Keren Reissmann update

Sent to us by Manchester Community and Mental Health UNISON

Below is the statement put out by the strikers following their decision to suspend their strike action at the end of last year:

UNISON members voted on Friday 14th Dec to suspend their indefinite strike of community mental health teams and will return to work on Monday 17th Dec. Their campaign to reinstate Karen Reissmann, and the issues this raises, will now become a national UNISON campaign.

The strike is only suspended not ended. Further strike action by the branch is planned for the New Year as part of this national campaign. The dispute is not over. We are fighting in a different way.

Dave Prentis, UNISON general secretary, who is arranging a meeting with Alan Johnson, Secretary of State for Health, has sent a personal message to all the strikers. He says "UNISON will not be silenced and we shall continue to campaign through all available channels to obtain Karen's

reinstatement."

UNISON is supporting a claim for unfair dismissal at an Employment Tribunal, early day motion by UNISON sponsored MPs and looking to a national lobby of parliament in the New Year.

Crucially trust managers as part of the return to work have agreed that there needs to be an urgent review of Change in Mind. It was issues around the implementation of Changes in Mind which started the serious disagreements with UNISON and we are incredibly pleased that it has been agreed to start a review immediately and deal with the on-going issues which have so worried staff and users alike.

They have also agreed that there will be no victimisation of any striker on return to work. This includes no referrals to the NMC.

Initially the trust managers had insisted that they needed to refer Karen Reissmann to the NMC because she had been sacked. UNISON remained firmly of the belief that this was punitive and unnecessary. There was never any suggestion of concern about her patient care. If she had been

referred she would have been unable to work as a nurse even for an agency until the case had been processed which even if quickly dismissed could have taken months.

  Statement continued, click here for more