Majority of Boots pharmacists reject 'improved' pay offer
A “very clear majority” of Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) members employed by Boots have voted to reject the multiple’s latest pay offer, the union has announced.
Following talks between the two parties – hosted by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) – on November 29, the PDA ran a consultation on Boots’ latest and “improved” pay offer, asking members employed by the multiple to accept or reject the proposal.
Voting concluded at midnight on Wednesday (December 8), PDA director Paul Day told C+D.
After 60% of voters elected to reject Boots’ the latest pay offer, the union informed Boots that “it is not possible for agreement to be reached on the offer tabled at the meeting on November 29”, the PDA said.
“Every effort is being made by union negotiators to amicably settle this dispute”, the PDA wrote in a press release issued last night (December 9).
The union hopes to “formally advise” Boots of the outcome of its consultation and “see if there is any scope at all to find an offer that would be acceptable to our members”, it said in a letter to its members employed by the multiple.
A further statement will be issued once the PDA has met with Boots, Mr Day told C+D today.
Boots told C+D that it would not comment while negotiations are ongoing.
Day: Doubled budget does not equal doubled “award”
Pay negotiations between the PDA Union members and Boots began about five months ago and cover 6,000 pharmacists employed by the multiple.
In October, the Boots pharmacists rejected the multiple’s initial 2% pay rise offer – which the PDA dubbed a “sub-inflationary 2% increase”.
The initial offer would give some pharmacists, and particularly those in the early years of their career, a “fairly significant increase” but leave the “vast majority” with only a 2% pay rise, “plus a small lump sum of an extra day's pay”, Mr Day told C+D.
After PDA members rejected this proposal, Boots “further enhanced their offer” in talks hosted by ACAS on December 29 by doubling “the cost to their budget”, Mr Day told C+D.
The doubled budget, however, would not result in a doubled “award” for most Boots pharmacists, he claimed.
The “enhanced” offer was rejected by Boots pharmacists, and the PDA announced last night that it is now seeking “an additional urgent meeting” with the multiple, mediated by ACAS.
“The intention is to continue to meet face to face with [Boots] representatives to attempt to jointly agree an acceptable way forward”, the PDA said.
Likelihood of industrial action?
Mr Day told C+D today (December 10) that, “where negotiations fail to reach a settlement, it will be for the PDA Union's National Executive Committee to decide, after reviewing the scale and strength of feedback from members, on whether to proceed to a formal industrial action ballot”.
Any “full strike” or “alternative action short of a strike” will have to follow precise regulations, he explained.
“While industrial action already occurs in the NHS and across other sectors, this would be a first for pharmacists in the UK community pharmacy sector,” he added.
Last week, C+D reported on media rumours that Boots’ parent company Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) was in “exploratory” talks with Goldman Sachs about a potential sale of its UK arm.
It would be in WBA’s interest “to avoid” industrial action if it is indeed considering selling Boots, Mr Day told C+D at the time, as “a company without its workforce taking industrial action” would presumably “be easier to sell than one with an industrial dispute”.