EAST Sussex Healthcare Trust is proposing to reduce pay protection to its employees in a bid to save £4.5 million.
Currently all trust employees are entitled to pay protection for one to five years, depending on their length of service, if they are downgraded or have their hours reduced. However, East Sussex Healthcare Trust wants to reduce pay protection to just six months.
Stephanie Cesana, Unison regional officer, said: “Instead of people being made redundant, because that’s just too expensive for the trust, what is happening is that posts are being made redundant and people are being moved into different roles and this may mean going down a pay band or less hours. In some cases people are going down as many as two or three bands.”
Jonathan Lee, Unison branch chairman, told the Observer this was ‘unacceptable’ and that the union is holding meetings in Hastings and Eastbourne to inform employees of the proposed changes.
There will be a meeting on Tuesday, May 27, in the canteen at the Conquest Hospital.
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