Have A Break – Have A Mish-Mash!

Agenda for Change (AfC) is nearly ten years old and here we are, like most other Ambulance Services, still trying to sort out Rest Breaks for operational staff.

We can’t even decide if it is a rest break or a meal break! Woe betide staff resting on a meal break or eating on a rest break!

The Rest/Meal Break provisions in all Ambulance Services are a mish-mash!

It needn’t be like that if someone would only make the sensible decision to make all the rest/meal break paid, and not unpaid.

In other words, change the wording of Section 10.1 in the AfC National Handbook from ‘37.5 hours a week ‘excluding’ meal breaks’,(note it says meal break and not rest break) to ‘37.5 hours a week ‘including’ meal breaks’.

Throw out the ex and put in the in!. Great slogan for our next demonstration!: “Throw out the Ex and put in the In! Throw out the Ex and put in the In!”

It is that one word that is causing all the problems. It is that one word that is actually the barrier, most of the time, that prevents staff having a break, and it is that one word that causes the problems in cover which results in bad press. 

Unpaid rest/meal breaks may have been designed to give Services more freedoms but, in reality, they have fenced them in.

That decision will have to be made at a national level by NHS Employers. But, while they contemplate their navels (which is called Omphaloskepsis by the way!), twiddle their thumbs and fiddle while Rome (or dinner) burns, we are left at local and regional level with a mess.

It is about having control in a positive way.

Our current rest/meal break agreement isn’t perfect by any means, but is what being proposed an improvement?

Is justifying having ‘food on the hoof’ by pedantically splitting hairs over rest break v meal break an improvement?

• Staff should have a break.
• Staff should have proper facilities for that break.
• Staff should be compensated if they do not have a break.

Three simple rules! This is all we ask.

We understand that the decision regarding inclusive rest/meal breaks may well be out of the Service’s hands (although in this brave new world why not lead the way) but a fair, respectful policy should be well within our grasp.

We are talking about people doing a difficult job who are entitled to rest and sustenance.

Pie & Mash and not Mish & Mash!

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We have been having meetings on a National level within the Joint National Staff Council.

These talks have been concentrated on Annex E and the recent changes to Agenda for Change.

In simple terms the NHS Employers and Ambulance Service Employers take the view that the recent change to the AfC withdrawing Unsocial Hour Payments while off sick also applies to health staff covered by Annex E (staff in Ambulance Services are covered by Annex E within the National Handbook).

UNISON and other Unions involved do not believe that these deductions while off sick apply to staff under Annex E.

NHS Employers think it applies – We do not.

A proposal regarding how this will work has been given to the Unions.

We are to ballot those members working under Annex E for their views.

More information will be sent out soon.

The following is a statement sent from the Union at national level:

“As you know, the impact of the recent Agenda for Change changes on Annex E sickness payments has been the subject of contention!  UNISON’s position has been that the changes that were made to sickness payments (i.e. removing unsocial hours payments) do not have an automatic impact on Annex E, but the employers disagree with this.  They maintain that the principle of removing unsocial hours for periods of sickness absence should apply to staff paid under Annex E, and have proposed a methodology for how this deduction could be made.    

UNISON, along with other staff side unions, does not agree that this deduction can happen automatically but has agreed to consult members on the proposal.  Your branch will be talking to you over the next few weeks about what the employers have proposed and what this could mean for you, and will be asking you to vote on whether you accept or reject. 

Look out for more information and your ballot pack”.

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Mao Tse Tung wrote that change comes through the barrel of a gun! The band ‘Alabama 3’ wrote a song called ‘Mao Tse Tung Said’. The chorus is:

Mao Tse Tung said

Change must come

Mao Tse Tung said

Change must come

Mao Tse Tung said

Change must come

Change must come thru the barrel of a gun!

(Health Warning: This has nothing to do with ‘A Time For Change’ consultation)!

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 Information on all issues can be found elsewhere on our website.

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If you are reading this, work for the London Ambulance Service or are eligible to join, and are not yet a member of UNISON Join Today!

  I Am Frontline You Are Frontline We Are All Frontline

We are stronger together.

Eric Roberts

Branch Secretary.