‘Double standards’: BMA accused of short-changing the staff who defend doctors’ contracts

GMB Union is in dispute with the BMA after it left allowances out of redundancy pay for staff who volunteered to go under its reorganisation.

GMB Union is in dispute with the British Medical Association (BMA) after the doctors’ union left allowances out of redundancy pay for staff who volunteered to go under its reorganisation. GMB says the allowances are contractual pay and must be counted.

The staff affected stepped forward to help avoid compulsory job losses. They include the BMA’s industrial relations officers: the senior officials who defend doctors when employers try to undermine their contracts.

The dispute follows more than a year of uncertainty under a cost-cutting reorganisation that put around 200 staff at risk of redundancy. With so many key roles now gone, the staff who remain are raising serious concerns about their workload.

GMB Union represents more than 75 per cent of BMA staff, and its members there took strike action over pay earlier this year.

A GMB representative at the BMA said:

“Our members volunteered to go so their colleagues could keep their jobs. They should not have to fight their own employer for the redundancy pay their contracts entitle them to.

“The BMA expects other employers to honour doctors’ contracts. It should hold itself to the same standard.

“These allowances are part of our members’ contractual pay. Changing the label does not change the contract.

“BMA leaders must settle this now and show their own staff the respect they demand for doctors.”

Donna Thomas, GMB London NHS Officer, said:

“The people being short-changed are the same people who fight for doctors’ contracts every day. They have won remarkable results for BMA members, and this is the thanks they get.

“We have tried to resolve this around the table. We have told the BMA plainly that what it is doing is not just contractually wrong, it is morally wrong.

“Every day the BMA stands up to bad employers on behalf of doctors. Right now, it is behaving like one.

“Our message to the BMA is simple: practise what you preach. Honour the contracts and pay our members in full.”