NHS Employers disappointed as unions reject agreement
Three major unions have rejected plans by NHS Employers to reduce ambulance staff sick pay to bring it into line with levels received by other health workers.
In a joint statement, the GMB, Unison and Unite unions called on NHS Employers to reconsider proposals to cut sick pay by 25 per cent for these emergency service workers.
The GMB said that ambulance staff are exposed to high levels of physical, mental and emotional risk, which makes them vulnerable to illness. Therefore sickness levels for this group of workers are at consistently higher levels than for the rest of the NHS. The unions suggested that rather than slashing sick pay, Ambulance Trusts could make more effective savings by addressing the causes of ill health.
The unions also claimed that paramedics and other ambulance staff had already been hit by pay cuts of between 8 and 12 per cent over the past few years and suggested that this further cut in benefits was unreasonable.
Rehana Azam, GMB national officer for the NHS, said: "The GMB ballot closed on Friday 23rd August and after a detailed examination of the vote it is clear GMB members have voted overwhelmingly to reject any attempts to cut their sick pay and the result of the ballot has shown that ambulance workers are prepared to take industrial action to defend their sick pay.”
Steve Rice, GMB chair of the Ambulance Committee, said: "These cuts to our sick pay are a step too far particularly as my ambulance colleagues are working under tremendously difficult pressures. No ambulance worker wants to take sickness leave. Job cuts in the service have required us all to do much more than previously and we don't want to let the public down or our ambulance colleagues. To then cut our sick pay and to penalise us because we take sick leave because of the work we do seems wrong and unfair.”
In response to the unions' decision, Dean Royles, chief executive of the NHS Employers organisation, said: “As this agreement was reached in February 2013, we are very disappointed and concerned that the trades unions are not supporting it in its entirety. Agreement with unions followed rigorous discussion in the NHS Staff Council and was stated to apply to all ‘Agenda for Change' staff. The issue has been about how it applied to ambulance staff, not if.
“It is only fair that the same approach to calculating sick pay is used for all Agenda for Change staff, including those who work in the ambulance sector.
“These revisions were made to ensure the national pay framework is being responsive to the needs of the service, supporting patient care and improving job security. Ambulance employers have been making operational plans on the basis of the national agreement and have put reasonable proposals forward on how sick pay should be calculated, following a further six months of discussion. We anticipate ambulance employers will implement the agreement with effect from 1 September 2013.”
NHS Employers also said that paramedics’ gross earnings in the UK grew from £22,283 in 2003 to £37,120 in 2012 - an increase of 67 per cent when gross earnings for all UK employees increased by 25 per cent over the same period.