PDA members employed by the NHS were asked in neutral terms by the union if they accepted the recently announced pay award or rejected it. 80% of those responding rejected the award.
Paul Moloney, PDA Union National Officer said, “For the first time in the history of our union, members have told us they are so angry that they would not rule out industrial action in conjunction with other NHS unions. It is important that, whoever is to lead the government, they listen to this message and act now to ensure our members and others in the NHS do not face swinging cuts to their standard of living.”
Industrial action?
PDA members were asked whether they would support industrial action if they had rejected the award and if other NHS unions would be taking industrial action.
58% of those responding said they would support the PDA Union taking industrial action if members of other unions were also planning to take action on this issue.
What happens next?
It is important that all PDA members recognise this does not mean there will be industrial action. What this outcome means is that if other trade unions in the NHS ballot for industrial action, then the PDA Union will also ballot members employed in the NHS.
It is the outcome of that ballot and whether the required number of members participate in it that will decide whether PDA members take strike action. Such a ballot would have to comply with the 2016 Trade Union Act provisions that sets out the need for 50% of the membership to participate in the ballot, for example. No strike action, or industrial action short of strike, will involve PDA members unless it is clearly the wish of the majority of the NHS membership.
For now, however, the PDA Union will wait for other unions to publish the outcomes of their own consultations. As a union dedicated to representing the needs of only pharmacists, the PDA has been able to quickly survey members immediately after the pay award was announced. The PDA is aware that bigger, general unions with membership in many NHS employment categories have structures that do not allow them to move as quickly as the PDA can, so the PDA expect it will be some weeks before other unions reach the point the PDA has.
Paul Moloney added, “We will be looking particularly closely at, and, where appropriate, working with, other NHS unions exclusively representing healthcare professionals, such as the Royal College of Midwives, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, the Society of Radiographers, and the College of Podiatry, among others. Once the position of these organisations is known, we will contact NHS members again.”
Paul Day, PDA Director, stressed the need for this message to be heard not just in the NHS but across pharmacy, saying, “The PDA Union will be making it known within the pharmacy profession that our members do not support the NHS pay award and, for the first time in history, are considering possible industrial action.”
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