GMB to attend talks with ambulance employers tomorrow Friday 13th to avert dispute over imposition of 25 per cent cut in sick pay for 35,000 ambulance staff
Employers should stop their imposition and retain the status quo until an amicable way is worked out otherwise we will have no alternative but to continue with arrangements to ballot members says GMB.
GMB will be attending talks tomorrow on Friday 13th September with NHS employers who have imposed cuts to sick pay by up to 25% for 35,000 ambulance workers in England from 1st September. This is to avert possible official strike ballots in this dispute. There may be further talks on Tuesday 17th September.
GMB Ambulance Committee welcomed the support by TUC Congress which backed a GMB emergency motion which set out how NHS employers had imposed cuts to ambulance workers pay by up to 25%. See notes to editors for text on motion carried at TUC Congress.
Rehana Azam, GMB National Officer for the NHS, said:
“NHS employers have claimed that it is only fair to have the same approach to sick pay as all workers covered under a national agreement. Yet NHS Employers fail to accept that ambulance workers have for some years worked under different arrangements as a result of previous reforms carried out by NHS Employers to the national agreement.
So GMB awaits the opportunity at last to get round the table with NHS Employers and will be having two discussions one on Friday 13th and anticipate a further dialogue on Tuesday 17th September with ambulance employers.
NHS Employers have made a big claim about working in partnership yet they have taken nearly two weeks to get round the table to discuss what is now becoming a very serious matter. This is not the way to work in partnership particularly as there has been a number of attempts to engage with the employers over the last two weeks including the suggestion that a third party such as ACAS could be called upon to help resolve the matter amicably.
GMB awaits the Friday 13th talks and ask the employers to stop their imposition and retain the status quo until an amicable way is worked out. If NHS employers don't do this they will continue to back us into a corner and we will have no alternative but to continue with arrangements to ballot members".
