NHS UPDATE 2 (of 3)
The second major item from the NHS case management discussion (2 July) was the ongoing row about whether the NHS in Scotland acts, in practice, as a single employer.
Why is this important?
Because if the NHS can be regarded as a single employer, then the process for dealing with all the outstanding cases will speed up enormously.
Instead of having to deal with all the individual health boards (and other employers such as NHS 24) separately - it would be possible for the parties at the Employment Tribunal to agree that test cases be brought for each occupational group - on the understanding that the outcome would be binding on all other claims - right across NHS Scotland.
Clearly, this would save a huge amount of time, energy and expense - for everyone involved - so you can bet your life the employers will resist such an eminently sensible suggestion.
The good news is that the Scottish Executive has finally been forced to concede what has been obvious for some time. NHS Scotland has no freedom to act independently when it comes to staff pay and conditions - the employers have to follow ministerial regulations which are binding in law and must be obeyed.
In response to a recent Freedom Of Information request (from Mark Irvine) the Scottish Executive has now confirmed:
"Staff who work in NHS Scotland (including those covered by the Agenda for Change agreement) are employees of the health boards and are not directly employed by Scottish Ministers. However, statutory provisions do govern their terms and conditions."
What this means is that pay agreements struck on behalf of NHS staff are legally watertight - individual employers cannot change or vary pay and conditions and have no option but to follow the guidance issued by the Scottish Executive.
So, in our view there is every reason to cut to the chase and treat all the NHS employers as a single employer - because that's exactly how the law of the land requires them to behave!
A special case management hearing is to be held to deal with this specific point - no dates have been agreed as yet, but we will let you know when this happens.
The Cabinet Secretary for Health (Nicola Sturgeon) will be invited to join the Employment Tribunal proceedings. This will not please the new health minister because the mess has been created by the previous Labour/Lib Dem administrations - not the new SNP led Scottish Executive.
Yet again, the unions are a bit shamefaced over the whole affair - it's taken all this time to drag the truth out into the open - but the fact is that this information has been available to the unions for many years.
Unison and GMB are the only unions pursuing NHS claims - the RCN and RCM are not at the races, for reasons best known to them!
But Unison really operates as part of the NHS establishment these days - which explains why the union has been keeping its members in the dark about equal pay for years (see post dated 22 April).
Unison had very close relations with the old Scottish Executive - even seconding full-time union officials to work right inside the health department - alongside senior civil servants. Unison also helps to manage the various partnership forums at a national and health board level - which are responsible for monitoring equality issues - although they've been doing a terrible job of looking after staff interests.
While the unions have been cosying up to the employers for years, it has taken Action 4 Equality and Stefan Cross to bring the single employer issue out into the open - and that should make the business of bringing equal pay claims a whole lot easier for thousands of NHS staff.
Why is this important?
Because if the NHS can be regarded as a single employer, then the process for dealing with all the outstanding cases will speed up enormously.
Instead of having to deal with all the individual health boards (and other employers such as NHS 24) separately - it would be possible for the parties at the Employment Tribunal to agree that test cases be brought for each occupational group - on the understanding that the outcome would be binding on all other claims - right across NHS Scotland.
Clearly, this would save a huge amount of time, energy and expense - for everyone involved - so you can bet your life the employers will resist such an eminently sensible suggestion.
The good news is that the Scottish Executive has finally been forced to concede what has been obvious for some time. NHS Scotland has no freedom to act independently when it comes to staff pay and conditions - the employers have to follow ministerial regulations which are binding in law and must be obeyed.
In response to a recent Freedom Of Information request (from Mark Irvine) the Scottish Executive has now confirmed:
"Staff who work in NHS Scotland (including those covered by the Agenda for Change agreement) are employees of the health boards and are not directly employed by Scottish Ministers. However, statutory provisions do govern their terms and conditions."
What this means is that pay agreements struck on behalf of NHS staff are legally watertight - individual employers cannot change or vary pay and conditions and have no option but to follow the guidance issued by the Scottish Executive.
So, in our view there is every reason to cut to the chase and treat all the NHS employers as a single employer - because that's exactly how the law of the land requires them to behave!
A special case management hearing is to be held to deal with this specific point - no dates have been agreed as yet, but we will let you know when this happens.
The Cabinet Secretary for Health (Nicola Sturgeon) will be invited to join the Employment Tribunal proceedings. This will not please the new health minister because the mess has been created by the previous Labour/Lib Dem administrations - not the new SNP led Scottish Executive.
Yet again, the unions are a bit shamefaced over the whole affair - it's taken all this time to drag the truth out into the open - but the fact is that this information has been available to the unions for many years.
Unison and GMB are the only unions pursuing NHS claims - the RCN and RCM are not at the races, for reasons best known to them!
But Unison really operates as part of the NHS establishment these days - which explains why the union has been keeping its members in the dark about equal pay for years (see post dated 22 April).
Unison had very close relations with the old Scottish Executive - even seconding full-time union officials to work right inside the health department - alongside senior civil servants. Unison also helps to manage the various partnership forums at a national and health board level - which are responsible for monitoring equality issues - although they've been doing a terrible job of looking after staff interests.
While the unions have been cosying up to the employers for years, it has taken Action 4 Equality and Stefan Cross to bring the single employer issue out into the open - and that should make the business of bringing equal pay claims a whole lot easier for thousands of NHS staff.
