2013 Health Care Service Group Conference Decisions
2013 Health Care Service Group Conference
22-24 April, Glasgow
Text of Resolutions
Contents
Organising and Recruitment
Composite A (Motions 1 & 2)
Motions 3, 4, 5
Negotiating and Bargaining
- Agenda for Change –
pay, terms & conditions
Composite B (Motions 6 & 7)
Composite C (Motions 8 & 9)
Motions 10, 11, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28
- Equality and Diversity
Motions 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34
- Professional issues
Motions 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41
Campaigning and Promoting UNISON
- Influencing the NHS and campaigning against
privatization and cuts
Compsite E (Motions 42 & 43)
Motions 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49
Emergency Motions
EM1UNISON Response to Francis Report
EM3Better Hospital Food
Information for internal use:
Motion remitted to SGE
Motion 12
Motions/Amendments Lost, Fell or Withdrawn
Composite D (Motions 14 & 15) - Fell
Amendment 16.1 - Lost
Motion 20 - Lost
Motion 26 - Lost
Amendment 36.1 - Withdrawn
Amendment 39.1 - Fell
Composite Amendment E.1 – Lost
Amendment 44.2 – Lost
Motion 50 - Fell
Motions for Health Conference 2013
ORGANISING AND RECRUITMENT
COMPOSITE A
Recruiting and organising in a threatened NHS
(Motions 1, 2, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4)
The NHS is under attack like never before. Across the UK austerity measures are having an impact on both NHS patients and staff.
In England the Health and Social Care Act will change the NHS landscape, which will result in a more fragmented workforce and increased privatisation as well as the government’s shift to “any qualified provider” for patient services. Both of these reforms will have a major impact on the way that some health branches organise and recruit. In Wales, Health Boards are currently consulting on plans to “reconfigure” NHS services which could centralise services and mean movement across the system including retraining and redeployment. In Northern Ireland, there is the ”Transforming Your Care” strategy, which will be implemented across all six Health Trusts under the direction of the Health and Social Care Board and in Scotland there are major proposals for Health and Social Care Integration. All of these challenges will have a huge impact on health workplaces, members, patients and services.
Conference notes that recruitment and retention of members is a key priority for our union. UNISON must have high membership density and organised workplaces to ensure that UNISON remains the union of choice, now and into the future. Conference further notes that the changes and threats to our NHS creates both challenges and opportunities for our organising and recruitment work. The changes give us an opportunity to recruit and organise members and to increase density in health branches across the UK. There has already been some superb work done to recruit within health, but the density in some workplaces demonstrates that there are still real opportunities to organise and recruit many non-unionised health workers.
Conference believes that we must not only focus on recruiting new members in order to build up our strength, but also develop stronger relationships with our existing members. Our organising work must not simply focus on recruiting members but retaining them as well. Regions and branches play a crucial role in organising, recruiting and retaining of health members and in building capacity for fighting the threats to our NHS and members. Conference further believes that we must also ensure that UNISON’s structures are fit for purpose in the new NHS landscape and must ensure that organising and bargaining structures reflect the needs of Health members.
Conference realises that there is a need to develop effective strategic organising that not only focuses on recruitment, but also on organising our members. We need to develop workplace contacts and stewards who are well-trained and confident.
Conference recognises that the biggest recruitment growth within UNISON's 20 year history has generally come during periods of national and local industrial action. The local government and national pensions disputes are examples of workers joining the union when it is seen to be fighting on their behalf. On a local level the Mid Yorkshire Admin and Clerical strikes are an excellent example of recruitment with the branch recruiting over 200 new members during their fight against down-banding and compulsory redundancies.
Conference welcomes the organising and recruiting work that has been a core component of the Our NHS Our Future campaign, including the work on the NHS Transition in England, defending Agenda for Change and the Postcode Pay No Way campaign. We need to build further on this work in a targeted and continued way and share best practice across the UK.
Conference notes that our best recruiting ever happened during the pensions dispute 2011/12 when health workers saw UNISON at its best, fighting in defence of its members and the NHS. Branches too notice when they are fighting back, membership rises. Therefore to be the most effective, recruitment campaigns should to be directly linked to campaigns in defence of health workers and their service
Conference therefore calls on the Health Service Group Executive to:
1)support and engage with regions, branches and members in England who have been involved in the transition from Strategic Health Authorities, Primary Care Trusts and Arm's Length Bodies into local authorities and the new NHS structures;
2)ensure that organising and recruitment continues to be a major focus of the Our NHS Our Future Campaign and particularly recruitment of activists such as stewards;
3)work with branches and regions and occupational groups on increasing the density across all Health workplaces but particularly those which are critical to challenging the cuts and reforms proposed by the Government;
4)provide resources, training and guidance to assist regions and branches to improve recruitment, facility time, density and the retention of members;
5)ensure that we run an effective targeted recruitment and organising campaign in the new NHS structures in England;
6)promote and share the different organising methods that can be utilised to improve organisation and density including methods learnt through the work done around NHS Transition, defending Agenda for Change, the Mid Yorkshire strikes and the Postcode Pay No Way campaign in the South West.
7)Encourage and agitate for branches to take lawful industrial action against attacks on our members’ jobs and terms and conditions.
3.Organising in commissioning and primary care
The provisions in the Health and Social Care Act are now in place, resulting in a complete change in the bodies which commission our Health Services. There are now Clinical Commissioning Groups, Commissioning Support Services, Area Teams, Commissioning Board and a number of national bodies such as Health Education England and Propco.
These changes mean that a great deal of power over the future of the NHS and especially the provision of secondary care – in Acute and Mental Health Trusts where a large number of our members work. Therefore it is important that UNISON has as much influence in commissioning decisions as possible.
Health and Well Being Boards are in place to scrutinise the local commissioning decisions and this is one area where our local activists, in conjunction with our colleagues in local government, can work together to influence the Health and Well Being Boards.
With change comes opportunity. These new organisations present organising and recruitment opportunities for UNISON, with there being a concentration of staff and potential membership in the Clinical Support Services and country-wide organisations such as Propco. Also the Clinical Commissioning Groups have in general merged and taken up joint commissioning services which is different from their original inception as small autonomous groups. Therefore it is important that we organise in the Clinical Commissioning Groups and build our membership in these areas.
Conference therefore agrees that the SGE:
1)encourages regions to set up and run organising and recruitment projects in Clinical Commissioning Groups and Commissioning Support Units and that the SGE monitor this activity;
2)devise and implement a plan for organising and recruiting in the new national bodies;
3)liaise with their local government counterparts to bring forward a plan to work jointly on influencing Health and Well Being Boards.
4.Frontline services
This Conference welcomed the UNISON “We are all Frontline” campaign which highlighted the fact that staff in the NHS work as a team in order to provide health care second to none. UNISON has a proud record of campaigning on behalf of all health care staff and promoting the important contribution that each group makes to patient care. We deplore comments from any source that try to pit one group of NHS staff against another for political ends.
We particularly recognise with deep concern the political attacks that have been made on both administrative and clerical staff and ancillary staff both directly and by implication that their contribution to health care is of less importance and that services would be better by employing less staff in these areas.
This Conference recognises that attempts to privatise NHS services are first directed at administrative and clerical and ancillary services. Science, Therapy and Technical services are also at risk of privatisation with Any Qualified Provider being a key driver. Along with effective campaigning the best defence against attempts at privatisation is through high density of UNISON membership in these groups.
UNISON should produce a leaflet for branches to use in public campaigning giving examples of what happens when so-called 'back room staff' are not there. All health workers save lives. All health worker job cuts risk patient safety, e.g. when records staff or medical secretaries are cut and your medical notes are not there so your appointment or operation is cancelled. When the letter to your GP changing your medication has not been typed and sent so you don’t get the right treatment in time. When your ward has not been cleaned because staff have been cut and you get an infection after your operation. When the switchboard staff have been cut and it takes hours to get through to the right department. When the NHS trust gets fined for not doing things on time and services are cut more. When there is not a porter to take you for a scan and you miss your slot.
This conference applauds the industrial action taken by administration and clerical staff in Mid Yorks health branch and the message that gives to the employers that UNISON will not sit back and watch whilst essential staff have their terms and conditions attacked. We applaud Christina McAnea and Dave Prentis for visiting the picket lines and showing the union’s solidarity with these workers. We praise the branch executive committee for their organisation and for taking a lead in supporting these staff to take this strong and committed industrial action.
This Conference therefore calls on the Health Care Service Group Executive to work with the Operational Services occupational group to organise targeted recruitment and retention campaigns around these groups of staff and to ensure that the message from this union is a continued one of emphasising the importance of all health care staff in the health care team.
5.Say NO to employer-led staff forums
Conference believes in the middle of the mess and restructuring caused by the largest NHS restructuring in its history, many NHS trusts are looking for ways to limit the influence of trade unions on decisions within their organisations.
With major cuts, redundancy and threats to staff terms and conditions, many NHS trusts are trying to sideline the voice and role of trade unions within their governance frameworks. Many NHS trusts are creating “Employer-led non-union staff forums”.
In time of down-banding, tightening budgets and redundancy, many staff members are looking for ways to reduce their costs.
UNISON is the largest healthcare trade union representing over 400,000 members in the UK. UNISON has been instrumental at securing pay, conditions and protection from discrimination for millions of staff across the UK. UNISON is the best placed organisation to lobby for NHS and healthcare staff.
Conference further believes NHS trusts are looking to create competing bodies to trade union negotiating committees aiming to undermine and reduce the influence of trade unions within an organisation's governance framework. Employer-led staff forums are often created to lure trade union members away from their union and lull them into a false sense of security so they consider their union membership a wasted expense. Employer-led staff forums are often nothing more than lip service in relation to real staff involvement and engagement.
Unlike trade union negotiation led by UNISON branches, employer-led staff forums have no legal protection or rights and are a way for employers to water down the influence of staff organising within their organisation.
Conference resolves to:
1)encourage branches to critically look at the introduction of formalised employer-led staff forums outside of trade union negotiating structures;
2)highlight the threat these forums are to UNISON influence and negotiating within organisations;
3)produce a toolkit providing branches with information and examples of threats these forums are to UNISON branches and to our members;
4)carry out an audit of how many NHS trusts have introduced employer-led staff forums.
5) Continue to ensure that existing facility agreements are upheld.
NEGOTIATING AND BARGAINING
Agenda for Change – pay, terms and conditions
COMPOSITE B
NHS Pay Freeze
(Motions 6, 6.1, 7, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3)
By freezing pay for NHS staff, the Tory-led Westminster coalition stretched the gap between NHS wages and inflation, leading to a situation where UNISON fears lasting damage to our members, their families and to local economies.
Conference notes with concern the severe drop in living standards that members have suffered since the coalition came to power. A combination of pay freeze along with soaring increases in the cost of living has meant that NHS pay has been consistently surpassed by inflation over the past four years. By April 2013 this will result in inflation stripping between 8 and 12% off the value of NHS pay. This has been exacerbated by changes to the welfare system, notably the changes to tax credits, that has meant many members are struggling to meet their weekly living costs.
Conference notes the impact this suppressing of living standards is having on our members on the lowest pay points. Historically, the NHS, under Agenda for Change, has been a Living Wage employer. However, following the announcement of an increase in the Living Wage to £7.45 per hour (UK rate) and £8.55 per hour (London rate), it now means that from April 2013 NHS staff on the bottom three pay points of Agenda for Change will be earning below the Living Wage. Conference believes that no NHS employee or employee providing NHS services should be paid less than the Living Wage and calls on the UK Government to instigate a pay uplift that ensures the Living Wage Income Standard is met. Conference applauds the growing number of successes in councils across the UK who have fought for and won the living wage for their members in the last year.
This attack on members’ pay is ideological – a result of a deliberate Tory attempt to undermine the public sector. In addition, the potential ‘opening up’ of the market for provision of NHS services could further destabilise the rates of pay in the NHS, with new providers using contractual mechanisms to avoid paying Agenda for Change rates.
For members, tiered pension contribution increases, down-banding, and cuts to local agreements on non-AfC pay items such as car parking, have all placed additional pressure on take-home pay. Changes in the welfare system and massive increases in non-discretionary areas of spending have had a real and lasting impact on members, with those on the lowest pay points facing the starkest challenges to meeting their weekly costs for rent, petrol, energy and childcare.
Conference calls on the HSGE to identify that now is the time for us to develop pay as an organising issue within our membership in the NHS. In particular the HSGE should:
1)work via all appropriate bodies to argue for ‘bottom-loading’ of the NHS pay settlement for 2014/15 to a minimum of the Living Wage rate;
2)work with other parts of the union to press for Agenda for Change pay rates and minimum Living Wage pay settlements for members working to deliver health services in non-NHS providers;