Paul Day, the national officer of the Pharmacists’ Defence Association Union (PDAU), has said he would “like other chains to recognise us too” after it secured an overwhelming ballot victory over Boots to determine trade union representation.

The day after the PDAU moved a significant step closer to securing union representation of pharmacists at Boots having won the postal vote by 3,229 votes to 266, Day told ICP he hoped other pharmacy chains will voluntarily recognise the PDAU instead of being compelled to do so through a legal struggle.

“We will respond to what our members want us to do and of course we’ve always been working as hard for the 90% of our members who don’t work at Boots as we are for the 10% who do,” he said.

“Certainly we would like the other chains to recognise us too and we’d hope that they would do so voluntarily rather than having to be forced by a legal process as Boots have done.

“Some employers already recognise other independent trade unions though, so we couldn’t and wouldn’t want to encroach on existing agreements they may have.”

The PDAU will seek to reach an agreement with Boots over recognition under the guidance of the central arbitration committee. Some 3,308 pharmacists did not vote in the ballot.

Picture: Phoenix0013 (iStock)