The issue
UNISON wants NHS staff to be paid properly for the Platinum Jubilee bank holiday.
We’ve made a formal request via the NHS Staff Council to ensure that NHS employers ‘get it right’ across the UK when it comes to paying staff for the Jubilee bank holiday. The holiday takes place on Friday 3 June and follows the late May bank holiday which has been moved to Thursday 2 June.
We have been clear that we expect the additional bank holiday to be treated as any other public holiday, meaning it should attract payments which are in line with section 13.4 of the NHS terms and conditions.
So, members should be paid the relevant Public Holidays unsocial hours rate or double time overtime rate for the shift they are working as well as equivalent time-off-in-lieu. This is the very least they deserve after having worked tirelessly through the two-year pandemic.
UNISON and the other NHS trade unions have highlighted that the benefits to staff and employers are obvious, especially during a time where staff are feeling disillusioned and burnt out with many considering leaving the health service for good.
Furthermore, this is likely to be take place at a time when the 2022 pay rise will still be outstanding and has the potential to have a strong negative impact on staff morale.
Many local employers have already committed to making it a public holiday, but this shouldn’t be a postcode lottery. Despite calls from the trade unions to reach a UK-wide national position on this, UNISON is disappointed that it is being left to employers to decide locally whether to apply consistent pay rates.
We’ve got social media graphics and a guide to give you more information, including objections and rebuttals.
What can branches do?
- Talk to your members about what getting it right around the Jubilee bank holiday will mean to them
- Speak to your employer to find out how they intend to treat the Jubilee bank holiday and what it means for members. Get it on your JNCC agenda ASAP.
- Use our materials to build a local campaign and make the case that the Jubilee bank holiday should be treated as a public holiday
- Spread the ‘get it right for the Jubilee’ message using social media. Tweet what it would mean to members not just financially, but for their health & wellbeing. Use #GIRJubileeNHS on Twitter and Facebook. Share your employer’s plans and use what is going on elsewhere to help you make your case.
- Start a petition and contact your local MP and see if they will support NHS staff who have to work on the Jubilee
- Tell us about your successes by email or on social media
