by New Worker correspondent.

Maybe, maybe not…this week the focus is on the NHS.

We start off in the red rose county of Lancashire, where biomedical staff at Blackburn and Burnley hospitals are planning strike action over the lack of holiday pay to which they are entitled. They deal with urgent and routine blood tests and other diagnostic work. The action is on Mondays to Fridays for the next four weeks.

They work different shifts therefore their pay varies. The law dictates that holiday pay should be calculated on the average of all earnings, with the principle that a worker should receive no less when on holiday than they would receive when working.

Their union, Unite, claims that the Trust is ignoring an employment tribunal finding against them. Several years ago, Management lost a tribunal case for one employee but are refusing to settle it for other employees who are now due thousands of pounds. This is despite senior management stating that they would always be open to negotiations following previous strikes over safe staffing levels.

General secretary Sharon Graham says: “This behaviour from the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust is nothing short of disgraceful. Staffing issues at the biomedical sciences laboratories have already put staff under strain but the refusal to pay what staff are legally entitled to is adding insult to injury.”

Regional officer Helen Flanagan added: “Workers have been left with no choice but to take strike action to get their legally entitled holiday pay. Strike action will inevitably lead to delays and will impact patients but this is entirely the fault of the trust’s management which has had every opportunity to resolve this dispute but has failed to do so.”

Meanwhile, at Chase Farm Hospital in north London staff employed by outsourcer ISS are to take strike action under the auspices of the GMB union. The strike starts on 15th July after a 95 per cent vote for action, citing allegations of bullying, overwork and a toxic workplace culture.

In addition to serious allegations about racist comments, they complain of a failure to properly pay overtime for bank holidays, changes to working patterns causing unmanageable workloads, and workplace grievances taking months to be resolved. GMB full-time officer Jack Phipps said: “ISS have a duty of care to their staff and have repeatedly failed to address serious workplace concerns.”

In the Channel Islands, Unite have, after 15 months of talks, secured a recognition agreement with the St John Ambulance & Rescue Service (SJARS) in Guernsey. One immediate benefit is that reps will get paid leave for training on issues such as employment rights and health & safety, and will be consulted across workplace issues including scheduling, working practices, new technologies, redundancies, business transfers and employee policies. In this semi-feudal tax haven, the deal with SJARS is particularly important as there is no union legislation in Guernsey.

Health sector unions are none too pleased about the fact that the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has been failing in its registration process for the last 12 years, particularly by failing to consider criminal convictions and health concerns when approving nurses and midwives as fit for work. This means that the professions could be harbouring many Dr Shipman types, and more likely just plain useless ones.

Gail Adams of Unison says that “it beggars belief this could have continued so long, particularly when the NMC has operated under greater scrutiny because of other mistakes”. She added that: “Patients, their families and registrants rely on the NMC as the gatekeeper of public trust and confidence. For those affected, it will mean an uncertain and agonising wait, so decisions must now be made quickly, fairly and transparently.”

The Royal College of Midwives said: “This is a shocking report card for the regulator after a much-trumpeted fresh start for the NMC last year. They are letting down midwives and nurses, NHS employers but most importantly the public who deserve an effective regulatory system that they can trust. We knew last year when the new leadership came in that they had a mountain to climb, and we still want them to succeed. It’s a disappointment to us all that instead of making progress, they’ve actually slipped back and delivered on fewer standards than last year.”

The even grander Royal College of Nursing (RCN) took a similar line, saying: “This is the latest in a catalogue of failings at the NMC and again calls into question whether it is fit for purpose as our profession’s regulator. Today’s vague apology will not suffice.” It also made the blindingly obvious point that: “The NMC must ensure all those practising as registered nurses are safe to do so at the point of registration and throughout their careers. It is a potentially dangerous regulatory failing that individuals made declarations regarding criminal convictions and or health conditions over such a long period of time without appropriate checks to determine their fitness to practise.”

On Tuesday, the NMC responded by admitting that it did not properly carry out health and criminal record checks for more than a decade. While it points out that 421 cases are involved, these are the only ones where the applicants declared something that would lead to further questions being asked.

The RCN has also attacked Labour’s Health Bill that removed the legal requirement for there to be a registered nurse on NHS Foundation Trust boards in England as a brazen attack on patient safety.

The change will allow hospitals to make decisions about services without any nursing expertise. This abolishes a vital part of the 2006 National Health Service Act. The changes will also affect integrated care boards (ICBs). The RCN say that patient care must always be the priority, but the bill’s proposals could mean that financial targets are prioritised over safety, with nursing staff numbers cut to make savings. What a surprise!

The union’s general secretary, Nicola Ranger, said: “Removing the legal requirement for there to be a registered nurse on NHS Foundation Trust boards is such a brazen attack on patient safety that words almost fail. In the boardroom, the senior nurse is the firebreak. Their expertise protects the public by challenging leaders and ensuring that the patient remains at the centre of all decisions. The Secretary of State must make it his urgent priority to keep guaranteed nursing leadership at executive level in law.”

Meantime, the latest strikes by Resident Doctors in England have incurred the wrath of Sir Keir Starmer who complains that the action, to overcome declining real pay since 2008, is sabotaging his claimed reduction in waiting times.

Resident doctors, previously known as junior doctors, are also pushing for pay rises, which their union, the British Medical Association (BMA), says would restore their salaries to the level they were at prior to the 2008 financial crash. The new health secretary, James Murray, has described the BMA’s demands as “unrealistic, unaffordable and unsustainable”, while hoping to begin constructive discussions aimed at resolving the long-running dispute.