UNION leaders have hit out at NHS Trusts, including the Luton & Dunstable Hospital, which are refusing to pay staff bank holiday rates for working during the royal wedding later this month.
Although most of us will be enjoying an extra day off thanks to Prince William and Kate Middleton’s April 29 nuptials, it will be business as usual at the L&D.
And despite a national NHS contract agreement called Agenda for Change, which entitles staff to double time or normal rates plus 60 per cent, the L&D is one of 115 trusts and PCTs known by Britain’s biggest union Unite who are refusing to pay staff extra.
Unite officer for health, Rachel Maskell, said: “NHS staff will be saving lives, looking after the sick and prepared for emergencies while most of Britain will be taking a well-earned break or celebrating the royal wedding.
“Despite the dedication and huge pressure on NHS staff, a significant number of NHS trusts are stubbornly refusing to pay bank holiday rates for working during the wedding.
“The government has given the country an extra bank holiday to mark the royal wedding but NHS chief executives on six figure salaries are refusing to recognise the spirit of the occasion.
“These trusts still have time to do the right thing and recognise the valuable contribution NHS staff make to this country.”
The Agenda for Change deal entitles staff to eight bank holidays a year.
The royal wedding is an official extra bank holiday announced by the government, which UK workers should be entitled to, but some trusts are using the national agreement as a reason not to pay staff extra.
Unite say that in some cases part-time employees could be particularly badly hit where they only receive time off in lieu on a pro rata basis.
But a spokesperson for the L&D told the Gazette that staff working the additional bank holiday will not go unrewarded.
She said: “In line with over 100 trusts, when employees are required to work a bank holiday, they receive a day off in lieu.
“This has been agreed with Unison.”
> What do you think? Should L&D staff be given bank holiday pay or is a day in lieu reward enough?
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