Battling for Bolton Issue 6 by Mary Burns Publishing

the magazine for UNISON members Spring 2015 Issue 6 Free

A Sledgehammer Through Local Government Fat Cats of Bolton and Greater Manchester

ooting From The Hip Sh Joan Pritchard-Jones fights for a better Bolton! Plus...News, Views, Branch Reports and UNISON around Bolton...

Welcome to the Spring edition of Battling for Bolton, the magazine for UNISON members.

In this edition we focus

on the continuing austerity agenda and how, as trade unionists, we can fight for a better future for our children and grandchildren. As a trade unionist all my working life I truly believe our movement is humanity’s only hope that our future may be better than our past. It is vital that we break the myth that we must eliminate the deficit and pay down the national debt. We need to break the myth that living longer is placing unmanageable burdens on society. We need to break the myth that wage rises for public sector workers is a contributory factor to the economic situation. The reality is that public sector workers have lost 20% of their income in real terms over the last five years. We are in the midst of the biggest cull of public sector jobs for at least fifty years that will see vulnerable parts of the state endure reductions in headcount of up to 40%, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). The planned £50billion cuts during the next parliament will destroy the social safety net that separates millions of ordinary people

from destitution. On the eve of a General Election we cannot rely on the mainstream political parties to free us from the shackles of austerity. This will be the most unpredictable General Election of my life-time and it is with deep sadness that Labour alternative is “fair austerity”. However I am very clear that the election of a majority Tory Government would be truly devastating for those of us who believe society should be planned on the basis of human need and not on the basis of profit. The recent announcement of further anti union laws has given us a glimpse into the future should a Government of the right be elected. The suggestion that strike ballots would require a 50% turnout and a 40% ‘yes’ vote of those eligible to vote is deliberately intended to raise an almost insurmountable hurdle. If the same turnout and support was required for elected councillors and MP’s there would be few on the benches of Westminster and seats in our town halls.

But how should trades unionists respond? We have a window of opportunity to put pressure on our elected representatives and those who have ambitions to represent us. Politicians are extremely sensitive to public pressure. Members should contact those seeking to represent us to ask what it is they are going to do to defend jobs and services. And above all do not waste your vote. Though it is often clichéd that men and women died so working people could have the vote, it is true. If we don’t defend democracy we run the risk of losing it. The future is ours; we must seize it with both hands. Bernadette Gallagher, Branch Secretary

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Contents A Sledgehammer Through Local Government - a seven page special on the £42.5million of cuts being imposed by Bolton Council Shooting From The Hip – UNISON activist Joan Pritchard-Jones has retired from the Council but not from the fight for a better Bolton! Fat Cats of Bolton and Greater Manchester - `austerity’? Read the wallet busting antics of these publicly pampered execs and officers Alternative Bolton – UNISON’s plan for how things could be, if only... Care and Care Workers in the Spotlight – fair pay and conditions for those who care for our families A Celebration of Support Staff – St James’s School in Farnworth knows how to treat its valued workers Bolton Needs Public Health – the Team that’s directing Bolton people to a happy healthy life All Power To The Course – trade union training available to all members Say `No’ to TTIP and `No’ to UKIP – the acid acronyms Alternative Service Delivery Models – coming to get you and your terms and conditions Play Fair On Pay – Bolton UNISON holds officials up to account Plus the great General Election Wordsearch and 50p off a pint at the Hen and Chickens!

CUTS CUTS Up To £45.2Million Cuts!!! After £100m cuts by Bolton Council and 1,350 job losses, it is now proposing £45.2m of cuts over the next two years and up to 500 job losses. Here’s a list of the cuts at upper levels, including cuts that will form Alternative Service Delivery Models* Corporate £17.9m Adult Social Care £7.75m Children’s Services £3.5m Environmental Services £6.3m Development and Regeneration £2.5m Chief Executives £2.25m Cross Cutting £5m *See article on Alternative Service Delivery Models on page 44

Lobby Bolton Council 25th February!!! Bolton UNISON is joining a trade union lobby of the full meeting of Bolton Council to protest about the horrendous cuts being inflicted on our town... Wednesday 25th February 6pm-7pm outside Bolton Town Hall

CUTS CUT A Sledgehammer Through Local Government In Bolton we have already witnessed £100m cuts and 1,350 job losses. In November 2014 Bolton Council announced it was to consult on deeper cuts to jobs and services with a budget reduction of £42.5m over two years and up to 500 job losses. In context, this is 25% of the controllable budget. It makes this budget extremely challenging for the trade unions to engage in consultation and negotiating as it has done in previous years. Previous budget options have usually identified service areas alongside the number jobs which are being proposed for redundancies, the trade unions then have the opportunity to engage with each of the departments on their rationale for service redesign or restructure. These proposals are far wider reaching, including “alternative delivery models” and yet more service reviews. These cuts are the start of putting a sledgehammer through local government as we know it here in Bolton, and with the reality that the Government is not even half way through its austerity programme. Adult Social Care is in crisis, Children’s Services are under increasing attacks and Environmental Services face the biggest public scrutiny, in the face of increased council tax options. It is time for the Council to admit that these proposals are cuts and, as a consequence, will struggle

to deliver services to the previous standard. Changes to the structure of funding for grants in the community and voluntary sector and to the operation of some contracts will also impact on the jobs available to the wider Bolton community, meaning that in effect, the jobs lost as a result of this budget may far outweigh the 500 from the Council structure. Meanwhile, the Council is proposing a ‘Transformation Office’ with a budget of up to £3million to include cover for the costs of seconding senior managers and their backfill and the use of outside consultants who will oversee the delivery of the cuts. Its idea of `meaningful consultation’ is that the trade unions are being asked to comment on the budget options, many of which are predicated in a report produced by Capita for the Council, without having had access to a full copy of the report! The Council is proposing £40m of one-off funding from reserves to deliver the two year budget. However, from information shared with the union, it appears that the Council reserves have increased significantly since we received an overview of the accounts around twelve months ago. So why not allocate more money from the reserves in 2015/16 to protect services and jobs? £8million would keep Adult Services in-house.

TS CUTS Environmental Services Slashed School Meals For a number of years children from low income families have enjoyed subsidised meals, For some children this may have been the only substantial meal they have received regularly, but due to this next round of cuts Bolton Council is considering removing this subsidy. Not only will this affect the children, but will also have a knock on effect for school meals staff, with potential job losses. Since the introduction of the free school meals our kitchen staff are turning out in excess of over 2,300 meals each school day for infants, years one and two. This should however not be affected. Albert Halls When the Albert Halls have been refurbished and re-open in 2016, the Council plans to take away the subsidy and open parts up to privatisation. This will have a devastating effect on staffing

numbers. How many Council staff will still be left working in the Albert Halls remains to be seen, when the building reopens. Refuse Collection As part of the cuts, it is not clear yet whether all households will have their 240LT bins collected in and replaced with 140LT bins, but the financial cost of this amounts to £2million out of council reserves. This amounts to no more than having your bin empted every three weeks, to save £1.25m each year. Talks are also taking place at the moment with regard to a shared service model but most certainly the outcome will have an effect on all Council staff. So it’s of the utmost importance that we all start to organise ourselves now to fight the cuts and save public services and our jobs. Tony Cowell

CUTS CUT £2.25million Slice To The Chief Exec’s Dept... The Chief Exec’s Department has been told it needs to identify £2.25million worth of savings! What will this mean for our members? We’ve been given very little detail with regards to where these savings will be found, but all services will be reviewed to achieve savings of £2m. A further £250,000 will be generated from the reduction of financial support to the voluntary sector. With such little direction as to where the axe may fall it’s not surprising that members either end up feeling terribly worried or feeling as though it won’t be them. Thirty jobs could be lost which is slightly less

than 5% of the overall number of staff within the department. However, when you consider that a significant number of Chief Exec’s staff fall into the ‘admin’ category and will therefore be subject to a separate review with estimated job losses of 200, it is likely that the toll will be much higher.

...all services will be reviewed to achieve savings of £2m The budget proposals so far have put a lot of emphasis on savings being realised through moving the public ‘online’. This sounds simple enough, but achieving it can be another matter. In a town with a high

proportion of vulnerable and low paid residents it is not just a matter of telling them they must access the Council ‘digitally’ from now on. The proposals advise that investment will be required in technology and changing the public’s behaviour. We do not know the figures involved, but it begs the question of whether this money would be best spent maintaining Council posts rather than investing in machines which will inevitably be ‘out of date’ before we know it. The Contact Centre is being held up as a ‘cure all’ which will take the fall-out from areas of the Council which need to downsize. Customers,

TS CUTS who formerly contacted the section they required directly, will be expected to either self-serve digitally or make contact via the Contact Centre. However, the Contact Centre will not be allocated any additional resources to cope with this extra influx of work. Once again our workers are being expected to do more and more with less and less! Whilst some areas of Chief Exec’s will find they have more to do, there are many others which ‘support’ departments outside of their own. These sections will likely be affected by the reduction of services provided by other divisions. A knock-on effect which may see their

own services diminish.

Once again our workers are being expected to do more and more with less and less! All in all the picture is one of uncertainty and unease. What we can be sure of however, is that if our Labour Council continues to do the bidding of George ‘Gideon’ Osborne, our local Council and the services it provides will never be the same again... Cecilia Costello Convenor Chief Executive’s Department

CUTS CUT The End Of Council Social Care Provision In Bolton? Bolton Council has recently announced a strategic consultation on proposed savings options for Local Government Adults Services, which could effectively end directly provided social care provision within Bolton. The Council is proposing to reduce costs by developing an `arm’s length’ company into which nearly every service from Older Adults and Disability Provider Services will be transferred: this includes Adult Placement, Supported Living Services, Disability Day Services, Older Adults Day Care, Equipment Stores and the Independent Living Scheme, and potentially Older Adults Intermediate Care, Mental Health Services and LD/MH Respite Care. This would represent the entirety of Social Care Provision. All staff who do not leave through VER/ VS would therefore be subject to, as yet undisclosed, TUPE arrangements. TUPE is the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment Regulations) 2006. The purpose of it is to safeguard employees in the event of a transfer. However new regulations came into force on 31st January 2014, which are particularly damaging in relation to changes to contracts derived from collective agreements; for example the

annual pay award negotiated nationally. The new ‘arms-length company’ would have a two-tier workforce with any vacancies being recruited on the ‘Living Wage’ and with different Terms and Conditions and pension schemes. The company would also have a second ‘arm’ providing for growth areas of the industry and allowing for the changes to Health and Social Care provision. The Council is modelling this ‘armslength’ company on Oldham Council which set a similar service up in October 2013 with similar high expectations, only for it to serve notice twelve months later of changes to the terms and conditions of the TUPE’d ex-council staff. If this does not meet the savings targets, the Council is proposing to close all of the services provided through the Extra Care schemes at Campbell House, Eldon Street, Maxton House and The Merton, leading to losses of forty posts. It is not yet clear what happens to these four services if the savings can be met elsewhere as they have already been flagged as high cost, and if kept within the Council would represent the only social care service remaining. Garry Pritchard Adults LG Convenor

TS CUTS Nowhere To Go, Nowhere To Play For Our Children Over the past years Children’s Services have been eroded to the extent that the bulk of the department’s focus is now largely statutory. However in October the Council announced further cuts to frontline preventative services.

...your services won’t be there when you need them The Council hopes to make savings that include a significant reduction to Children’s Centres, and Youth and Play services. As these support services are further eroded more pressure is put on the statutory services that work with vulnerable young people and staff working in these services, this can cause stress as workloads increase.

services won’t be there when you need them, local neighbourhoods will deteriorate, and young people will have nowhere to go. UNISON Stewards within Children’s Services continue to offer support in relation to staff involved in service reviews, sickness, capability, grievance, health and safety and disciplinary issues. Our stewards are highly trained and accredited. In these times of austerity with the pressures and the uncertainty within the workforce, the benefits of being in a memxber-led UNION that negotiates on behalf of its members are paramount. Steve Fletcher Convenor Childrens Services

If these cuts aren’t stopped, your

SHOOTING FROM THE HIP UNISON Convenor Joan PritchardJones took retirement from Bolton Council recently but still has loads to say and loads to do. Here she reveals all in a no holds barred final interview....

Bolton UNISON’s Adult Services convenor, Joan

Pritchard-Jones, was recently presented with an honorary life membership of the union having taken retirement after many years working for the Council. But if anyone thinks she’s going to be taking up knitting and making scones they’d better think again. The only thing Joan is having for breakfast is Bolton councillors, chief officers, Government ministers and even trade union bureaucrats. Joan is on the attack. She’s joined the retired members of UNISON and hopes that they can get more active in what is happening to services in Bolton... “Retired people have power” she insists “Now is the time to get radical and use it before all the services that we rely on are gone.” After years of trade union activity, beginning when she was just 16 and working in a Bolton garment factory, the glint of activism in Joan’s eyes is not only still there, it’s sparkling and getting brighter by the minute. She’s angry. Angry about cuts. Angry about Bolton Council’s race to privatise everything. And angry about the plight of her former colleagues and the town’s vulnerable people. “The position we’re in at the moment with the economy and with the workforce is absolutely diabolical” Joan says “I think we’ve gone back forty years...all the work we’ve done in those years, the struggle, the strife to achieve better has just been wiped out by this Government that has totally

“Now is the time to get radical”

decimated public services. “We’re talking in this next round of cuts of making the services arms length companies which is just a stop gap to privatisation fully; it’s just sweetening people to say ‘we’re not getting rid of it’ but it’s just a stop gap” she explains “We know from Bolton at Home that it became a wholly privatised company, and it’s just rubbish when they say it’s a `not for profit’ company because people at the top of those companies profit from them all the time. It’s just hoodwinking the general public into believing that they are not getting rid of the services, instead of being wholly honest and saying `This is what we’re doing’.

“There’s too many councillors now being fed a line by chief officers and not enough questioning of them” “They’re taking Bolton residents for fools because people just don’t understand what’s behind all this and what it will lead to eventually” she argues “Come 2018 we’ll have no services left in Bolton that are run by Bolton Council, and that will be an absolutely disgraceful position to be in. “You privatise these companies and you don’t even have control or measures

in place to give you the opportunity to control them and make sure you’re getting value for money” she adds “You privatise it, someone else does it and only when there’s a scandal in the papers that someone’s died or discovered bad practice or something that Bolton Council gets involved. They’re just washing their hands of responsibility to deal with the most vulnerable people of this town.” Joan was UNISON convenor for Adult Services and had decades of experience working in the sector, firstly as a home care worker in the community, and later as a care officer in an extra care housing unit. Throughout this time she was a shop steward, and around twenty years ago ran a campaign which saved the extra care units when Bolton Council wanted to close them. Now the Council is coming for the units again... “I worked in extra care for 28 years and it was set up as a pioneering new concept “ she explains “There were two, sheltered accommodation units with 72 flats that had staff on site 24:7 looking after people in their own homes who needed additional help to what was out there in the community. That worked for the last forty years but they’re getting rid of that in the new cuts because it’s too expensive. Yet every statistic tells you that people want to be looked after in their own home. Where is the logic in Bolton getting rid of extra care which was set up to do that? “Now they’ve taken off the night workers and, to get in, people have to jump through all these bureaucratic hoops and fit criteria that change every time you look at the paperwork” she adds “Before, you had a choice, the units were a half way house for care between your own home and a residential home – but the Council has ruined it by making all these drastic changes that have undermined the whole service, just so they can say they’re not working any more, that they’re not viable.”

Joan never, ever, saw her employment as a mere `job’. She’s totally passionate, not only about standing up for the rights of her fellow workers but also about standing up for the rights of Bolton people who are losing services. And nowhere are these rights being eroded like in the care of vulnerable adults.

“...people are dying in this country for the lack of basic care” “The home care service looked after people in their own homes and staff did housework, shopping, laundry, the basic things that people need to stay in their own homes” she says “That was privatised ten years ago and the amount of stories we’ve had about people not getting proper care is appalling. In Bolton they commission ten and five minute visits, and in a month someone might get twenty different carers. How disgraceful is that? “The basic needs of someone is to have continuity of care, to have the same person go in and build a rapport” she explains “But how degrading is it to a person who

has got to the stage of their life where they need somebody else to help them with basic bodily needs, not to know who’s coming in next and having to go through that humiliation. It’s absolutely appalling. “I’ve seen the decimation of the service, albeit in small chunks as they’ve not been brave enough to privatise the whole but it has been privatised” Joan insists “The only thing they kept was the intermediate care service which is the six week service. We’ve had companies go bust and Bolton Council ringing around asking people to do overtime, to cover care for companies that can’t fulfil their contract. It’s a time bomb. “The sad thing is that old people die all the time so it doesn’t get the same credence as a child dying because they put it down to `Well they were old anyway’” she adds “But people are dying in this country for the lack of basic care. They sweep it under the carpet because they are old.” From anger, Joan’s mood turns to frustration... “Sometimes the battle seems like an uphill struggle, people either bury their heads in the sand or think you can’t make a difference. As an individual that is probably true but together we can achieve so much more; just look at what is

happening in Greece and Spain; ordinary people are saying ‘Enough is enough’. “It’s the way the council are doing it, very cleverly, in small chunks and stop gaps of arms length companies” she explains “People just don’t understand and they’re so fed up with their world in general, their own struggle, that they don’t look at the bigger picture. Until it affects them and they realise what’s not out there, or that what is out there is not very good, then you don’t get the same outcry.

“They’re just washing their hands of responsibility to deal with the most vulnerable people of this town” “If it’s a library you get the outcry but with social care it only affects the people who are in it and they are usually so worn out that they haven’t got the energy to fight, so you’ve not got this public campaign that you need” Joan adds “Families are so often at the end of their tether and so full of guilt when they put their parents in somewhere that they don’t really want to highlight the failings.” So where does Joan put the blame – on the Coalition Government or Bolton Council? “I think the Government is failing because of the restrictions on the budget but I think the Council is failing because of the

way it’s using the money that it’s got” she responds “The Labour group on Bolton Council are getting away with what they are doing under the banner `We’ve got no money, the Government are doing it’ – but it will be interesting if a Labour Government gets in power and carries on with the cuts. “Most Labour councillors are failing themselves because they are selling themselves out” she adds “My biggest worry and my biggest upset with the councillors is that I’m coming up to 62, I remember when the councillors did it for no money and I just think now it’s become a job and a career. People became councillors because they wanted to make a difference but now I think you’ve got people in there who don’t do an awful lot of work for the money that they’re getting. In some way maybe we should go back to not paying people to do that job.” Joan herself has applied to stand as a councillor for Bolton Council, insisting that change can happen from within... “If more like minded trade unionists were on the Council we could then be able to have a better dialogue” she explains “There’s a danger you’ll get sucked in but there are councillors now who are good trade unionists. You’ve got to have a game plan, and that’s got to be that there’s more of you than there are of them. “There’s too many councillors now being fed a line by chief officers and not enough questioning of them” she adds “The councillors just don’t know enough of what’s going on. You ask them questions and they don’t know the answers, so they won’t meet the trade unions without a chief officer with them. That’s saying `I don’t know what I’m talking about’!” Joan’s wrath isn’t just reserved for councillors; she lambasts

Joan being presented with her Honorary Life Membership by Angela Rayner, Regional Convenor Joan with Kevin Nelson, Regional Secretary, Lucia McKeever, UNISON President and Steve Stott, Regional Manager

trade union officials too... “They get so far up the chain they forget who they are working for; they become detached from what they are doing. I would only have trade union officials who are in office for five years. My union know these are my views!” After 44 years as a shop steward, Joan Pritchard-Jones deserves to be listened to and respected. Back in the day, at just 23 years of age, after the birth of her daughter, Joan set up a groundbreaking play group on the run down estate where she lived, which later became the first ever priority housing estate with the country’s first elected tenants association, or residents’ board as it was called then. She wrote a book about it. Indeed, Joan has not only wrote the book, she’s been there for almost fifty years, wearing all the activist t-shirts and fighting for rights. If Bolton Council think they’ve seen the back of Joan Pritchard-Jones, they’ve got another think coming. Joan, in retirement, has only just begun! Could you be a retired member? When union members retire from work it does not have to mean retiring from UNISON. Life membership of the union’s retired members section is excellent value at just £15. Contact the branch office for details 01204 338901 admin@unisonbolton.org

JOAN’S HIGHS AND LOWS Best Achievement: Saving the extra care unit in the 80s because they wanted to get rid of it. We had the best campaign ever. We were out on the precinct every week and had people signing petitions as far away as Blackburn. Even the Chief Exec congratulated us on the campaign. We saved it! Another great achievement could be the Ethical Care Charter. UNISON launched this for all councils, and it’s a fantastic document that marks out basic things you could do to make the services they privatised a better service. Two years ago we spearheaded the Charter at conference – and two years later the Council has still not signed up to it.. Lowest Point: Where we are now, in that everyone is overworked; they’ve cut every service to the bone. There’s no happy people at work now, they’re so demoralised, worried if their job is going to go next. It’s the fact that people go to work and believe that there’s no future. We’re the sixth richest country in the world and people have no security at work, we’ve got people in employment going to food banks because they can’t afford to live. It’s just so sad. You’ve worked all your life to make things better for your kids – what future have they got? I really worry – I just think `I didn’t go through all this struggle all my life to see my kids worse off than I am’. The Hope The hope is that people get to that tipping point where they say `Enough is enough’, and we have a General Election, take the Government down and reclaim what is ours. That’s the hope, that it gets to the point where people say `We’re not taking this anymore’ and have a rebellion where people are angry. We have to have another miners...but win!

Public Health Need Health inequality, lifestyle sickness and austerity-fuelled poverty are rife in Bolton but how do we know how bad it is and how to address it? The town’s Public Health team is right in the front line, working within the Council, the community and workplaces attempting to keep people safe.

“O

ur job is prevention, identifying issues in the first instance, and then devising plans to combat them” explains Shahan Lais, a public health specialist with a remit to reduce health inequalities that affect the population of Bolton. “In recent years the recession hasn’t helped” he adds “For instance, a few years ago one area of Bolton had an eleven year life expectancy less than an area two miles away. You’ve got to tackle things like that and you have to make a difference. You must have a passion for what you do.”

ded For Bolton

It was the Victorians who first acknowledged the need for the public sector to do something about the appalling conditions and wealth divide that meant some working class men in industrial towns and cities could expect to live no longer than thirty years.

“You must have a passion for what you do.” Greater Manchester based campaigners like Friedrich Engels (The Condition of the Working Class in England, 1846) and Sir Edwin Chadwick (Inquiry into the sanitary conditions of the labouring population of Great Britain, 1842) heralded the passing of the Public Health Act (1848) and the first Board of Health. The wealth and health divide were big issues then. And they are still huge issues... “We look at the poverty effect on public health” says Michael Cook, a public health and knowledge specialist within the Council’s Public Health team “it includes food poverty, fuel poverty, people not being able to access financial services, homelessness; it’s everything because everything affects health.” Michael is part of the team which provides the evidence and data that supports the work of the department, collating statistics from GP practices, hospitals, the social care team and the government. “The figures aren’t great at the moment but we can see improvements” he says “The work we do hopefully influences what is achieved. I think we are making a difference and people are listening to us.” As well as feeding information that forms the basis of where Bolton Council targets its policies, the Public Health specialists 22

are out in the community trying to help people have a healthier lifestyle. Indeed, a pilot Staying Well project developed by the team, providing advice and support to enable elderly people to remain healthy and independent, has recently won a Best of Bolton Award. The team is also out and about in private, public and third sector workplaces... “My job is to go to all the workplaces who sign up to the Clock On 2 Health programme, where we go and deliver a range of health interventions around mental health and wellbeing, stress and anxiety, alcohol, smoking, eating healthily and being more physically active” says David Kinsley, Health Improvement Officer for Workplaces and Pharmacists.

...the great Victorian public health pioneers would spin in their graves “I think we do make a difference” he adds “The case that springs to mind is where we were in a workplace doing some cancer awareness raising in younger people - because everyone thinks they don’t get cancer until they’re older. We showed what to look for with testicular cancer and one bloke found a bit of a lump, went to his GP, got diagnosed, they caught it early enough and he survived.” The First Bus company has also called the team in for advice... “A couple of lads there died from bowel cancer so we got called in to do awareness of healthier living” David explains “We’re not here to tell people what they should and shouldn’t do, our role is to say to people `Here’s the tools, make your own judgement’. At the moment the work the department does is absolutely brilliant on a massive range

of topics – Sleep Safe for mothers with babies, accident prevention, smoking cessation, alcohol awareness...” The list goes on - but how long the good work continues is anyone’s guess. While politicians go on national tv espousing the need for preventative health measures, in light of over-burdened hospitals, they don’t talk too much about the cuts going on in that field and the lack of resources. Just two per cent of health budgets are spent on preventative measures, while Bolton’s Public Health team has lost fifty per cent of its staff due to cuts.

“We look at the poverty effect on public health” “Where that leaves us in the future I don’t know” says David “We are in the

middle of a restructure. It is stressful at the moment because people don’t know where they stand; there is no transparent vision of where we are going to be in the future. The work we do could just kind of disappear because nobody else is going to pick it up, except perhaps the voluntary sector which doesn’t have the capacity or experience that the Public Health team has.

“I think we do make a difference” “We’ve got a fantastic group here, and we’re lucky to have some very good workers” he adds “Bolton Council does recognise the need for a Public Health team but on what scale I don’t know...” It would all make the great Victorian public health pioneers spin in their graves...

UNISON leaders t to account over p Branch Chairperson Matt Kilsby gives his perspective on last year’s local government pay dispute….

In March delegates from the branch

will be attending a ‘special’ Local Government conference on pay. It is only the second such conference in the union’s history, and has been called by branches across the country to hold our leadership to account for the miserable sell-out of the recent pay dispute. Members in Bolton will recall our wellsupported and hugely successful strike action on 10th July 2014, when hundreds of thousands of public sector workers demanded a decent pay rise. Our industrial action was due to be escalated with another 24 hour strike called last October. Instead, the strike was called-off at the eleventh hour to consult on an offer that was no better than an offer that had been rejected by the unions only a couple of weeks’ earlier! And to make matters worse, Sky News found out about it all before our branches and members. We know first-hand the confusion and dismay that this decision caused amongst activists and members - further compounded when details of the offer were published: a two year pay deal for a pittance over the 1% we went on strike against in the first place. Many believe that the action was called off following a ‘deal’ done with the Labour Group on the Local Government Association (LGA). A letter sent from Jim

McMahon, Labour Local Leader of Oldham Council and the LGA Government Pay Labour Group to Offer Results Dave Prentis, urged UNISON to accept National Consultation the offer. Accept 64.35% Reject 35.65 McMahon wrote to Prentis on 9th Bolton UNISON October (the day consultation the strike due on Accept 26% 14th October was Reject 74% cancelled) saying councils would North West Region only be consulted consultation on the ‘offer’ of an Accept 42.69% increase of 0.19% if Reject 57.31% UNISON would tell its own members the proposals were ‘a significant improvement’ and promise not to recommend rejection. Put simply, the leadership of our union put the Labour Party’s electoral prospects ahead of our members who have suffered an 18% pay cut in real terms over the last ten years. So much for the union’s link with the Labour Party! Looking forward, at the ‘special’ conference in March, branch representatives will be seeking to get the pay campaign back on track with the submission of another pay claim to the

to be held pay dispute

employers. We also want to ensure that what happened last year is never again repeated. It should be our elected representatives, on the same pay as us ordinary members, who should be negotiating on our behalf. And there should be no behind-closeddoors deals done with the employers or leading politicians within the Labour Party.

Bolton Fat Cats Bolton Council

According to the last set of Bolton Council’s accounts for the year 2013-14 just eight of the authority’s highest paid heads of departments were scooping up over £1million between them…

Highest earner was Chief

Executive Sean Harriss, trousering a total of salary package of £200,819 (£170,000 basic, £379 expenses and £30,440 pension contributions). Close behind came the Director of Children’s Services with a total package of £165,060 (£140,000 basic plus pension of £25,060). This compares to £153,534 paid in 2012/13 – a rise of £11,526...and slightly more than 1%! Meanwhile, the Director of Development and Regeneration pulled in £153,270 (£130,000 basic and £23,270 pension), the Director of Environmental Services lapped up £129,690 (£110,000 basic and £19,690 pension), the Director of Public Health got a very healthy £106,096 (£92,920 basic, £167 exes, and a pension of £13,009), and the Borough Treasurer also got her gold with a package worth £100,215 (£85,000 basic plus £15,215 pension) A further 16 staff pulled in salaries between £75,000 and £89,999 during 2013-14.

Those Fat Cats who took voluntary redundancy didn’t leave empty handed, with nine execs on between £100,000 and £250,000 sharing golden goodbyes of over £1.5million. All this, while 162 people earning under £20,000 and taking redundancy had to share less than £1million. Bolton Councillors As the cuts continue, Bolton Council Leader Cliff Morris won’t be too bothered about making ends meet with his £40,864 `allowances’ plus £71 travel and subsistence in the year 2013-14. Councillor Linda Thomas did ok too, pulling in £28,950, with Councillor Nicholas Peel on £22,741 and Councillor David Greenhalgh on £21,129 27 other councillors received `special responsibility’ payments on top of their £11,082 basic allowance, with payments ranging between £618 and £7,367, with payments averaging around £5,000. Bolton At Home The city’s social housing provider made a surplus of £8.6million but is still intending to make `savings’ of £1.75million over the next three years. These savings haven’t really touched senior staff. There’s still six staff earning over £60,000, with three earning over £100,000, including the Chief Exec who pulled in £157,800 excluding pension contributions according to the company’s 2013-14 accounts.

University of Bolton Pity the poor plump pussies at the University of Bolton where the 2013-14 accounts states there’s been a `reduction in international students; and a reduction in part time recruitment’ which meant it’s had to `put in place schemes to review its costs and redesign its business processes’.

As costs get cut it hasn’t stopped two staff increasing their salaries into the £100,000-£109,999 bracket and the Vice Chancellor picking up a total package of £229,400, including healthcare and pension benefits. You could certainly get a lot of sports car for that!

Greater Manchester Fa Devolution will no doubt be accompanied by more well paid bureaucrats to oversee it, complementing the Fat Cats who already swarm around the two Greater Manchester bodies which are getting increasing power and funds.

atest accounts for 2013-14 show that 96 staff in the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) earned over £50,000 (four took severance), compared to 74 staff earning over £50,000 the previous year; with eight staff earning over £100,000 (one took severance) in 2013-14, compared to five the previous year. Meanwhile, in 2012-13, the highest GMCA earner had a salary in the bracket £125,000-£129,999 – last year, two uber Fat Cats were pocketing a salary in the £150,000£154,999 bracket, one Fat Cat was taking £215,000-£219,999 (and then took severance)... and the highest earner trousered a salary in the bracket £265,000-£269,999, double the previous highest salary... Over at the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) which oversees `joint provisions’ of the ten Greater Manchester councils (including stuff like Waste, Archaeology, Ecology, Police Support and handing out grants), the number of those earning over £50,000 has doubled from three in 2012-13, to six in 2013-14. The

at Cats

increase in Fat Cats has been explained by the expansion of its Public Sector Reform Team which, er, aims to reduce the cost of public services... As commuters baulk at sky high ticket prices and constantly delayed services, the Chief Executive Officer at Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is riding a salary in the pay band between £275,000 and £279,999, which, we presume, excludes generous pension contributions and stuff. Meanwhile TfGM’s Chief Operating Officer pockets a salary in the £160,000-£164,999 bracket and the Finance and Corporate Services Director picks up between £150,000 and £154,999 a year. Bolton councillors also got on the gravy train, with Councillor Paul Wild picking up £3,825 and Councillor Guy Harkin trousering £7,243 for work on the TfGM Over at the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, beset by firefighters striking to protect their pensions and stopping £2.7million cuts last year, a whole Trumpton worth of Pugh, Pugh, Barney and McGrews are lighting up their lives with whopping salaries. Steve McGuirk, the retiring Chief Exec and County Fire Officer hosed up a wad totalling £200,713, including a pension contribution of £35,233, and his lucrative job is now up for grabs. Meanwhile, the Deputy County Fire Officer, given the Queen’s Medal in the New Year’s honours list, received an annual prize totalling £163,571 last year (including exes of £5,203 and £27,759 pension contributions). Four other fire people also trousered in excess of £100,000... The Director of Prevention and Protection £148,183 (including £3,692 exes and £25,372 pension); the Director of People and Organisation Development £119,926 (including £2,256 exes and £19,201 pension); the Director of Finance and

Technical Services £120,446 (including £2,057 exes and £19,319 pension); and a new role arrived in March 2014 for a Supplementary Director of Prevention and Protection on a basic salary of £114,070. While they were busy stoking up their wallets, over at the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority (GMWDA) Fat Cats were proving that where there’s muck there’s brass. 2013/14 accounts show the Treasurer and Deputy Clerk sweeping up a total package of £124,150 (including £1,245 exes and a pension of £20,313); the Director of Contract Services landfilling his pockets with a total of £104,047 (including exes of £1,170, car use of £1,239 and a pension of £16,798); and the Director of Resources and Strategy taking home a skip load of salary totalling £93,618 (including £421 exes, car use of £1,239 and pension contributions of £15,198). Bolton Councillor Martin Donaghy also littered his wallet with £2,100 from GMWDA, while Councillor Micheal Francis helped his pension with £1,352 special allowance payment from Greater Manchester Pension Fund. And finally, who wants to come fly with the Fat Cats at the Manchester Airport Group? Bolton people own 3.2% of the Airport so we’re sure you’ll be pleased to know that the highest paid director pocketed £1.6million in `emoluments’ in 2014 – a supersonic rise of £600,000 from the previous year! Meanwhile in the flying trough, Fat Cat directors helped themselves to £4.1million compared to £2.7million the year before. Austerity anyone?

All Power To T If Bolton UNISON was creating a tv advert for shop steward recruitment how would it look?

If Bolton UNISON was creating a tv advert

for shop steward recruitment, it could show dancing reps high kicking bosses’ butts to a background of flashing lights and swag rap sounds. Or it could just feature the very amiable TUC tutor Andy Birchall and his incredibly honest, from-the-heart words... “Without a shadow of a doubt I would encourage people to be union reps” he says “It isn’t an easy task because you are in the firing line, and it takes certain nurturing characteristics to do it, but the rewards, I think, are worth the work. When someone says `Thank you so much, I don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t been in the union and you hadn’t been there for me’ – that’s why you do it. “There are loads of people out there who are an advocate for morality, for what is just, and it’s taking that one step forward” he adds “They don’t realise that the support is here from people like us – it’s just taking that step forward...”

“There are loads of people out there who are an advocate for morality, for what is just...” Here in the Bolton Hub on a Tuesday afternoon we meet those who have taken the `step forward’ and become stewards, not just within Bolton Council but also in its outsourced organisations like Bolton at Home and Serco. Around a dozen of

them are sharing their experiences of the workplace in a special course designed to give more power to their elbows, which is needed more than ever if the face of the current squeeze by employers... “I think it’s important, given the number of changes taking place at Bolton Council and the recent cutbacks, that workers

The Course

get involved in their own future and this is the easiest and most effective way of doing that through the union” says Ian Waddington who works for Bolton Council’s Social Needs Transport “Within our department over the last five years people have left employment and been replaced by a casual workforce. The impact on them is quite severe; they don’t

have proper contracts and effectively have no rights. The whole course I’ve found very interesting and I’m looking forward to the next nine weeks...” This particular course is on Health and Safety, one of four areas of speciality run by the branch in conjunction with the TUC, the others being Employment Law,

Equality and Workplace Education. It’s a ten week course run from a worker’s, rather than an employer’s, perspective where stewards come in for one day a week and, in between, go back into the workplace to put the theory into practice. As anyone on the course will tell you, Health and Safety isn’t just about trip hazards and ladders being put in the wrong place; it’s also about dealing with the fall-out of cuts... “We’re living under what I would call false austerity which is creating our reality, and the reality in the public sector is cost based” Andy explains “Cutting staff and driving people harder means stress levels are through the roof. The pressure in the workplace is phenomenal and the impact on health and safety is phenomenal but nevertheless that doesn’t mean an employer can’t be in breach of the law. And if we can only fight back this way, then so be it. If an employer’s actions directly or indirectly are detrimental to our members they will pay for it.” The reps are trained to do health and safety inspections, get involved in risk

assessments and to take up cases for members which could range from standard safety issues to bullying and harassment. While it might seem a daunting task, on the course everything is not only explained but also acted out, right down to mock employer/employee hearings where the stewards have a go at being in the chair. The issues aren’t just about the internal workplace either because many of these workers are dealing directly with the public... Anne Marie Holt is a steward based at Bright Meadows Children’s Centre... “The course is very important for people’s safety and wellbeing” she says “We work with children and, amongst other things, have to ensure that the entrance to the building and doors are secure and that the children don’t run out into the road.” Frank Kay is a steward in Bolton At Home’s Debt Advice Service... “It’s a rewarding job but very challenging; there’s a lot of people out there who are struggling with welfare reforms and benefit caps” he says “I work in lots of

different buildings and have to do home visits and things, and sometimes risk assessments have to be taken out before we visit.”

“The support is here from people like us – it’s just taking that step forward...” Che Mackenzie is a steward in Children’s Services working with children excluded from mainstream schools... “Health and safety is very important when you’re dealing with children one-to-one in a litigious society” he says “You need to know that you’re on firm ground, particularly when cuts are happening. Obviously you’re putting yourself at risk and are open to a complaint or accusation, or endangering yourself or someone else because you don’t have that staff framework around you to support you fully. “I want to go in there and say `This is health and safety regulations’ and have no argument about it” he adds “We have to get people more involved because you are only as strong as the people you represent. So one of my duties after this

course will be to pass on what I know and share good practice; I’m passionate about it. And the course is brilliant fun...” While this course, and all courses run by the branch and supported by the TUC, are fun, useful and absolutely vital, as Andy insists, it’s about getting members to take `the first step’... “I see people on Week 1 come in a bit shy but by the time they get to week five or six they’re getting more knowledge, their confidence is growing, they’re approaching people at work and getting involved in the branch” he says “They realise the support they have from the wider movement. They knew they were part of the union but didn’t know how it worked until they became an activist. I think it’s really rewarding and would encourage anybody who’s thinking about it to just have a go.” To find out more about becoming a steward or attending training courses, for which you get time off work, contact any steward or get in touch with the branch office 01204 338901 admin@boltonunison.org

Bolton UNISON calls direction for Britain Bolton UNISON is backing calls for Britain to take a fresh political and economic direction in 2015. Branch Secretary, Bernadette Gallagher, writes about what could be done...

Despite all the reports of falling

unemployment levels, over 250,000 people have spent two years on the dole. Most of the current job losses are in the public services where women make up the majority of the workforce and account for a bigger share of those who are unemployed. Living costs keep rising but living standards for most people keep falling. Workers need union organisation and legal protection more than ever before. Britain desperately needs an alternative economic and political direction based on investment in skills and infrastructure this includes action to tackle the growing culture of low pay and zero hours contracts. We need a major house building programme to provide affordable social housing and create many thousands of construction jobs.

street. We have already seen the share of national spending on public services cut from 26% to 20% – the level of the 1990s. Further spending cuts threaten to take us back to the 1930s. The Government’s welfare reform agenda has targeted some of those most in need. Severely disabled people have often had to wait months for benefit payments and the Bedroom Tax has been an absolute disgrace. We are seeing a growing culture of racism and scapegoating the vulnerable rather than scrutinising the actions of the wealthiest. Bankers’ pay and bonuses continue to rocket yet corporations are sitting on unprecedented cash surpluses, and there is a growing culture of boardroom tax avoidance and tax evasion – in some cases by the banks which we bailed out not that long ago.

We need to put an end to privatisation in our National Health Service and other public services. Investment in local councils is also essential if we are to maintain and develop the local services that communities rely on. The current austerity agenda is hurting but it isn’t working. Savage cuts to public spending mean that there are fewer and fewer public sector workers. This has a direct effect on tax revenues and the amount of money spent on the high

s for an alternative in 2015 There must be an alternative and here’s a few ideas on how it could happen... Taxation: Bolton UNISON argues that:• £35bn to £70bn could be raised each year by tackling tax evasion by individuals, companies and other organisations • £23bn could be raised every year by introducing a Major Financial Transactions Tax (or ‘Robin Hood Tax’) on UK financial institutions • £4.5bn could be saved every year by reversing the government’s cut in corporation tax to levels lower than the US or any other G7 economy • £3.6bn could be generated by restricting tax relief on pensions to 20% for incomes over £100,000 a yea • £3.5bn could be raised every year with a permanent tax of 50% on bankers’ bonuses in excess of £25,000 Cutting public spending and tackling waste: Bolton UNISON argues that:• £76bn could be saved over 40 years by cancelling Trident • £15bn could be saved each year if the UK brought military spending closer to the EU average • £6bn could be saved in reduced tax credits and improved tax revenues every year if private companies paid all their staff a living wage • £3bn could be saved in user fees and interest charges every year if PFI schemes were replaced with conventional public procurement • £1bn could be saved in 2012/13 by halting the NHS reforms contained within the Health and Social Care Bill

Workers rights: Bolton UNISON argues for:• Increased union rights to organise and negotiate with employers • An emphasis on improving safety and tackling low pay • Strengthened legislation to improve health and safety at work • The National Minimum Wage to be replaced by a National Living Wage • Increased penalties for employers where there are major safety breeches • Action to restrict the use of Zero Hours Contracts • Action to tackle employers who blacklist and victimise union activists • Employment tribunal charges to be scrapped • Wage Councils to be established in key areas - including independent social care. Bolton UNISON plans to raise calls for an alternative political and economic agenda with local councillors and MPs in the run up to the 2015 General Election.

Bolton Workers M th Day 28 April T

he purpose behind Workers’ Memorial Day has always been to `Remember the dead: fight for the living’. Bolton UNISON will focus on both areas, to remember all those killed through work while at the same time ensuring that such tragedies are not repeated by campaigning for stricter enforcement, with higher penalties for breaches of health and safety laws. Over 20,000 people die every year because of their work. Any loss of life as a result of negligence is simply unacceptable and Workers Memorial Day emphasises the importance of treating health and safety as a top priority. Bolton events Sunday 26th April 11.30am Rally on Town Hall Square followed by a minutes silence at noon, organised by Bolton Trades Council. Tuesday 28th April Town Hall Square 11.30am Leaflet and ribbon distributions, followed by a minutes silence at noon, organised by Bolton LG UNISON.

Bolton Has Second Highest Rate of Work Related Injuries in Greater Manchester Between 2012 and 2014, 676 workers in Bolton have suffered injuries at work, according to new figures released by the Government’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the second highest rate in Greater Manchester.

The official statistics don’t record all those killed on roads as part of work, or made ill through work, which would put the numbers much higher. While, during that period, Bolton recorded no deaths at work, the Hazards Campaign states that the official figures `ignore all those dying from poor working conditions, so must not ever be used as a total of workers killed by work’. Across Greater Manchester there were officially eleven workplace deaths and almost 7,000 injuries over the last two years, while the North West recorded 15 people who lost their lives at work and 9,432 who suffered injury in 2013-14 alone. Responding to the figures, Hilda Palmer, Co-ordinator at Greater Manchester Hazards Centre (GMHC) and facilitator of Families Against Corporate Killers, puts the blame firmly on Prime Minister David Cameron... “Over four years, Cameron has waged an unrelenting attack on the protective H&S laws and their enforcement which keep workers safe and healthy” she says “He has slashed HSE’s budget by 44% and made a New Year’s resolution to ‘kill off health and safety culture’...but no-one should die, be injured or made ill, simply for going to work to earn a living for themselves and their family.” For further details see www. hazardscampaign.org.uk

Memorial

Pay Up For T

Shocking new figures show how most councils are failing care workers M

ost councils in England and Wales are failing to ensure home care workers are paid the national minimum wage, figures obtained by UNISON have revealed. Freedom of information responses show that just 6% of councils make it a contractual condition for care providers to pay workers’ travel time – and not being paid for travel time is one of the main reasons why tens of thousands of homecare workers are being paid below the National Minimum Wage. This is not only condemning care workers to poverty but is having a devastating impact on the quality of care that they can deliver. One UNISON member told the BBC Today programme which covered the scandal: “I stayed in the job for so long because I felt committed to the people I was looking after. But I had to leave because I couldn’t afford to stay.’’ UNISON also asked councils whether they ever asked to see pay records or other documentary evidence about the pay of care workers. Only 21% of councils said they did. UNISON is working to put this right by

demanding that homecare workers get paid for their travel time; earn at least the Living Wage; receive better training; are not employed on zero hour contracts; are not forced to provide 15-minute visits; have the time to build a relationship with the people they care for. UNISON is also calling for; transparency around the rates councils pay their providers, inspections of provider payroll records; an insistence that clear and understandable pay slips and time sheets are provided to staff; measures to ensure providers allow trade union representatives to consult staff to ensure that the law is being complied with; regular anonymous surveys of staff working for commissioned providers. These demands are contained within UNISON’s Ethical Care Charter, backed by Bolton North MP David Crausby and Yasmin Qureshi MP for Bolton South East, which we are urging Bolton Council to sign up to. To support for Charter sign the online petition. http://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/ bolton-unison-call-for-ethical-carecharter

Travel Time: Care Workers Get Organised! Several home care workers in Bolton’s UNISON. Most will be paying as little as private care sector have been contacting UNISON for support with a range of problems at work. Issues raised have included zero hours contracts, low rates of pay, lack of payment for travel time, staff shortages, lack of safety equipment, poor induction training, bullying and many more. “Care workers support some of the most vulnerable people in our town” says Kieran Grogan, Bolton UNISON’s Community and Voluntary Sector organiser. “UNISON can help to represent these workers when they need support themselves. Wherever we have a number of workers who are organised within UNISON I’m confident that we can make a real difference.” Do you know someone working in private care? Maybe it’s your friend, partner, neighbour, son or daughter? If so please encourage them to consider joining

£1.80 a week or £7.85 a month. Don’t hesitate to contact the branch office for membership details and further advice or information: 01204 338901 admin@ unisonbolton.org

Support Staff Cel At St James’s Hi

he corridors of St James’s Church of England High School have become just a little bit crazy for one day. There’s a Tigger walking around, Animal from the Muppets, a Santa or three, a Dalmation and a few incarnations of Mini Mouse, amongst a sassy selection of characters. But there’s method in the madness... “This is about celebrating what support staff do and we’ve all decided to put something silly on so the pupils can identify us” says Andrea Leigh, HLTA in charge of transition and health in schools “Each form group has got to go around and get the name of the person, what they’re wearing and what their role is in school. It’s trying to make the children realise what we actually do in school. They see us about but they don’t know

why we’re here or what we do, so it’s raising the profile.” It’s also about rewarding the staff, as the mounds of cakes, biscuits and chocolates piled up on a groaning lunchtime table testifies. And during the break Bolton South East MP, Yasmin Qureshi, arrives to chat with staff and pupils about the role of the support workers. “I’m here to celebrate the work of support staff in schools” she explains “Everyone knows that without support staff the teachers would not be able to carry out their work and the children would not get the education they require. The attention and the sheer amount of different work the support staff do should be properly recognised and properly supported.

lebrated igh School “I’m really delighted that the school is doing something to actually show appreciation and a `Thank you’ to the support staff because they are often the unsung heroes” she adds “Everyone talks about teachers, and rightly so, but they would not be able to do what they do without the support staff to help them.” Her sentiments are echoed by Carol Morrison, Chair of the School Governors... “They really work their socks off and care about the children” she says “They are part of the family of St James’s and it all contributes to having a good atmosphere in the school. If you’ve got happy children they do well and work hard, and the children who need extra help are not going to progress without the support staff. They’re brilliant.”

SUPPORT STAFF DESERVE BETTER PAY “It’s good to recognise us because we are the lowest paid people in the school. We don’t get much more than the minimum wage but we need decent wages. My wife works but if it was just me on my own I wouldn’t be able to deliver what I do.” Jim Tinsley, Caretaker.

The celebration was originally started by UNISON after Andrea and Donna Welch, HRT over Literacy, went to London to set up teaching assistant standards. Last year it just involved teaching assistants but this year the day has been expanded to cover all support staff, who are dressed in everything from bright onesies to silly hats...

“Many people in the public sector, especially support workers, should be at least on a living wage or more than that. It’s wrong that people who are involved in educating and nurturing our children should be so poorly paid.

“There about seventy people involved; caretakers, canteen staff, technicians, cleaners, bus drivers, pastoral staff...there’s so many” says Donna “Everybody can be identified by pupils and it’s been very successful. The weirdest costume, though, has got to be Stella’s Animal.”

For me, it makes economic sense to pay people properly and, of course, the moral case for that doesn’t need to be re-stated.” Yasmin Qureshi MP

The support staff today are certainly unmistakeable...

Alternative Service Delivery Models Go Wrong... M

ore and more councils are considering `alternative delivery models’ for services. UNISON argues this is another variant on privatisation that can lead to pay cuts, staff reductions and a worse service for clients. There are two main types of organisation that councils use - the service delivery model where the main activity is to do work for a council or a group of councils, and the commercial trading model which aims to trade more widely with external organisations and/or individuals. Many councils argue they need to set up a trading company because social care service users are moving to personal budgets and direct payments cannot be spent on council services. However a personal budget is purely the value of care and support someone is entitled to. They can choose whether they wish to use this budget for in-house services or not. If someone chooses a direct payment to fund all or part of their care it should only be because they do not want to use council services but want to employ their own support services, like a personal assistant worker or independent care agency. Alternative delivery models can go wrong. UNISON members in London, working for Your Choice Barnet (YCB) and caring for adults with disabilities have been on a series of strikes for five months fighting an imposed 9.5% pay cut. Barnet Council set up YCB as a local authority trading company in 2012 and there has since been a 30 % cut to staffing levels with financial problems caused all over the place by the company taking out a £1million set-up loan.

“We’ve watched experienced staff driven out of the job” said one striker “This council is too business-minded and don’t care for our clients like we do. These are vulnerable people we care for but they are not being valued and don’t get continuity of care, which is so important....We should be taken back in-house.” In Sefton, New Directions faces a £3million funding cut from its budget from the council and is proposing pay cuts averaging 12%, rising to 28%, and up to 124 redundancies. Individual Solutions SK (ISSK) in Stockport was set up as a trading company owned by Stockport Council in 2009, with a view to making adult social care and support services more cost effective. However, by 2012 they had serious concerns about both the value for money and quality of care of the company. A period of consultation led to a decision to take back some of the key services that had gone out to the company.

Bolton Council is currently modelling an ‘arms-length’ care company on a similar service that Oldham Council set up in October 2013. Twelve months after Oldham Council set up its company it changed the terms and conditions of the TUPE’d ex-council staff.

What does UKIP think of the NHS? You’ve probably seen various stories by now regarding UKIP and their disdain for the NHS. Lots of different articles are in the public domain regarding this and every time one comes to the surface, Farage and his UKIP stormtroopers attempt to carry out a face saving mission, pleading with the voters that UKIP thinks that the NHS is the best thing since sliced bread.

However, UKIP’s deputy chairman Neil Hamilton last year proved once again that the xenophobic party has little time for the National Health Service. Writing in The Daily Express, the disgraced ex MP poured scorn on the NHS, calling it “diseased” and claiming that “the NHS is a more effective killing machine than the Taliban”. Hamilton, better known for `cash for questions’, described the NHS as a “Soviet-style nationalised monolith” and a “substitute for religion”. He continues to attack the service, calling the NHS a byword for waste and misdirected investment, claiming that “the NHS is brilliant at one thing: burning our money”.

Farage’s comments advocating an insurance-based health system run by private companies. The Party’s health spokeswoman, Louise Bours, is now contradicting Farage, saying that the majority of UKIP supporters “will always favour a state-funded NHS”... But can anyone seriously trust UKIP with the NHS?

The ex-Tatton Tory MP added that the NHS was “incompetent”, “dismal” and “a shambles”... Meanwhile, realising that support for the NHS is a vote winner, UKIP has had to backtrack on leader Nigel

I’m “keeping the flame of Thatcherism alive”

Cheap Pints For UNISON Members At The Hen And Chickens! Every UNISON member visiting the ace to me I Hen and Chickens pub on Deansgate can now get 50p off a pint of its locally brewed premier cask beers.

The Hen and Chickens is a proper traditional pub selling loads of real ale, and this special offer means that any member showing their UNISON card can now get a pint of the premium cask beer for just £2.50. “We already support CAMRA Real Ale members with the 50p discount and one of your members was drinking in the pub and asked the manager would we not consider offering UNISON card holding members a similar deal” says the Hen and Chickens’ Alan Ackers “After the manager speaking

thought it would be a nice idea to also offer your members the same deal. A warm and friendly welcome awaits all UNISON members.” As well as the discounted premium cask beers, the pub also has low prices on other non-discounted drinks, including Clucking Mad at £1.75 a pint, Nutty Black at £1.70 a pint and Strongbow at £1.99 a pint. Hen and Chickens Pub, Deansgate, Bolton BL1 1EX

Ewan Maccoll Centenary synonymous with the This year marks the centenary of the socialist activist, actor, playwright, poet and songwriter Ewan MacColl whose work was steeped in the region’s struggles.

Famous for writing Dirty Old Town and the stunning love song, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, plus a zillion incredible people’s songs, he was way more than this body of work. MacColl’s is also

founding of political theatre in the UK and was also employed by trade unions, including UNISON’s forerunner, NUPE, to write songs in the hope of involving more people in workers’ struggles and strikes.

“To fight back is a release, it’s a statement that you are human” he wrote “If you don’t fight back they’ve succeeded in dehumanising you...”

Ewan MacColl 25th January 191522nd October 1989

Bolton UNISON Opposes TTIP And Threat To Public Services In January our stewards passed a

motion at branch committee opposing the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the proposed trade deal between the EU and US. “We believe TTIP presents a serious threat to the future of public services” says Branch Secretary Bernadette Gallagher “There are real concerns that this deal will accelerate privatisation and make it much harder for the Government to regulate private companies who provide public services. “UNISON is very concerned that this trade deal will make it much harder for governments to bring privatised services back under public ownership” she adds “All the opinion polls show massive public support for maintaining key services in the public services, including everything from the NHS and railways to our local council services including refuse collection and social care. Most people know little about this deal but it is clearly against public opinion.” The motion calls on Bolton Council to oppose the introduction of the TTIP

and write to the Government, MPs and MEPs asking them to reject any deal which endangers the ability of public services to procure locally, or allows private companies to sue public bodies whose democratic decisions, they can argue under the provisions of TTIP, have affected their ability to make profit from public service contracts. For further details on TTIP see www. unison.org.uk/news/unison-is-leadingthe-global-fight-against-privatisation

NHS Organ Donation campaign… Most people say Registering as they would accept organ donation for themselves or their family and most people say they would register as an organ donor if someone asked.

an Organ Donor is easy – simply follow the link... http://www. organdonation. nhs.uk/how_to_ become_a_donor/

ister to vote in the forthcoming General Election and the Local Election in May – but you’ll need to hurry! You can register in five

gov.uk/register-to-vote (you’ll need your National Insurance number) or you can fill out a form at Bolton Council’s website www.bolton.gov.uk/website/pages/Registeringto-

vote.aspx . Everyone can have a chance to participate in national and local democracy – but you must be registered!

Massive Panto Success – Oh Yes It Was! UNISON National This year our UNISON panto event for Cinderella Executive was so popular that members were queuing out of our office building and down the street for tickets Elections April when they went on sale...so much so that I thought there was a fire drill when I turned up for work! In April UNISON We also had a really successful trip to Blackpool which was so well received that we’ll run that this year as well, together with a series of events at the Bolton Octagon which are connected with the principles and values of the union. Despite the current squeeze on branch finances, the branch is committed to running these really popular social activities for our members. Watch this space for further details...

members will be able to vote in the union’s National Executive elections. Members will receive ballot papers at home from 7th April and the ballot will close on 15th May. The National Executive makes decisions on union issues, policies and campaigns between conferences. Please look out for details and use your vote…

Andrea Egan Assistant Branch Secretary

Have You Been Underpaid For Holidays? meet. Members are being encouraged to contact the union if they feel that they may have been underpaid while taking annual leave. It is estimated that many thousands of workers are owed money from their employers following recent Employment Tribunal cases involving members of UNISON and other trade unions. Earlier this year the Lock v British Gas Trading Ltd Tribunal case ruled in favour of UNISON members who had not received regular payments in respect of periods of annual leave. “These have been important rulings for many of our members with far reaching implications” says Matt Kilsby, Chairperson of Bolton UNISON “Most public service workers have gone through seven years of no pay rises or below inflation rises. For a lot of people enhancements or additional pay such as overtime helps to make ends

“These rulings have established an important principle that workers’ holiday pay should take account of pay throughout the rest of the year” he adds “We are encouraging members to contact the union without delay if they feel that this principle has not applied to them. For any case to be successful, members will need to have evidence such as pay slips”. For further details UNISON members are urged to contact the branch office on 01204 338901 or the union’s national helpline 0845 355 0845

Bolton Branch Annual General Meeting

Agenda:

1. Welcome and Introduction by Chairperson 2. Apologies 3. Minutes of AGM 5th March 2014 4. Financial Reports 5. Confirmation / Election of Branch Officers, Stewards and Delegations 6. Motions and Rule Amendments 7. Annual Reports 8. Close of Meeting

Wednesday 4th March 2015 12.30 -1.30pm Upper Hall, Bolton Parish Church, Churchgate, Bolton. All members are entitled to attend and vote at the AGM Additional papers and audited accounts will be available on the

Branch Website www.unisonbolton.org and in hard copy at the meeting. On the following pages are the accounts before being audited. Free Buffet at 12noon prior to the meeting. Members with special dietary requirements should contact the branch office.

Bolton UNISON Accounts

Take Control Of Your Pension!

Local Government Pension Schemes hold around £200billion in assets, yet control is entirely in the hands of the administration authority. From 1st April this changes...

NISON has been campaigning for over eleven years to ensure that Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) members, from all service groups, enjoy representation in the decision making process of their pension funds. Now, from 1st April each administering authority is required to establish a Local Pension Board, responsible for advising and assisting it to secure compliance with regulations. It will also be responsible for the effective and efficient governance and administration of the scheme. UNISON’s objective has been to ensure that as many union activists as possible are trained to become LGPS Local Pension Board members in the region so that all scheme contributors are effectively represented, consulted and their views expressed at Board meetings. The LGPS in England and Wales is administered by 89 bodies - there are 86 local authorities, plus the Environment Agency, the South Yorkshire Fund Authority and the London Pension Fund Authority. The funds collectively hold around £200billion in assets, yet the governance and decision making process is at present entirely in the hands of the administration authority.

UNISON aims to ensure that we are consulted, and are able to comment before the fund boards are established and operational. The union also wants to train members so they can be nominated onto the new boards, while establishing a consultation structure for accountability through branches. This is about making sure that all scheme members are effectively represented, consulted and have their voices heard on the pension boards. And it’s about taking control of our pensions. Currently the 89 authorities pay out £790 million pounds a year to management fund companies. With UNISON members on the pension boards we can reduce that amount and give back to our retired members. For more information about how to be a UNISON pension board rep contact the branch 01204 338901 admin@unisonbolton.org John Vickers

Bolton UNISON contacts list 2015

Branch Officers

(01204 336044) (01204 338901) (01204 329850) (01204 329744)

matthew.kilsby@bolton.gov.uk admin@unisonbolton.org janet.bryan@boltonathome.org.uk john.vickers@boltonathome.org.uk

(01204 338901)

andreae@unisonbolton.org

(01204 334447) (01204 338901)

sue.vickers@bolton.gov.uk admin@unisonbolton.org

(01204 334447)

sue.vickers@bolton.gov.uk

(01204 338901) (01204 329609)

admin@unisonbolton.org membership@unisonbolton.org

(01204 337715) (01204 338901) (01204 337715) (01204 331342)

martin.challender@bolton.gov.uk cvsunison@unison.bolton.org martin.challender@bolton.gov.uk jackie.peploe@bolton.gov.uk

Garry Pritchard Cecilia Costello Janet Bryan

(01204 338901) (01204 338901) (01204 329850)

garryp@unisonbolton.org cecilia@unisonbolton.org janet.bryan@boltonathome.org.uk

Jackie Winstanley

(01204 338901))

jackie.winstanley@unisonbolton.org

Steve Fletcher

(01204 338901))

SteveF@unisonbolton.org

Tony Cowell

(01204 338901)

tonyc@unisonbolton.org

Matt Kilsby

(01204 336044)

matthew.kilsby@bolton.gov.uk

Graham Walmsley

(01204 482138)

graham.walmsley@boltoncc.ac.uk

Jayne Clarke

(01204 338916)

jaynec@unisonbolton.org

Branch Chairperson: Matt Kilsby Bernie Gallagher Branch Secretary: Janet Bryan Branch Treasurer: John Vickers Vice Chair: Assistant Branch Andrea Egan Secretary: Vacant Equalities Officer: Sue Vickers Education Officer: Julie Tudor Welfare Officer: Life Long Learning Sue Vickers Officer: New Technology Eddie Pilling Officer: Membership Officer: Steve Rigby Young Members Officer: Vacant Communications Martin Challender Officer: Community Organiser Kieran Grogan Labour Link Officer: Martin Challender International Officer: Jackie Peploe

Convenors

Adult Services: Chief Executives: Bolton at Home: Children Services: (Schools): Children Services: (Non-Schools): Environmental Services: Development and Regeneration: Bolton Community College: Local Government Convenor:

Bolton Branch

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

All members are entitled to attend and vote at the AGM

Wednesday 4th March 2015 12.30 -1.30pm Upper Hall, Bolton Parish Church, Churchgate, Bolton. Free Buffet at 12 noon prior to the meeting