At its June meeting, UNISON Northern Ireland’s health committee condemned the intervention by Belfast Trust employers to directly communicate with staff over the heads of the regional trade union negotiating team.
The Trust wants to impose a change from weekly to monthly pay on its low-paid workers.
The union believes this action amounts to a denial of the right to negotiate and is an imposition of a change without agreement of how and when you are paid.
It is calling on members to say “No” to this action and say “Yes” to a ballot for action and to demand employers listen to your staff unions.
As employers are now issuing letters at the behest of Department officials to coerce workers into accepting this change without agreement, your UNISON health committee strongly advises:
- returning all letters to sender
- if this is causing stress to any members then you should self refer or ask your manager to refer you to your Occupational Health department
- boycotting employment meetings or ‘clinics’ on this issue.
The UNISON health committee urges the new health minister to make a prompt intervention to halt this threatened imposition of change.
This will enable UNISON and other unions at regional level reasonable time to secure and complete negotiations via membership led agreement on the disputed pay issues.
