Re-instate Karen Reissmann

Karen Reissmann, one of UNISON's leading NHS activists, has been sacked by her employer for the crime of being an effective trade unionist. This is an attack on all health workers - if they can pick off just one trade union representative for speaking out, then they can come after any of us.

Karen spoke up for her colleagues, her service, her patients, and eventually for herself. These were her crimes, and for this the Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust say they are sacking her, for bringing them into disrepute. It seems to NHS worker that the Trust, and Chief Executive Sheila Foley needed no help from Karen in that regard - they are a disreputable gang of union-busting low-lifes already! They are willing to deprive their patients of a dedicated and caring nurse just because she also happens to be a dedicated and caring trade unionist.

We say "re-instate Karen" and we call on all health workers to rally to Karen's support. Her UNISON branch is already organising strike action to win her re-instatement, and we hope that it is fully supported by everyone in the trade union movement.

This is not just a battle for this year

The government is either looking for a fight or so confident that they can get away with year on year cuts in public sector pay that it is willing to stage next year's pay offer and tie it to amount of money allocated to the NHS in the next Comprehensive Spending Review, which is due to be announced in the third week of October.
Mike Jackson accepts that inflation is running at 4.8% yet has not called on Unison members to reject the 2% offer we have been offered for this year. They seem to be grateful that the government is willing to talk about terms and conditions. It reminds me of a story of a farm worker who told me that in the past they were expected to show subservience to the owners by lowering their cap when they passed. 
We need to say NO to this year's insulting offer and fight for above inflation rise for next year

http://www.nursing-standard.co.uk/thisweek/news3.asp

UNISON officials threaten branches and activists over pay campaign

UNISON branches have been told they do not have the democratic right to make a recommendation to their members to reject the pay offer. Presumably the same restriction would be applied to any branches which wanted to recommend their members vote to accept the pay offer but since none have so far decided to do so, we simply don't know.

However, UNISON national officers have also criticised individual activists, especially those with elected positions at a national level of the union, for signing a declaration committing themselves to voting to reject the pay offer. This statement was recently published on this website, and over fifty signatures of prominent UNISON activists were collected in a few days. However, in the light of this campaign of intimidation being waged by the UNISON national officials, we have decided to remove the list of individual names from the statement in order to avoid them facing any punitive action by the union bureaucracy.

Of course, UNISON members will be asking themselves why a union which claims to be both democratic and member-led would feel it necessary to make such a heavy-handed response to a statement signed by only a few dozen prominent activists. We can only assume that those who pushed so hard for the union not to make any recommendation against the pay offer did so because they actually want the membership to fall for the idea that the new offer is actually a significant improvement on the old one. Any credible campaign to mobilise members in opposition to the new offer, and in support of the union's original claim - for a pay rise in line with inflation, unstaged and with the abolition of the lowest pay band - would therefore be a threat to their hopes for a peaceful reconciliation with the Department of Health.

Nursing Times says majority want to reject pay offer

The Nursing Times has an article in it this week reporting on an opinion poll conducted on its own website in which 87% said that the health unions should reject the new pay offer. They quote one nurse saying "the government needs to realise an enormously important principle is at stake - a measly £38 [all that qualified nurses will see of the new offer] does not begin to address it".

Clearly, the unions' own campaigns earlier in the year have had a big impact - on health workers if not on the Government negotiators. NHS staff now rightly believe that they deserve a pay rise which is both (a) at least in line with inflation, and (b) not broken down into stages. If the unions (or at least some of them) now want us to accept such an offer because "it is the best offer that can be achieved through negotiations" then they have a problem.

The current offer simply isn't good enough. If it is the best that can be got without taking industrial action, then most health workers would say, "let's take action". The Nursing Times poll backs up that view, and also suggests that the unions could be in danger of falling behind their own members. RCN members have voted overwhelmingly this week in favour of being balloted for industrial action, yet the union is putting everything on hold for a month because of the new, marginally improved, offer, and is already talking about running a further consultation exercise in September.

Presumably the RCN is hoping that by then the UNISON and Unite consultations will have generated either a majority in favour of accepting the offer or a low enough turnout that the officials can declare that "there is no mood for industrial action amongst members" - a refrain we're all getting heartily sick of in UNISON. There's no mood to accept a pay cut, either!

The unions are falling over themselves to avoid being the ones to declare first what they're going to do about the pay offer. They all know the offer is inadequate. Today's news from the RCN and the Nursing Times shows that NHS staff know it too. Yet the UNISON national officials continue to describe the offer in press statements and circulars to branches simply as "improved" and "offering more help to the low paid" with no mention of the fact that it remains a below inflation rise even for those getting the most "help". Unite-Amicus go one step further by actually recommending that their members should accept the new offer, even though it represents a pay cut.

For all their talk of using the consultation ballot to recruit new members, the unions seem scared to do the one thing which would have the non-union NHS workers (possibly as many as half of our colleagues are not even in a union) flocking to sign up: run a serious campaign to encourage us to reject the offer and do what is necessary to win the pay rise we deserve.

The first union to work this out, and switch their policy away from talk to action will see a massive increase in membership. But if none of them are willing to risk falling out with Gordon Brown over his 2% pay limit then this year's pay campaign could lead not just to a below inflation pay rise but also to people ripping up their union cards in disgust. Unite Amicus needs to desperately reconsider its ill-judged decision to recommend the new offer to members, while UNISON has about five days to put out some better publicity for the ballot - and if the national leadership can't or won't do so, then we'd encourage UNISON branches to restore the balance by telling their members the truth about how far below our demands the current offer really is.

Truth, lies and NHS pay offers

UNISON West Midlands has a statement on its website about the new NHS pay offer.

It says, "The offer includes a lump sum payment for the lowest paid NHS staff, training budgets for non- clinical staff, recognition payments amounting to the recent increase in NMC registration fees for those NHS staff required to register, agreement to enter in to talks on improvements to the Agenda for Change pay structure and terms and conditions."

Which, of course, is not true. There is no "lump sum payment for the lowest paid". There is a flat-rate element to the offer which means lower paid NHS staff will get a marginal greater increase to their pay scale. Not only is there no lump sum but the increase to the pay scale is being brought in only with the second stage of the staged pay offer - which means low paid NHS members won't see a penny of it until November!

As if over-selling the pay offer isn't bad enough, the article goes on to provide a link to a description of the pay offer on the website of NHS employers - who, naturally, think that union members should all accept the offer. In the interests of balance they should probably provide a link here too, so that members in the West Midlands can hear something from those healthworkers who think that we should reject the pay offer. Don't hold your breath, though...

Several UNISON members have been commenting that the official union statements seem to be making the offer sound better than it really is. The agreed position of the UNISON Health SGE, remember, was to make no recommendation for or against the offer, but simply to say it was the best deal that could be achieved by negotiations.

Yet the statements produced so far have repeatedly described the offer as "improved" without mentioning how far it is from the claim we submitted back in March. And it's actually arguable whether the offer really is improved. It is certainly "changed", but for many NHS staff above band 4 the only things it offers are a £25 training allowance paid to their employers and talks about talks on the non-pay elements of the 2007 claim. That's not much in the way of an improvement.

Even for those who stand to gain the most from the revisions to the pay offer - those in pay band 1 and 2 - the new offer is not even worth 2.5%. That means that we'd all have been better off winning the scrapping of the staging rather than cooking up such a complex pay offer but leaving the staging in place.

Why we will be voting to reject the pay offer

The following statement is being circulated by activists in UNISON who intend to reject the revised pay offer in the consultative ballot. If you would like to add your name to the list of signatories, please do so by posting a comment to this blog article.

However, UNISON national officers have criticised individual activists, especially those with elected positions at a national level of the union, for signing this declaration committing themselves to voting to reject the pay offer. In the light of this campaign of intimidation being waged by the UNISON national officials, we have decided to remove the list of individual names from the statement in order to avoid them facing any punitive action by the union bureaucracy.

We the undersigned believe that the latest offer from the NHS employers
is not enough to satisfy our demands for a pay rise this year.

As UNISON's health conference agreed in April, we believe that "such a pay increase, below the level of the Retail Price Index (RPI) now at 4.8% and the Consumer Price Index (CPI) now at 3.1%, would represent a pay cut in real terms and would have a significant impact on the standard of living for staff who include some of the lowest paid in the NHS. Coupled with the significant increases in energy costs, council tax and travel costs, health workers would see no benefit from such a low pay increase."

We believe that the unions' pay demand was right: health workers need a significant pay increase above the rate of RPI inflation, with all those on bands 1, 2 and 3 receiving a flat rate increase, and to have the other elements of our pay demand met. The new offer from the employers does not measure up on any of these aspects of the pay demand.

We therefore intend to vote to reject this offer in the consultative ballot, and prepare for a campaign of industrial action to win a decent pay rise, alongside other public sector workers.

All signatories in a personal capacity.

58 UNISON representatives, branch, regional and national lay member activists

Comment on pay offer and how to fight it

NHS Pay: Final offer1.9% AND CRUMBS.

Reject the deal, organise now for action

Mike Fenwick, Airedale UNISON Health Branch (PC)

5 months negotiation since the initial offer of a staged 2.5% have produced no real results. With the government committed to maintaining a 2 % pay freeze for the public sector little was expected and certainly little has been offered. Staging the deal meant that it would be worth only 1.9%. So health service staff were being offered less than the governments own  
suggested raise. This meant Alan Johnston and the treasury would save millions. It also allowed a little wiggle room from which a few extra enticements could be found.

So the final offer, published at the beginning of August, now includes a little extra for the lowest paid, some contribution toward professional registration fees  and an additional training allowance of £25 per employee.  
Overall still a pay cut.

More threateningly the government want to make this year the basis for a three year deal capped at 2%. With inflation at nearly 5% now that could mean at the end of three years a 10% pay cut in real terms for NHS staff. To this they also want to add a productivity deals which can only mean asking staff to work more for less.
 
In Scotland, Wales and now Northern Ireland the local governments have agreed to pay the 2.5% unstaged.  Whilst that is better it cannot be claimed as a victory it still represents a pay cut. 

The unions are now asking their members to vote on the deal. The RCN have already balloted although their focus has been on getting rid of the staging rather than fighting for an award in line with inflation. The result of their ballot is due this week.

In UNISON the Service Group Executive have decided to call for a consultative ballot so postponing the industrial action ballot mandated by health conference if the deal was not significantly improved. Only a small minority on the committee voted in line with policy and lost to those who either lack confidence to fight or worse those would accept a pay cut for their members rather than upset Gordon Brown’s honeymoon period.

A campaign to organise a No vote has already been set up before ballot papers arrive on 20th August. Based at http://NHSworker.blogspot.com this grassroots group is asking UNISON members to reaffirm their commitment to conference policy and an above inflation pay rise and organise the fight to win it.
 

With the postal workers still in dispute, local government workers due to move to a ballot and possible action from teachers and others the possibility exists to create a significant challenge to the pay freeze. But it should also be seen as a challenge to New Labour’s current ‘commitment’
to public services which amounts to privatising as much of it as possible.  Having a low paid and insecure work force makes it easier to persuade the private sector to buy in.
 

The fight is not just about the amount of money in an individual nurse’s pocket but part of the struggle to maintain a decent public health service. Reject the deal and use the time to build for the industrial action that will be needed to secure a better future for the NHS and its staff.
 
Prepare for the ballot by signing the statement here by leaving a comment on the post
Why we are calling on UNISON members to reject the pay offer and your name will added to the list of signatures
Download the statement and leaflet and circulate amongst your colleagues.
 
Organise a workplace meeting to present the case against the pay freeze. Get branch meetings and committees to call early meetings to organise a No Vote.
 
Link up with other public sector workers and community campaigners in building for the national demo for the NHS on November 3rd.

The details of the pay deal - below inflation, and the most that 'negotiations' can offer

Full details of the new NHS pay offer are now on the UNISON website. For a user friendly version http://www.unionlists.org.uk/lists/arc/healthactivists/2007-08/msg00057/PAY_OFFER_THE_EFFECTS.pdf They also have a breakdown of the impact of the offer on the various pay points on the Agenda for Change payscales, but you need to remember when reading them that the increase to the pay scale won't be reflected in full in your pay packet this year - because half of the increase won't be paid until November. Further details for the pay offer at http://www.unionlists.org.uk/lists/arc/healthactivists/2007-08/msg00047.html and http://www.unionlists.org.uk/lists/arc/healthactivists/2007-08/msg00047.html

Links with other public service pay disputes

In Local Government branches have voted to reject the 2% pay claim and will now vote in a strike ballot.When voting UNISON asked members to consider the following (from www.unison.org.uk):

"Say no to 2%. Inflation is running at 4.3% and earnings across the economy are rising by 3.6% - the cost of living is currently increasing by 4.5%- increases in the cost of housing, fuel and energy, council tax and childcare are even higher- pay across the economy is rising by 3.6%UNISON is co-ordinating our pay campaign with Local Government health and other service groups and with other public sector unions. If you vote to reject the offer you must be prepared to take part in substantial industrial action to improve it, including "all out" strike action."Clearly branches/members thought this is unacceptable and will now ballot to go on strike action.In Health they have now made an 'improved offer' (again from our website) The offer:"Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales will get the full 2.5% increase recommended by the pay review body immediately, backdated to 1 April this year.The award will still be staged in England, with staff getting 1.5% payable from 1 April and the remaining 1% from 1 November."more money for the lowest paid. From 1 November there will be a £400 flat rate increase for those on Bands 1 and 2. Those on Bands 3 and 4 will receive an additional £38 as well as the 2.5%. This will be payable in all 4 UK countries; in England only, there will be additional money for staff training targeted directly at those non-clinical staff who often lose out when training budgets are cut; also in England only, there will be £38 paid to staff on Bands 5, 6, 7 and 8(a) who are required to register to practice – this money is a contribution to their professional fees."Health members will now be balloted on whether or not to accept this offer.Unison are not making a recomendation it is for you to make your own minds up. The website states that this is the best offer we can get through negotiations.SO as in Local Government if you reject it you will have tp be prepared to go on strike.There is a blog that has been set up by some nhsworkers that are advocating members reject this offer and that can be found here www.nhsworker.blogspot.comLets stand firm together and show the government that 2 or 2.5% (as our health conference has already said!) is not acceptable.
MarshaJane Thompson (London)
National Community and Voluntary Sector Committee Unison
http://www.unionfutures.blogspot.com/

How the unions are responding to the pay offer

Unite

Unite's Head of Health, Kevin Coyne, said:

"After months of long and tough negotiations, this is a breakthrough in the pay negotiations. The new package offered by the treasury gives extra help to the low paid and for staff in England. This pay remains staged, however there is also a commitment to review future pay and conditions.

"NHS workers in England from the 1st November will now fall in line with workers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland who received pay increases in line with the Pay Review Body's recommendation of 2.5%.

"In addition to the improved pay offer for this year, unions, employers and the government have agreed to enter into talks prior to the next pay round, to consider a multi-year deal."

Previously the employers in England had refused to offer anymore money than the 2%, imposed by the Government, which overrode the Pay Review Body's recommendation of 2.5%.

RCN

Responding to today's pay offer Dr Peter Carter, General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said:

"After several months of hard negotiating and tough campaigning by the RCN and other unions, NHS Employers and the Department of Health have today announced an improved pay offer for nurses and their NHS colleagues. "For months the government have said they would not move on a fair deal for nurses. But by running a hard-hitting campaign and an industrial action ballot, we have focused the minds of ministers, brought them back to the negotiating table and secured an improved offer for nurses. Our ballot of RCN members in England on whether they wish to move forward with a formal vote on industrial action over pay closes on Monday. "This offer does not give nurses all that we asked for but it could well be the means to resolve the current dispute and allow us to make progress on a range of workplace and professional issues. The offer will now be considered by the RCN's ruling council alongside the results of our industrial action ballot."

Royal College of Midwives

The Royal College of Midwives which represents over 95% of the UK's practising midwives is set to consider an improved NHS pay offer. The new package gives assistance to Midwives in England - who have seen the value of the original award reduced by approximately £110 following the government's decision to stage its implementation – by offering a £38 contribution towards professional fees for 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010.

There is also a commitment to review future pay and conditions.

Dame Karlene Davis, General Secretary, said: "Pay negotiations this year have been soured by the government's refusal to fully implement the original offer made by the independent Nursing and Other Health Professionals Review Body. Both the level of the award and the manner of its implementation led to the RCM calling for industrial action short of a strike for the first time in its history. This has led to months of long and tough negotiations, in England, outside of the traditional process.

"The package on offer is a complex one and will mean different things to different NHS staff depending on where they live and it is still a below inflation deal for most . However we recognise that it is the best offer we are likely to achieve via negotiations and RCM council and officers will be considering it carefully over the next few days. We will also consider how to consult with our members over whether they wish to accept it."

UNISON

New NHS pay offer on the table

Union negotiators have secured a new pay offer for health workers.

UNISON will now ask all members working in the NHS whether they wish to accept the offer.

The health executive believes it is the best that can be achieved through negotiation.

Should members reject the new deal, they should also be prepared to support industrial action, the executive said.

The improved offer will put extra cash in the pockets of the lowest paid workers in the NHS, no matter which country they are in. In England only, training budgets for non-clinical staff will be boosted, and clinicians will get money to put towards their registration fees.

Should staff accept the offer, those in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales will get the full 2.5% increase recommended by the pay review body immediately, backdated to 1 April this year.

The award will still be staged in England, with staff getting 1.5% payable from 1 April and the remaining 1% from 1 November.

The improved offer at a glance: more money for the lowest paid. From 1 November there will be a £400 flat rate increase for those on Bands 1 and 2. Those on Bands 3 and 4 will receive an additional £38 as well as the 2.5%. This will be payable in all 4 UK countries; in England only, there will be additional money for staff training targeted directly at those non-clinical staff who often lose out when training budgets are cut; also in England only, there will be £38 paid to staff on Bands 5, 6, 7 and 8(a) who are required to register to practice – this money is a contribution to their professional fees.

Full details will be available on the health pages of the UNISON website. They will also be circulated to health branches, and sent to all UNISON members in the NHS, together with ballot papers.

Ballot papers are due to be sent out on 20 August. The ballot will close on 13 September.

Ten reasons why NHS staff should reject the new pay offer

1. It's a pay cut. If we accept the offer our pay will go up by less than the rate of inflation (the average increase of prices). This means we will be worse off this year than last year.

2. The new offer is still staged (at least in England) - which most of the unions said was the absolute worst thing about the original deal.

3. The new offer still leaves NHS staff in England paid less than those in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which we must object to because the more we are divided the weaker we will be in future pay negotiations.

4. The new offer has been calculated by the Government to fit within the 'limit' set by Gordon Brown for all public sector pay rises this year of 2%. He wants public sector workers to pay the cost of trying to keep inflation down, even while prices (and wages in the private sector) rise more quickly.

5. The new offer talks about future years' pay rises being negotiated inside the pay limit of 2% rises - so not only a pay cut for this year but setting us up for pay cuts in the next two years as well.

6. Other public sector workers are already taking industrial action (like postal workers) or consulting about taking action (like council workers and civil servants). If we all fight together this year for a decent pay rise we have a good chance of winning, but if we settle for this offer then we will have missed the chance for united action.

7. The 'sweetener' in the deal of £38 towards the professional registration fees paid by some NHS staff is not yet on offer outside of England. That's another attempt at 'divide and rule' by the employers, and we must not fall for it.

8. Irish nurses have already won a pay rise and a cut in their working week by taking industrial action. People often say that nurses can't or won't go on strike. But nurses in Ireland recently took strike action (short, one or two hour long strikes) together with longer-term action like refusing to do administrative tasks or cover absences and forced their government to come up with more money and cut their working week, too. We could do the same.

9. Taking action is the best way to show our anger over NHS cuts and privatisation. The private companies who are so keen to take over bits of the NHS think that a low-paid, demoralised workforce will be easy for them to squeeze profits from. A big fight over this year's pay offer would show them, and the government, that NHS workers are prepared to stand up for ourselves, and for the services our patients depend on.

10. We can get a better deal. The unions say this is the best deal that can be got through negotiations. That's probably true. The government don't want to give us any more. In fact, if they could get away with it, they'd probably like to pay us a lot less. But taking united industrial action with a million other public sector workers would force them to come up with something better.

Welcome to NHS worker's blog - demanding a decent pay rise

NHS unions are consulting their members now on a new pay offer from the Government. Frankly, the offer is an insult to everyone who works in the NHS. They're trying to divide and conquer by offering different deals for health workers in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and they want to confuse us all by offering some things 'staged' so that we only get the money half way through the year.

The unions kicked off the year demanding a pay rise above the rate of inflation, which is currently standing at just under 5%. At UNISON's health conference in April, there was a proposal from some branches to put a specific figure on the demand of 5% or a flat-rate increase of £1000 a year for the lowest paid NHS workers. Mike Jackson, UNISON's Senior National Organiser and the lead negotiator for the union in the NHS pay talks, spoke against this on behalf of the union's leadership, arguing that with inflation rising all the time he wanted to be able to fight for more than 5%. It's a shame, then, that the "new" deal on offer from the Government, which Mike Jackson encouraged the UNISON Health Service Group Executive to consult members on rather than rejecting it and starting an industrial action ballot, is not even worth the 2.5% pay rise that the Pay Review Body said NHS workers should get back in April.

The new offer is still a staged pay rise, with NO CHANGE at all proposed to the pay rise backdated to April 2007. The only change is that the second stage of the pay rise, due in November, will now increase pay scales either by a further 1.5% or so that the total increase reaches £400, whichever is the greater. So workers on Agenda for Change bands 1 or 2 will get a slightly bigger rise (but no-one will get a rise big enough to cope with the increasing prices represented by the inflation rate of 4.8%).

There are a few other sweeteners to the offer - staff who have to register with professional bodies will get a few quid towards their registration fee (less tax, of course), while those who do not need professional registration will see their employer get a £25 per head training allowance FOR THIS YEAR ONLY which is supposed to make up for all the cuts in training that NHS Trusts carried out last year. Yeah, right!

In short, the deal is utterly inadequate, and no-one should think that this is acceptable. That the union leaders have given up on all their fighting talk from the start of the year is no reason for healthworkers to do the same. Members of UNISON should reject the paltry offer from the Government, and force their leadership to re-instate the industrial action ballot.

The negotiators have proved that the government won't give us anything without a fight. So it's time we gave them a fight! NHS workers have put up with too much for far too long. If we don't want to tie ourselves to three years of pay cuts in the National Health Service we have to fight now.

This blog will be a source of information and campaigning ideas for all NHS workers who want their unions to reject the below inflation pay offer and fight for what we really need - an above-inflation pay rise for everyone who works in the NHS, together with a reduction in the working week and the abolition of the lowest pay band. We can do it. The Irish nurses' strike, the health workers' recent victory in New Zealand and the ongoing battles by healthworkers all over the world against cuts and privatisation show that the pessimists are completely wrong. Healthworkers can fight, we can stand up for ourselves, and we can win. All that is stopping us is the defeatism of our own leaders, and our lack of organisation at a rank and file level.

Hopefully this blog can help with that!

NHS worker