Nearly 100 vets working in South Wales are set to take the UK’s first-ever strike action at a private veterinary practice.
The workers, who undertake a range of roles including veterinary surgeons, veterinary nurses, receptionists and animal care assistants, will strike for two weeks from July 16 until July 30.
The vets are employed by Valley Vets, which has offered its lowest paid staff a “derisory” pay rise that takes them to slightly above minimum wage, the Unite union has said.
The union said this is despite 80% of workers reporting that they regularly borrow money to meet basic living costs and 5% reporting having to use food banks.
Meanwhile, Unite said the higher-paid workers have been offered increase of between 1% and 1.5% from April 2024.
The offer is a real terms pay cut as the RPI rate of inflation was 3.3% when the deal was due to be implemented.
Valley Vets is owned by VetPartners, which recorded gross profits of £553 million in 2023 – an increase of nearly £120 million from the year before.
As well as paying “poverty wages”, Unite said VetPartners has been accused of overcharging pet owners.
In a statement, VetPartners said it was disappointed that a mutual agreement with the British Veterinary Union (BVU) in Unite could not be reached and that industrial action will go ahead.
VetPartners said the Valley Vets leadership team entered into discussions with the union "in good faith hoping to achieve a resolution".
It said it is acutely aware of the pressure the cost of living crisis is placing on many of its colleagues, and so prioritised Valley Vets’ lowest-paid team members with a 7.27% pay increase, while higher paid colleagues also received an increase at a lower rate.
VetPartners said the current pay increase requests from Unite would make Valley Vets unsustainable without a significant reduction in the workforce, which is something it is trying to avoid.
‘This is pure corporate greed’
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is currently conducting a sector-wide investigation into overcharging in the veterinary sector.
Unite general secretary, Sharon Graham, said: “It is disgusting that Valley Vets staff are getting into debt and using foodbanks to survive when profits are astronomical.
“This is just pure corporate greed from a company that is already being investigated for widespread profiteering.
“Unite is supporting our Valley Vets members 100% as they strike for a fair pay rise and improvements to their terms and conditions.”
Unite said industrial action will severely impact Valley Vets operations and will escalate if the dispute is not resolved.
Unite regional officer Paul Seppman said: “Valley Vets and VetPartners are entirely responsible for the disruption that will be caused.
“These workers are being forced to strike over poverty pay and this hugely wealthy company’s refusal to pay a living wage and provide reasonable terms and conditions.
“Industrial action could still be avoided but only if the company returns with an acceptable offer.”
VetPartners
After benchmarking roles against the wider profession, VetPartners said Valley Vets sit in the upper quartile of veterinary sector salary reviews.
"We are acutely aware of the pressure the cost of living crisis is placing on many of our colleagues, so we prioritised Valley Vets’ lowest-paid team members with a 7.27% pay increase, while higher paid colleagues also received an increase at a lower rate," VetPartners said.
"As a responsible business, VetPartners is committed to sustainably improving terms and conditions, including pay, for our team members across the whole business, particularly in light of what is happening within other veterinary groups with the difficult news of widespread redundancies recently announced in the veterinary press."
VetPartners said the BVU in Unite requested pay and condition increases initially that would have raised employment costs by over 25%, and that it is currently requesting increases which would raise this by 15%.
This, VetPartners said, would make Valley Vets unsustainable without a significant reduction in the workforce, which is something it is trying to avoid.
"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," VetPartners said.
"Fee increases have not kept pace with increases in costs in recent years, and we have seen profitability fall over the last few years."
