Difficult
issues must
be grasped.
I am not
one to
walk away
The two sides of the man driven by the need for efficiency in the
health service
MERVYN GUNN -- dubbed ''Dracula'' by some of the lowest-paid staff at
three Ayrshire hospitals -- is, by all accounts, a man possessed.
But he sees himself as a missionary rather than blood-sucker, although
still insisting on cuts in wages and conditions for ancillary staff
transferring on April 1 from Ayrshire and Arran Health Board to North
Ayrshire and Arran Trust.
He has been vilified in recent weeks as an arch agent of Tory policy
on privatisation, and questions have been tabled in Parliament about his
bid to ''circumvent'' EC rules designed to protect staff during
employment transfers.
As is often the case, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. He is an
enigma, a chameleon. He is driven by the need for efficiency in the
health service, and determined taxpayers will obtain the best possible
value for their money.
However, he also acknowledges the pain and suffering that cuts of
#4-#16 a month will cause among his poorest-paid hospital staff and
their families. Unions put losses at up to #50-a-week.
Yesterday, his mission as an executive director of the trust entered
its most crucial stage yet with 51 job losses announced because public
workers' union Nupe rejected the wages and conditions package demanded
13 days ago.
The jobs will be saved only if all 719 caterers, cleaners, and porters
formally agree to the reduced employment package by March 31.
Mr Gunn, in an exclusive interview, stressed he will not abrogate his
''responsibility'' to achieve savings in the hospitals' ''hotel
services,'' with the savings going towards direct patient care.
''I am a pro-active manager, and believe difficult issues must be
grasped. I am not one to walk away,'' he said.
Mr Gunn, who at 38 is the health board's unit personnel manager at
Crosshouse Hospital -- and the trust's executive director of human
resources -- may live to regret such a hardline stance.
Staff, facing hourly rates of #3.29 slashed to #3.20; weekend rate
reductions; holiday cuts, and even losing maternity and unfair dismissal
rights, are unlikely to concede without a battle. Wider issues abound
for the entire trade union movement, threatened by Government rearguard
action over laws designed to protect workers' rights when undertakings
change hands.
The trust risks endless litigation over Mr Gunn's controversial
performance and efficiency schemes.
Legal action by unions and staff is expected to include test cases on
alleged contraventions of the UK's Transfer of Undertakings (Protection
of Employment) Regulations of 1981; unfair dismissal claims should
anyone be sacked for refusing new terms, plus compensation claims if
individuals are not consulted on transfers let alone the job losses.
Political fury will also escalate, amid claims NHS workers are being
thrown on the scrapheap to meet Government efficiency targets -- in the
trust's case, reputed to involve spending cuts of 2% annually.
Mr Gunn has an impressive track record, much of it gained abroad. He
is adamant he is not a right-winger driven by anti working-class
ideology.
He once held a trade union post for chartered accountants in New
Zealand, and also flirted with social work. His main objective now is to
meet patients' demands about services rather than those sought by
ancillary staff or any other hospital worker.
Mr Gunn first made his mark in New Zealand as an expert in human
resources with Deloitte, Haskins and Sells, chartered accountants and
management consultants.
He returned to Britain four years ago. Born in Leith -- the son of a
Church of Scotland minister -- he has degrees in art and history, and
until appointed to the North Ayrshire trust in July last year was a
management consultant with Coopers and Lybrand, based in London.
He was soon sent north, homewards, on efficiency studies for the
Scottish Office and, to name a few others, Scottish Enterprise, the
Scottish Arts Council, Scottish Natural Heritage, the prison service,
and local enterprise companies.
Earlier this month, Labour MPs and trade unions called for his
dismissal after The Herald revealed contents of a letter that apparently
connived in a suggestion to get round EC rules so he could cut the wages
of ancillary staff at Crosshouse, Ayrshire Central, and Arran War
Memorial Hospitals transferring to the trust next week.
Mr Gunn sees the trust, responsible for #60m worth of taxpayers'
money, as the ideal vehicle to make a clean sweep of outmoded, expensive
hospital practices.
His staff-to-be are currently represented by 23 unions and staff
associations backed by 11 Whitley Council agreements on terms and
conditions.
''If you sneeze, it's covered by Whitley,'' he complained. ''We are in
a time warp. For the sake of improved patient care, performance, and
efficiency, we must win.''
Of the 719 in-house caterers, cleaners, and porters, some 364 are on
three-year fixed term contracts ending on March 31.
In theory, the latter could all lose their jobs if the new, reduced
contracts in so-called ''hotel services'' remain unsigned.
But unions could challenge -- and probably win -- such cases on unfair
dismissal grounds, according to legal sources, despite waters muddied by
UK laws that entrench EC regulations on transfers of employees.
The trust believes wage cuts are necessary to safeguard current job
numbers by removing the threat of competitive tendering.
It claims outside firms could beat annual in-house costs of #4.3m by
some #500,000 -- money that could go on direct patient care.
A spokesman denied union claims that patient care will be diluted, but
conceded Government efficiency targets mean ''the cupboard is bare'' to
improve staff terms and conditions.
He also admitted a bonuses' agreement worth 20%-33% on basic wages
will be removed -- because it is ''no longer tied to performance,'' and
even paid when staff are ill. The new deal offers bonuses of up to 25%,
but is performance-related and not applicable if absent from work.
Ultimately, a resolution must be found. Management, although
threatening 51 job cuts, has now agreed transfers on present
arrangements until July 1. Unions will decide on Thursday whether to
hold a ballot to accept or reject the reduced terms.
Some staff may seek a vote in the awful knowledge that, in the present
economic climate, someone, somewhere, would be found to clock in . . . a
la Timex, Dundee.
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