100 signatures reached
To: Salman Desai, Chief Executive of North West Ambulance Service
North West Ambulance Service; Answer THIS Emergency Call NOW!
UNISON members who train contact centre control room staff at North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) are taking strike action after their employer cut their role’s pay by 9% through the unfair removal of a ‘Recruitment and Retention Premia’.
NWAS did this without going through the processes they are supposed to, to determine whether market conditions have changed with unions, and without providing any pay protection or additional notice for staff losing the payment.
The Integrated Control Centre Educator team provide vital training and support to ensure emergency contact centres and the NHS 111 service run smoothly in the North West of England. Many of the team are now applying for other jobs, and the retention issues caused by this pay cut could seriously undermine the delivery of training to ambulance service staff.
Thanks to the reckless actions of their employer, members of the team have lost up to £3000 of their salary compared to their wage before the restructure.
Support the ICC educators in their fight for a fair deal by contacting the NWAS Chief Executive, Salman Desai, and demanding a reasonable resolution to this dispute.
We are calling for:
A full review of the application of RRP to ICC educator roles jointly with trade unions, in line with NHS terms and conditions, with proper notice or pay protection arrangements if RRP payments are withdrawn
The reinstatement of RRP payments to the team for the time being, with back pay to cover the period NWAS removed the payments unreasonably without due process.
Why is this important?
Without Contact Centre Educators there would be no people trained and ready to take our emergency calls. North West Ambulance Service recognised that there was a recruitment and retention issue by introducing the additional payment to the educators role; the recruitment and retention issues haven't gone away and neither should the payment.