Nursing home votes for recognition

One telephone enquiry led to full trade union recognition for one Ayrshire private nursing home when 52% of the staff voted for UNISON to be their recognised union in July.

Further negotiation sealed the deal with the final agreement in September. An enquiry from a local branch regarding membership at Seabank nursing home in Saltcoats was passed to West Team Branch Development Officer, Pauline Campbell, who assessed the potential for organising a union in this workplace.

Once it was agreed that this would be possible UNISON offered a meeting for members of staff - outside the workplace if staff were worried about repercussions. UNISON approached the home and arranged a workplace meeting.

11 members of staff attended the meeting and they all signed up. Tracey Dalling - Regional Officer said "I outlined the benefits of UNISON membership, emphasising the need for union recognition in the workplace. The issues were pay, rotas and holidays, all of which require formal recognition to make a difference".

Since then UNISON has kept in touch with staff in the home. Every issue that arises is an organising opportunity. An attempt was made to make deductions from wages: UNISON advised this was not legal, and resulted in the employer thinking again.

A point Pauline reinforces, "It's important to build confidence inUNISON, so we chose an issue which UNISON successfully took up with the employer, demonstrating immediately the benefits of union membership to the staff. Despite earlier promises of a voluntary agreement, the employers eventually forced UNISON to go for a ballot. The ballot was run by ACAS in July, and the rest is a successful example of organising and setting up a union - even in an atmosphere of initial hostility."

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