Bristol UNISON going to March on the 26th

March 26th Rally in London

UNISON's views on Pay.

The Pay Seminar will take place in early autumn 2011. The action list from the Pay and Cuts Roundtable which had been held on 2nd December 2010 was circulated. This had been agreed and endorsed by the PDCC on 26 January 2011.
The Union must maintain its firm opposition to the pay freeze, and must ensure that it relates prevailing economic conditions to members’ individual circumstances. This will be done by campaigning to ensure that all members are aware how much current government policy is costing them. In terms of providing information on the effects of the range of price rises on the decreasing ability of wages and salaries to keep up. Information should be provided by the use of real examples - rises in food prices, rents, travel costs, petrol and oil prices, utility bills etc. In order to build such a consensus, as well as leaflets and posters for branches, a dedicated Pay Campaign web wage must be maintained, providing easily downloadable materials to assist branches in campaigning
The number one issue for members is job security but that it cannot be bought at any price and we need to give good clear consistent advice on such issues as workload management and health and safety.
The cuts pack is being prepared by the Links Unit. The cuts pack to be circulated when completed to SGLC members for comment and if necessary amendment prior to distribution to branches.


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UNISON update on Local Government.

Local Government employers have completed regional consultations on NJC pay for 2011/12 and they will report back on 16th February. It is thought that they will only make an offer in return for unions making some movements around giving up national pay bargaining. The pay campaign will be around a big push for an increase of at least £250 pa. Section 188 (4) of TULRCA redundancy notices are increasing. The final draft of the personalisation toolkit will be rolled out shortly. The Scottish Local Government conference had been held on 4th February and had agreed a pay claim for 2011/12 of £500 flat rate pa.


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UNISON's view on Education and Children's Services

The new education bill has confirmed the abolition of the Schools Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB). Unions and local government employers are meeting at the end of February to discuss how to take forward work from the SSSNB. There is a consultation with branches on the direction of the campaign. This sets out the background of the SSSNB, the Government’s decision to abolish it and asks questions on the way forward. In Higher Education there are going to be huge cuts of around 6 per cent and further work will be done on that. There is a also a big campaign around Careers/Connexions where there are going to be massive job losses. In Scotland it was reported that there are major threats to jobs of classroom assistants and suggestions of a move to a four day week for schools.


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UNISON's views about our Communities

There are typical cuts of about 15 per cent and the campaign on sector funding now operates within the context of the union’s overall campaigning on the cuts. The sector is facing job losses and severe changes to terms and conditions. In Scotland there are huge cuts, for example Glasgow City Council has asked all organisations to make cuts of 20 per cent. Personalisation is a big issue. UNISON’s response to the Cabinet Office green paper on Modernising Commissioning was noted.


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UNISON to produce A Duty of Care Handbook for members.

A draft copy of the Duty of Care handbook was circulated to NEC for comment. This is intended to assist members in seeking guidance on how best to question and challenge unsafe practice in health and social care. There have been some high profile cases in recent years such as the death of Baby Peter in Haringey and failings in care at the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust hospital. Members have been confronted with issues around standards of care and the handbook aims to empower members to have a positive influence on ensuring safe, effective and high-quality services.
The equality legislation is to be checked and possible inclusion of equality impact assessment toolkit in handbook.
The report was accepted subject to checking one or two issues.


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UNISON's view on Pension Consultation

Copies of pensions briefings and campaign news were circulated to the NEC. With effect from April 2011 public service pensions will increase in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rather than by the Retail Price Index (RPI). The Hutton commission produced its report on 10 March and several meetings have taken place with Lord Hutton. He may recommend a move to a career average scheme, and retirement age may increase in line with state pension age. We have to watch for issues around transitional protection and risk and savings being shared. A briefing with Angela Eagle MP had taken place on 8 February.
It was agreed that a Pensions meeting to be reconvened after final Hutton report is published and an LGPS meeting will follow on.


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UNISON's views on procurement

A report is currently being produced based on case studies looking at how UNISON branches across all sectors are dealing with the intensification of procurement arising from the cuts. There are changes at the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) as it has been moved from the Treasury to the Efficiency and Reform Group in the Cabinet Office under Francis Maude. The trade unions have quarterly meetings with the OGC. There are also changes at European level with the European Commission (EC) publishing a guide to taking social considerations in public procurement. It takes a very limited view of the scope for including workforce protections. The EC is also undertaking a review of EU public procurement legislation. The European Procurement Network (NGOs and trade unions) has organised a workshop in the European Parliament around the review.


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The Abolition of The Two Tiered Workforce, UNISON's views

The Two Tier Code of Practice on Workforce Matters was withdrawn on 10 December 2010 and replaced with the Cabinet Office Principles of Good Employment Practice. The abolition of the two tier codes will affect central government departments and agencies first. As each government department implemented the code in their own way, the mechanisms for removing it will vary. However, the code stays in place for existing contracts. The situation is different for Best Value authorities as the code is statutory. They will not be affected immediately because the best value two-tier code is a separate piece of legislation which will have to repealed first. The devolved administrations have their own regulations which protect against a two-tier workforce and the two tier code will remain in Wales.
UNISON has organised a series of meetings with the major contractors which has established that they were not in favour of abolishing the codes. We are arranging another meeting soon.
Discussion followed which included:
• There is a major procurement exercise in the probation service coming up and employers are saying that Fair Deal for Staff Pensions never applied to the probation service. It looks as if this is going to develop into a very serious issue.
• At the last Public Services Forum small and medium size employers were saying that Fair Deal is a major obstacle.
• At the recent meeting of the PDCC the matter was referred to the D & O Committee to look at the organising implications.
• It is a moving situation
​Fair Deal for Staff Pensions to be raised again with the Cabinet Office and through the PSF.


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A UNISON Briefing for Local Elections Love your Libraries by Lucille and Hannah

Local Government


UNISON LOCAL ELECTION BRIEFING: LIBRARIES

UNISON says ‘Love Your Libraries’!

The UK public library service has existed for over 150 years. Responsibility to provide library services is set out in the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964, which states that it is ‘the duty of every library authority to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service’.

Libraries are a valued community resource for many people from all walks of life, in cities, towns and villages up and down the country. UNISON’s long-running ‘Love Your Libraries’ campaign has recently stepped up a gear in order to address the huge challenges facing services following the Comprehensive Spending Review and disastrous local settlements.

Cuts to library services – key facts

• There are currently 4,517 libraries in the UK. At present, 521 are threatened with closure – over 10% of all libraries
• This figure includes 61 mobile services, which provide a vital lifeline to many, including schools, older and disabled people
• Only 11 local authorities have indicated that they will not cut services
• In a recent survey, 74% of users surveyed described libraries as ‘essential’ or ‘very important’ in their lives
• Furthermore, 59% of non-users also think libraries play an ‘important’ or 'essential’ role in the community
• Libraries have been viewed as soft targets for cuts by many local authorities – despite the fact that spending on these services equates to only 1% of their overall budget
• Libraries have suffered years of under-investment – spending on new books and total book stock has fallen by over 15% over the last ten years
• Yet where investment has occurred, for example in Wales, there has been an increase in visitors to public libraries by 5.6%

Challenging the cuts

Recent press coverage has demonstrated that people have been prepared to mobilise in great numbers to campaign to protect local library services, as seen during the coordinated day of action on 5th February, where ‘read-ins’ were held all over the UK. These ‘grassroots’ activities shows how important library services are to local people and communities.

What UNISON wants election candidates to do:

UNISON is urging local election candidates to oppose library cuts and instead commit adequate resources and funding for libraries, staff and premises, as a long-term investment in the future of their communities. There are key questions to ask candidates in your council elections:

 What are the plans in your area for library services?
 How is the local community being consulted on the proposals?
 How are the views of staff helping to shape proposals?
 How well thought out are these proposals?
 Will you argue against any closure plans if elected?
 If elected, will you ensure that trained, experienced employees are retained to run local libraries?
 How will you ensure investment in new library stock if elected?

UNISON LIBRARY CONTACTS:

Lucille Thirlby – l.thirlby@unison.co.uk

Hannah Bailey – h.bailey@unison.co.uk

http://teams.unison.org.uk/departments/ServiceGroups/LocalGov/LGAdmin/Admin/localelectionbrieflibraries.doc


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A UNISON briefing note during elections for Social Care by Helga and Allison

Local Government


UNISON LOCAL ELECTION BRIEFING: SOCIAL CARE


Introduction

Social care budgets are being drastically reduced, despite growing need. The 2006 Wanless report identified a £6.6 billion funding gap between now and 2026. With budget cuts in 2011 – 2014, Age UK estimates that this figure is now more likely to be £8.8 billion. An ageing population and growing numbers of people with learning disabilities mean that spending needs to rise at 4% above inflation just to keep pace with demand. As well as local authorities passing on the government grant cut to social care services, there has been little evidence that the additional £2bn that the government provided to help plug the funding gap has been ring fenced to protect care services.

Some facts and figures

Around the country we are witnessing a devastating reduction in care services and jobs:

• Budgets for 2011 – 14 care services being slashed. E.g. £22m in Nottinghamshire and £17.5m in Birmingham
• Residential Care homes - of whom 6/10 rely on public funding - are reducing their services and places, reducing staff and de-registering their homes from CQC through personalisation
• 1 in 5 independent care providers say that they don’t believe they will survive the cuts in 2011 and will close due to reduction in council fees and the move towards contracting smaller numbers of providers
• Establishing arms length employing bodies – often with worse pay and conditions for mostly women workers, giving rise to potential sex discrimination claims
• Service users and providers are legally challenging fee cuts and winning cases
• Voluntary and community providers are receiving less funding, making their provider status unsustainable. Some councils have ended contracts with voluntary providers of day centres, in part because of the personalisation agenda. A recent survey of Community Care readers found that more than half had seen closures of services in their areas
• Increased rationing of care packages being offered by increasing cost prices or by raising the criteria to access public funds
• Meals on Wheels services being closed or privatised, increased prices and use of frozen meals delivered less frequently
• Day care centres, including specialist centres, being closed. Difficulty in accessing centres due to enforcement of direct payments, rather than being offered a mixed personal budget of cash and local services

• Community care transport being cut or rationed. Difficulty in accessing remaining services due to direct payments, rather than personal budget or fee for using the service
• The Association of Directors of Children's Services highlights the dangers of cutting the "vital infrastructure" that helps free-up time for social workers
What’s happening to the workforce?

• Staff cuts on the frontline in all roles and functions of care
• Wages have gone down and turnover has gone up: The average pay for care works is now £6.00 an hour, compared to £6.75 two years ago and the turnover rate of care workers in the private sector is now 25%
• Some local areas cannot cope due to lack of staff and the fact that personalisation has not delivered a care market. The opposite appears to be happening, with a decrease in diversity of providers
• Some councils have had to stop transferring service users to contracted companies due to the high volume of complaints and the fact that the company was not properly staffed
• Vacancies not being filled for adult social workers and occupational therapists, needed to assess the elderly and prevent long periods of bed blocking
• Reduction in local working conditions as well as freezing pay: Care workers are being asked to take further cuts in pay and conditions by removing car allowances and unsocial hours’ payments. Worse still, some authorities are asking workers to stay on call at home without getting paid unless they get called out
• Privatisation: Councils are rushing ahead to privatise remaining in-house services and staff without proper legal re-employment or TUPE transfer agreements
What commitment should council candidates make?

UNISON wants councillors to acknowledge the growing demand for adult social care, show their concern about the Coalition’s cuts and pledge to fight them! It is vital that councillors talk to care users and their families and engage with UNISON and the other unions over the future of care services. There are alternatives to cuts. Local election candidates should make a commitment to:
• Ring-fencing care budgets
• Properly funding care contracts to ensure decent pay, conditions and training and therefore a good service to users
• Ensuring that new starters on private contracts are paid equivalent pay, conditions and pensions to transferred employees
• Setting up companies wholly owned by the council to run in-house services. These companies can compete in the market against voluntary and private providers. In-house trading units could also provide services to people with direct payments who are barred from using traditional council-run services
• Not setting up so-called ‘social enterprises’ just to cut pay and conditions!
• Draw up a parallel budget to show what the council needs to spend to meet local care needs and campaign for it!
UNISON CONTACTS:

Helga Pile – h.pile@unison.co.uk

Allison Roche – a.roche@unison.co.uk


http://teams.unison.org.uk/departments/ServiceGroups/LocalGov/LGAdmin/Admin/local electionbriefSocial Care.doc



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Something to give your local Labour Councillors, Briefing note from Heather Wakefield

Local Government


UNISON’S LOCAL ELECTION MANIFESTO


WHAT WE ARE ASKING LABOUR CANDIDATES TO SUPPORT

As the UK’s largest public service union, UNISON believes that local government services and local democracy are key to a thriving, cohesive and fair society. Local government should bring democracy and power closer to the people and we support community and workforce engagement in local service delivery. This is our Manifesto for Local Government. We hope all Labour local election candidates read it and make contact with us, so that we can work together for a real future for local government.

Our message to Labour councillors

Labour councillors need to show their local communities and their workforce that having a Labour council will make a difference when faced with the cuts forced on them by the Tory-led Coalition. We would like to see open and effective engagement with the workforce and trade unions, in a joint effort to defend services, jobs, pay and pensions. Labour councils need to be out in their local communities, campaigning against the vicious Government cuts, not just being seen to manage them. We want local people to know who is destroying their services and erasing local jobs and Labour councils which look for positive alternatives.

UNISON’S largest group of members work within local government and schools – over 700,000, employed throughout the structure – from the Chief Executive to the cleaner, from the Director of Children’s Services to the social work assistant and the school meals worker.

Tell it like it is!!


Local people need to know who is responsible for decimating their services and local employment. UNISON wants Labour councils and councillors to:

• Publicise widely that it is the Coalition government doing the damage through widespread publicity and meetings with local people
• Let local people know that the financial difficulties councils now face flow directly from the economic collapse caused by the financial institutions - not from investment in public services
Support your local economy and local community!

Coalition cuts will not only affect council jobs and services. Your local economy will feel the ripple effects as spending power falls and the private sector suffers. Cuts to voluntary and community sector projects will deprive local people of services and support when they need them most. UNISON is asking Labour councils and councillors to:

• Go public on the impact of the Coalition’s cuts on your local economy and the voluntary sector
• Take a medium term view of council finances – over 3 to 4 years – to help manage the current difficult financial situation
• Achieve deficit reduction through economic growth, job creation and tackling tax evasion
• Tackle council tax fraud
• Carry out an economic and social audit of all cuts to jobs, pay and conditions and services before they are implemented – look at the long-term
• Work with local businesses to influence the Government’s agenda
• Work with community groups and the voluntary sector to identify ways of maintaining key services
• Support calls for fairer taxation – such as the Robin Hood tax on financial transactions
Local government finance

The Local Government Association submission to the Comprehensive Spending Review said that councils would need an extra £20 billion by 2014/15 to maintain services and respond to an ageing population. Instead of addressing local need, the Coalition government is slashing funding and front-loading cuts. An extra £4.6 billion is needed to maintain existing levels of adult social care. The £1 million allocated by the Government is completely inadequate.
UNISON wants Labour councils and councillors to:
• Make all financial documents publicly available on one page of your council’s web site
• Draw up and publicise a ‘needs’ budget for your council area to show how the cuts will impact and to tell local people about Labour’s alternative for your community
• When looking at budgets for 2010/13 onwards, use Council Tax increases to mitigate the effect of the Government’s cuts
• Examine ways of generating income through appropriate charges, elimination of waste and energy generation
• Review expenditure on external agency staff and consultants
• Involve trade unions and service users in early identification of budget pressures , means of reducing them and related financial decisions
• Explore options such as a review of outsourced contracts to reduce profit at the expense of the public and the workforce and look at in-house options
• Review reserves and balances to examine appropriate use in a time of cuts
• Examine every possible alternative to privatisation. Budget problems wont be solved by handing services over to the private sector, as many consultants would claimSupport your workforce!

Local government workers and school support staff have been doing more for less for years, as efficiency savings have bitten into staffing levels. Pay and conditions are already the worst in the public sector and now they are facing a second year of a pay freeze, without even the £250 promised by the Chancellor for those earning less than £21,000 a year. That’s a massive 70% of our members doing vital jobs. Councils are using Section 188 notices to dismiss and re-engage our members on worse pay and conditions, showing no respect for their loyalty and experience. UNISON wants Labour councils and councillors to:

• Work with UNISON and the other unions to examine and agree options for dealing with the Coalition cuts
• Recognise that three quarters of your workforce are women, and many are part-time workers – there will be sex discrimination and equal pay issues when redundancies and cuts to pay and conditions arise
• Plan for a workforce for a better future, retaining as many committed and experienced employees as possible
• Look at up-skilling, redeployment and flexibility as an alternative to redundancy
• Recognise that local government needs to keep and attract high quality staff by maintaining pay and conditions above the ‘bargain basement’ they are being pushed into
• Maintain a commitment to Single Status and equal pay – abolishing or changing Single Status pay and grading structures could lead to a new wave of costly equal pay litigation
• Show your support for retaining the Local Government Pension Scheme by opposing increases in contributions which could push the scheme under as low paid workers leave it
Keep Equality High on Your Agenda
In recent years, councils have had to pay out millions of pounds in equal pay compensation because they have not complied with the law. This is a waste of public money, which can – and must - be avoided in a cuts climate. Councils need to ensure that changes to pay and conditions are not creating new legal issues.

• Make sure that as a councillor, you are informed about the public sector equality duties and equality is promoted within your council
• Make sure that your council has a commitment to carry out equality impact assessments of all proposals relating to services and the workforce
• Eliminate any discrimination arising from them
• Work with UNISON and the other trade unions in the process
• Ensure that your council has carried out a Single Status pay and grading review, using job evaluation schemes that comply with equal pay principles and the Equality Act 2010
• Make a commitment to annual equal pay reviews to ensure that pay and conditions comply with the law
• Make sure that equality criteria are built into the procurement process and contracts
Support Public Service Provision and Public Value

Outsourcing of local services means that public money is wasted through use of consultants, scoping exercises, transaction costs, the shareholder premium and inflated private sector management salaries. Accountability to local people is also lost. At the same time, pay, conditions and pensions are driven down to generate cost ‘savings’. UNISON supports ‘public value’ services, in which public money and an in-house workforce are put to the best possible use, in the interests of local people.

We want Labour councils and future Labour Councillors to:

• Support directly provided services as the best use of public money
• Look at the potential for changes to in-house services before tendering
• Include a well thought-out and resourced in-house bid if tendering has to proceed
• Review existing outsourced contracts and adopt a positive approach to bringing them back in-house
• Renegotiate contracts to reduce profit occurring at public expense
• Ensure that equality and a fair deal for the workforce are built into any contract
• Oppose attempts by the Coalition to remove the Fair Pensions provisions
• Continue to use the ‘Two-Tier Code’ principles, even though it has been abolished
• Make your council is a ‘TUPE Plus’ council, which guarantees to maintain quality pay and conditions throughout any contract
UNISON LOCAL GOVERNMENT, POLICE AND JUSTICE CONTACTS:

Heather Wakefield, Head of Local Government, Police and Justice - h.wakefield@unison.co.uk
Lucille Thirlby, Deputy Head– l.thirlby@unison.co.uk
Ben Priestley, National Officer, Police and Justice – b.priestley@unison.co.uk
http://teams.unison.org.uk/departments/ServiceGroups/LocalGov/LGAdmin/Admin/manifestolgamarch2011 (2).doc


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Million Voices for the NHS

Million Voices for the NHS
Campaign Week – 7-11 March 2011

Introduction
In July 2010, staff and lay members agreed to dedicate a week of campaigning under our Million Voices Campaign, focussed on the NHS. This was an initial experiment to see whether this approach worked, with the aim of evaluating it for the future.
There was a long lead in period to the campaign, particularly to build support via the Health Annual Forum as well as at local forum meetings and the week selected was in march, some eight months after the original decision. Dates were blocked out in staff calendars well in advance
Resources
Three GPF bids were submitted by each of the Area Forums, on behalf of the joint branches. These were used to fund materials, a campaign bus for Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. A campaign specific leaflet was designed for use with the public, but other materials were designed to be more generic – for example the logos for the bus were designed around the theme of public services, so that they could be used in future campaigns. The get Active Event was also designed to kick start the week and offer training to those taking part, as well as delegates across the whole region
Outcomes
Over 70 events were organised during the week, from recruitment stalls in canteens to street stalls for the public or workplace visits. The attached schedule shows the success of these events in terms of members recruited or contacts or stewards. In addition to the recruitment figures, the week also resulted in a strong media profile as well as creating a stronger profile for UNISON in the workplace and the community. Many involved reported feeling energised and enthused by the week and there was a really positive response from members, non-members and the public. While the timing of weeks like this with a long lead in time is always problematic, it turned out that the NHS was a really prominent public issue, especially in parts of the South West where services are to transfer to Social Enterprises.
Difficulties
There is no doubt that there were some problems in terms of staff involvement due to the problems of keeping a week free and also in branch involvement being inconsistent. Some events were solely attended by staff, even where local reps were present on site. There was also resistance from employers as well as other unions, who resented such a high profile campaign
Recommendations
There is no doubt, that despite scepticism, the week of campaigning was successful, both in raising our profile, recruiting new members and reps as well as getting the public to understand our key messages. We should consider a further event of this type later in the year and need to decide:

a) What would be the theme – e.g. Pensions?
b) Would this be a week or a moth with two days in each week?
c) How do we get universal branch involvement and also ensure staff have sufficient time to make the week a success?








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Learning how to blog on the iPad

As my UNISON NHS mates head off to Liverpool for the 11th annual Health Conference, it seems unbelievable for the first time since the NHS was created we are faced with the thought it may cease to exist.

There is something very comforting about being ill in the UK. You make a doctors appointment if it's not too serious, visit the walk in centre if your worried, or go to the local hospital if it's an emergency. ALL FREE. No need to worry, no need to check your pockets for cash. Just arrive and get seen when it's your turn. We have taken it for granted as I don't see a mass of angry UK citizens bellowing for Tory blood, yet the Tory Government have also announced the potential privatisation of the Blood Donor Service. We give that blood free, in the hope it will help save a life, not so someone can make a profit out of it. I hope the Health Conference comes up with some inspiring motions the whole country can endorse and we get to keep something you may never need, but you don't ever want to find gone.

Jackie

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