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RCN members pass vote of no confidence in union for ‘misleading’ Agenda for Change pay deal

Members of the Royal Collage of Nursing (RCN) have passed a vote of no confidence in the RCN Council at an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) in Birmingham after nurses were reportedly misled on the Agenda for Change pay deal.

Nurses were incorrectly told by the RCN that they would receive the minimum 3% cash boost in their July wages— backdated from April— but many staff claimed they had not received the increase they had been promised.

Janet Davies, the then CEO of the RCN, stepped down in August after apologising to the union’s members for the misleading claims her council had made.

The motion during the EGM on Friday received more than 11,000 votes (78.1%) in favour and over 3,000 (21.9%) against. The results are to be verified and formally published this week. However, the vote only saw a 3.74% turnout.

Maria Trewern, chair of the RCN Council, said the “honest and open” debate had “cleared that air,” and argued the RCN will emerge stronger as a result.

She added: “This vote is clear and the council and management of the RCN have received the message. Council has already driven change within the organisation in recent weeks – to listen more closely to members and involve them thoroughly – and this will continue.

“Following today’s vote, the council now enters a period of transition. An urgent council meeting is convened for next week to plan the way forward and those next steps will be announced.”

The meeting follows an independent external review, carried out by the Electoral Reform Services, into the RCN’s handling of communicating the pay deal.

The report made 12 recommendations that the RCN has committed to implementing in full. It said: “In summary, ERS determines that council and governance committees were not informed about the details and impacts of the deal in a way that enabled them to make an informed balanced judgement for their decisions.”

Nursing professionals took to Twitter to express their views:

.The RCN is more than a union and needs to be driven by more than the traditional rep system. If we want it to be the voice of nursing it has to do much, much more than be a union. That's at the heart of the issue, and why many people voted agree on Friday.

— June Girvin (@ProfJuneG) September 30, 2018

Finding myself very torn on this. Has any organisation ever healed division by deposing leadership? But then again change is flagrantly necessary #RCNEGM #RCN

— evan keir (@EvanKeir) September 28, 2018

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