TIMELINE OF PARKING ISSUES. I think it may be useful now to inform all staff of most of the events. When the NHS parking policy was introduced following the Scottish Parliament abolishing parking charges my colleagues and I, despite opposition by managers, initiated a public meeting at SGH. This was so well attended by staff it breached capacity and many staff was outside the meeting trying to hear what unions and councillors had to say. Many issues were discussed and debated and we collectively agreed to a demonstration within the grounds of SGH. The image above is one of many from that day. It is not legally possible just to turn up and demonstrate. I personally had to meet with the Commander of Police Scotland to arrange crowd control and many other issues. I received an email from a senior manager forbidding a demonstration and threatening disciplinary action. The demo went ahead. My two colleagues and I, each of us representing a different union, attended many meetings to effect some solution to the parking problem. I have written numerous articles for the media and Nursing publications. I have been interviewed for radio and TV and the paper media. The Health Board has accused me of scare mongering and needlessly upsetting staff. Both myself and UNISON have previously asked staff to contact/complain and raise issues with their Councillors and MSP’s and it has been met by apathy mostly, until recently. So now on completion of the new SGH and staff will be migrating to join SGH site the problem of parking offsite is very real. In addition the green road policy by GCC and the inevitable parking restrictions in and around Govan will make offsite parking almost impossible. I have willingly spent many hours of my own free time trying to find some way to alleviate this problem and advertise to the wider public the issues. In all that time UNISON have supported our case 100%. Now let me address my recent endeavours. I negotiated with Ogilvie some considerable safe and secure offsite parking right on SGH doorstep. I made no secret that it was a business agreement and a small fee to park would be incurred. Both that firm and myself were critiqued, albeit in a veiled way, publicly in the staff newsletter, why? Well because the Health Board wanted it for PERMIT HOLDERS! The firm were reported by an NHS staff member (you can all make up your mind about who) reported to their Councillor that they were operating without a valid licence. That was untrue. The landowner took the decision to close temporarily whilst their legal team contacted the council but I was assured it would reopen. I was also informed that they were disappointed that so few staff used it. It will only work if the parking is available 24/7 to accommodate staff on shifts etc. Let me stress that I am not criticising staff who could source free parking. However I also take the view that ‘you use it or lose it’. That is the reality. I have deliberately not contacted the MD of this firm again. I will listen to the general views of staff before I decide. My own view is that our options have all but run out. Lastly I believe that the Health Board will become more proactive in regard to staff parking onsite. IF I can persuade Ogilvie to reopen it may be used by everyone in the local community. Please give it some thought.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 13:43:02 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015