Our trade union: we want your views

We’re asking all members to complete a short survey on the future of your trade union, The Association and the Federation of Clinical Scientists National Committee are asking for your view on allowing withdrawal of labour (strike action) and how we refer to ourselves as a trade union organisation in local and national forums.

Name of the Trade Union

We are proposing that we phase out the separate name FCS to become Association for Laboratory Medicine in all forums.

Strike action

Following our survey of members in 2023, 74% said we should reconsider the no-strike rule, and 92% supported action short of a strike. We want to explore whether members support changing:

  • Our current rule that prevents strike action
  • The language we use to describe ourselves as a trade union

If there is a clear mandate, we will propose changes to our governance documents for members to vote on at the Federation’s Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 11 June 2025.

Terms of Reference Rule 2 currently reads


Industrial action: Neither the Committee, nor any Officer or official of the Federation, nor any grouping of Members of the Federation shall be empowered to initiate or be party to the withdrawal of labour of Members of the Federation in furtherance of an industrial dispute.

We believe it's the right time to ask members whether our approach reflects your views.

Take survey now

 

There are only a few questions but a bit of background information below to read first. We therefore expect this to take approximately 10 minutes to complete.

Background

For clarity, withdrawal of labour (colloquially known as going on strike) is just one specific form of industrial action. The FCS can currently take other forms of industrial action, such as work to rule or slowdown, but cannot withdraw labour. A change to this rule would make withdrawal of labour an option, but not an obligation.

The FCS performed a survey regarding thoughts on the no withdrawal of labour rule in 2023 on the back of the 2022-23 pay awards in the sector.

333 members of the Association/FCS responded to this survey. Key numbers relating to industrial action questions were that 92% would be in support of considering action short of withdrawal of labour and that 74% thought that our Trade Union should reconsider the no withdrawal of labour rule.

Context

The FCS Terms of Reference Rule 2 stating that the FCS has a no withdrawal of labour policy was introduced at a time when both the professional standing of Clinical Scientists and the pay negotiation landscape were very different to today:

  • Biomedical Scientist was a regulated, registered profession (by the Council for Professions Supplementary to Medicine, CPSM). Medical staff working in pathology were regulated and registered by the GMC. In contrast Clinical Scientists were NOT a regulated, registered profession.
  • Prior to the introduction of “Agenda for Change” in 2004, pay and terms & conditions for groups of NHS staff were determined by negotiations in separate Whitley Councils. Overarching T&Cs (e.g. holidays, redundancy arrangements etc) were covered by the General Whitley Council. Professional group issues, including pay, were determined by a series of occupational-group specific Councils. Clinical Scientists were in a Council of their own (PTA/A) dominated by our Association and the Hospital Physicists Association (HPA).
  • During the 1970s & 1980s it was apparent that the professional groups where pay was determined by Pay Review Bodies – Doctors and Dentists, Nurses and Midwives and Allied Health Professions (physiotherapists, radiographers etc.) – were repeatedly achieving better annual cost of living pay increases than the rest of the NHS staff.
  • In these contexts, the Association pursued strategic objectives:
    • Formalised entry and higher (consultant) level education and qualifications;
    • Securing Clinical Scientist as a statutorily regulated, registered profession;
    • Putting Clinical Scientist’s pay determination under the remit of a Pay Review Body.
  • Regulation and statutory registration was achieved via a voluntary indicative register to inclusion under CPSM’s remit which later became HCPC.
  • The no withdrawal of labour rule was introduced to promote the argument for inclusion under a Pay Review Body.

Subsequent changes to NHS industrial relations landscape

  • During the 1990s the Whitley system was challenged formally through the UK Employment Tribunal system and into higher courts and finally to the European Court of Justice on the grounds of “equal pay for work of equal value”. This was finally ruled in favour of the NHS staff & unions and brought about the introduction of Agenda for Change as a unified terms, conditions and pay determination system underpinned by job evaluation for all occupational groups except medical staff. AfC was introduced and implemented in 2004.
  • Subsequently the pay determination for non-medical (health) professional and non-professional staff were integrated under a combined remit of the NHS Pay Review Body. The NHSPRB first covered all non-medical staff in 2008.
  • Since then, evidence from collective and individual unions comprising the NHS Staff Council has been submitted as part of the annual PRB process. Management side evidence is submitted by NHS Employers and DHSC.
  • Therefore, the strategic objective of PRB coverage was achieved by default.

During the repeated recent governments NHS pay increases have been tightly restricted, and the approach of individual NHS unions has been more aggressive and militant, culminating in the nurse and junior doctors strikes.

Legal Considerations

  • The implications of legislation (passed by the last government) to restrict the impact of industrial action on essential services: The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023;
  • The mandatory criteria for withdrawal of labour to be lawful:
    • Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992
    • Employment Rights Act 1996.

This legislation governs the criteria that unions must meet for a ballot for industrial action to be lawful:

  • 50% turn out of eligible voters and 40% of eligible voters must vote yes.
  • If not met then the Association could be liable;
  • For more information visit ACAS

One of the main issues experienced by large unions is the relatively poor quality of their membership databases for the constituency being balloted. The Association should be in a very strong position on this criterion. Note that formally all in the full Member and Federation member categories of the Association for Laboratory Medicine based in the UK are members of the FCS and therefore would qualify for inclusion in a ballot.

Minimum service levels may need to be defined if The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 Act is not repealed as it is expected to be. If not repealed, a piece of work would need to be done at a national level. If repealed, then service levels during strike action would be agreed locally, with a steer from the FCS.

During a period of action strikers pay is forfeited. Indicative figures are below. The Association could consider accumulating a strike fund to buffer consequential hardship but this would have an impact on membership fees. Many similar unions covering health professions, such as the Chartered Society for Physiotherapy, do not have a strike fund, and in this scenario there would be no impact on membership rates.

Strike action can be national or local with the same rules around turn out of eligible staff applying. Due to the relatively low numbers in some trusts we would propose defining a minimum number of members in a given area for a strike to be valid. This would likely mean that strike action at individual trust would be unlikely but would allow network and regional strikes.

Impact on pay during strike action and membership subscription fees

You can make a rough estimate of the strike day losses likely to be experienced by dividing your monthly take home pay by 20.

As described above, many unions do not have a strike fund, but should our membership wish to set up and accumulate a strike fund this would need to be funded via an increase in membership fees. If it was set at £70 per day (as per Unite), for 1000 members this would be a daily cost of £70000. This would likely mean an increase in fees in the region of 20-50%.

Other considerations

  • Individuals have a professional responsibilities under HCPC to protect patients.
  • Individuals will have personal ethical opinions and should not be pressured to vote in either way in this survey or should withdrawal of labour be implemented in those votes.
  • Putting the withdrawal of labour on the table will make our trade union consistent with other unions – including other unions covering highly professional healthcare groups. It could be argued that staying as we are puts us at a strategic disadvantage.
  • Note that we are not universally a recognised union at all employers. A piece of work would have to be done to rectify this situation.

Name of the Trade Union

At the time the Federation of Clinical Scientists was established the Association was a professional body only for Clinical Biochemists and Chemical Pathologists. It was formally recognised as a professional body fulfilling trade union functions but professional bodies for other pathology disciplines (at the time Cytogenetics and Microbiology) did not have this status. We opened up a separate Federation only membership to provide union services to those Clinical Scientist colleagues not otherwise covered.

As the remit of the Association has incrementally been extended over recent years to comprehensive coverage of the pathology life sciences the distinction of special Federation only membership is no longer relevant. In 2023 we closed the Federation only category of membership for new members. All fee paying individual members now join under a single Member category.

We are therefore proposing that we phase out the separate name FCS to become Association for Laboratory Medicine in all forums. (Note formally it is and always has been the Association rather than FCS that is recognised by the Trade Unions Certification Officer).

Take survey now