The nurses who organized the petition called a vote of no confidence in the leadership of their union the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) over their recommendation of a rotten salary deal with Britain’s Conservative government determined to continue their fight for an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGMS), to hold a motion no trust the manager.
Yesterday’s EGMS organizing committee members answered questions from World Socialist Website, and clarified their decision to uphold the rights of RCN members. Their petition received support, despite threats and intimidation from RCN bureaucrats, including their warnings that the police be called to investigate the petition and its originators.
Newspaper Guardian led on Monday with a prominent article under the heading “Royal College of Nursing asks police to investigate some of their members”. Just below it, a sub-headline announced “Exclusive: RCN says hundreds of signatures on no-confidence-in-leadership petition are bogus”.
Guardian referring to the condemnation of the RCN (reported by Nursing Records more than a week earlier) a petition filed with headquarters and signed by more than 1,000 unionized nurses. The signatories called for an extraordinary general meeting (EGMS) and a motion of no confidence in RNC General Secretary Pat Cullen, his executive team, board members on the National Executive Committee (NEC) who backed the deal, and on the union’s Wage Disputes Negotiation Committee. .
RCN members exercise their democratic rights in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations RCN Standing Orderswhich gives members the opportunity to hold extraordinary general meetings for specific purposes if they have the support of 1,000 members.
Within hours, RCN management launched a crackdown on the initiative, notifying Nursing Records that the petition was “strange conduct”, and warned: “We will be seeking legal advice, engaging the police, government regulators and conducting a judicial investigation.”
The signatory has been contacted by cybersecurity firm Dionach, at the request of RCN, claiming that “serious concerns have been raised, including potential breaches of data protection laws” and suggesting that RCN members’ personal information was added to the petition “without giving their consent”.
RCN’s claims – made without the slightest bit of support or evidence – are outright absurd. As the organizers of the petition said on Tuesday Nursing Records: “Request requires correct membership name, email address and membership number. If these membership numbers and other details are correct then the data must be coming from somewhere within the RCN.” They added: “Members do not have access to the RCN membership database, only RCN staff do.”
Until Wednesday night, members of the EGMS organizing committee were still steadfast. Although RCN officials arrogantly stated that a second petition “will be deemed invalid”, the organizers told WSWS: “When 1,000 signatures are collected there will be an Extraordinary General Assembly and a vote of no confidence, whether RCN supports it or not.”
The committee’s assertive stance reflects the nascent nurse rebellion movement aimed at cracking down on RCN’s collusion with the government, and winning above-inflation pay increases and better working conditions amid the worst crisis in the history of the National Health Service (NHS).
Support for the petition is growing. A spokesperson for NHS FightBack, who works as a nurse in South East England, told WSWS: “We support the courageous stance of the EGMS organizing committee and we will be campaigning to support this very important initiative.”
He continued: “A movement is now being built among nurses to reject the RCN sleazy deal and nurses have enormous public support. A very important issue is to build leadership and basic organization in each hospital to continue this struggle. I urge colleagues to sign the petition and read the NHS FightBack statement.”
Below we reproduce the written responses we received from members of the EGMS Organizing Committee to questions sent by WSWS.
RCN members can sign petitions Here.
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WSWS: RCN management claims that hundreds of names on the original petition have been falsified and use the names of deceased persons. What are their answers?
EGMS Organizing Committee: No applicant (real or us) has control over the information entered in the petition. We operate in the good faith that this is genuine information from individuals and we have authorized signatures on our second petition and no one has responded to us to say the information is incorrect or that this is not a genuine signature.
We are aware that the RCN has commissioned an external review of the first petition, but we are not aware of that review or of any of the findings. Anyone who knowingly enters false information on a petition should know that this will be detected during the validation process, so we believe that if a false name is entered on a genuine petition, it is being done to intentionally sabotage and damage it.
WSWS: RCN leadership called the police to investigate the petition and its author – what do you think about this? And have any petition organizers contacted the police?
EGMS Organizing Committee: RCN seems to be backing down on their claim that they called the police. They claimed to the press that they had called the police just hours after the first petition was filed. This seems very odd as it usually takes a week to validate signatures based on previous EGMS petitions. This indicates that they knew the information was wrong before contacting several members to confirm it. RCN now appears to be saying they haven’t called the police, but may do so later. We have never been contacted by the police, and we believe that no members have been contacted by the police. Threats of police action appear to be designed to frighten and intimidate members so they don’t call for a motion of no confidence against the RCN leadership.
WSWS: Was the first petition removed by RCN or has it been closed because you met the required number of signatures?
EGMS Organizing Committee: We did not remove the original petition and we believe that the original petition has exceeded the required 1,000 signatures. We don’t know what RCN did with this petition and it probably contains hundreds of authentic, verified signatures for the EGMS that RCN simply ignored.
WSWS: IT company Dionach has contacted signatories and stated that the original petition violates the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). What is their response to this?
EGMS Organizing Committee: We have not been contacted by Dionach. We believe that the original petitioners (like all petitioners) acted in good faith, and they (like us) have no control over the information in the petition. If there is a GDPR violation then it must be an RCN violation and we always maintain that the member does not have access to the RCN member database. Any GDPR violation will have nothing to do with the petition. All of these data are controlled by RCN staff and it is unclear whether Dionach independently surveyed RCN staff or was commissioned by RCN staff to survey members only.
WSWS: Were the signatories and other RCN members intimidated by the tactics used by the RCN leadership? Did the revised petition win support?
EGMS Organizing Committee: This petition is getting increased support. We know that a number of RCN members said they were scared and intimidated by the RCN leadership targeting them, and worried that the RCN leadership might refer them to the police and NMC. [Nursing and Midwifery Council; Sykepleie- og jordmorrådet]. This seems like a bullying and intimidation tactic designed to protect the RCN Leadership.
WSWS: How do nurses feel about the RCN (and other healthcare union) salary deals with the Tory government? What are the voting results like?
EGMS Organizing Committee: It appears that most RCN members are strongly opposed to the payment agreement that has been proposed and the result of the vote will be known in a few weeks. We’re expecting a strong voice against, based on what we’ve heard from members.
WSWS: Have you considered what your next steps would be if the RCN leadership blocked your second petition?
EGMS Organizing Committee: The RCN Rules were established over 100 years ago provided that the Secretary General and the RCN Board could one day try to ignore the EGMS petition signed by the members. They created a clause in the RCN rules for this particular event. In these circumstances, the rules allow us to convene our own General Meeting with the full powers provided for in the RCN rules and the Act. So when 1,000 signatures are collected there will be an Emergency Rally and a No Confidence vote, whether RCN supports it or not.
WSWS: What do you think about that statement [engelsk tekst] of the NHS FightBack to defend the petition and call for statements to form a ground plan committee to orchestrate a backlash against the RCN bureaucracy and its collusion with the Tory government?
EGMS Organizing Committee: We appreciate the public support provided by NHS FightBack for our legitimate call to hold the current RCN leadership accountable.
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