The first ballot in June 2018 saw 87% of all votes cast supporting the removal of an arrangement between Boots and the Boots Pharmacists Association (BPA) which blocked the PDA Union from being recognised to negotiate employment issues with the company.
Subsequent talks between the company’s senior management and PDA Union ended without a voluntary agreement being reached, so it is now once again down to the democratic process of one vote per employee to decide what happens.
Mark Pitt, Assistant General Secretary of the PDA Union said “We’re disappointed that the company would not respond to the overwhelming vote of their pharmacist employees by reaching a voluntary agreement and that we have had to return to using the legal process. However, we are once again finding a way that this process can directly help pharmacists.”
In the first ballot the PDA Union promised a £1.00 donation for every vote cast. Importantly this charitable donation was not dependent on how people voted and was a way to encourage participation in an important ballot whilst at the same time supporting a very worthy cause. This raised £3,308 for Macmillan Cancer support, which was selected by voters as their preferred charity to receive the donation. The PDA Union hope that by doing the same in this second ballot they will raise even more and with around 7,000 voters there is a chance that twice as much money can be raised for charity on this occasion.
Mark Pitt concluded: “We hope as many eligible Boots pharmacists and pre-registration pharmacists will exercise their right to vote and that we will be giving an even larger amount to charity this time.”
The ballot period is scheduled to start on 4 February 2019 and will run for five weeks. Pharmacists and pre-registration pharmacists at grade 5, 6 & 7 in stores will be entitled to vote.