Yorkshire Ambulance Service chiefs scrap union talks

9:34am Monday 11th February 2013 in News Photograph of the Author By Richard Catton, richard.catton@thepress.co.uk

AMBULANCE bosses in Yorkshire have been accused of “gagging and bullying” tactics after they decided to stop recognising the Unite union.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) said it made the decision because of the “disappointing” working relationship between the two organisations and said the union had not been constructive in discussing changes.

Unite has 450 ambulance staff on its books, including about 50 based in York.

Rachael Maskell, Unite’s head of health, said: “They have derecognised Unite, as the trade union representing paramedics and other ambulance staff, for raising concerns about the proposed shake-up in ambulance services.

“It appears that managers have something to hide and don’t want to engage with a legitimate trade union which has been speaking up on behalf of its ambulance staff members and the Yorkshire public.”

Unite had recently criticised the ambulance service for its plans to introduce “emergency care assistants” to frontline ambulance crews. The union said the new role required only six weeks of training, while a paramedic must undergo a two-year degree.

The union said it would not allow management to “bully staff into accepting a second-class service for the public of Yorkshire, putting lives at risk”.

David Whiting, chief executive of Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, said: “We carefully reflected upon this difficult matter before advising Unite the union of our decision to derecognise them.

“Unfortunately, the working relationship with Unite the union remains disappointing and we have not received a constructive contribution to the difficult decisions that the trust has been required to make for the future, particularly as we seek to maintain high-quality care for patients against the realities of the tough economic climate.

“I would like to reassure members of the public that all our decisions are focused on continuing to deliver a high-quality and responsive service to patients and this will always remain our top priority.”

The service said it was still committed to working in partnership with UNISON and the relationship was not affected by the decision to derecognise Unite.

Comments(12)

markymmark says...
11:20am Mon 11 Feb 13

The union said it would not allow management to “bully staff into accepting a second-class service for the public of Yorkshire, putting lives at risk”.

The union's job is to represent its members - not to decide on management policies on how the service is run.

I imagine that if they are now not being recognised my YAS then members will not have to pay their membership fees until it is sorted out !

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Older Sometimes Wiser says...
11:37am Mon 11 Feb 13

I would be inclined to believe the Union on this, particularly in relation to the dumbing down of services. It is essential in such an important emergency service that initial clinical decisions on treatment are correct, and “emergency care assistants” with minimal training are unlikely to provide this.
This is a worrying trend in the NHS such as health care Assistants replacing trained Nurses in Hospitals etc.

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powerwatt says...
12:20pm Mon 11 Feb 13

Didn't know anyone was still part of Unite.

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Brabus says...
2:57pm Mon 11 Feb 13

So in summary Government (either directly or via NHS) tells YAS it has 'x' funds. YAS scratches it's head and comes up with a plan to operate within budget. Union disagree with proposed actions but can't come up with an alternative (other than shouting/stamping feet/continuing to take members fees and pay high salaries to officers). YAS get bored with arguing with a brick wall and hearing the same old story about 'our members'

Seem to remember this tactic being particularly successful in the 80's

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M.Blanc says...
3:20pm Mon 11 Feb 13

What YAS want is to have a Paramedic and a far less qualified person per ambulance. Sounds okay so far. This less qualified person will have the tital of ECA (or something similar). This person is there just to drive and assist the Paramedic. They will have very limited experience and practical skills and will be under the guidence of the Paramedic. At a big road traffic accident with multiple casualties, or at an incident with more than one casualty they will have limited use as they will be unable to make a medical decision without the Paramedic...who may well be dealing with another casualty. And if you think there will be another Paramedic coming anytime soon to help then think again...they will all be in the A&E corridor at York Hospital (who are making their own cutbacks by closing beds and employing less qualified nursed) waiting with their patient while a bed becomes free.
This is money saving at the sharp end and the only people who will suffer are the public...wait and see.

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Podlet says...
3:38pm Mon 11 Feb 13

Personally, I'm on the union's side. On more than a few occasions in the last 5 years I have owed my life to the knowledge and skills of the both the ambulance crew and would hate to think that anybody's surival was at risk simply over cost saving.

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againstthecuts says...
3:41pm Mon 11 Feb 13

and how long will it be before other unions in the N.H.S gets derocognised?

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Brabus says...
3:50pm Mon 11 Feb 13

Podlet wrote:
Personally, I'm on the union's side. On more than a few occasions in the last 5 years I have owed my life to the knowledge and skills of the both the ambulance crew and would hate to think that anybody's surival was at risk simply over cost saving.
And what if we can't afford it any more ? Are you going to negotiate tax increases with the other millions of taxpayers to keep more Paramedics vs providing social housing/pensions/job
s/education etc etc.

The money's run out but rather than people working together to find better ways we end up with union vs employer with employer paid (and generally qualified) to find solutions and union throwing money and resources at discrediting emloyers views until, surprise surprise, employer ends up spending more on defending against union than the original savings would have been

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meme says...
3:57pm Mon 11 Feb 13

doesn't look like they get on together particularly well which means the future is going to be very uncertain
Non of us know who is right or wrong but if they stop talking there wil be no solutions

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yorkie71 says...
6:17pm Mon 11 Feb 13

Is there an epidemic of not recognising Unite ?

Aviva also don't recognise unite as a union. Are they scared of unite or simply find them not worthy of dealing with ?

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againstthecuts says...
8:05pm Mon 11 Feb 13

i see they are going to ballot its members for strike action
http://www.unitetheu
nion.org/news/strike
actiononcardsforyork
shireambulanceworker
s

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yorkborn66 says...
8:22pm Mon 11 Feb 13

Brabus wrote:
Podlet wrote:
Personally, I'm on the union's side. On more than a few occasions in the last 5 years I have owed my life to the knowledge and skills of the both the ambulance crew and would hate to think that anybody's surival was at risk simply over cost saving.
And what if we can't afford it any more ? Are you going to negotiate tax increases with the other millions of taxpayers to keep more Paramedics vs providing social housing/pensions/job

s/education etc etc.

The money's run out but rather than people working together to find better ways we end up with union vs employer with employer paid (and generally qualified) to find solutions and union throwing money and resources at discrediting emloyers views until, surprise surprise, employer ends up spending more on defending against union than the original savings would have been
I respect your opinion but would like to you to consider mine.
Mu mum was a nurse all her working life and was in the “service”. From the first day she was told you are here to serve the patients. (So she told me)
Having already passing a comment on the Novovirus outbreak, it is not the nurses or doctors or consultants, or the first line emergency responders (Ambulance crews) that are at fault, but the Government now and previous.
There are to many fat cats in the NHS, and the soldiers of the NHS are getting more and more demoralized.
The ambulance crew and paramedics, make the difference between life and death, same for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.
I know I will maybe cause problems for myself when I say this but:
IF our government stopped spending money on wars and conflicts that did not REALLY concern us (OIL not terrorism)
Get out of Europe and not wait for a referendum, we are paying billions of pounds and not getting value for money at all.
Trade in Europe is at an all time low, global markets are creating better revenues for business.
Close our borders: we cannot carry on paying for immigrants coming into this country to rape our benefits and NHS system. (Child benefit paid to children not in the UK as an example)
The NHS cannot cope with the amount of people coming into this country and British citizens as well; it was never designed for this.
I have never been a union man, but considering our government’s intentions and locally the Heart unit at Leeds, we really do need to question, as a British citizens are we stepping back in direction too much, in fear of upsetting a minority?
I am married to a non EU citizen now British and between us paid thousands of pounds to our government for the privilege, (so No I am not racist)
I paid into a system that I hoped would be there for me when I needed it, instead now I find after 30 years of paying into the system, an NHS not fit for purpose.
I have no support for any of our political parties.

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