You may now have seen that the unelected IJB have made a decision to agree option 4 relating to split shifts. This now means that the Policy and Resources committee of Dundee City Council will take the final decision at their next meeting to be held in February.
We will be around complexes to meet you as soon as we can to ensure that all of your details are up to date, as this will be essential for us to be able to communicate with you quickly and easily.
2 members of the board put forward an amendment to ask the IJB to leave this decision to the council, as, half of those on the board are NHS members. It’s a scandal that people who are not involved in the employment of you can take these decisions.
There will be work for everyone to do in the coming weeks and months if you want to fight to retain your current terms and conditions. We have always believed that those who cannot or choose not to work split shifts should not be forced into doing so.
The proposals as they stand force those of you who are currently on 30 hour contracts to either be at the beck and call of management and cover for sickness, annual leave etc when they decide, or, to accept a contract of 25 hours, which means you would lose financially amounting to 20 – 25 hours per month.
We don’t believe that the case has been made for these gruelling split shifts, and take exception to the fact that the council have attempted to dress this up as an improvement in the service, when we know it’s down to savings. To attack a workforce that is made up of mostly low paid women (with some men) we believe is cynical and should be withdrawn.
These changes will also be difficult for our Organiser members, as, you will be expected to constantly review the banked hours system, which we don’t believe we’ve had enough detail over creating significant work for you when you are already stretched.
We do not believe that there has been nearly enough detail provided and no agreement has been reached with the trade unions. Indeed, if anything, we have already advised that we would not agree to detrimental changes, as this will be for our members to decide.
We will continue to communicate with you to advise of the next steps if the decision is to impose these split shifts. If this does happen we will hold a consultative ballot on what action you are prepared to take to protect your terms and conditions.
If you would like to get involved, please contact the office on 01382 225491 and let us know.
It’s also important to let us know of any changes either to work, or contact details on the above number.
Posted: 25th January 2018