UK’s first union practice facing strike action

A war of words has erupted after staff at a Welsh veterinary practice group voted overwhelmingly for industrial action in a pay and conditions dispute.

British Veterinary Union (BVU) officials say disruption at Valley Vets is likely to start later this month and accused its owners of presiding over “rife” staff poverty and increasingly unaffordable care fees.

But the group’s management has hit back, branding the union’s characterisation of charges as “irresponsible and unethical”.

Vote in favour

In a statement issued on 26 June, the BVU, which is a branch of the Unite union, said 94% of members had voted in favour of taking action, on a 93% turnout.

Officials said they expected action to begin in July, though no firm dates had been set at the time of going to press, and would take the form of strikes rather than other measures short of that, such as an overtime ban.

Valley Vets, which is owned by VetPartners, said it offered a 7.27% pay increase to its lowest paid staff, with reduced rates for those in better remunerated roles.

‘Real terms pay cut’

But the union described that as a “derisory real terms pay cut” as it demanded fair care fees, fair pay and smaller company profits.

Its statement claimed in-work poverty is “rife at Valley Vets, with 80% of support staff regularly having to borrow money to meet their basic living needs, and 5% reporting use of food banks”.

It also accused VetPartners of continuing to expand its practice portfolio in the UK and Europe “instead of looking after their current employees” and claimed “affordable” care would improve both profits and animal welfare.

The union claimed that £60,000 of treatments were rejected by clients on cost grounds in a single week, with 10% of that leading to pets being euthanised.

It added: “These negotiations come against the backdrop of a CMA investigation into the sector, and staff at Valley Vets firmly believe that any downturn in profitability of the company is due to fees having been increased so much that clients can no longer afford them.”

‘Saddened’

In response, Valley Vets’ management said they were “saddened” by the ballot result and dismissed the BVU’s claim that they had withdrawn from negotiations when their offer was rejected.

They also claimed the group was in the upper quartile of sector salary reviews and pledged a commitment to “sustainably improving terms and conditions, including salaries” for staff.

The group added: “We are also well aware of the affordability of care fees, and that is why we felt fees paid by our clients could not be raised any further to support significant salary increases demanded by the BVU in Unite.

“Our clinical teams have freedom to work with clients to ensure treatments are appropriate for the owner, the animal and clinical situation, and we feel that looking at veterinary care in the way presented by BVU in Unite as a missed financial opportunity, is an irresponsible and unethical way of considering care for animals.”

Recognition agreement

At present, Valley Vets is the only practice group in the UK that has a recognition agreement with the BVU, which was finalised last year.

Union officials acknowledged the dispute may make talks to secure further such deals more challenging, but said they hoped workers’ resolve to bring about positive change would be recognised more widely.