December 2012 Newsletter

Inside

Unison Branch Elections

Housing Stock Transfer: then and now

Stand for office in 2013

City and County of Swansea

Review Job Evaluation/Terms & Conditions:

Council's best(ish) & final offer submitted By now Unison members should be aware that our Authority has made a best and final offer regarding the implementation of single status. Within the offer there were 3 elements namely: a new pay and grading structure, changes to terms and conditions and a whole raft of HR policies.

Whereas there is no scope for discussion on the pay and grading model which has now been imposed we are hopeful of continuing negotiations on the proposed changes to terms and conditions and policies.

On Friday 14th December 2012 the joint trade unions outlined the areas we still wish to negotiate on: Equal Pay – the trade union side has requested details of any offer to those equal pay claimants who rejected the Council equal pay offer in 2007 (category A) plus the proposed figures for those who claimed equal pay from 1st April 2010 (category B).

Furthermore we have requested a workforce JE factor by factor score record so the respective unions’ analysts can check the equality outcomes.

Mobility Clause – trade unions have requested unambiguous wording that defines the geographical boundaries as the CCOS. Pay Protection – we have requested that the Authority enhances the pay protection on offer in order to provide more of a “cushion” to the biggest losers. We propose that those who lose between 0 and 9.99% of pay under the Council pay model would still be protected for 12 months, anyone losing between 10 – 19.99% would receive 18 months protection and those who lose 20% or more a protection period of 24 months.

Shift Allowance – we believe a flat rate of £74 should be applied to all employees who work shifts regardless of salary

rather than the 10% shift allowance currently on offer.

On Call / Stand By – we have three issues with this: (1) on call / standby should be voluntary not compulsory (2) the rate of pay for on call / standby needs to be higher ( i.e. at current levels) (3) rest periods after standby should be 11 hours not 8 hours as proposed.

Job Enrichment – the issue of the Refuse Loaders and job enrichment is not a precondition of acceptance but it is linked and we wish to be given some firm time scales that run in parallel with the single status implementation and the period of pay protection.

Appeals procedure for Single Status Job Evaluation – we regard it as vital for there to be an independent chair to preside over the appeals.

Grievance and Disciplinary – we propose that the final stages of both hearings are heard by Councillors.

Special Leave – we believe that the CCOS should provide all employees with 2 hours paid leave to attend hospital appointments.

Clarification on HR Policies – we wish to enter into further discussions on all the HR policies in order that there can be a common and consistent understanding.

Professional Bodies Fees – we wish the policy to be that the CCOS will pay professional body registration fees where membership of a particular body is “essential” as opposed to a statutory requirement.

When we have concluded negotiations we will report back

Last months newsletter on JE can also be read here: http://issuu.com/swanseaunison/docs/nov_2012_newsletter or here: http://staffnet/media/pdf/6/d/November_2012_Newsletter_(read).pdf

Seasons Greetings & A Happy New Year to all our members Public Service Not Private Profit

December 2012

Housing Stock Transfer:

We were right to fight housing privatisation In March 2007, Swansea Council tenants voted to keep Council Housing within the Local Authority control. Under Welsh Government policy, the transfer of the stock was the only way to secure the additional money needed to improve homes up to the Welsh Housing Quality Standard by their deadline of 2012. This followed months of campaigning primarily by UNISON with great assistance from Paul Lynch from Defend Council Housing (DCH).

Osborne: Bonanza for bosses, cuts for the rest of us George Osborne announced that his plan for the economy wasn’t working even on his own terms in his recent ‘autumn statement’.

His solution was even more cuts and attacks on workers and poor people. He told MPs, “Yes, the deficit is still far too high for comfort. We cannot relax our efforts to make our economy safe...But Britain is heading in the right direction. The road is hard but we're making progress.”

On top of his existing targets for massive cuts, Osborne keeps adding more. He increased the public sector cuts by a further 1 percent next year and 2 per cent the year after. Local councils get a new 2 percent cut. There are yet more of the Whitehall “efficiency savings” that have already meant £12 billion in cuts.

Yet again Osborne cut tax on companies’ profits by 1 percent. That means that when the bosses do bother to pay tax they will now pay just 21 per cent from April 2014. This compares with 29 percent in Germany, 33 percent in France and 40 percent in the US. He gloated, “This is the lowest rate of any major western economy. It is an advert for our country that says: come here, invest here, create jobs here, Britain is open for business.”

Osborne also gave the bosses £1.5 billion in export grants and put £1 billion into the banks to give to business. In a little gift to his wealthy mates, he also added a 1 percent rise in the threshold at which toprate tax has to be paid. Capital gains tax allowance rises by 1 percent to over £11,000.

Meanwhile the economy is forecast to shrink this year by 0.1 percent—a fall back from a previous forecast of 0.8 percent growth. The growth forecast for the next five years was also cut.

The Office for Budget Responsibility predicts the chancellor will miss his targets by one year.

Osborne now claims that he will meet the target over the coming five years. In a similar fantasy prediction the government predicts unemployment will peak at 8.3 percent, down from an earlier forecast of 8.7 percent.

Across Wales, the transfer option was also rejected by tenants in Wrexham, Flintshire, Caerphilly, and the Vale of Glamorgan. But tenants in Bridgend, Monmouth, Newport, Torfaen, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Conway, Ceredigion, Gwynedd and Neath and Port Talbot, voted in favour and in those areas, the ownership and management of the housing has transferred out of local authority control to Housing Associations.

However for a variety of reasons, more money has been invested in Swansea’s Council housing in recent years and a recent Cabinet meeting considered the options available for the longer term and decided to endorse plans to fund the improvements via the Housing Revenue Account with the aim of achieving the standard by 2022. This confirms Unison's and DCH's argument that it was always a politically-biased decision to argue that additional monies could only be released by housing-stock transfer. In winning the vote on the transfer we also saved hundreds of in-house jobs from being outsourced and those members pay, terms and conditions. It is a timely reminder that moves to 'outsource' services can be beaten back.

The Welsh Government’s revised target date for achievement across Wales is 2020, but a Business Plan which supports the Council’s strategy will be submitted and discussions with them are ongoing.

The next couple of years are going to see the reforms to the welfare system introduced by the national Government which will squeeze already tight budgets significantly for those claiming housing related benefits. This could have a detrimental effect as the Council’s HRA relies on rental income.

If any UNISON members experience financial difficulty please contact the Branch for assistance. There are many other sources of help including the Council’s intranet site, the http:// www.yourbenefitsarechanging. co.uk website and the Swansea LASA Credit Union who can offer a range of services and help.

April 2007: Unison helped win the fight to keep our housing stock in-house

Even the employers paper the Financial Times said the poor have been hit “pretty damn hard” by the cuts to benefits. The Tories had leaked that they would limit benefits and tax credits increases to 1 percent for a year. In fact Osborne announced that the cut will be for three years. That measure alone is a £3.6 billion cut from benefits.

In another nasty attack, national pay bargaining for teachers will be scrapped. He is replacing this with performance related pay, planned from September next year. He backed off from regional pay in the civil service, local government and the NHS for now. But there was a threat of using existing flexibility to bring in yet more changes.

So while Osborne’s figures are off, it’s business as usual—make us pay for the crisis.

A total of 600 council workers in Caerphilly walked out at lunchtime on the 17th in protest against senior execs in the Labour council rewarding themselves a pay rise of up to 35% whilst services are cut and workers face pay freezes and attacks on pensions. Messages of support to caerphillyunison@caerphilly.gov.uk

City & County of Swansea UNISON - Branch Officer Nominations 2013 - 14 Branch Officer posts run annually from April to March. Please complete and return it to the branch address on the back of this newsletter.

Candidates MUST be nominated from within their own workplace, or previous workplace for those already on 100% facility time.

Incorrectly completed forms will not be accepted. Nominations must be returned by midday on Friday 18th January 2013

Officer Post and Job Description

Name of Candidate

Chairperson – acts as leader of delegations to meet employers, chairs meetings of branch, or committees, leads representations at UNISON meetings where branch is represented, acts as signatory on branch accounts.

Vice Chairperson – assists Chair in carrying out their functions and deputises for chair in their absence.

Branch Secretary – receives all correspondence to branch, signatory to all correspondence sent in branch name. Manages affairs of branch on behalf of membership and their committees. Ensures all functions of branch are carried out and timetables for election of stewards, officers and delegates are adhered to. Acts as main representative in collective bargaining meetings Assistant Secretary - to assist the branch secretary in the role above Convenor - To coordinate and lead the City and County of Swansea UNISON representatives and to develop and support those stewards and other appropriate representatives Treasurer – acts as custodian of branch accounts, ensures prudent financial management of the branch, prepares regular statements of income and expenditure; prepares annual state- ment of income/ expenditure. Mandatory signatory to all branch accounts.

Minutes Secretary – ensures accurate minutes of all officially convened meetings are kept, recorded and collated.

Lifelong Learning Coordinator - Co - ordination of Union Learning Reps in the Branch with a view to the provision of learning opportunities for Branch members.

Health & Safety Officer – co-ordinates the Health & Safety function of all stewards, represents the branch at any meeting with employers about H&S, and is first choice representative on any UNISON H&S committee. Reports any H&S concerns.

Education Coordinator – co-ordinates trades union education of all stewards and officers. Arranges branch courses on Trade Union education, liaises with TUC education and UNISON education services to promote education of all representatives.

Publicity Officer – prepares and distributes any branch publicity regarding meetings, information or advice; produces a regular newsletter. To prepare press releases and to maintain a directory of members and their locations to assist in the distribution of information.

Membership Officer - To organise recruitment amongst stewards and members and monitor recruitment and retention of Unison members within the Branch.

Benefits Officer – assists any member needing advice or representation when claiming state benefits, to act as advocate at benefit tribunals.

Welfare Officer – assists in administration of National welfare scheme and administers branch welfare function.

Equality Officer – assists promotion of equal opportunities; ensures policies of branch and employer are in line with equal opportunity legislation; ensures branch involvement in self organised group conferences and acts as representative on any UNISON equalities committee; help promote fair representation and proportionality in UNISON. International Secretary – acts as point of liaison on matters of international interest.

Young Members Officer – encourages recruitment, promotes involvement of young members.

Sports & Social Secretary – co-ordinates and arranges branch sporting activities, manages the promotion of a range of branch social activities.

Proposed By...................... Tel. No ........................ Seconded By..............................Tel. No....................

Address...................................................................Address.......................................................................

Please give a telephone number or email address where you can be contacted in case any points need to be clarified PLEASE ENSURE YOU HAVE THE AGREEMENT OF THE PERSON YOU ARE PROPOSING BEFORE YOU NOMINATE THEM

WORRIED ABOUT PAYING YOUR

WINTER FUEL BILL? With rising fuel costs and another cold winter many members are worried about how they’re going to pay this year’s winter fuel bills.

HELP IS ON HAND

‘There for you’ has set up a limited fund to help UNISON members on low income by way of a one-off payment of up to £40.

To apply or find out more about other help that is available and how to reduce your costs in the future visit www.unison.org/thereforyou or contact your UNISON branch office.

PS: If you know someone else who needs our help, please pass this on!

YOUR UNION

‘There for you’ is the working name of UNISON Welfare, Charity registration number 1023552/SCO38305

Contact us:

Unison Office The Guildhall Swansea SA1 4PE 01792 635271

unison@swansea.gov.uk

Branch Secretary: Mike Davies / Asst. Secretary: Ian Alexander Unison has over 100 trained union reps throughout the council, schools and FE colleges. We will advise, support and represent you collectively and individually on issues from sickness, disciplinaries to legal matters inside and outside the workplace. If you need advice or representation please contact the Senior Steward(s) for your department below or go to your workplace steward. Alternatively please contact the branch office.

Social Services Alison O'Kane - 07771 922985 Alison Davies - 07941 757853 Martin Chapman - 01792 635271 Education Pat Lopez - 07557 560097 Mark Otten - 07789 485009 Eve Morse - 07532 232873 (after 3.30 pm) Chris Bell - 07967 551025

Sports & Social website: www.suss.me.uk

Regeneration/Housing John Llewellyn - 07557 560093 Roger Owen - 07941819229 Gower College Ron Job - 07963 454041 Resources Gareth Parry - 07813 534627 Housing Sallyanne Taylor - 07825 401711

www.unison.co.uk

This newsletter is produced by the City and County of Swansea Unison Branch. Any letters, comments or suggestions for articles should be posted to the branch address or emailed to Unison@swansea.gov.uk. Correspondence is not guaranteed to be published and contents may not necessarily reflect Unison policy.