Boots pharmacists are concerned that ballot papers may not be released until weeks into the ballot period even though the necessary processes are already in place. The PDAU has now made a formal application to the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) to instruct the Qualified Independent Person (QIP) to post out the ballot papers to pharmacists at the start of the ballot period, rather than wait 10 days to do so.
We believe such a decision would give individuals the most opportunity to vote and encourage maximum participation.
Boots have previously indicated that they also want to see maximum voter participation so we have asked Boots to support our application. However in their response the company have said they will not, and are opposing early release of the voting papers.
A Boots spokesperson said:
“At this point, having already communicated the timescales, changing them will only serve to cause confusion to the bargaining unit.”
We believe pharmacists are more than able to cope with ballot papers arriving at the start of the ballot period and that Boots position is not consistent with their claim to want maximum participation in the vote.
Pharmacists will be disappointed by the position the company are taking and we will provide an further update in due course once the CAC have reached a decision on the application.
Pharmacists and pre-registration pharmacists at grade 5, 6 & 7 in stores will be entitled to vote and will be sent voting papers through the mail. The ballot period is scheduled to start on Monday 4th February 2019 and will run for five weeks, so all voting papers must be returned by post on or before Friday 8 March 2019. Waiting for 10 working days before issuing the ballot papers would mean they would be sent to eligible voters after 15 February.
Read more here: https://www.the-pda.org/pharmacists-call-for-max-voting-period/