Mark Pitt, General Secretary of the PDA Union
Mark Pitt is now General Secretary, having replaced John Murphy who retired at the end of March after serving in that role since the union was founded. Mark was already an Assistant General Secretary and a senior member of the PDA team.
Mark Koziol, Mark Pitt, Alisdair Jones, Tasnim Khan, Balraj Rai and Anjlee Shah at the meeting
In another significant change amongst the union officers, Anjlee Shah has joined the NEC as the first Assistant General Secretary (Equality, Diversity & Inclusion). Mark Pitt explained, “Equality is in the DNA of our organisation, not only do we run four successful equality networks and help many individuals with cases involving discrimination, one of the organisation’s founding objectives is to ensure we…. promote equality for all and to eliminate all forms of harassment, prejudice and unfair discrimination… The outgoing NEC proposed the creation of this new post and I congratulate Anjlee for her election as the first member to take up that role.”
Mark Koziol has been re-elected as Assistant General Secretary (Strategic) and Alisdair Jones re-elected as Treasurer. Balraj Rai and Tasnim Khan join the NEC as Assistant General Secretary (Tactical) and Assistant General Secretary (Membership & Administration) respectively.
The NEC also includes four members elected by their regions,
- Region 1: Scotland & Northern Ireland
- Region 2: North England
- Region 3: Wales & West of England
- Region 4: Southeast England
Jayesh Ladva, Abimbola Musa, Gordon Finlayson and Anne Davies at the meeting
Gordon Finlayson in Scotland & Northern Ireland and Jayesh Ladva in North England continue to serve on the NEC having both been re-elected. Abimbola Musa has joined the NEC representing Southeast England and Anne Davies has joined the NEC to represent Wales & West England.
NEC meetings also benefit from the involvement of a representative of the union’s student members (undergraduate students and trainee pharmacists) with Scott Rutherford in that role.
Mark concluded, “I was delighted to chair my first NEC meeting last month and welcome the new committee. Our meetings are an opportunity to take forward issues coming through the networks and a chance to reflect on the wide range of activity the PDA undertakes on behalf of members and the wider profession. We have a strong new team and we are all committed to guiding the union through its next chapter.”
Under trade union law, the NEC is subject to election every five years and hence this new team will be in post until March 2028. The current law forces unions to post printed ballot papers for any contested seats and does not allow electronic voting. These requirements reduce participation and frustrate efforts to minimise the use of paper and postage on environmental grounds. Alongside other trade unions, the PDA is raising these concerns with the trade union regulator and hopes that by the next NEC elections, electronic voting will be allowed.
Learn more
- NEC Election report (Feb 2023)
- Gold pin awarded to John Murphy (April 2023)
- Farewell message from retiring General Secretary (March 2023)
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