Healthcare assistants hold protest rally over being 'expected' to carryout clinical duties they're not being paid for

Unison regional secretary Clare Williams explains why healthcare assistants have been holding the protest rally.

Transcript

00:00 It was so brilliant then. But look, it's quite straightforward, isn't it?

00:05 What is it you want? You want fair pay!

00:09 Fair pay for the job you're doing, you want respect for the job you do,

00:16 and you want to be valued for the job you do.

00:20 So today Unison has launched a consultative ballot with our healthcare assistants

00:24 and clinical support worker staff in pursuit of their claim to be regraded

00:29 so paid the rate for the work they're doing and also for the trust to come and negotiate with Unison

00:35 on an appropriate length of back pay.

00:38 So I'm guessing at the moment staff are being asked to do duples which aren't in their contracts?

00:42 So staff have for too long now been routinely working above the band that they're paid.

00:49 So what we're saying is staff should be paid at the correct band for the work that they're being asked to do

00:54 and they have to do on a daily basis across the clinical system, across wards,

00:59 and we're also asking the trust to come and negotiate with us on an appropriate period of back pay

01:05 as recognition that staff have been working above their paid rate for too long.

01:11 And you're talking thousands of pounds here have lost during this update have lost?

01:14 Yeah, for some people that is exactly what we're talking about.

01:17 But it's about the money, it's about people getting paid the right rate for the work they're doing,

01:22 but it's also crucially about staff feeling valued by the employer.

01:28 And you know, trusts and hospitals couldn't deliver the high quality care

01:32 without health care assistance and clinical support worker staff.

01:36 So Unison is saying to trusts across the region and in Sunderland today,

01:40 please come and talk to us about rebanding your staff, rewarding them appropriately and adequately,

01:46 and valuing them by negotiating an appropriate period of back pay.

01:51 [Chanting]