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The UNISON Branch of the East of England Ambulance Service is currently engaged in intense negotiations to try to harmonise the existing Mealbreak Agreements/ arrangements for A & E Operations, NES, OOH, both on the road and in HEOC.
These negotiations have taken place over six days in various locations. UNISON Branch members of the group are; Barry Jarvis, Frank Ward, John Davey, Paul Hatch, Tim Killick, and Stuart Reeves.
The Management side are Rob Ashford (LCOO), Tracey Leghorn (Head of Operational HR), Ann Langdon (Senior HR Manager), Paul Bassett and Mark Wade.
Staffside mealbreak group met on Friday 31st October at UNISON’s office in Bury St Edmunds. All six of us attended even though two members were on AL. We were Barry Jarvis and Frank Ward (Staffside Leads), John Davey (Essex), Tim Killick (Cambridgeshire), Paul Hatch (Herts) and Stuart Reeves (Beds and HEOC).
We reaffirmed our position as the same as our last proposal to the Trust which had been rejected by them. We also agreed that whatever position we might come to in the negotiations, it would still be contentious for our members as it would be a harmonised East of England agreement, so there would be changes in current practice for all staff. This means there will be a need for full consultation before signing up to anything. This process would require at least six weeks from release of any document.
The Trust had indicated that they wished to meet on the following Monday but this was too short notice for our group so our position was relayed to the Trust. At the time of writing we are awaiting a date for a further meeting of the full staffside and management group.
Further updates to come..
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