The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 279 No 7481 p638
8 December 2007

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Trade union will allow for personal representation

Two reasons — one strategic and the other tactical — have been put forward by the Pharmacists’ Defence Association for the formation of a new trade union for pharmacists.

John Murphy, PDA director, said that the strategic reason was to provide a powerful voice for independent and self-employed pharmacists.

“There is a clamour from pharmacists for personal representation,” he said.

The tactical reason is to overcome an obstacle that pharmacy employers are able to place in the way of the PDA when its members call on it for help in employment disputes. Most employers’ disciplinary procedures allow an employee to be accompanied by a colleague to help them put their side across in any dispute, but many do not allow external support.

“In the vast majority of cases involving PDA members, we are denied access,” said Mr Murphy. “But union members have a statutory right to be accompanied by a fellow employee or a trade union official.”

Elections for the planned new union’s 11-person executive committee are under way, with nominations closing on 21 December 2007.

Six members will be directly elected, with a further five being elected from membership groups for locums, community pharmacy employees, hospital employees, pharmacists working in primary care and pharmacists with a special interest, and preregistration trainees and pharmacy undergraduates.

If all goes according to plan, the PDA union will be fully registered as an independent trade union, with the ensuing statutory rights, in January 2009.

Mark Koziol, PDA chairman, said: “We have been delivering the development strategy for union formation since the spring of 2007 and we have now reached the stage where we are nearing the culmination of this work.

“It’s a new era in pharmacy and, judging from the response of our membership, the majority are looking forward to their defence association having statutory rights of representation.”

He added that the PDA recognised that not all of its members would want to join a union and that they would be able to continue to be members of the defence association only.

John Murphy confirmed that neither the PDA, nor the PDA union, would be able to dictate the activities of the other organisation.

The PDA has more than 12,000 members, more than half of whom have already indicated that they want to be members of the union. Final membership is expected to be much higher, according to Mr Murphy.