The boss who sacked Karen Reissmann and then went on holiday has tried to intimidate the striking health workers.
But the bully-boy move backfired for Manchester Mental Health Trust chief executive Sheila Foley, who returned from Dubai only on Tuesday.
Sun-tanned Shelia, who is paid £135,000 a year, issued an hysterical statement to the press threatening to report the 150 striking nurses to their professional bodies for misconduct.
It was a clear attempt to try and frighten and intimidate the striking nurses back to work.
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1025464_nurses_row_escalates
Bully-boy Mrs Foley had already made the threat once before in a letter to Karen’s colleagues when they began their solidarity strike.
But while she was house-hunting in Dubai the strikers had contacted their professional bodies, including the Nursing and Midwifery Council, to find out if Mrs Foley could carry out her threat. The nurses were told very clearly that they had the right to strike and it was their management’s responsibility to organise cover.
A complaint could only be made against a striking nurse to the Council if the nurse had done something specific to affect a specific patient. A general complaint would be laughed out of court.
Yesterday – 24 hours after making a shrill second threat – bully boy Ms Foley was forced to backdown and withdraw her ultimatum at a meeting with regional officials from the nurses’ union UNISON.
She also agreed to bring Karen’s appeal forward a week to December 3.
