the bank and it has been ordinary bank workers, who played no part in the financial crisis or the Libor scandal, who have had to bear the brunt of the cuts.
Unite national officer Dominic Hook 10 uniteWORKS March/April 2013
said, “RBS has slashed and burnt the jobs of ordinary bank staff while the bosses turned a blind eye to price fixing and mis-selling. The jobs of bank work- ers up and down the UK must not be sacrificed to pay for this gross misman- agement of leadership at RBS.
“Any bonuses ought to be concentrated on the low waged staff who have worked tirelessly to save the bank’s rep- utation and deliver customer care. They are the true deservers of any rewards.”
As we go to press a strike ballot looks to be imminent – which would grind services to a halt, as the service cannot operate without maintenance crew on standby.
Unite regional officer Colenzo Jarrett-Thorpe said, “London Overground has record satisfaction rates among customers and maintenance engineering has made a key contribution to this. The company needs to abandon these new shifts and get back to the negotiating table, so we can agree a way forward.”
PA Photos
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