AGENDA FOR CHANGE - LATEST NEWS

The NHS unions in Scotland (GMB and Unison) have now been joined to the Employment Tribunal proceedings that are underway against the employers.

Why? Because the unions are jointly responsible for the implementation of Agenda for Change - not just the NHS management.

The trade unions are taking joint decisions via local Grading Panels - in both hospital and community settings which is how NHS staff get placed on their new Agenda for Change band or grade.

But many people rightly complain that these union reps are often invisible, anonymous figures - who under trained and ill-equipped to do the job - and who are not accountable to NHS staff and union members for the decisions they make.

So, instead of Agenda for Change being handled in an open and transparent way - with decisions being made consistently and fairly across all the NHS employers - staff are faced with anomalies and contradictory decisions.

Worse still, the whole exercise is conducted in an atmosphere of secrecy and suspicion - one where awkward, but very reasonable, questions are definitely not welcome!

The bottom line is that the unions can't have it both ways - they can't be on the same side as the employers, then wash their hands of things when grading decisions are challenged and overturned.

So, Unison and the other NHS unions are in the frame along with the employers - they have to account for their actions as well - and explain why Agenda for Change continues to treat many male dominated jobs more favourably than jobs done mainly by women.

In England and Wales, for example, Unison is distributing publicity leaflets to members which sing the praises of Agenda for Change. Whereas in Scotland, Unison pretends to fight for members at the Employment Tribunals - yet they are jointly responsible for the very same grading decisions they are claiming to be flawed.

How crazy is that?

Here are some questions that union members might like to put to their representatives:

1. How do union members know that their job has been banded fairly, if they don't know the outcome for other male dominated jobs?
2. Why don't the unions publish information about the implementation of Agenda for Change across all NHS employers in Scotland?
3. How do the unions ensure that local reps are fully trained and competent in the job evaluation techniques that underpin Agenda for Change?
4. How are these local reps appointed and how are they accountable to the local union membership?
5. How can the unions sign the praises of Agenda for Change in England and Wales - yet pretend that they are not jointly responsible for its implementation in Scotland?

Action 4 Equality and Stefan Cross will ensure the unions are not let off the hook - the trade unions in Scotland have a lot to answer for and - as we've shown in the council sector - we will hold them to account in the NHS as well.