Vets Continue Strike in Wales

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Get in, we’re going striking

Unionized veterinarians, nurses and support staff at Valley Vets, a private equity-backed specialty hospital in southern Wales, who have been on strike since mid-July have decided to stay out until the end of the month. Valley Vets is owned by one of the largest private veterinary companies in the country and one of six companies that own over 60% of all veterinary surgery hospitals in the UK.

The staff, who are part of the British Veterinary Union (BVU), are fighting for three key changes:

1. Fair fees for clients

2. Fair pay for staff

3. Smaller profits

Which just so happens to create one of our favorite acronyms… FFS. Well played, BVU.

While FFS may be a catchy rallying cry, the actual economic and personal impact of the low wages at Valley Vets has forced the employees into action. According to the BVU, most support staff are either paid minimum wage, or just above it, and recent survey of Valley Vets staff found that 80% of them regularly borrowed money to meet basic living costs while 5% had to use food banks to make ends meet.

As the strike enters its sixth week, the union has committed to keeping minimal staffing levels in place to ensure there would be no unnecessary suffering for patients.

Could this be a sign of things to come to pressure corporations into higher wages and better working conditions? While it’s not the first union action in our industry, it could spur more action. In June, workers at a nonprofit animal shelter in Austin, Texas, successfully voted to join a union.

Thank you to The Guardian and VIN News who helped inform this story. We will keep you up to date as it progresses.

Worth the read:

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Lucy May: World’s Best Bat Dog

Most baseball teams, including all 30 Major League teams have a bat boy or girl who grabs the bat after a play to return it to the dugout. But sometimes things get fun in the Minor Leagues - like on Fridays when the Clearwater Threshers play under the new name of the Beach Dogs and have a bat dog who runs onto the field.

After six faithful years as a dependable bat dog, Layla retired earlier this year. This week, her replacement was announced and let’s just say that 10-month-old Lucy May’s debut was…. uh… better than expected.

In case you wanted to see a true professional in action, here is Layla’s last bat earlier this year:

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Quick Hits

Here are some of the other stories that caught our eye and we're following this week from around the veterinary world and animal kingdom: