Dear Colleagues
The purpose of this communique is to update our members on recent developments within NIAS which will affect members.
Relief Staff:
You will recall in June 2021 all relief staff were invited to partake in an electronic ballot to give the senior negotiating team a mandate for negotiations on your behalf. This ballot was to determine how relief duties should be managed and how long-term core rota vacancies should be covered (based on seniority or a rotational basis). The ballot returned a 78% – 22% outcome in favour of seniority. The Branch Secretaries brought this result to NIAS senior managers and other trade unions at the Operations Joint Consultative Group (Ops JCG) and entered negotiations. We are happy to announce that steps are currently underway to introduce a NIAS-wide seniority-based relief rostering system throughout NIAS. Due to the agreed 6-week rostering system for relief staff, it may take several weeks for these changes to be applied. We expect these changes to be supported by a written Standard Operating Procedure, which should be available to all staff.
Vehicle Cleaning Operatives (VCOs):
Since the inception of the VCO role, Unison NI Ambulance Branch has campaigned that it should be an “in-house” role and that NIAS should recruit and employ VCOs under the standard Agenda for Change Terms & Conditions. We are delighted that this process has begun and the first 20 NIAS VCOs will be taking up the post. We will continue to push for further recruitment into this critical role towards our ambition to see all NIAS VCOs employed directly by the trust.
Station Supervisors:
As you will be aware over recent years NIAS has recruited many Temporary Station Supervisors, which increased the Supervisor positions to over 60 within the trust. Recently NIAS stated that it was their intention to return Station Supervisor levels to the permanently funded numbers (approx.30) from 31st August 2022. This caused concern, not only for those in the temporary positions but also for those in substantive Supervisor positions. Unison challenged this through the OpsJCG but was unable to reach a satisfactory agreement. We, therefore, escalated the issue through JCNC to the SMT. We pointed out the risks associated with such a move and requested that the status quo be maintained until the outcome of the “Review of Operational Structures” had been completed and the supervisor role was fully evaluated and reviewed in partnership. As a direct result of Unison’s input in this regard, NIAS has agreed that the Temporary Supervisor role would be extended until at least 31st December or until the review is completed.
These are simply examples of the work being carried out by the branch. The bulk of our day-to-day work cannot be publicized as it encompasses collective bargaining, grievances, working well together cases, bullying and harassment, disciplinary, attendance management and staff welfare issues, all of which are confidential processes. We are only able to deliver on these processes with the support of a strong base of Shop Stewards and Health & Safety Reps. Our workload increases significantly when representing members from locations where they do not have a local Unison representative. If your current station or department is one of those without a Unison representative, we encourage you to elect one or even stand for a position yourself. Full training and support will be provided and all new Shop Stewards, upon completion of their training, are provided with an experienced mentor.
End of communique
