'Redundancy on the cheap': Union hits out as hospital trust staff in Wolverhampton, Dudley, Walsall and Sandwell 'invited to resign'
Union leaders have warned the Black Country's four hospital trusts against trying to 'make redundancies on the cheap' after staff were sent emails offering them payments to resign.
Non-clinical staff working for the Dudley, Sandwell and West Birmingham, Royal Wolverhampton and Walsall Hospital NHS trusts were sent emails inviting them to apply for a mutually-agreed resignation scheme (Mars) last week.
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Under the scheme, those who are accepted are offered severance pay in return for relinquishing their posts.
The scheme differs from voluntary redundancy in that the posts are not declared surplus to requirements, and staff can be replaced.
Chanel Camilleri-Willis, head of health for the West Midlands at the Unison union, voiced concerns about the development, saying she hoped it wouldn't be redundancy by the back door.
It is common practices for employers to offer Mars deals to free-up vacancies ahead of job cuts elsewhere in an organisation.
"We are very aware of what the financial climate is like in the NHS, and we are not happy with the approach they are taking," she said.
"If you need to make cuts to jobs, that should be done through the proper redundancy channels and procedures.
"Mars could be seen as redundancy on the cheap. They need to offer the same terms as they would in a normal redundancy scheme."
Mrs Camilleri-Willis said there was no scope to any further cuts without a major impact on both staff and patients, and any attempt to reduce staffing levels would be fiercely resisted.
"If they want to come to us as a union and say 'these are the number of jobs that are at risk of redundancy', we would push back against any further cuts as much as possible," she added.
The four hospital trusts were all contacted for comment.
