Guernsey's nurses have taken another formal step towards taking strike action in their ongoing pay row with the States.
Yesterday, the Royal College of Nursing said its members in Guernsey have voted to 'kick start a request for a formal Industrial Action ballot'.
Only if each of these levels agree that strike action is necessary and justified can it ever happen.
Pictured: In this article, Express explored how Guernsey's nurses could go through with their threats to strike.
The pay row has escalated since nurses voted overwhelmingly to reject what was described as an 'insulting' offer last month.
While Policy and Resources (the States body responsible for negotiating nurses pay) said 'progress had been made' at that time, the nurses unions felt differently.
Now the largest of the unions representing local nursing staff, the RCN, has held a branch meeting in Guernsey, where it asked members who were present if they wanted to 'start the formal proceedings that could lead towards an Industrial Action ballot'.
The RCN said 98% of members who attended the meeting on 5 November said yes, meaning those formal proceedings will now start.
Above: Nurses have been protesting outside the States as deputies meet to discuss Guernsey's 2020 Budget this week.
Lindsay Meeks, RCN Regional Director said; “Sadly it has been inevitable that we would reach this point. Despite our members voting overwhelmingly to reject the pay offer, the States have still refused to meet with us to discuss pay in a meaningful way. There has been no attempt at any stage to get around a table and talk. Our grievance around the pay disparity is real, we have evidence to back it up and it and this has been recognised in an as yet unpublished independent report by Kojima. It is so disappointing. To be treated with such contempt is a complete slap in the face.
“Industrial Action is the last thing we want to do, but the States have left us with no choice. RCN members have never been on strike anywhere before, but it is looking more and more likely that the States of Guernsey will play host to the first ever RCN picket line.”
Pictured: Guernsey's Princess Elizabeth Hospital.
Following their meeting, the vote to carry out industrial action will now be elevated to the RCN's South East Board, which deals with nurses through the South East of the UK and the Channel Islands. They will review the situation, look at the history of matters and see how things have got to this point. Only if they think industrial action is justified would the next stage be reached.
That would be for the same process to be carried out by the RCN's UK-wide body. And if they give the go-ahead, the RCN Council will have the final say.
If all of the other hurdles are jumped, the island's RCN members would meet again, and have another vote to deicide on whether to go ahead with a strike.
Pictured: Guernsey's Policy and Resources Committee.
P&R is the States body responsible for pay negotiations.
It said it has passed the nurses dispute on the Industrial Disputes Officer as all other avenues have now been exhausted.
"As the Policy & Resources Committee has stated previously, we feel all options for negotiating an agreement with the members of the Agenda for Change pay group have been exhausted and we have for that reason lodged this as a formal dispute with the Industrial Disputes Officer.
"The IDO has a number of options for bringing the dispute to a resolution including, if the unions are willing to engage, conciliation. This is a tried and tested process for resolving such disputes and we would strongly encourage them to engage, in order to bring the dispute to an end, provide clarity for their members and the community and avoid any need for industrial action.
More details on this process can be found here.
P&R went on to say:
"If the Royal College of Nursing are unwilling to engage in this process, the IDO has other options for resolving the dispute. Industrial action will not change how that process moves forward,but will have an impact on patients and colleagues within our health service.
"We hope the RCN and its members can instead look to the IDO process as a positive step towards a solution."
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