Before an employer changes an employee's contract they should enter into a formal consultation process. PDA is urging its members to respond if they believe that they have not been consulted.
We have recently been informed that the Co-operative Pharmacy have introduced a number of changes to your working conditions, some of these following negotiations with the Trade Union NACO which you may also be a member of. Our initial view of the changes is that they are not in your best interests and we are concerned as to the manner in which these have been communicated to you.
The changes appear to centre round the following areas:
The change which most of you will be concerned about is the fact that your employer will no longer allow employees to work for a competitor as of 1st March 2011. Only bookings up to 31st May 2011 that have already been made can be honoured.
Those of you who are part time employees who also work as employees or locums elsewhere OR are full time employees and topping up your income with other work, will unfortunately no longer be able to do this.
Under the old arrangements, although your employer was always able to restrict the work that you could do if it was felt that a genuine conflict of interest existed, employees could argue their case that the business was not in direct competition and it was therefore unreasonable to refuse permission for them to work elsewhere. The new arrangements mean that you are prohibited from working for any competitor whatsoever.
Employees are required to complete a webform to confirm they have understood the changes. As your Union, we do not recommend that you do so, as this could be interpreted as your acceptance. We are keen to understand your views regarding the changes and we would particularly like to know whether you feel you were consulted about the changes by your employer. With this in mind we would very much appreciate if you would comment using our FEEDBACK facility below or by sending your views to enquiries@pda-union.org
This article was first published on the 'The PDA' website.
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