UNISON
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Proud to work in occupational therapy – proud to be in UNISON
Occupational therapists – we change lives . That was the clear message set out by the occupational therapy staff who made up the latest cohort of the RCOT / UNISON trade union development programme .
RCOT and UNISON ’ s joint work is focused on improving opportunities for occupational therapists to be active and empowered in their places of work . And so , in late November , over 50 occupational therapy activists came together with policy and coaching experts from both organisations to take the next step in their journey to become more active .
This year , the programme aimed to develop new activists and stretch our experienced BAOT stewards . Many of the participants were totally new to trade union organising and took part in a ‘ Get active , get organised ’ workshop .
Led by Lucas Bertholdi-Saad , UNISON Assistant National Officer , and Karin Bishop , RCOT Director of Movement Building and Membership , this session was based on UNISON ’ s ‘ organising to win ’ strategy .
Our newest activists learnt skills and techniques to hold powerful conversations with colleagues , including transferable skills such as speaking confidently in multidisciplinary meetings .
A big focus of discussion was on overtime and overwork . We have been working on joint guidance around overtime in the NHS , where the
Agenda for Change contract is very clear – staff should be paid at 150 % of their usual rate if the volume of work takes them over 37.5 hours a week .
Participants discussed the routine unpaid overtime they were expected to do and poor conditions that meant claiming TOIL was impossible . One group of occupational therapy staff took this challenge on and spent time at the end of the programme to start developing a campaign plan .
Meanwhile , some of the most experienced OT representatives in the UK came together for the ‘ Leading OT activists ’ strand of the course . Focusing on talent spotting , coaching practice and strategic organising and campaign planning , our leadership group worked with Nick Entwistle , UNISON National Officer , and Karin Orman , RCOT Director of Practice and Innovation , on techniques to find , support and develop our next generation of leaders .
This group explored the full depth of key issues affecting occupational therapy staff and considered how UNISON and RCOT could respond effectively .
Many attendees were concerned that the day-to-day work of occupational therapists was increasingly genericised and discussed the negative impacts on that , including service quality , career progression and job satisfaction .
14 OTnews December 2023