The Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) has made a formal application to secure union recognition at Superdrug, it announced on Friday (September 27).

Last week, a three-person panel of the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) ruled that the PDA could proceed with “securing trade union recognition” for pharmacists working at the multiple.

According to the decision, Superdrug raised objections to the PDA’s statutory recognition application, which it submitted to the CAC in August.

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Superdrug claimed that the PDA had not made a “valid request” for collective bargaining recognition, that the “proposed bargaining unit is unclear” and that its workers had offered “no indication” that they wanted union recognition at the multiple.

But the CAC found that the union had made its “formal request for recognition” properly and was not premature in approaching the government body – which must happen after attempts to secure voluntary recognition.

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The panel determined that the union had 82 members in a bargaining unit of 233 workers across England, Scotland and Wales, which was more than the 10% of workers required by statute. 

And it found that “a majority of the workers in the proposed bargaining unit” would likely endorse the PDA to conduct collective bargaining on their behalf.

A spokesperson for Superdrug yesterday told C+D that it was “in constructive discussions” with the PDA about reaching a voluntary recognition agreement.

 

“Numerous benefits”

 

In its announcement last week, the PDA called on its Superdrug members to discuss union recognition with their colleagues and to encourage pharmacists to join “without delay”.

PDA union general secretary Mark Pitt said that it was “initiating this process of recognition” in response to requests from its members.

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“We hope a voluntary agreement can be reached with the company and the CAC application helps to encourage constructive and timely dialogue with company management,” he added.

Pitt said that Superdrug pharmacists would have “numerous benefits” from having the PDA recognised and pointed to the union’s successes at Boots.

 

Boots benefits

 

In July, the PDA revealed that its members at Boots would get a £750 bonus in August for their work on delivering NHS services.

The same month, the union announced that it would “step up” a dispute campaign with the UK’s largest multiple after it discovered that Boots had changed pension rules “on the day [a] buyout was announced”.

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The union launched its dispute campaign in December, after Boots parent company Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) announced that it had sold Boots employees’ pension scheme to financial service provider Legal and General (L&G) in a £4.8 billion deal.

And in October last year, the PDA revealed that it had negotiated a new pay deal with Boots that would see pharmacists receive a 5% pay rise from the following month along with the one-off £750 payment.