September 2009
RCM Workplace Representatives’ Conference
Friday 27th November 2009, Manchester Central
Have you booked your place yet on the RCM Workplace Representatives’ Conference? We ask all stewards, Health & Safety Reps and ULRs to attend this important conference. As attending conference is a legitimate Trade Union activity as defined by current legislation you will be entitled to time off from work to attend.
Join us in Manchester for your free day of updates, workshops and discussion to help you help members. The RCM Workplace Representatives’ Conference is on Friday, 27 November at Manchester Central (formerly GMEX), concurrent with Day 2 of the RCM Annual Conference. This training day is open to all accredited RCM stewards, health and safety representatives and union learning representatives. The sessions are free to attend including breakfast, lunch and refreshments throughout the day.
Hear RCM and guest speakers from NHS Employers and NHS Pensions, discuss the new agenda for the NHS, put your employment relations questions to lawyers from Thompsons solicitors, learn more about the Union Learning Representatives Project, equalities and representing Maternity Support Workers, find out how to tackle bullying and stress and brush up your member recruitment techniques.
Registration includes free admission to the Exhibition and the General Secretary’s Closing Speech to the RCM Annual Conference.
For further details of the programme and to book your place go to http://www.neilstewartassociates.com/sh251m/stewards.php or use the form included in the RCM conference brochure which you will have received. Details about travel and accommodation can also be found at this link.
If you are coming to Manchester the day before, don’t forget to book your ticket for the Conference Dinner on Thursday night – the RCM social event of the year. Tickets are £59 + VAT. You can also attend the Motions for Debate session at Annual Conference on Thursday afternoon free of charge – just show your membership card.
Remember, as an RCM Workplace Representative you can book for the RCM Annual Conference at a special discounted rate. If you come for the Day 1 sessions (Thursday 26 November), your fee is only £99 + VAT. Make sure you select this rate when you book. If you choose to attend both days of the Annual Conference rather than attend the Workplace Representatives’ Conference the fee is £179 plus VAT.
We look forward to seeing you in Manchester and don’t forget that your branch may be able to offer financial assistance towards your attendance
Thompson's Members' Champion Award for RCM Workplace Representative
I hope you have seen that this year’s RCM Awards includes an award which recognises and rewards the excellent work our stewards, health and safety representatives (and our new union learning representatives) do for members and the RCM. The award has been generously sponsored by our trade union lawyers, Thompsons. To be considered, you will need to have been nominated by RCM members in your workplace who need to submit an entry at www.rcmawards.org.uk by 2 October. If you have been shortlisted, you will be asked to meet the panel in London on 16 or 17 November and invited to the Awards Lunch on 27 January where the winner will be announced. Good luck!
If you know a really outstanding RCM activist who deserves some encouragement, celebration and reward please see if you can nudge their branch members to put them forward.
The judges will be looking for:
· Details of how the nominated representative makes a difference for members in the workplace
· How the nominated representative contributes to the value and benefit of belonging to the RCM for members
· Evidence of initiative, enthusiasm and dedication in promoting the work of the RCM in the workplace
· Please do not, however, include details of any personal case work handled by the representative
Maternity Support Workers – Recruit them into RCM Membership now
The RCM continues to recruit Maternity Support Workers and already has over 100 in membership in the few months since the category went live. This strengthens the organisation and gives us a collective voice for the entire maternity workforce.
A separate membership category has been established and the eligibility definition is “A person whose role is to support the work of the midwife in the care of childbearing women, the newborn and their family who is employed in a role which supports midwives in their workplace”. This means they do not need to have the Maternity Support Worker job title to be eligible.
Individuals who are currently, or have ever been, qualified or registered as midwives are not eligible to join this category.
You have been advised previously of the extensive benefits available to MSWs which now includes free subscription to Midwives magazine. It is hoped that this will encourage many more to join us.
Further information is available from www.rcm.org.uk, the membership department at and from Denise Linay, RCM Advisor . Recruitment materials are also available from your Board Office.
MATERNITY SUUPPORT WORKERS – RECRUIT THEM NOW!!
UNION LEARNING REPRESENTATIVES
The Royal College of Midwives Union Learning Representatives project is under way. It aims to ensure every RCM member has access to a Union Learning Representative who will be able to assist members in accessing learning of their choosing inside and outside the workplace. This should benefit all members, particularly MSWs.
The focus of the project sits comfortably with core objectives of the RCM as a Trade Union and professional organisation i.e.
· Seeking to enhance the Trade Union and professional services to members
· Foster an active long learning culture for members
· Widen, enhance andpromote the function of union learning and contribute to the wider development of midwives and maternity support workers required in a modern NHS
The aims and purpose of the project include
· Establishing a ULR in every maternity workplace
· Working in partnership with Heads of Midwifery and the relevant NHS Trusts
· Developing social and personal learningand contributing to the wider development of midwives, MSWsand employers needs
Continuing Professional Development is also a major objective of the project and it is hoped that ULRs will provide information, advice and guidance to members on their learning needs, particularly around meeting the criteria of the KSF, in order to achieve progression and also provide improved care for patients.
The project team consists of 4 staff
Denise Linay, Project Manager (Part Time; HQ Based) Tel 020 7312 3422
Peter Amphlett Project Worker (Leeds Based) Tel 01132 444310
Imogen Fleury Project Worker (HQ Based) Tel 020 7312 3474
Jax Conrad Administrator (Part Time; HQ Based Tuesdays, Wednesday & Thursdays) Tel 020 7312 3457
For the project to be successful we need to recruit ULRs, enclosed is a leaflet/poster for you to circulate in your workplace advertising this new role. Please contact the project team if you are, or know of other members who would be interested in becoming a ULR or if you want any further information on the project.
Workplace Representatives Courses – New Booking Procedures
For workplace representatives courses in 2010 we will be altering the application process.
With effect from later this year representatives will need to apply online by specific deadlines to attend each course. Further details will be published shortly.
It is hoped that this will prove to be a more environmentally friendly, efficient and fairer way of ensuring representatives can attend our high quality representatives training programme.
Mileage Allowances
The RCM has been extensively involved in consultations regarding a new mileage allowance regime for AfC staff. This arises from the sharply varying prices of petrol which led to an interim 10% increase in allowances last year. It has been agreed that it is not a sensible approach to react to petrol price changes in this way as there would need to be substantial revisions, both upwards and downwards, many times each year.
After a wide consultation work is being carried out around the introduction of a single rate for both essential and regular users at a rate based on the AA schedule of motoring. Discussions are ongoing and we will of course keep you advised as the situation develops.
On Call
You may be aware of the wide variety of On Call arrangements currently payable in the NHS. As recognised under AfC it is essential for equality purposes that these arrangements are harmonised. The RCM is therefore currently involved in discussions within the NHS Staff Council with a view to achieving this. The discussions are necessarily long but we have given ourselves until October next year to try and come up with a sensible arrangement that can apply to all staff and gives a proper reward for on call duties undertaken. We will keep you advised of developments.
Needlestick Injuries
Agreement has been reached at EU level and with involvement and contribution regarding the above. The purpose of the agreement is to achieve the safest possible working environment and prevent workers’ injuries. It applies to all workers and students in clinical training in the hospital and healthcare sectors.
A well trained, adequately resourced and secure health service workforce is essential to prevent the risk of injury and infection from medical sharps; exposure prevention is key and the role of health and safety representatives is underlined in the agreement. It also emphasises a hierarchy of risk elimination and prevention; the importance of awareness raising and ‘no blame culture’.
Importantly, the agreement provides that the practice of recapping shall be banned with immediate effect. Safe procedures for using and disposing sharps as well as contaminated waste must be put into place. The unnecessary use of sharps is to be eliminated; technically safe containers must be available for the disposal of sharps and injection equipment as closely as possible to the assessed areas where sharps are being used or to be found. Free vaccination has to be provided in case of injury for all workers and students.
With regard to response and follow-up steps for the care of the injured worker should now include the provision of post-exposure prophylaxis; counselling of workers where appropriate and guaranteed medical treatment. Rehabilitation, continued employment and access to compensation shall be in accordance with national and/or sectoral agreements or legislation.
This agreement will be without prejudice to existing, future national and Community provisions which are more favorable and more details should be available by the end of the year.
The full text of the agreement can be found here http://www.epsu.org/a/5581
AfC and Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value
You will be aware that a so called no-win-no-fee solicitor was trying to sue the NHS and all the NHS trade unions at Employment Tribunal for perpetuating sexual discrimination in the NHS by adopting Agenda for Change. AfC was introduced to address equal value issues. It was considered that unless there was some sort of national job evaluation scheme, the NHS would be plagued by countless leapfrogging equal pay for work of equal value claims.
The solicitor alleged that NHS management and NHS trade unions had collaborated in forming the AfC Evaluation scheme with the intention of ensuring that male occupied jobs were deliberately protected at higher wage levels than female jobs of equal value. He also claimed that national job profiles were written by men in an act of self interest.
He advertised his services widely and put together approximately 15,000 claims, mainly in the North East. The NHS Trade Unions, including the RCM - who took Equal Pay issues into account when drafting the architecture of AfC - took their own advice and were confident that his claims were spurious at best and we would robustly defend our actions.
The solicitor was roundly defeated at the Employment Tribunal, as he was unable to provide sufficient evidence to support his allegations. In fact much of the evidence supported the Trade Union position and the Employment Tribunal threw out his claim. He was so roundly defeated (not a single point he raised was accepted by the ET) that despite earlier statements he will not appeal.
The RCM have been advised that he has now apparently written to those who had lodged claims with him stating that he will continue to pursue the matter for a further fee.
This in itself shows the value of your RCM membership, we have concentrated on achieving an equality proofed job evaluation based pay system to benefit all our members and have used legal cases to support this strategy, it may be that there are members who have pre AfC equal pay cases which our solicitors will advise on, subject to our usual procedures for securing legal advice.
Legal Cases
Following on from the above the RCM legal scheme, run in partnership with Thompsons solicitors, has been successful in obtaining compensation for many members who have recently suffered from personal injury.
A member for East midlands has recently been awarded a claim for damages totaling £30,000.
A member from the North East, who was involved in an accident at work when a patient collapsed in a birthing pool resulting in major back injuries to our member, received an award of £5,000.