If the union’s application is agreed it will mean that the company has to negotiate pay, holiday and other matters with the union for “All pharmacists registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council and the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (excluding those of Area Management status or equivalent and more senior to them) and pre-registration Graduates, who are employed by Boots Management Services Ltd”. By mutual agreement the agreement could go further and it could form the basis of a positive working relationship between management and employees.
Paul Day, National Officer of the PDAU said “We continue to invite the senior management at Boots to voluntarily work with us for the benefit of their employees and the company as a whole. We believe that together we can make sure Boots is a business success in a way that also fairly manages people in a healthy working environment, respects them as professionals, rewards them appropriately, and has working practices that improve patient safety.”
There are now just 12 days left of the 20 working day extension which the union agreed to after the extra period of discussion was requested by the company. If no agreement is made after this period then the union can apply to the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) for a statutory model of recognition to be enforced by legal order.
We will continue to keep members informed of how this process develops. In the meantime pharmacists at Boots who are not yet members of the PDAU can join here: https://www.the-pda.org/join/