WOOLAS HOLDS FIRE ON DRAFT REGULATIONS – UNISON PRESSURE PAYS OFF!
Local Government Minister and LGPS Regulator Phil Woolas has agreed to hold back draft Regulations based on the unacceptable Parliamentary statement and DCLG letter he released last week. They appeared without warning the day after our successful lobby of Parliament on 22 November.
It is understood that the Minister will be writing to UNISON setting his views on the need for negotiations to continue and that the outcome of further talks can be reflected in the Regulations.
Those of you who attended the lobby on 22 November or who have lobbied or written to your MP separately, can give yourselves a large pat on the back for the political pressure you have created. MP’s report unprecedented lobbying by UNISON members over the LGPS and many are angry themselves at the way in which discussions with the LGA were brought to an abrupt end by Woolas’ unexpected announcement.
What happens now?
The draft Regulations, which will be subject to a 12- week formal consultation period, will be released in around two weeks time. We do not have the precise date. In the meantime, we hope to quickly pick up talks with the Local Government Association and Local Government Employers, which were making some progress. The employers were also kept in the dark about Woolas’s statement. Talks are likely to prove more difficult this time round, following the Government’s announcement. However, we want the opportunity to take them as far as we can and get a fair deal for existing and future LGPS members through negotiation if possible.
Don’t give up now!
It is important that we keep up the political pressure on MP’s while talks take place. If you haven’t written to your MP or visited his/her surgery, please do it now. This is equally important if you have an MP who is not Labour. Tell him/her that UNISON – and other trade union members – expect a fair deal and equal treatment with other public sector pension members. This means better protection for existing members, a fair ill health retirement scheme, improved benefits - such as the 1/60 accumulation rate - for existing members and no increase in the employee contribution rate to pay for a worse scheme, with lower employer contributions. Please let us know their response.
06 December 2006
29 November 2006
Local Govt Pension Scheme - what's happened and what's next?
As reported in our previous posting, Local Government Minister Phil Woolas has spiked the negotiations over our pension scheme. Minutes before the LGA and the Local Government Employers were due to consider fresh proposals from the trade unions, he made a Statement in Parliament, announcing the core aspects of the new pension scheme for England and Wales from 1 April 2008. Neither the employers or the unions had been warned that the statement would be made.
At a meeting on 14 October, he had urged the LGA and LGE to negotiate with the unions, in line with the April Joint Statement. He said that he would prefer us to reach a negotiated agreement, which could then be translated in draft Regulations for consultation.
The employers and the unions had written to him, explaining that significant progress had been made in the talks and earlier this week, Keith Sonnet, Deputy General Secretary, had asked him not to make a statement until the talks had been concluded next week. No reply was received.
The proposals, which will appear as draft Regulations around 30 November, appeared less than an hour before a planned meeting with the LGE and the LGA at which the progress we had made in recent discussions was to be reported by LGA and LGE officials to the Minister.
The Minister’s statement and the DCLG letter containing the proposals are attached. Although the Statement contains some positive proposals, including retention of a final salary scheme based on a 1/60 accrual rate and some benefit improvements, they are unacceptable overall.
Contribution rates
DCLG are proposing an unacceptable tiered contribution structure in which LGPS members pay 5.5% on the first £12,000 of pensionable pay rising to a top rate of 7.5%. They claim that this produces an average employee contribution rate of 6.3%. The rates proposed reduce the employer contribution by 0.3% and increase the average employee rate by the same amount!
The proposed rates would mean a reduction in contribution for those earning under £12,000 from £720 to £660 a year. Those earning £16,000 would pay the same rate as now – 6%, with those earning between £12,000 and £16,000 paying less than now. Those earning £20,000 will be paying 6.3%. This increases to 6.7% for those earning £30,000 and 6.9% for those earning £40,000. Manual members currently paying 5% “protected” contributions will have to pay at least 5.5%.
According to 2005 Local Government Employers’ paybill and workforce figures, this means that approximately 70% of full-time council workers will have to pay more than at present. The majority of part-time workers would pay the same or less. However, it is recognised by Government that only about 55% of part-time workers in local government are LGPS members. Equivalent figures for other sectors in the LGPS will be examined.
Protection
No additional protection is proposed from the 2016 tapered to 2020 already in the last set of Regulations. Scotland has agreed to 2020 and Northern Ireland may have even further protection. We have argued for full protection, in line with every other public sector scheme
Existing scheme members
Although this conflicts with the Minister’s statement and the accompanying DCLG letter, civil servants have also made it known that they do not intend to allow existing, protected members to transfer to the new scheme in 2008. They will continue with the 1/80 accumulation rate and 3/80 lump sum. The Trade Union Side want existing scheme members to benefit from any improvements to the new scheme, not a “two-tier” pension.
Accumulation rate
The accumulation rate for new members from 2008 will be 1/60, with the ability to commute up to 25% of pension to a lump sum on a £1 lump sum for every £12 of pension. The improved accumulation rate is one of the few improvements in the proposals.
Ill health retirement
There will be new, three-tiered ill health provisions, with a top tier for total incapacity, with total incapacity benefits favouring younger people least likely to need them! UNISON does not support these and they run counter to the LGA response to the consultation document, which stated their opposition to tiered benefits
Early release of pension
This will be 55 by 2010 for existing members and new joiners from 1 April 2008, except on the grounds of ill health.
Calculation period
The best three consecutive years salary within the last ten years will be used to calculate the pension. The Trade Union Side was seeking this improvement.
Partners’ pensions and children’s benefits
Partners’ pensions for spouses, civil partners and nominated dependent partners at a 1/160 accrual rate. This accrual rate would also apply to children’s benefits. The letter is silent on backdating. UNISON wants backdating to at least 1988.
Death in service benefits
This would be increased from twice salary to three times under the proposals.
Post retirement lump sum
There will be ‘scope’ for a lump sum death benefit up to 10 years.
Phased retirement
Some members, ‘under specified circumstances’, could take some of their pension while continuing to work.
Additional pension
There will be a facility for members to buy up to a maximum of £5000 additional pension and to buy AVC’s through external providers.
General Secretary Dave Prentis is calling on the Minister to allow the talks to continue to allow us to try to reach an agreement, despite the Statement to Parliament. The Service Group Liaison Committee will meet on 1 December, followed by meetings of the Service Groups on 4 December. Unless the discussions are allowed to continue, an industrial action ballot looks inevitable.
Each of the Service Groups covered by the LGPS has been given the go ahead by the Service Group Liaison Committee to hold a Special Conference subject to NEC approval on 6 December. The Local Government SGE had already requested one and will ask the Local Government Standing Orders Committee to make appropriate arrangements. The Police and Higher Education SGE’s have voted not to hold a Special Conference.
The Minister for Local Government (Mr Phil Woolas): The Government’s objective for Local Government Pension Scheme in England and Wales is to ensure it is viable, affordable to both Scheme members and employers, and fair to the taxpayers who ultimately provide its security.
The local government workforce, and the other employees who are eligible for Scheme membership, need access to a good quality pension scheme to provide for their retirement. All stakeholders believe the Scheme is an essential component of the reward strategies for local government’s and certain associated employers’ workforces. The Scheme, therefore, should be as flexible and accessible as possible, for both employees and employers, and provide a modern, equality-proofed range of defined benefits both now and in the future. It must meet the challenge of being attractive to existing and future employees, and to their employers, in and around local government. However, in meeting these objectives, an equitable and proportionate balance must be struck between the level of pension benefits provided by the Scheme, and the actual cost of providing those benefits.
Principles and propositions for the long term reform of the Scheme were first circulated to all Scheme stakeholders in October 2004. Subsequent regulatory amendments were made to the Scheme to reflect changes in taxation legislation, to improve its governance and deficit management, to achieve cost- stability linked to the outcome of the 2004 actuarial valuation exercise and to further the Government’s objective of ending employment discrimination on grounds of age. A number of lawful and affordable protections for existing Scheme members were also introduced, linked to the final removal of an age discriminatory provision, the rule of 85, with effect from 1 October 2006.
To begin the final stages towards introducing, from 1 April 2008, a new-look Local Government Pension Scheme, a national consultation exercise, Where Next? – Options for a new-look Local Government Pension Scheme in England and Wales, took place between 30 June and 29 September this year. It invited stakeholders’ views on four costed options - an updated current scheme with benefit improvements; a new final salary scheme with an improved accrual rate; a new career average scheme; and a new hybrid scheme combining a career average core with a final salary top-up option. A range of benefit structure changes was proposed, along with several propositions to address future Scheme costs, levels of contributions by both members and employers, greater benefit flexibility, new early retirement provisions and targeted ill health benefits.
Careful consideration has now been given to the outcome of that consultation exercise; the responses received have been helpful and informative. Some Scheme administering authorities, in particular, conducted helpful, detailed costing assessments of their position in relation to the range of options put forward. An analysis of the responses received to the consultation exercise has now been completed and is available at http://www.communities.gov.uklgps/
Against that background, I am announcing that the Government’s regulatory intentions for the future structure of the Local Government Pension Scheme’s benefit package will be shortly circulated to interested parties for detailed analysis and comment. The consultation package will propose that the Scheme remains as a final salary pension arrangement and be based on an accrual of 1/60th of salary for each year of membership. It will continue to have a normal pension age of 65, and will move towards providing, by 2010, for pensions to be paid no earlier than age 55, rather than the current minimum age of 50, except on grounds of ill-health. A revised and better targeted ill-health retirement package is to be proposed, and survivor benefits, which are available for spouses, civil partners, and children, will be extended to include other co-habiting partners. In order to help equality-proof the Scheme, tiered employee contribution rates, linked to salary, will be introduced, as well as more flexible retirement provisions. Arrangements will be included which protect the accrued rights of all existing Scheme members up to 31 March 2008. All present and future members of the Scheme will build up rights in the new-look Scheme from 1 April 2008. In addition, the protections already provided in the current Scheme for eligible members, at no cost to taxpayers, following the final removal of the rule of 85 from the Scheme, from 1 October 2006, will be retained.
The Government is mindful of the need to maintain stability of costs in the new-look Scheme and a fair and equitable balance in its long-term resourcing between members, employers and taxpayers. The Government’s intention throughout this reform process has been to ensure that no additional costs are imposed on taxpayers. It is intended, therefore, to establish an appropriate mechanism for sharing future cost pressures and to have the arrangements in place by March 2009. These will both inform and take account of the 2010 actuarial valuation of the Scheme. The new arrangements can be taken into account when individual fund actuaries set new employer contribution rates in the valuations which will take effect from 1 April 2011. This important timetable will be reflected in the new Scheme regulatory framework programmed to take effect from 1 April 2008.
The package, as a whole, is both workable and affordable. Overall, it meets the balance of responses received to the recent consultation exercise and complies with the Government’s central policy objectives for the Scheme’s reform, particularly in terms of its viability, affordability and fairness to members and taxpayers.
To assist in the on-going monitoring of the Scheme’s regulatory and policy development, Communities and Local Government will establish a policy review group of key interested parties. The group will focus on strategic issues, establish common ground between stakeholders and to monitor demographic experience in the Scheme as a basis for co-operative decision-making on Scheme developments, regulatory changes and Scheme cost-sharing. The work of the group will be reported regularly to Ministers and will complement the usual statutory and non-statutory consultation arrangements which already exist within the current regulatory framework of the Scheme.
For the new-look Scheme to be fully available and operational for all categories of members and prospective members, from 1 April 2008, the Government’s timetable and programme of reform requires regulations to be in place for 1 April 2007. Accordingly, draft regulations which set out in detail the proposed benefit package for the new Scheme will be circulated next month to interested parties in England and Wales to reflect the terms of this statement, as well as setting out the actual regulatory framework necessary to give full effect to the new Scheme. This will allow the terms of the new arrangements to be taken into account as part of the 2007 actuarial valuation exercise. As a first step in the consultation process, further details of the proposed new-look Scheme regulatory framework and this statement are being circulated to interested parties in England and Wales today as part of the required statutory consultation process.
In addition, these regulations will be followed shortly by associated draft regulatory changes in a separate draft statutory instrument, dealing with the administration aspects of the new Scheme and to a similar implementation timetable.
At a meeting on 14 October, he had urged the LGA and LGE to negotiate with the unions, in line with the April Joint Statement. He said that he would prefer us to reach a negotiated agreement, which could then be translated in draft Regulations for consultation.
The employers and the unions had written to him, explaining that significant progress had been made in the talks and earlier this week, Keith Sonnet, Deputy General Secretary, had asked him not to make a statement until the talks had been concluded next week. No reply was received.
The proposals, which will appear as draft Regulations around 30 November, appeared less than an hour before a planned meeting with the LGE and the LGA at which the progress we had made in recent discussions was to be reported by LGA and LGE officials to the Minister.
THE KEY PROPOSALS
The Minister’s statement and the DCLG letter containing the proposals are attached. Although the Statement contains some positive proposals, including retention of a final salary scheme based on a 1/60 accrual rate and some benefit improvements, they are unacceptable overall.
Contribution rates
DCLG are proposing an unacceptable tiered contribution structure in which LGPS members pay 5.5% on the first £12,000 of pensionable pay rising to a top rate of 7.5%. They claim that this produces an average employee contribution rate of 6.3%. The rates proposed reduce the employer contribution by 0.3% and increase the average employee rate by the same amount!
The proposed rates would mean a reduction in contribution for those earning under £12,000 from £720 to £660 a year. Those earning £16,000 would pay the same rate as now – 6%, with those earning between £12,000 and £16,000 paying less than now. Those earning £20,000 will be paying 6.3%. This increases to 6.7% for those earning £30,000 and 6.9% for those earning £40,000. Manual members currently paying 5% “protected” contributions will have to pay at least 5.5%.
According to 2005 Local Government Employers’ paybill and workforce figures, this means that approximately 70% of full-time council workers will have to pay more than at present. The majority of part-time workers would pay the same or less. However, it is recognised by Government that only about 55% of part-time workers in local government are LGPS members. Equivalent figures for other sectors in the LGPS will be examined.
Protection
No additional protection is proposed from the 2016 tapered to 2020 already in the last set of Regulations. Scotland has agreed to 2020 and Northern Ireland may have even further protection. We have argued for full protection, in line with every other public sector scheme
Existing scheme members
Although this conflicts with the Minister’s statement and the accompanying DCLG letter, civil servants have also made it known that they do not intend to allow existing, protected members to transfer to the new scheme in 2008. They will continue with the 1/80 accumulation rate and 3/80 lump sum. The Trade Union Side want existing scheme members to benefit from any improvements to the new scheme, not a “two-tier” pension.
Accumulation rate
The accumulation rate for new members from 2008 will be 1/60, with the ability to commute up to 25% of pension to a lump sum on a £1 lump sum for every £12 of pension. The improved accumulation rate is one of the few improvements in the proposals.
Ill health retirement
There will be new, three-tiered ill health provisions, with a top tier for total incapacity, with total incapacity benefits favouring younger people least likely to need them! UNISON does not support these and they run counter to the LGA response to the consultation document, which stated their opposition to tiered benefits
Early release of pension
This will be 55 by 2010 for existing members and new joiners from 1 April 2008, except on the grounds of ill health.
Calculation period
The best three consecutive years salary within the last ten years will be used to calculate the pension. The Trade Union Side was seeking this improvement.
Partners’ pensions and children’s benefits
Partners’ pensions for spouses, civil partners and nominated dependent partners at a 1/160 accrual rate. This accrual rate would also apply to children’s benefits. The letter is silent on backdating. UNISON wants backdating to at least 1988.
Death in service benefits
This would be increased from twice salary to three times under the proposals.
Post retirement lump sum
There will be ‘scope’ for a lump sum death benefit up to 10 years.
Phased retirement
Some members, ‘under specified circumstances’, could take some of their pension while continuing to work.
Additional pension
There will be a facility for members to buy up to a maximum of £5000 additional pension and to buy AVC’s through external providers.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
General Secretary Dave Prentis is calling on the Minister to allow the talks to continue to allow us to try to reach an agreement, despite the Statement to Parliament. The Service Group Liaison Committee will meet on 1 December, followed by meetings of the Service Groups on 4 December. Unless the discussions are allowed to continue, an industrial action ballot looks inevitable.
Each of the Service Groups covered by the LGPS has been given the go ahead by the Service Group Liaison Committee to hold a Special Conference subject to NEC approval on 6 December. The Local Government SGE had already requested one and will ask the Local Government Standing Orders Committee to make appropriate arrangements. The Police and Higher Education SGE’s have voted not to hold a Special Conference.
THE STATEMENT
DEPARTMENT FOR COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
LOCAL GOVERNMENT PENSION SCHEME
The Minister for Local Government (Mr Phil Woolas): The Government’s objective for Local Government Pension Scheme in England and Wales is to ensure it is viable, affordable to both Scheme members and employers, and fair to the taxpayers who ultimately provide its security.
The local government workforce, and the other employees who are eligible for Scheme membership, need access to a good quality pension scheme to provide for their retirement. All stakeholders believe the Scheme is an essential component of the reward strategies for local government’s and certain associated employers’ workforces. The Scheme, therefore, should be as flexible and accessible as possible, for both employees and employers, and provide a modern, equality-proofed range of defined benefits both now and in the future. It must meet the challenge of being attractive to existing and future employees, and to their employers, in and around local government. However, in meeting these objectives, an equitable and proportionate balance must be struck between the level of pension benefits provided by the Scheme, and the actual cost of providing those benefits.
Principles and propositions for the long term reform of the Scheme were first circulated to all Scheme stakeholders in October 2004. Subsequent regulatory amendments were made to the Scheme to reflect changes in taxation legislation, to improve its governance and deficit management, to achieve cost- stability linked to the outcome of the 2004 actuarial valuation exercise and to further the Government’s objective of ending employment discrimination on grounds of age. A number of lawful and affordable protections for existing Scheme members were also introduced, linked to the final removal of an age discriminatory provision, the rule of 85, with effect from 1 October 2006.
To begin the final stages towards introducing, from 1 April 2008, a new-look Local Government Pension Scheme, a national consultation exercise, Where Next? – Options for a new-look Local Government Pension Scheme in England and Wales, took place between 30 June and 29 September this year. It invited stakeholders’ views on four costed options - an updated current scheme with benefit improvements; a new final salary scheme with an improved accrual rate; a new career average scheme; and a new hybrid scheme combining a career average core with a final salary top-up option. A range of benefit structure changes was proposed, along with several propositions to address future Scheme costs, levels of contributions by both members and employers, greater benefit flexibility, new early retirement provisions and targeted ill health benefits.
Careful consideration has now been given to the outcome of that consultation exercise; the responses received have been helpful and informative. Some Scheme administering authorities, in particular, conducted helpful, detailed costing assessments of their position in relation to the range of options put forward. An analysis of the responses received to the consultation exercise has now been completed and is available at http://www.communities.gov.uklgps/
Against that background, I am announcing that the Government’s regulatory intentions for the future structure of the Local Government Pension Scheme’s benefit package will be shortly circulated to interested parties for detailed analysis and comment. The consultation package will propose that the Scheme remains as a final salary pension arrangement and be based on an accrual of 1/60th of salary for each year of membership. It will continue to have a normal pension age of 65, and will move towards providing, by 2010, for pensions to be paid no earlier than age 55, rather than the current minimum age of 50, except on grounds of ill-health. A revised and better targeted ill-health retirement package is to be proposed, and survivor benefits, which are available for spouses, civil partners, and children, will be extended to include other co-habiting partners. In order to help equality-proof the Scheme, tiered employee contribution rates, linked to salary, will be introduced, as well as more flexible retirement provisions. Arrangements will be included which protect the accrued rights of all existing Scheme members up to 31 March 2008. All present and future members of the Scheme will build up rights in the new-look Scheme from 1 April 2008. In addition, the protections already provided in the current Scheme for eligible members, at no cost to taxpayers, following the final removal of the rule of 85 from the Scheme, from 1 October 2006, will be retained.
The Government is mindful of the need to maintain stability of costs in the new-look Scheme and a fair and equitable balance in its long-term resourcing between members, employers and taxpayers. The Government’s intention throughout this reform process has been to ensure that no additional costs are imposed on taxpayers. It is intended, therefore, to establish an appropriate mechanism for sharing future cost pressures and to have the arrangements in place by March 2009. These will both inform and take account of the 2010 actuarial valuation of the Scheme. The new arrangements can be taken into account when individual fund actuaries set new employer contribution rates in the valuations which will take effect from 1 April 2011. This important timetable will be reflected in the new Scheme regulatory framework programmed to take effect from 1 April 2008.
The package, as a whole, is both workable and affordable. Overall, it meets the balance of responses received to the recent consultation exercise and complies with the Government’s central policy objectives for the Scheme’s reform, particularly in terms of its viability, affordability and fairness to members and taxpayers.
To assist in the on-going monitoring of the Scheme’s regulatory and policy development, Communities and Local Government will establish a policy review group of key interested parties. The group will focus on strategic issues, establish common ground between stakeholders and to monitor demographic experience in the Scheme as a basis for co-operative decision-making on Scheme developments, regulatory changes and Scheme cost-sharing. The work of the group will be reported regularly to Ministers and will complement the usual statutory and non-statutory consultation arrangements which already exist within the current regulatory framework of the Scheme.
For the new-look Scheme to be fully available and operational for all categories of members and prospective members, from 1 April 2008, the Government’s timetable and programme of reform requires regulations to be in place for 1 April 2007. Accordingly, draft regulations which set out in detail the proposed benefit package for the new Scheme will be circulated next month to interested parties in England and Wales to reflect the terms of this statement, as well as setting out the actual regulatory framework necessary to give full effect to the new Scheme. This will allow the terms of the new arrangements to be taken into account as part of the 2007 actuarial valuation exercise. As a first step in the consultation process, further details of the proposed new-look Scheme regulatory framework and this statement are being circulated to interested parties in England and Wales today as part of the required statutory consultation process.
In addition, these regulations will be followed shortly by associated draft regulatory changes in a separate draft statutory instrument, dealing with the administration aspects of the new Scheme and to a similar implementation timetable.
27 November 2006
MINISTER SPIKES PENSION NEGOTIATIONS
Local Government Minister Phil Woolas yesterday made a hostile intervention which spiked talks between the unions and the employers, in which real progress was being made over proposals for the ‘new look’ LGPS.
Minutes before the employers were due to consider fresh proposals from the trade unions, Minister Phil Woolas made a Statement in Parliament, announcing a new pension scheme for England and Wales. Neither the employers or the unions had been warned that the statement would be made.
At a meeting on 14 October, Phil Woolas had urged the LGA and LGE to negotiate with the unions, in line with the April Joint Statement. He said that he would prefer us to reach a negotiated agreement, which could then be translated in draft Regulations for consultation.
The employers and the unions had written to Phil Woolas, explaining that significant progress had been made in the talks and earlier this week, Keith Sonnet, Deputy General Secretary, had asked him not to make a statement until the talks had been concluded next week. No reply was received.
The proposals, which will appear as draft Regulations around 30 November, appeared less than an hour before a planned meeting with the LGE and the LGA at which the progress we had made in recent discussions was to be reported by LGA and LGE officials to the Minister.
The Minster’s statement and the DCLG letter containing the proposals can be downloaded from DCLG website www.communities.gov.uk/lgps. Although the Statement contains some positive proposals, including retention of a final salary scheme based on a 1/60 accrual rate and some benefit improvements, they are unacceptable overall for the following reasons:
• The employee contribution rate is increased for the majority of scheme members from 6% to 7.5%
• The employer contribution rate is substantially reduced and effectively subsidised by the increased employee contribution rate
• The is no additional protection for existing scheme members to compensate for the loss of the 85 Rule, despite far better arrangements being agreed in Scotland
• There would be substantially reduced benefits for those forced to retire early on grounds of ill health
What happens next?
General Secretary Dave Prentis is calling on the Minister to allow the talks to continue to allow us to try to reach an agreement, despite the Statement to Parliament. The Service Group Liaison Committee will meet next week, followed by meetings of the Service Groups on 4 December. Unless the discussions are allowed to continue, an industrial action ballot looks inevitable.
Minutes before the employers were due to consider fresh proposals from the trade unions, Minister Phil Woolas made a Statement in Parliament, announcing a new pension scheme for England and Wales. Neither the employers or the unions had been warned that the statement would be made.
At a meeting on 14 October, Phil Woolas had urged the LGA and LGE to negotiate with the unions, in line with the April Joint Statement. He said that he would prefer us to reach a negotiated agreement, which could then be translated in draft Regulations for consultation.
The employers and the unions had written to Phil Woolas, explaining that significant progress had been made in the talks and earlier this week, Keith Sonnet, Deputy General Secretary, had asked him not to make a statement until the talks had been concluded next week. No reply was received.
The proposals, which will appear as draft Regulations around 30 November, appeared less than an hour before a planned meeting with the LGE and the LGA at which the progress we had made in recent discussions was to be reported by LGA and LGE officials to the Minister.
The Minster’s statement and the DCLG letter containing the proposals can be downloaded from DCLG website www.communities.gov.uk/lgps. Although the Statement contains some positive proposals, including retention of a final salary scheme based on a 1/60 accrual rate and some benefit improvements, they are unacceptable overall for the following reasons:
• The employee contribution rate is increased for the majority of scheme members from 6% to 7.5%
• The employer contribution rate is substantially reduced and effectively subsidised by the increased employee contribution rate
• The is no additional protection for existing scheme members to compensate for the loss of the 85 Rule, despite far better arrangements being agreed in Scotland
• There would be substantially reduced benefits for those forced to retire early on grounds of ill health
What happens next?
General Secretary Dave Prentis is calling on the Minister to allow the talks to continue to allow us to try to reach an agreement, despite the Statement to Parliament. The Service Group Liaison Committee will meet next week, followed by meetings of the Service Groups on 4 December. Unless the discussions are allowed to continue, an industrial action ballot looks inevitable.
17 November 2006
FAREPAK FIASCO
Hundreds if not thousands of UNISON members are likely to have been affected by the Christmas hamper and voucher company going bust. Overall 100,00 people mostly on low incomes have lost £40m with typical customers losing £500
This is especially lamentable as Farepak's customers have taken the responsible route and saved throughout the year for Christmas instead of accumulating debt.
HBOS who acted as bankers to the company have as yet not accepted any financial or moral obligation.
UNISON General Secretary, Dave Prentis has written to the Chairperson of HBOS urging the bank to take the initiative and play a proactive role by agreeing to fully fund the losses incurred by Farepak's customers.
Altough a special charitable fund has been set up by DTI minister Ian McCartney to help those affected there is no guarantee that they will be fully reimbursed. Unison is working with Labour MP's to highlight the issue and get justice for Farepak customers.
Customers who used Visa cards may be able to get their money back but there is no telling how long they may have to wait.
More information is available at www.farepak.co.uk and www.farepakresponsefund.org.uk
UNISON welfare may be able to help mambers experiencing hardship so please contact the Branch if you are in this position or are a steward who knows of someone in this position.
Jo Myers
Branch Welfare Officer
This is especially lamentable as Farepak's customers have taken the responsible route and saved throughout the year for Christmas instead of accumulating debt.
HBOS who acted as bankers to the company have as yet not accepted any financial or moral obligation.
UNISON General Secretary, Dave Prentis has written to the Chairperson of HBOS urging the bank to take the initiative and play a proactive role by agreeing to fully fund the losses incurred by Farepak's customers.
Altough a special charitable fund has been set up by DTI minister Ian McCartney to help those affected there is no guarantee that they will be fully reimbursed. Unison is working with Labour MP's to highlight the issue and get justice for Farepak customers.
Customers who used Visa cards may be able to get their money back but there is no telling how long they may have to wait.
More information is available at www.farepak.co.uk and www.farepakresponsefund.org.uk
UNISON welfare may be able to help mambers experiencing hardship so please contact the Branch if you are in this position or are a steward who knows of someone in this position.
Jo Myers
Branch Welfare Officer
13 November 2006
HR integration comments and questions
UNISON raised the following on behalf of our members following the second round of briefings/workshops on 30th Oct and 3rd Nov:
The lack of supporting information presented at the meeting makes it difficult to make informed comments. Would need to see old and new structures together.
If the authority has a priority to reduce sickness levels how does it propose to do this with reduced resources?
Has the income generated from Education (schools) been taken into account in this process?
Where is the re-deployment team?
Have options to generate income been considered and if so what were they?
How many vacant posts are there currently and at what levels?
Links with other authorities need to be established when looking for redeployment opportunities.
The SLA for schools has to be complete for December, has this been taken into account in this process?
How will the teaching unions be consulted with?
Admin posts across the board need to be identified.
Drawing up structures before you know what service you are going to provide could lead to yet more changes, how will change of service be communicated to managers?
Unrealistic timescales for formal consultation given the level of proposed changes.
Structures appear to be top heavy Service Head roles look isolated from Departments.
Where is the rationale document?
Concerns that specialist knowledge will be lost.
There has been no discussion regarding best practice across the authority how will you be able to ensure that this is not lost?
Who will Section 188 notice include?
Claire Gollin, HR Service Head, responded on behalf of management as follows:
Further to your email to Jack Markiewicz dated 6th November providing comments and raising a number of questions following the 2 consultation events with HR staff last week. You will be aware that Jack is currently undertaking Jury Service and he has therefore asked me to respond to you direct in his absence. I can assure you that all comments provided by staff either at these and previous events, through separate correspondence direct with Jack and/or through their trade unions will be taken into consideration by HRLG in its ongoing work on the new structure which we aim to publish on 1st December (with other new structures in line with corporate requirements). In relation to questions raised in your email, on our proposals:
Income generated from sold services to schools has been factored into the budget available for the new structure.
A redeployment service for the whole authority is located in the Attendance Management specialist team through the equivalent time of 2 of the Sc 5/6 FTE posts in that structure to undertake work on vacancy identification, liaison with managers and skill audits. This may be a shared role with AMO's within the overall team resource. Formal casework around redeployment situations, whether it stems from the sickness absence policy, other policies or from organisational change programmes will be undertaken by the operational/strategic teams working closely with the Attendance team.
Reducing sickness absence is a key priority for the County Council. Health, Safety and Welfare services are an essential proactive and responsive resource to enable us to do this and the Health Safety and OH team structure is resourced to ensure we can provide this capacity.The cross cutting Attendance Management team providing AMO support for managers across departments is also responsive to this.
All opportunities to generate income within the capacity available will be given proper consideration.
Currently we have a number of HR posts not filled on a permanent basis across the HR community, these are: 0.5 SO2 temporary vacancy in old environment team whilst postholder is on maternity leave, 1 FTE vacancy against a SC2/5 Personnel Assistant post in Environment, 2 Band C Principal Personnel Officers in Environment, currently being acted up , 1 FTE Personnel Officer (sc 3/6 Business support) in Education (may be filled on temp basis only), 1 FTE Team Leader SO1 (Business Support) currently filled on temp basis to 31.3.07, 2 FTE Clerical Assts Education Sc2 currently filled by temps, 1 FTE Sc1-4 Personnel Asst Education currently filled by a temp. This equates to 0.5 temp vacancy and 7 actual vacancies , 6 of which are filled by temp staff. These should also help us to reduce the impact of restructuring by deploying any displaced staff into these posts.
Although we hope to be able to achieve reductions by voluntary means, we will ask our neighbouring local authorities to give regard to any displaced HR staff(and staff from other functions) for any suitable vacancies they may have as part of our commitment to mitigate the impact of reduced capacity as far as possible. This has to rest on goodwill and we cannot regulate their responsiveness to such a request.
The HRLG sub team working on the SLA are aware of the interface with the "Management Choices" process for schools. Managers will be involved in and informed about the scope of services covered by the HR SLA when further work has been undertaken and of course good communication is key to this as it is to all other aspects.
Where we have members of staff in HR or elsewhere who are members of a teaching union we will make arrangements to consult with them, this could be through the CYP department JCNP.
As stated at the consultation events, HRLG are giving further consideration to admin resources including the disaggregation of existing admin support which is not directly part of the HR establishment.
The HR Service Head establishment has already been agreed and appointed to. The new Service Heads will have both strategic and operational responsibility and will, especially initially, spend a significant proportion of their time with their HR teams and with management teams in departments.
Part of the principle behind integration is consistency and standardisation with resultant efficiencies and quality control, HRLG have already considered practice across departments and will continue to do so when working on the detail of the HR structure, including job descriptions.
Rationale documents for the next stage below Service Head appointments in the integrated Resources department and other service departments are currently being produced by the Designing The Future Project team and will cross reference budgetary and business drivers for the change agenda which have already been communicated to staff and highlighted in consultation events to date.
We are aiming to issue a Section 188 notice covering those staff in the integrated Resources department (who have not already been subject to a 188 notice), on or before 1st December, I mentioned this at the last ICJF. We will also be going out to these staff for expressions of interest in VR at about same time. I am the contact point for this if you need to discuss further.
In conclusion Jack has stated that he will make time to personally talk to HR teams at their request when he is back from his Jury Service and we will continue to communicate and consult with our staff in as many ways as possible throughout the ongoing consultation period.
The lack of supporting information presented at the meeting makes it difficult to make informed comments. Would need to see old and new structures together.
If the authority has a priority to reduce sickness levels how does it propose to do this with reduced resources?
Has the income generated from Education (schools) been taken into account in this process?
Where is the re-deployment team?
Have options to generate income been considered and if so what were they?
How many vacant posts are there currently and at what levels?
Links with other authorities need to be established when looking for redeployment opportunities.
The SLA for schools has to be complete for December, has this been taken into account in this process?
How will the teaching unions be consulted with?
Admin posts across the board need to be identified.
Drawing up structures before you know what service you are going to provide could lead to yet more changes, how will change of service be communicated to managers?
Unrealistic timescales for formal consultation given the level of proposed changes.
Structures appear to be top heavy Service Head roles look isolated from Departments.
Where is the rationale document?
Concerns that specialist knowledge will be lost.
There has been no discussion regarding best practice across the authority how will you be able to ensure that this is not lost?
Who will Section 188 notice include?
Claire Gollin, HR Service Head, responded on behalf of management as follows:
Further to your email to Jack Markiewicz dated 6th November providing comments and raising a number of questions following the 2 consultation events with HR staff last week. You will be aware that Jack is currently undertaking Jury Service and he has therefore asked me to respond to you direct in his absence. I can assure you that all comments provided by staff either at these and previous events, through separate correspondence direct with Jack and/or through their trade unions will be taken into consideration by HRLG in its ongoing work on the new structure which we aim to publish on 1st December (with other new structures in line with corporate requirements). In relation to questions raised in your email, on our proposals:
Income generated from sold services to schools has been factored into the budget available for the new structure.
A redeployment service for the whole authority is located in the Attendance Management specialist team through the equivalent time of 2 of the Sc 5/6 FTE posts in that structure to undertake work on vacancy identification, liaison with managers and skill audits. This may be a shared role with AMO's within the overall team resource. Formal casework around redeployment situations, whether it stems from the sickness absence policy, other policies or from organisational change programmes will be undertaken by the operational/strategic teams working closely with the Attendance team.
Reducing sickness absence is a key priority for the County Council. Health, Safety and Welfare services are an essential proactive and responsive resource to enable us to do this and the Health Safety and OH team structure is resourced to ensure we can provide this capacity.The cross cutting Attendance Management team providing AMO support for managers across departments is also responsive to this.
All opportunities to generate income within the capacity available will be given proper consideration.
Currently we have a number of HR posts not filled on a permanent basis across the HR community, these are: 0.5 SO2 temporary vacancy in old environment team whilst postholder is on maternity leave, 1 FTE vacancy against a SC2/5 Personnel Assistant post in Environment, 2 Band C Principal Personnel Officers in Environment, currently being acted up , 1 FTE Personnel Officer (sc 3/6 Business support) in Education (may be filled on temp basis only), 1 FTE Team Leader SO1 (Business Support) currently filled on temp basis to 31.3.07, 2 FTE Clerical Assts Education Sc2 currently filled by temps, 1 FTE Sc1-4 Personnel Asst Education currently filled by a temp. This equates to 0.5 temp vacancy and 7 actual vacancies , 6 of which are filled by temp staff. These should also help us to reduce the impact of restructuring by deploying any displaced staff into these posts.
Although we hope to be able to achieve reductions by voluntary means, we will ask our neighbouring local authorities to give regard to any displaced HR staff(and staff from other functions) for any suitable vacancies they may have as part of our commitment to mitigate the impact of reduced capacity as far as possible. This has to rest on goodwill and we cannot regulate their responsiveness to such a request.
The HRLG sub team working on the SLA are aware of the interface with the "Management Choices" process for schools. Managers will be involved in and informed about the scope of services covered by the HR SLA when further work has been undertaken and of course good communication is key to this as it is to all other aspects.
Where we have members of staff in HR or elsewhere who are members of a teaching union we will make arrangements to consult with them, this could be through the CYP department JCNP.
As stated at the consultation events, HRLG are giving further consideration to admin resources including the disaggregation of existing admin support which is not directly part of the HR establishment.
The HR Service Head establishment has already been agreed and appointed to. The new Service Heads will have both strategic and operational responsibility and will, especially initially, spend a significant proportion of their time with their HR teams and with management teams in departments.
Part of the principle behind integration is consistency and standardisation with resultant efficiencies and quality control, HRLG have already considered practice across departments and will continue to do so when working on the detail of the HR structure, including job descriptions.
Rationale documents for the next stage below Service Head appointments in the integrated Resources department and other service departments are currently being produced by the Designing The Future Project team and will cross reference budgetary and business drivers for the change agenda which have already been communicated to staff and highlighted in consultation events to date.
We are aiming to issue a Section 188 notice covering those staff in the integrated Resources department (who have not already been subject to a 188 notice), on or before 1st December, I mentioned this at the last ICJF. We will also be going out to these staff for expressions of interest in VR at about same time. I am the contact point for this if you need to discuss further.
In conclusion Jack has stated that he will make time to personally talk to HR teams at their request when he is back from his Jury Service and we will continue to communicate and consult with our staff in as many ways as possible throughout the ongoing consultation period.
25 October 2006
UNISON members remortgage for free with Britannia BS
Britannia Building Society is removing the arrangement fee from its remortgage packages, with effect from Thursday 28 September.
UNISON members taking a Britannia remortgage package will benefit from no arrangement fee or administration fee, a free standard valuation, and free conveyancing, including compulsory disbursements - a saving of £829* for a typical customer. In addition UNISON members also receive £150 cashback on completion of the mortgage.
For further information please contact your local Britannia advisor: GAIL WASHINGTON on 07739 734450
Or visit the Britannia stand in County Hall Foyer on Tuesday 31st October between 11.30am and 2pm
* A saving of £829 is based on:
- £399 Arrangement fee
- £100 Administration fee
- £150 standard valuation (based on a property valued between £100,000 and £150,000)
- £180 coveyancing fees
UNISON members taking a Britannia remortgage package will benefit from no arrangement fee or administration fee, a free standard valuation, and free conveyancing, including compulsory disbursements - a saving of £829* for a typical customer. In addition UNISON members also receive £150 cashback on completion of the mortgage.
For further information please contact your local Britannia advisor: GAIL WASHINGTON on 07739 734450
Or visit the Britannia stand in County Hall Foyer on Tuesday 31st October between 11.30am and 2pm
* A saving of £829 is based on:
- £399 Arrangement fee
- £100 Administration fee
- £150 standard valuation (based on a property valued between £100,000 and £150,000)
- £180 coveyancing fees
16 October 2006
Six weeks of campaigning to save the LGPS!
The next six weeks are going to be absolutely crucial to the future of the LGPS. The LGA and the Employers are pushing for a worse scheme for higher contributions despite saving money already by removing the 85 Rule and introducing the 25% lump sum commutation. And neither they or the Government have yet agreed to more protection so…every single UNISON member covered by the scheme is being asked to campaign for its life over the next six weeks, until the draft Regulations outlining the proposed LGPS for the future are published. Read on to find out what you must do.
LGPS Mass Lobby of Parliament: 22 November 2006
As a culmination of the next phase of our campaign, UNISON has decided to hold a rally and mass LGPS lobby of Parliament on 22 November. This date has been chosen because it hopefully falls before the draft Regulations on the new scheme appear, and even if we have them by then, will provide the opportunity to let MP’s know what we want in terms of protection and the new scheme from 2008. We want every branch to send representatives, covering as many LGPS employers as possible.
Political action is the key
Political action is going to be key to winning this dispute. MPs and the Government have to be made to realise that we will not accept an increase in employee contribution for reduced pension benefits and that our fight for full protection goes on. Local elections and the national one in Wales in May 2007 provide an important focus for our political campaign. UNISON members hold the balance in many marginal constituencies, so let’s make our numbers felt!
Further details of the lobby will be issued next week. UNISON will be producing a lobby pack which will include a briefing for you to use when lobbying your MP. In the meantime please make a note of the date – 22 November 2006.
LGA/LGE Response to the DCLG Consultation Paper
The Local Government Association (LGA) and Local Government Employers (LGE) Pensions Committee response to the DCLG consultation was published on 12 October 2006. It suggests support among a minority of councils and employers for an increase in employee contributions and reduced ill health benefits, without some of the key improvements we are looking for from the savings already made on your pension. This ‘more for less’ approach is completely unacceptable and we need to make that clear.
It should be noted that the response is based on only 64 returns from local authorities and 23 other participating employers. So far we do not know which employers/authorities responded to the LGE survey or how they break down according to size or type. The following are the responses under key headings. There is no mention of further protection for existing scheme members.
Scheme Structure
84% of respondents supported a final salary scheme
66% supported retaining the existing scheme structure of 1/80th pension, plus 3/80th lump sum accrual rate
Only 18% supported moving to an improved 1/60th accrual rate
Employee Contributions
72% felt that the average employee contribution should increase to 7% of pay
79% did not support variable employee contributions
81% supported some form of cost sharing - effectively capping employer contributions and triggering an increase in employee contributions or a benefit cut, if exceeded
Employer Contributions
65% supported the LGA position that the employer contribution for future service should be no more than 13% of pay
57% said that the basis for cost sharing should be that any increase in employer future service contribution caused by further improvements in longevity exceeding 13% should be passed on to the employee by way of a benefit cut or increased employee contributions
Ill Health Retirement
71% supported the view that there should be two tier provision
54% agreed there should not be any service enhancement for those in the lower tier ( e.g. those permanently unable to do their own job, but capable of other work)
Pensions for unmarried partners
85% support the introduction of partners’ pensions but…
76% only want it introduced from the date a forthcoming Law Commission report legally defines a ‘cohabitee’
What does your employer think?
We need to be able to demonstrate to DCLG that the LGA\LGE response is not supported by every employer. The Branch will be contacting the local authority to find out if they responded to the consultation. If they did, we will ask them for a copy of their submission and send it to the LGPS Campaign Unit. We will also ask the local authority to write to the Secretary of State, Ruth Kelly at the DCLG, supporting increased protection and opposing an increase in employee contributions for reduced pension benefits.
How you can help
You can help by writing to the Secretary of State, Ruth Kelly at the DCLG (address below) supporting increased protection and opposing an increase in employee contributions for reduced pension benefits. Please send all copies of correspondence you get to the LGPS campaign Unit LGPS@unison.co.uk postal address: LGPS Campaign Unit, UNISON, 1 Mabledon Place, London WC1H 9AJ
Rt. Hon. Ruth Kelly MP
Secretary of State
DCLG
Eland House
Bressenden Place
London SW1 5DU
You can also keep an eye out for details about the lobby of Parliament on 22nd November and consider taking part in it. Put the date in your diary!
Lobby your MP and Council Leader at local level and make it clear that we will not sit by and watch LGPS members get even more unequal pension treatment! If you can’t get to see them, write. Model letters will be on the UNISON web site www.unison.org.uk
During this phase of political campaigning we will also continue organising for possible further industrial action. So, speak to all non-union members in your workplace and ask them to join UNISON in advance of the ballot.
LGPS Mass Lobby of Parliament: 22 November 2006
As a culmination of the next phase of our campaign, UNISON has decided to hold a rally and mass LGPS lobby of Parliament on 22 November. This date has been chosen because it hopefully falls before the draft Regulations on the new scheme appear, and even if we have them by then, will provide the opportunity to let MP’s know what we want in terms of protection and the new scheme from 2008. We want every branch to send representatives, covering as many LGPS employers as possible.
Political action is the key
Political action is going to be key to winning this dispute. MPs and the Government have to be made to realise that we will not accept an increase in employee contribution for reduced pension benefits and that our fight for full protection goes on. Local elections and the national one in Wales in May 2007 provide an important focus for our political campaign. UNISON members hold the balance in many marginal constituencies, so let’s make our numbers felt!
Further details of the lobby will be issued next week. UNISON will be producing a lobby pack which will include a briefing for you to use when lobbying your MP. In the meantime please make a note of the date – 22 November 2006.
LGA/LGE Response to the DCLG Consultation Paper
The Local Government Association (LGA) and Local Government Employers (LGE) Pensions Committee response to the DCLG consultation was published on 12 October 2006. It suggests support among a minority of councils and employers for an increase in employee contributions and reduced ill health benefits, without some of the key improvements we are looking for from the savings already made on your pension. This ‘more for less’ approach is completely unacceptable and we need to make that clear.
It should be noted that the response is based on only 64 returns from local authorities and 23 other participating employers. So far we do not know which employers/authorities responded to the LGE survey or how they break down according to size or type. The following are the responses under key headings. There is no mention of further protection for existing scheme members.
Scheme Structure
84% of respondents supported a final salary scheme
66% supported retaining the existing scheme structure of 1/80th pension, plus 3/80th lump sum accrual rate
Only 18% supported moving to an improved 1/60th accrual rate
Employee Contributions
72% felt that the average employee contribution should increase to 7% of pay
79% did not support variable employee contributions
81% supported some form of cost sharing - effectively capping employer contributions and triggering an increase in employee contributions or a benefit cut, if exceeded
Employer Contributions
65% supported the LGA position that the employer contribution for future service should be no more than 13% of pay
57% said that the basis for cost sharing should be that any increase in employer future service contribution caused by further improvements in longevity exceeding 13% should be passed on to the employee by way of a benefit cut or increased employee contributions
Ill Health Retirement
71% supported the view that there should be two tier provision
54% agreed there should not be any service enhancement for those in the lower tier ( e.g. those permanently unable to do their own job, but capable of other work)
Pensions for unmarried partners
85% support the introduction of partners’ pensions but…
76% only want it introduced from the date a forthcoming Law Commission report legally defines a ‘cohabitee’
What does your employer think?
We need to be able to demonstrate to DCLG that the LGA\LGE response is not supported by every employer. The Branch will be contacting the local authority to find out if they responded to the consultation. If they did, we will ask them for a copy of their submission and send it to the LGPS Campaign Unit. We will also ask the local authority to write to the Secretary of State, Ruth Kelly at the DCLG, supporting increased protection and opposing an increase in employee contributions for reduced pension benefits.
How you can help
You can help by writing to the Secretary of State, Ruth Kelly at the DCLG (address below) supporting increased protection and opposing an increase in employee contributions for reduced pension benefits. Please send all copies of correspondence you get to the LGPS campaign Unit LGPS@unison.co.uk postal address: LGPS Campaign Unit, UNISON, 1 Mabledon Place, London WC1H 9AJ
Rt. Hon. Ruth Kelly MP
Secretary of State
DCLG
Eland House
Bressenden Place
London SW1 5DU
You can also keep an eye out for details about the lobby of Parliament on 22nd November and consider taking part in it. Put the date in your diary!
Lobby your MP and Council Leader at local level and make it clear that we will not sit by and watch LGPS members get even more unequal pension treatment! If you can’t get to see them, write. Model letters will be on the UNISON web site www.unison.org.uk
During this phase of political campaigning we will also continue organising for possible further industrial action. So, speak to all non-union members in your workplace and ask them to join UNISON in advance of the ballot.
12 October 2006
Black History Month Press Release
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE USE
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE UNISON SUPPORTS BLACK HISTORY MONTH
October is celebrated as Black History Month in the UK and Nottinghamshire UNISON's Black Members Group has been working with a number of organisations including the City and County Library services, performance artists "Blackdrop" and the Broadway Cinema to put on a range of events.
A display has been set up in County Hall reception from 9th to 20th October and events have been organised on the following lunchtimes between 12 and 2 pm:
The City and County library Services are organising events.
There will be a large collection of books and archive material on display at the following County libraries: Arnold, Beeston, Mansfield, Newark, Stapleford, and West Bridgford. For more details visit the website: www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/home/leisure/libraries.htm
The City Library Service will have arts and craft activities and fun days as well as opportunities to check out your family history. Food and drink will also be available.
ENDS
For more details:
Tel: Selwyn Seymour (Notts UNISON Equalities Officer) 0115 9810405
FOR IMMEDIATE USE
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE UNISON SUPPORTS BLACK HISTORY MONTH
October is celebrated as Black History Month in the UK and Nottinghamshire UNISON's Black Members Group has been working with a number of organisations including the City and County Library services, performance artists "Blackdrop" and the Broadway Cinema to put on a range of events.
A display has been set up in County Hall reception from 9th to 20th October and events have been organised on the following lunchtimes between 12 and 2 pm:
- Thurs 12th Oct: Meet a Nottingham College Lecture & Rastaman who will talk about his religion and beliefs, his new book and his work in Nottingham schools.
- Friday 13th Oct: Interactive book reading session - discussing the book "Small Island" by Andrea Levy.
- Mon 16th Oct: Performances by Blackdrop
- Thurs 19th Oct: Carnival Costumes on display find out how they are made
The City and County library Services are organising events.
There will be a large collection of books and archive material on display at the following County libraries: Arnold, Beeston, Mansfield, Newark, Stapleford, and West Bridgford. For more details visit the website: www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/home/leisure/libraries.htm
The City Library Service will have arts and craft activities and fun days as well as opportunities to check out your family history. Food and drink will also be available.
- Saturday 21st October: 10.30am-12.30pm. Have a go at African Shield Making and creating your own African jewellery at RADFORD/LENTON LIBRARY, Lenton Blvd Tel: 0115 9151790
- Monday 23rd October: 2.30pm-4.30pm. Create your own African jewellery and have fun designing and painting onto glass MEADOWS LIBRARY, Wilford Grove, Nottingham, Tel: 0115 9159279
- Wednesday 25th October: 10.30am-12.30pm. Drop in for African Shield Making and creating your own African jewellery at HYSON GREEN LIBRARY, Gregory Blvd, Nottingham Tel: 0115 9152483
- Want to know more about your family history for Black History Month? Why not come along to one of the special events planned to take place in Meadows and Hyson Green Libraries. For further details contact Hilary or Christina on Tel: 0115 9152873 or e-mail: local_studies.library@nottinghamcity.gov.uk
ENDS
For more details:
Tel: Selwyn Seymour (Notts UNISON Equalities Officer) 0115 9810405
12 September 2006
Conference Delegates reports
Saturday 17 June
After a long and arduous journey, involving late trains, trains which needed carriages adding on, misleading instructions from station staff and late changes of platforms which required dashes up and down steep flights of steps with bags we could barely lift (Anneka Rice could not have done better!) we arrived at our hotel, albeit somewhat later than expected. Our hotel was very pleasant, although I was assured that Jo’s room resembled a broom cupboard. I could not believe how close we were to the Bournemouth International Conference (B.I.C.) we were – my thanks to the organisers.
Sunday 18 June
All manner of people were seen making their way to the Conference Centre. Our first mission was to visit the UNIZONE to visit the various stalls and collect the many free samples (these however did not include razor blades - BIC...razors? - oh please yourself!)
The Conference was opened by the President of UNISON, Christine Wilde. A talk followed regarding the Standing Order Committee (a presentation by this committee was actually made at the start of business on each day following). Various amendments were given to the Delegates, and I came to realise that this happened each morning. Procedures were explained re motions, debating and voting. The President kept the atmosphere pleasant throughout the week with some light hearted comments (but these were not appreciated by everyone)! Delegates heard how voters had turned away from Labour in elections held on 5th May but disappointment was expressed over the election of some BNP candidates. Gordon Brown’s threat of a pension freeze was criticised an effective and emotion speech. This matter raised concerns but legal proceedings made too much debate difficult. One speaker promised Mr Brown that: “Real pay will be protected. Concerns were aired over the involvement of private industries in state schools – and the effect this could have on education generally and future generations. The NHS is under serious attack and despite many council housing tenants voting against reforms many were still going ahead.
Pay and Conditions (section 2) was debated. This year saw the end of a three year pay agreement and many speakers expressed concerns about this type of arrangement – to predict levels of inflation accurately etc over a three year period was deemed difficult and risky; most people seemed to prefer annual negotiations, whilst acknowledging that this would increase workload. Learning for life was an initiative that was being developed, as was part time working and stress/quality of life. Moves were being made by the employers to reduce car allowances. The Craft workers’ AGM will re-convene in July. An effective pay claim is essential; we must not become complacent. High-energy costs, inflation and interest rates are predicted. Many union members are forced to claim state benefits. All members must be prepared to fight for a fair deal. A pay rise, which merely matches the rate of inflation, is in fact equal to a pay freeze!! We must win the pension battle to help win the pay war! Motion carried
Three year pay deal. This was opposed for the reasons already stated. We must keep up with the private sector (and some parts of the public sector) an annual pay deal which unites members can only be a good thing – one year pay deals are the way to go! Gordon Brown’s stated wish to cap our pay rise at 2% for the next three years is totally unacceptable – we must win a pay rise above the rate of inflation. I was surprised at what I perceived to be far less delegates attending the local government conference than I had anticipated.
Much debate followed re: the low pay of public services/local government staff; a three year plan was not seen as being for staff (only employers). An amendment to motion 5 – asking that all members are consulted on pay negotiations was comprehensively debated.
Motion9: Aggregation of all previous service for NJC staff. The speaker for this motion was not present but it was passed by conference.
Motion 43: Housing and the code of practice on workforce matters. The state of public housing was discussed – widespread discontent was expressed. There had been a recent victory in Edinburgh when tenants had voted to stay within council control. Council run properties were very much the preferred option. Motion to support was carried
Motion 44: Unison in Housing Associations. UNISON is trying to increase membership within Housing Associations. UNISON support local councils being in control of housing for tenants but does wish to support membership within the new Housing Associations etc. UNISON is committed to supporting members within new environments. Motion to support was carried
At times there was confusion over the order of speakers but again the President continued to organise the running order and keeps matters ‘light’ with some comical comments (although one delegate expressed disquiet about ‘lack of respect’ being shown)
Motion 45: ALMOS and Housing Stock Transfers. A very important issue! A ‘star rating’ system has led to some councils being given, inexplicably, a lower star rating than some ALMOS. Customers (i.e. tenants) do seem to feel that they are getting poorer service under the ALMO system. Continuity of services may not be recognised. Terms and Conditions are being amended detrimentally for some staff – leading to loss of benefits in some cases. It was felt that ALMOS are bad news for tenants and UNISON members. Should the ‘Positively Public’ campaign be re-introduced? The emotive delivery of some of the speeches showed the depth of feeling over this matter; there was deep concern within UNISON for the rights of protection for ordinary men and women. It was highlighted that some ALMOS had received a lower star rating than the local council and yet had been given more in the way of financial grants/support. The overwhelming feeling was to bring housing back into in-house control. Motion to support was carried
Motion 6: Ill health retirement. A fantastically original speech emphasised the problems for staff that may need ill health retirement. The importance of the Occupational Health service liaising with G.P.s and specialists when assessing the long-term prognosis for staff that become ill or suffer injuries, which could affect their work, was debated fully. Motion supported.
P Rowbotham
Monday 19th June – AM
The morning events started with a point of order. This was to request that Heather Wakefield report to conference where and when talks on the LGPS are taking place and when the talks will end. Also if necessary when a ballot will take place for the resumption of strike action. Heather responded with details of the timetable and said that as yet only one meeting had taken place to discuss the new look scheme however more were due shortly.
The following motions were then heard:
Motion 31 – The disability equality duty and local government.
This was carried as amended by composite A
Motion 31 – Positively promoting disability equality - Carried
Motion 32 – Rehabilitation services for disabled people - Carried
Motion 33 – Race equality schemes - Carried as amended by 33.01
At this point we welcomed a guest speaker, the Head of Policy for the Equal Opportunities Commission Unison were invited to work closely with the EOC to which the chair of conference responded that she was sure unison would take up this offer.
Motion 34 – Private sector transfers and the race relations (amendment) act - Carried
At this point a speaker addressed conference to say that there was huge disappointment that the conference room was not full. It was expressed as a concern that many people had left the room when this was the best opportunity to discuss equal opportunity issues.
Conference overwhelmingly supported the speakers concerns.
Motion 35 – The local government implications of the gender equality duty - Carried
Conference completed the morning’s agenda and a motion remaining from the previous day was heard at this point.
Motion 29 – Carried
We now moved on to the reserve agenda
Motion 7 – Cycle allowances - Carried
Motion 8 – Fuel price negotiations - Carried as amended by 8.01
Motion 10 – Homeworking - Carried
Motion 11 – Part time is not second best. This motion was remitted due to objections by Notts County branch to a paragraph which referred to term time only working acting in a positive way in schools due to workforce remodelling.
Motion 12 – Carried as amended by composite C
Motion 18 – Craftworkers - Carried as amended by composite D
Vicki Corden
Monday 19th June - PM
Conference began this afternoon with a speaker from Fenalstase one of our sister trade union for public employees in Columbia, Ana Lucia Pinzon. She brought warm greetings to Unison from Finalstrase and raised conference’s awareness of the geography, economy and politics of Columbia.
I for one was unaware that 20% of land in Columbia is owned by 96% of the population the other 80% being owned by a handful of rich, powerful families. Ana Lucia reminded us that there is much corruption and told us of the thousands of people who have been displaced, disappeared or driven into exile by paramilitaries who target trade unionisits. Indeed Columbia is the most dangerous place to belong to a trade union. Last year 250 trade unionists were killed and 80 driven into exile.
Public services have been put into the hands of four private providers supported by foreign finance, this means that:
48% of the population has no access to healthcare
18% of the polulation is illiterate
There is much malnutrition especially amongst women, children and the elderly. Trade union membership is 5%
Ana Lucia asked the people of UK to put pressure on our Government to ensure that any money given to Columbia goes on health and education and not to army units. She quite rightly received a standing ovation. I saw her later in the afternoon as I passed through the coffee bar, a tiny woman, no taller than my towering height of 5’ 2” but she had such a strength of belief that she seemed much bigger than me!
And then it was on to business.
Motion 13 on Term time only pay was first with delegates putting forward strong arguements for a concerted campaign against Term time only as the way for school support staff to be employed. With points including; the removal of the right to benefits for the weeks not paid, JE clawing back negotiated gains. The motion and it’s amendments were carried.
Motion 36 Extended Schools followed and I didn’t take notes on this as I was the first speaker in support of the substantive motion. It was disappointing to note whilst speaking that many delegates were absent from the hall. I put forward the Notts County perspective and encouraged delegates to support the motion and the amendments. 36, 36.1 and 36.2 were carried.
A presentation from the Disability Equality Scheme in Further Education followed, the information about this can be found on the Unison website.
Motion 37 School staff pay and conditions was moved by Glenn Kelly from the Service Group Executive. The speakers all encouraged delegates to support the motion and amendments and raised awareness of issues facing support staff in schools and those who represent them.
Motion 40 was asking for awareness raising in the area of bullying based on grounds of sexuaility or transgender issues in schools. This motion was carried after speakers made us think and note to raise the issue at our JCNP.
Motions 41 and 42 were from Further Education and we were horrified to hear that many FE colleges refuse to implement national pay awards. 41 and 42 were both carried.
The last motion of Local Government Conference 2006 was moved by Chris Tansley and was a Composite on Underfunding of Social Care. Due to lack of time it was moved straight to the vote and was carried.
All outstanding items were referred to SGE who will give their considerations in due course. I have full details of motions covered this afternoon for anyone who would like them.
Jo Myers
Tuesday 20th June: Morning
National Delegate Conference starts
I had come to Bournmouth feeling well prepared having been to told a lot about the rigours of attending conference both by colleagues and the excellent pre conference course run at area Headquarters. My head was thus full of warnings about lack of sleep due to “over socialising” and the difficulties of decoding the arcane procedures of the conference hall. What they did not warn about, however, was the problem of sitting in uncomfortable chairs for seven hours or so a day! The lack of sleep turned out to be correct though, not due to the predicted reason, however, but due to a noisy road outside an overheated hotel room.
By the time conference proper started on Tuesday morning I was beginning to feel like an old hand having already experienced a very interesting two days in the same hall at the Local Government Conference. The National Delegate Conference, however, was an altogether less sedate affair with much more debate due to more contested motions. The atmosphere was better as the hall was more full though this tailed off through the week as people drifted out to the bars during the less contentious motions and, no doubt, to escape those seats. Perversely this helped the comfort level by affording rather more leg and elbow room and room to put the all important papers which conference generates freely.
The first morning was taken up mainly with fairly boring, but necessary, business and the more meaty stuff did not really get going until the afternoon. The president, Christine Wilde, opened conference by telling us about her year and leading a silence for those who were no longer with us since last year. The Annual reports and accounts followed and, interestingly, the controversy started at this point, even before the substantive business, as three questions were asked of the Standing Orders Committee about motions which had been ruled out of order. These motions had been ruled invalid as being against the rules of the political fund. This was to be a recurring theme. Nevertheless conference voted to refer them back for reconsideration but to no avail. Controversial, and to some people time wasting, though these questions are, they did illustrate for me the democratic nature of the union in action. The rest of the morning seemed to be taken up by conference, unsuccessfully, trying to get the annual report itself referred back either in whole or in part.
It was almost a relief then to move on to the main business of the day starting with motion 25 on the under funding of social care. This was predictably passed as amended without controversy. Motion 29 about offshoring then followed swiftly and created an interesting debate about the critical nature of an issue which is having an effect in sectors other than my own and of which I feel I should have been more aware. Of course it was passed. Occasionally the non controversial nature of the motions could, shall we say, allow the mind to wander. Inevitably, though, just as I was drifting under the combined influence of a succession of soporific speakers and an air conditioning system which had decided to go into overdrive, a new speaker would wake up the hall with either a joke or a serious point and the debate would take off once more. Inevitably on some of the more contentious issues some people would get quite worked up both from the platform and in the body of the hall. Far from seeing this as the problem which it could appear to at first sight, I came to the conclusion that giving a forum to strong and contentious views was precisely what conference was about. Such views need debate and as a campaigning organisation it is surely healthy that we express them openly, clearly and democratically.
In the moments in which I was able to think about things other than the business of the platform it was interesting to note that the power of ideas in conference were not only expressed through the three or five minutes speakers had on the platform. Indeed the number of delegates in the hall at any one time spoke almost as much about the strength of feeling of delegates as the speeches did, as was witnessed by the way the hall filled for the more interesting and contentious motions. Individual feelings were eloquently expresses through the slogans on T shirts while boredom was expressed by delegates who I saw reading books or, surely the worst insult of all, reading the Daily M**l (sharp intake of breath). This ever changing world, for it seemed the hall was becoming more and more our world as the week wore on, was to become characteristic of the next four days which I can honestly say I enjoyed immensely (yes I know I’m sad). It was an experience not to be missed even if the enjoyment, especially the social side of it, would have been even greater if our group had been up to full strength. Well maybe next year Eh?
Ian Thomson
Tuesday afternoon – 20 June
Motion 29 – Off shoring. This motion had been brought forward from the morning session and dealt with the issue of companies in the UK making employees redundant and moving sections of work to either another part of the UK or, more commonly, abroad. Whilst speakers fully appreciated the situation foreign workers were in they were, understandably, very concerned about the effect on UK jobs and economy. Some industries were starting to reverse their decision; Powergen had recently announced that they would be closing offshore call centres as they were deemed not to have worked as well as anticipated! Conference called for a campaign to negotiate strategies for the impact of off shoring to be fully assessed and for the interests of members to be protected. Motion carried
Motion 54: Not so sweet sixteen. This motion dealt with the imbalances for 16 and 17 year olds. Rates of pay, the right to vote etc. All age ranges supported the motion for under 18s to be given equal rights. Motion carried
An address by Dave Prentis, General Secretary of UNISON, followed the ‘Not so sweet sixteen’ motion (surely just unfortunate timing)? An introduction, including a picture which showed Mr Prentiss in place of the England Manager with the English World Cup Squad around him, and being played onto stage to the song ‘England’s coming home’ was well received. With satirical comments and topical jokes he started his address to conference. He spoke against cuts in public spending, acknowledged the success in the action day of 28 March (this had been spoken about by many speakers at both local and national level) and emphasised that Unison’s continued support for the Labour Party should not be taken for granted. Many concerns about this matter had been voiced. He warned that industrial action would resume if members voted for it; should the judicial review currently underway not be favourable. His speech was well received by conference.
Composite B: Public Services and Funding was carried.
Motion 24: Public Services. This dealt with the Government’s worrying reform agenda for public services. Speakers presented their case with genuine concern for the future effect on public services and the apparent support for private providers. Conference called for support to local and regional campaigns to defend public services from privatisation, for an alternative agenda for service provision to be established. Motion carried
Motion 86: NHS Marketisation. This motion dealt with a proposed campaign against cuts and closures in the NHS, to work with the NHS (and relevant groups) to develop a positive vision for the future of primary care, to campaign against marketisation. Again, speakers spoke with emotion and genuine deep concern over these issues. – And the impact on marketisation within the NHS. Motion was carried
Motion 91 – A Patient led NHS. Conference was to have heard this motion during this session but ran out of time.
P Rowbotham
WEDNESDAY 21ST JUNE 2006
Conference opened with guest speaker Thabitha Khumalo: general secretary of the Women’s Advisory Council of the Congress of Zimbabwe Trade Unions, a mother and campaigner for women’s rights. Thabitha has fought tirelessly for women’s rights in Zimbabwe, despite being arrested over 22 times, tortured and gang-raped for highlighting the plight of Zimbabwean women who are unable to afford basic sanitary wear following the collapse of the Zimbabwean economy. The Zimbabwean women would have to spend half of their monthly income to buy sanitary products, so women resort to using rolled up newspapers, old cloths, leaves and even barks of trees, which can lead to very serious infections and infertility. Despite further threats to her life and liberty, Thabitha continues to campaign tirelessly for this most basic of human rights for the women of her country. Dignity.Period! is a campaign launched to raise funds to buy large quantities of sanitary goods for Zimbabwean women and is being supported by the Trade Union Movement in Britain. Thabitha is a truly remarkable woman and there was not a dry eye in sight after her speech. Conference also raised over £2,000 for her campaign work.
Motion 53 – Citizenship Rights: Conference notes the disgraceful discrimination of children born in this country but denied citizenship due to the nationality of their parents. This discrimination is directed mainly at black and ethnic minority people. NEC were called upon to campaign for full citizenship rights for all those born in the UK and also to work with Labour Link to lobby the government for urgent legislation to end the discrimination. This motion was carried.
Motion 51 + 51.1 – Identity Cards : Conference noted that the ID Act 2006 was now in place and reaffirmed its opposition to the scheme and that the scheme had cost implications that would disproportionately impact on the less well off and also have a race relations impact. This will also impact on members who will be called onto check and record information for the national database. Conference resolved to campaign for the government to abandon this scheme and UNISON to work with relevant organisations to ensure this happens. This motion was carried as amended by 51.1
Motion 1 + 1.1 – Organising for Growth: Branches to adopt an organising approach, encourage stewards to attend the One Step Ahead training, work with national project team to establish reliable density figures, review and revise facility time, access regional pool for organising activities and also encourage young people to join. This motion was carried with amendment
Composite A – Organising for the Future: UNISON’s Strategy for Inter Union relation: UNISON reaffirmed its vision of organising for the future. Conference expressed the belief it was essential to explore all means of strengthening the position of workers to resist threat and deliver closer links. NEC to undertake an audit of relevant trade union and professional organisations; devise a strategy for strengthening inter-union relations by a number of means recommended by the motion. Motion carried and Amendment A.1 was withdrawn
Motion 4 - UNISON Learning and Organising: NEC to lobby government and devolved government’s to ensure that there is a consistent UK wide approach to resourcing the Organising for Learning Strategy, to ensure all regional organising plans include a strategy for activist learning by including education and training of activists, by promoting the establishment of Branch Education teams, by ensuring branches set aside resources and have a coherent activist education strategy, develop further methods for training and support and continue to promote learning partnerships with employees. This motion was carried.
Motion 91 – A Patient-led NHS: NEC to reinvigorate its campaign to oppose the Government’s NHS policy, which is more about privatisation than modernisation. UNISON to everything it can to stop this latest policy progressing. Say ‘NO’ to a two-tier workforce and ‘NO’ to a two-tier health service. Motion carried
Maggie Pilmore
Thursday 23rd June - AM
It was business as usual many motions to get through mainly this morning because it was rule changes to the rulebook this afternoon oh joy. What as been very noticeable this year at conference (no not that we were only 3 min’s from the venue) it was the brilliant selection of guest speakers and today the quality did not waver.
Speaking were two trade union leaders, one from Palestine by the name of Abla Masrujeh from the Palestine general Federation of Trade Unions. And, the other from Israel OPHIR ELKALAY representing Histradrut General Federation of Labour Israel, so as you can imagine the quality bar was still held high. The two speakers stood side by side portraying they all had one common goal PEACE.
The point of view from Israel went first not the well documented side that is been shown on the news media, but from a personal side The story of a relative who died while serving in the army by an hammas suicide bomber. All he wants to do is to represent his members go to work and to live in PEACE.
The theme of everyday life was the subject of the Palestine address; Abla told the story of a woman who was in labour traveling to hospital in a ambulance and been stopped by Israeli Solders and taken 3 hours before been able to go to hospital. All she wants to do is to represent her members go to work and live in PEACE.
I am not a expert in the Israel/Palestine conflict, but the one and only way to move forward to me is to listen to the ordinary people Trying to live their ordinary lives in their ordinary communities and the answer will be PEACE, PEACE, PEACE
Thursday 23rd June PM
Rule Amendments
No big shocks for conference this after noon only minor adjustments, but one thing remained the same and something near to my heart to stop the wolf in sheep’s clothing getting the benefits of my unison. It is that rule 7 remains the same, and this is how it goes (you will not get the full benefit from unison until you have been in unison for 13 weeks).
However, want about the people who are on 3 month, or more short term contrcts, well my answer to that is most of those contracts are normally rolling ones where their signed before the end of contract.
Martin Francis
AN EQUALITIES OFFICER’S VIEW OF THE WEEK
I was one of an estimated 2000 delegates gathering in Bournemouth for UNISON Annual Conference, it seemed like most of them were on my train. During the week we debated and voted on about 70 motions, below is just a flavour.
Pensions Motions 35 - 44: Pension debate. The employers can be in no doubt that this remains the main issue for our members and that they will be ready to fight if no agreement is reached.
ID Cards Motion 51: The debate was one sided, and no surprise our Union is against ID cards on the grounds of cost effectiveness and believe its an infringement of our Civil Liberties.
My favourite motion was 114 submitted by National Retired Members Committee, Free Travel Pass this is bus and rail and they want it back dated to April for people aged 60 and over. In the future we all will be able to retire at 60 on full pension complete with free bus and rail pass, subsidised council tax, holidays, TV license and claim a summer air conditioning allowance. Sorry just dreaming again!
Protect Our Public Service Motions 24 – 25: UNISON is stepping up its campaign to protect our Public Services from PFI’s privatisation and budget cuts; our colleagues in the health service are spoiling for a fight. We all know there are massive problems in Health Education and Social Services.
Quango’s Motion 74: They spend billions of pounds of our money each year, UNISON say they must become democratically accountable to service users and the public. Surely you all agree with that.
Other Subjects Debated: Global Warming, Nuclear Power replacement of Trident, Work Place Monitoring, Disability Leave Off Shoring, Social Housing, BNP and Racism, Asylum Seekers.
As Joint Equalities Officer, I was interested to hear the debates on motions put forward by our Self Organised Groups (SOG’s). So here’s my report of the main motions presented to Conference from each group.
Young Members Motion 54 – Not So Sweet Sixteen
Young members highlighted the lack of consistency about the legal rights for young people when they reach the age of 16. At the age of 16, a person is considered old enough to pay taxes, to leave school, to marry and to join the armed forces, but not old enough to vote for the people who spend the taxes or to send them to war. They are also treated differently to older workers under the minimum wage legislation, receiving a guarantee for 16 and 17 year olds of just £3.00 per hour, whereas 18-21 year olds minimum wage is £4.10 per hour, and for those over 21 it is £5.05 per hour.
They also pointed out that even these inconsistencies are further complicated by differences across boundaries within the United Kingdom, for example in Northern Ireland the age of consent is 17. On voting age, the Isle of Man lowered its age from 18 to 16 in February this year. They called on Conference to support their call for the situation to be clarified and harmonised to provide for full adult rights and obligations at age 16. Conference agreed and asked the National Executive Council to:
make the case to the membership for full adult rights and obligations at age 16;
support the broad-based Votes at 16 campaign;
raise the issue through appropriate channels, including the Labour Link.
Disabled Members Motion 28 - The Disability Equality Duty and Public Services
Conference welcomed the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 which will impose a new disability equality duty on public bodies and some private companies from December 2006. We believe this Duty could help reconstruct a barrier free society and provide equality of opportunity for the millions of disabled people who are in work, wanting work and those who need public and private services to promote independent living. However, they felt that government has not fully understood the complex and diverse nature of disability discrimination. In particular they were concerned that:
the duties do not extend to cover all major private sector employers;
no extra funding will be made available to employers to assist them with barrier removal;
efficiency reviews may compromise barrier removal by further reducing the funding available;
the government’s Access to Work funding may be restricted within public services;
draconian employment policies and practices may adversely affect disabled employees and disabled people seeking work.
Therefore, they called upon the National Executive Council to work with Labour Link, the General Political Fund Committee and Service Group Executives, as appropriate, to:
lobby government to extend the new Duties to employers operating in the private sector;
lobby government to increase resources available to disabled people and employers to remove the barriers to getting and keeping work;
negotiate adequate employer funding for barrier removal;
negotiate incentives for disabled people to declare disability status;
lobby employers to introduce disability leave policies and review existing employment policies to ensure that unfair sickness absence procedures and punitive practices are removed;
ask branches to encourage public service employers to display the UNISON sponsored “Beyond the Barriers” poster series as a statement of their commitment to improving work and other opportunities to disabled people.
LGBT Motion 8 – 92: Monitoring of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity by Employers
Conference welcomed the growing recognition of the need to combat discrimination against LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) workers and the agreements reached with some employers to integrate work towards LGBT equality into their equality programmes. They noted that the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 introduced a requirement on public authorities to monitor workers’ ethnicity, as part of the statutory duty to promote race equality. Similar duties to promote equality on grounds of disability and gender will also be coming into force.
Conference further noted that some UNISON employers are seeking to introduce monitoring of workers’ sexual orientation and/or gender history, although this is not a statutory requirement. Conference recognised that some of the benefits of monitoring for LGBT staff include:
the recognition of our presence in the workplace;
raising our visibility within the workplace instead of pretending we don’t exist;
it will allow large employers to identify differences between work locations and progress over time.
Conference also recognised that workplace monitoring, even though it is becoming more widely accepted, does have some limitations and dangers:
we have no useful data from local communities to use as a comparator;
the mere presence of LGBT staff in itself does not provide us with information on whether they are out or not and on the level of homophobia staff experience;
concerns over preserving anonymity for LGBT staff who complete a monitoring form.
Conference believed that while workforce monitoring can play an effective part in a successful equalities strategy, it is too often embarked on with no clear thought as to its purpose. This results in merely the collection of data.
Conference noted substantive differences between a person’s ethnicity or gender and their sexual orientation or gender identity. These include the fact that many LGBT workers conceal their sexual orientation or gender history in an attempt to avoid discrimination and harassment, and the fact that people’s naming of their own sexual orientation/gender history often changes over the course of their working life.
Conference welcomed the detailed Trade Union Congress guidance on monitoring LGBT workers, which sets out principles that must be established before unions agree to the introduction of such monitoring. In view of this, Conference believed that where employers do undertake such monitoring that the following are essential:
steps are taken to ensure the anonymity of staff responses is maintained;
the employer makes a clear commitment to promoting LGBT equality in employment and service provision and everyone should be clear why monitoring for sexual orientation and gender identity is being carried out, and what will be done with the results;
full consultation with staff side unions;
consultation with appropriate LGBT employee groups;
a commitment to maintaining confidentiality for those who choose to respond, while respecting the right of those not wishing to do so.
Conference endorsed these principles and called on all UNISON negotiators to seek to ensure that workforce monitoring of sexual orientation and gender identity is only introduced if these points have been achieved.
Motion : AgendaID 092 - Screening of Blood Donors
Conference noted that the purpose of the blood services in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is to provide a safe and adequate supply of blood. Screening of blood donors for HIV is necessary for the safety of the blood supply because the available tests for screening donated blood for HIV are not infallible, it is not possible to heat-treat whole blood, and there is a 90 per cent chance of contracting HIV from a transfusion of HIV infected blood.
Conference was concerned that the current permanent ban on men who have ever had oral or anal sex with another man from giving blood perpetuates a damaging and false myth that all gay men are at risk of HIV. There are thousands of gay and bisexual men who have never had sex without using condoms or who have had negative HIV tests since they last did so. Many of these men are frustrated and angered by the current ban preventing them from giving blood. Policies on who may and who may not donate blood must be justified and must flow directly from hard evidence from risk assessments on groups at risk, subject to regular review. There should always be clear medical and epidemiological justification for any difference in treatment between groups of potential donors.
Conference noted that both UNISON and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have raised questions with the National Blood Service about reviewing the evidence on which it bases its current policy, the language used in information to potential donors and practice in donor sessions. They called on the National Executive Council, in conjunction with the Health Service Group Executive and the TUC to:
work with the Terrence Higgins Trust and other HIV/AIDS organisations to review current research and best practice in the field of blood screening and, if appropriate, call for the amendment of blood donation policy and procedures in light of it;
ensure that UNISON has an effective input into any National Blood Service review of the language and literature used in the Donor Screening Policy.
Black Members Motion 118 – 53
Progress of Black members’ Issues in UNISON. Motions passed at National Delegate Conference need to be actioned in order to deliver on outcomes. The NBMC is concerned at the number of repeat motions brought to Conference, indicating that these remained unactioned. Sharon Foster moved Motion 53 on Citizenship Rights regarding the shocking example of government legislation, not fully considering the impact where some babies less than 12 months old have to demonstrate their “good character” before they can obtain citizenship! Sharon called upon delegates to use the Labour Link, collectively to pressure the government to meet its commitment – as Tony Blair said, every child matters. The Motion was carried.
During the week a procession of guest speakers appeared at Conference the most emotion was Thabitha Kumalo, Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) gave a moving account of the corruption and poverty in Zimbabwe and some of the effects it is having on women and girls. Thabitha has been raped and tortured for standing up for the rights of women in Zimbabwe and faces being arrested on her return. Due to the economic collapse in Zimbabwe, essential hygiene products are unaffordable. Women, mothers and girls are having to decide whether to spend the little money they have on food or sanitary wear, inevitably opting for food and resorting to using newspaper, bits of cloth or the bark from trees to stem the flow during their periods. This brings additional problems with infections and no access to medical aid.
By far the best speaker was Shami Chakrabarti, ‘director of Liberty, she gave an inspired speech on human and civil rights. Commenting on the war on terror, ID cards and asylum rights, Shami called on members to fight together to protect basic human rights. Other guest speakers included:
Gloria Mills, first black woman to be elected as TUC president.
Kate Hudson, CND Chairperson
Abla Mesrujeh of Palestine, General Federation of Trade Unions and Optir Elticalay of Histradrut General Federation of Labour Israel.
After a full day’s work I found time to attend the following fringe meetings:
Havana Club Rum Reception: Present were Rene Mujica Cantelar, Cuban Ambassordor, Dave Prentis, General Secretary of UNISON and Colin Burgon MP, Chair of friends of Venezuela despite 45 years of us blockading Cubans puts us to shame when it comes to health and education.
Stop the War Bring Our Troops Home: Guest speaker Tony Benn
Latin America Fringe
Campaign Against Climate Change
Anti Racism Campaign: Guest speaker Claude Monees MEP
Save our NHS
CND Say No To Trident: Guest Speaker CND Chairperson, Kate Hudson
Lets make one thing clear you don’t have to agree to attend a fringe meeting. Listen to the debates is what matters. It was a hectic week but I enjoyed every moment, I’ve come back better informed on a variety of issues at home and abroad. Bye for now.
Selwyn Seymour
After a long and arduous journey, involving late trains, trains which needed carriages adding on, misleading instructions from station staff and late changes of platforms which required dashes up and down steep flights of steps with bags we could barely lift (Anneka Rice could not have done better!) we arrived at our hotel, albeit somewhat later than expected. Our hotel was very pleasant, although I was assured that Jo’s room resembled a broom cupboard. I could not believe how close we were to the Bournemouth International Conference (B.I.C.) we were – my thanks to the organisers.Sunday 18 June
All manner of people were seen making their way to the Conference Centre. Our first mission was to visit the UNIZONE to visit the various stalls and collect the many free samples (these however did not include razor blades - BIC...razors? - oh please yourself!)
The Conference was opened by the President of UNISON, Christine Wilde. A talk followed regarding the Standing Order Committee (a presentation by this committee was actually made at the start of business on each day following). Various amendments were given to the Delegates, and I came to realise that this happened each morning. Procedures were explained re motions, debating and voting. The President kept the atmosphere pleasant throughout the week with some light hearted comments (but these were not appreciated by everyone)! Delegates heard how voters had turned away from Labour in elections held on 5th May but disappointment was expressed over the election of some BNP candidates. Gordon Brown’s threat of a pension freeze was criticised an effective and emotion speech. This matter raised concerns but legal proceedings made too much debate difficult. One speaker promised Mr Brown that: “Real pay will be protected. Concerns were aired over the involvement of private industries in state schools – and the effect this could have on education generally and future generations. The NHS is under serious attack and despite many council housing tenants voting against reforms many were still going ahead.Pay and Conditions (section 2) was debated. This year saw the end of a three year pay agreement and many speakers expressed concerns about this type of arrangement – to predict levels of inflation accurately etc over a three year period was deemed difficult and risky; most people seemed to prefer annual negotiations, whilst acknowledging that this would increase workload. Learning for life was an initiative that was being developed, as was part time working and stress/quality of life. Moves were being made by the employers to reduce car allowances. The Craft workers’ AGM will re-convene in July. An effective pay claim is essential; we must not become complacent. High-energy costs, inflation and interest rates are predicted. Many union members are forced to claim state benefits. All members must be prepared to fight for a fair deal. A pay rise, which merely matches the rate of inflation, is in fact equal to a pay freeze!! We must win the pension battle to help win the pay war! Motion carried
Three year pay deal. This was opposed for the reasons already stated. We must keep up with the private sector (and some parts of the public sector) an annual pay deal which unites members can only be a good thing – one year pay deals are the way to go! Gordon Brown’s stated wish to cap our pay rise at 2% for the next three years is totally unacceptable – we must win a pay rise above the rate of inflation. I was surprised at what I perceived to be far less delegates attending the local government conference than I had anticipated.
Much debate followed re: the low pay of public services/local government staff; a three year plan was not seen as being for staff (only employers). An amendment to motion 5 – asking that all members are consulted on pay negotiations was comprehensively debated.
Motion9: Aggregation of all previous service for NJC staff. The speaker for this motion was not present but it was passed by conference.
Motion 43: Housing and the code of practice on workforce matters. The state of public housing was discussed – widespread discontent was expressed. There had been a recent victory in Edinburgh when tenants had voted to stay within council control. Council run properties were very much the preferred option. Motion to support was carried
Motion 44: Unison in Housing Associations. UNISON is trying to increase membership within Housing Associations. UNISON support local councils being in control of housing for tenants but does wish to support membership within the new Housing Associations etc. UNISON is committed to supporting members within new environments. Motion to support was carried
At times there was confusion over the order of speakers but again the President continued to organise the running order and keeps matters ‘light’ with some comical comments (although one delegate expressed disquiet about ‘lack of respect’ being shown)
Motion 45: ALMOS and Housing Stock Transfers. A very important issue! A ‘star rating’ system has led to some councils being given, inexplicably, a lower star rating than some ALMOS. Customers (i.e. tenants) do seem to feel that they are getting poorer service under the ALMO system. Continuity of services may not be recognised. Terms and Conditions are being amended detrimentally for some staff – leading to loss of benefits in some cases. It was felt that ALMOS are bad news for tenants and UNISON members. Should the ‘Positively Public’ campaign be re-introduced? The emotive delivery of some of the speeches showed the depth of feeling over this matter; there was deep concern within UNISON for the rights of protection for ordinary men and women. It was highlighted that some ALMOS had received a lower star rating than the local council and yet had been given more in the way of financial grants/support. The overwhelming feeling was to bring housing back into in-house control. Motion to support was carried
Motion 6: Ill health retirement. A fantastically original speech emphasised the problems for staff that may need ill health retirement. The importance of the Occupational Health service liaising with G.P.s and specialists when assessing the long-term prognosis for staff that become ill or suffer injuries, which could affect their work, was debated fully. Motion supported.
P Rowbotham
Monday 19th June – AM
The morning events started with a point of order. This was to request that Heather Wakefield report to conference where and when talks on the LGPS are taking place and when the talks will end. Also if necessary when a ballot will take place for the resumption of strike action. Heather responded with details of the timetable and said that as yet only one meeting had taken place to discuss the new look scheme however more were due shortly.
The following motions were then heard:
Motion 31 – The disability equality duty and local government.
This was carried as amended by composite A
Motion 31 – Positively promoting disability equality - Carried
Motion 32 – Rehabilitation services for disabled people - Carried
Motion 33 – Race equality schemes - Carried as amended by 33.01
At this point we welcomed a guest speaker, the Head of Policy for the Equal Opportunities Commission Unison were invited to work closely with the EOC to which the chair of conference responded that she was sure unison would take up this offer.
Motion 34 – Private sector transfers and the race relations (amendment) act - Carried
At this point a speaker addressed conference to say that there was huge disappointment that the conference room was not full. It was expressed as a concern that many people had left the room when this was the best opportunity to discuss equal opportunity issues.
Conference overwhelmingly supported the speakers concerns.
Motion 35 – The local government implications of the gender equality duty - Carried
Conference completed the morning’s agenda and a motion remaining from the previous day was heard at this point.
Motion 29 – Carried
We now moved on to the reserve agenda
Motion 7 – Cycle allowances - Carried
Motion 8 – Fuel price negotiations - Carried as amended by 8.01
Motion 10 – Homeworking - Carried
Motion 11 – Part time is not second best. This motion was remitted due to objections by Notts County branch to a paragraph which referred to term time only working acting in a positive way in schools due to workforce remodelling.
Motion 12 – Carried as amended by composite C
Motion 18 – Craftworkers - Carried as amended by composite D
Vicki Corden
Monday 19th June - PM
Conference began this afternoon with a speaker from Fenalstase one of our sister trade union for public employees in Columbia, Ana Lucia Pinzon. She brought warm greetings to Unison from Finalstrase and raised conference’s awareness of the geography, economy and politics of Columbia.I for one was unaware that 20% of land in Columbia is owned by 96% of the population the other 80% being owned by a handful of rich, powerful families. Ana Lucia reminded us that there is much corruption and told us of the thousands of people who have been displaced, disappeared or driven into exile by paramilitaries who target trade unionisits. Indeed Columbia is the most dangerous place to belong to a trade union. Last year 250 trade unionists were killed and 80 driven into exile.
Public services have been put into the hands of four private providers supported by foreign finance, this means that:
48% of the population has no access to healthcare
18% of the polulation is illiterate
There is much malnutrition especially amongst women, children and the elderly. Trade union membership is 5%
Ana Lucia asked the people of UK to put pressure on our Government to ensure that any money given to Columbia goes on health and education and not to army units. She quite rightly received a standing ovation. I saw her later in the afternoon as I passed through the coffee bar, a tiny woman, no taller than my towering height of 5’ 2” but she had such a strength of belief that she seemed much bigger than me!
And then it was on to business.
Motion 13 on Term time only pay was first with delegates putting forward strong arguements for a concerted campaign against Term time only as the way for school support staff to be employed. With points including; the removal of the right to benefits for the weeks not paid, JE clawing back negotiated gains. The motion and it’s amendments were carried.
Motion 36 Extended Schools followed and I didn’t take notes on this as I was the first speaker in support of the substantive motion. It was disappointing to note whilst speaking that many delegates were absent from the hall. I put forward the Notts County perspective and encouraged delegates to support the motion and the amendments. 36, 36.1 and 36.2 were carried.
A presentation from the Disability Equality Scheme in Further Education followed, the information about this can be found on the Unison website.
Motion 37 School staff pay and conditions was moved by Glenn Kelly from the Service Group Executive. The speakers all encouraged delegates to support the motion and amendments and raised awareness of issues facing support staff in schools and those who represent them.
Motion 40 was asking for awareness raising in the area of bullying based on grounds of sexuaility or transgender issues in schools. This motion was carried after speakers made us think and note to raise the issue at our JCNP.
Motions 41 and 42 were from Further Education and we were horrified to hear that many FE colleges refuse to implement national pay awards. 41 and 42 were both carried.
The last motion of Local Government Conference 2006 was moved by Chris Tansley and was a Composite on Underfunding of Social Care. Due to lack of time it was moved straight to the vote and was carried.
All outstanding items were referred to SGE who will give their considerations in due course. I have full details of motions covered this afternoon for anyone who would like them.
Jo Myers
Tuesday 20th June: Morning
National Delegate Conference starts
I had come to Bournmouth feeling well prepared having been to told a lot about the rigours of attending conference both by colleagues and the excellent pre conference course run at area Headquarters. My head was thus full of warnings about lack of sleep due to “over socialising” and the difficulties of decoding the arcane procedures of the conference hall. What they did not warn about, however, was the problem of sitting in uncomfortable chairs for seven hours or so a day! The lack of sleep turned out to be correct though, not due to the predicted reason, however, but due to a noisy road outside an overheated hotel room.
By the time conference proper started on Tuesday morning I was beginning to feel like an old hand having already experienced a very interesting two days in the same hall at the Local Government Conference. The National Delegate Conference, however, was an altogether less sedate affair with much more debate due to more contested motions. The atmosphere was better as the hall was more full though this tailed off through the week as people drifted out to the bars during the less contentious motions and, no doubt, to escape those seats. Perversely this helped the comfort level by affording rather more leg and elbow room and room to put the all important papers which conference generates freely.
The first morning was taken up mainly with fairly boring, but necessary, business and the more meaty stuff did not really get going until the afternoon. The president, Christine Wilde, opened conference by telling us about her year and leading a silence for those who were no longer with us since last year. The Annual reports and accounts followed and, interestingly, the controversy started at this point, even before the substantive business, as three questions were asked of the Standing Orders Committee about motions which had been ruled out of order. These motions had been ruled invalid as being against the rules of the political fund. This was to be a recurring theme. Nevertheless conference voted to refer them back for reconsideration but to no avail. Controversial, and to some people time wasting, though these questions are, they did illustrate for me the democratic nature of the union in action. The rest of the morning seemed to be taken up by conference, unsuccessfully, trying to get the annual report itself referred back either in whole or in part.
It was almost a relief then to move on to the main business of the day starting with motion 25 on the under funding of social care. This was predictably passed as amended without controversy. Motion 29 about offshoring then followed swiftly and created an interesting debate about the critical nature of an issue which is having an effect in sectors other than my own and of which I feel I should have been more aware. Of course it was passed. Occasionally the non controversial nature of the motions could, shall we say, allow the mind to wander. Inevitably, though, just as I was drifting under the combined influence of a succession of soporific speakers and an air conditioning system which had decided to go into overdrive, a new speaker would wake up the hall with either a joke or a serious point and the debate would take off once more. Inevitably on some of the more contentious issues some people would get quite worked up both from the platform and in the body of the hall. Far from seeing this as the problem which it could appear to at first sight, I came to the conclusion that giving a forum to strong and contentious views was precisely what conference was about. Such views need debate and as a campaigning organisation it is surely healthy that we express them openly, clearly and democratically.
In the moments in which I was able to think about things other than the business of the platform it was interesting to note that the power of ideas in conference were not only expressed through the three or five minutes speakers had on the platform. Indeed the number of delegates in the hall at any one time spoke almost as much about the strength of feeling of delegates as the speeches did, as was witnessed by the way the hall filled for the more interesting and contentious motions. Individual feelings were eloquently expresses through the slogans on T shirts while boredom was expressed by delegates who I saw reading books or, surely the worst insult of all, reading the Daily M**l (sharp intake of breath). This ever changing world, for it seemed the hall was becoming more and more our world as the week wore on, was to become characteristic of the next four days which I can honestly say I enjoyed immensely (yes I know I’m sad). It was an experience not to be missed even if the enjoyment, especially the social side of it, would have been even greater if our group had been up to full strength. Well maybe next year Eh?
Ian Thomson
Tuesday afternoon – 20 June
Motion 29 – Off shoring. This motion had been brought forward from the morning session and dealt with the issue of companies in the UK making employees redundant and moving sections of work to either another part of the UK or, more commonly, abroad. Whilst speakers fully appreciated the situation foreign workers were in they were, understandably, very concerned about the effect on UK jobs and economy. Some industries were starting to reverse their decision; Powergen had recently announced that they would be closing offshore call centres as they were deemed not to have worked as well as anticipated! Conference called for a campaign to negotiate strategies for the impact of off shoring to be fully assessed and for the interests of members to be protected. Motion carried
Motion 54: Not so sweet sixteen. This motion dealt with the imbalances for 16 and 17 year olds. Rates of pay, the right to vote etc. All age ranges supported the motion for under 18s to be given equal rights. Motion carried
An address by Dave Prentis, General Secretary of UNISON, followed the ‘Not so sweet sixteen’ motion (surely just unfortunate timing)? An introduction, including a picture which showed Mr Prentiss in place of the England Manager with the English World Cup Squad around him, and being played onto stage to the song ‘England’s coming home’ was well received. With satirical comments and topical jokes he started his address to conference. He spoke against cuts in public spending, acknowledged the success in the action day of 28 March (this had been spoken about by many speakers at both local and national level) and emphasised that Unison’s continued support for the Labour Party should not be taken for granted. Many concerns about this matter had been voiced. He warned that industrial action would resume if members voted for it; should the judicial review currently underway not be favourable. His speech was well received by conference.Composite B: Public Services and Funding was carried.
Motion 24: Public Services. This dealt with the Government’s worrying reform agenda for public services. Speakers presented their case with genuine concern for the future effect on public services and the apparent support for private providers. Conference called for support to local and regional campaigns to defend public services from privatisation, for an alternative agenda for service provision to be established. Motion carried
Motion 86: NHS Marketisation. This motion dealt with a proposed campaign against cuts and closures in the NHS, to work with the NHS (and relevant groups) to develop a positive vision for the future of primary care, to campaign against marketisation. Again, speakers spoke with emotion and genuine deep concern over these issues. – And the impact on marketisation within the NHS. Motion was carried
Motion 91 – A Patient led NHS. Conference was to have heard this motion during this session but ran out of time.
P Rowbotham
WEDNESDAY 21ST JUNE 2006
Conference opened with guest speaker Thabitha Khumalo: general secretary of the Women’s Advisory Council of the Congress of Zimbabwe Trade Unions, a mother and campaigner for women’s rights. Thabitha has fought tirelessly for women’s rights in Zimbabwe, despite being arrested over 22 times, tortured and gang-raped for highlighting the plight of Zimbabwean women who are unable to afford basic sanitary wear following the collapse of the Zimbabwean economy. The Zimbabwean women would have to spend half of their monthly income to buy sanitary products, so women resort to using rolled up newspapers, old cloths, leaves and even barks of trees, which can lead to very serious infections and infertility. Despite further threats to her life and liberty, Thabitha continues to campaign tirelessly for this most basic of human rights for the women of her country. Dignity.Period! is a campaign launched to raise funds to buy large quantities of sanitary goods for Zimbabwean women and is being supported by the Trade Union Movement in Britain. Thabitha is a truly remarkable woman and there was not a dry eye in sight after her speech. Conference also raised over £2,000 for her campaign work.Motion 53 – Citizenship Rights: Conference notes the disgraceful discrimination of children born in this country but denied citizenship due to the nationality of their parents. This discrimination is directed mainly at black and ethnic minority people. NEC were called upon to campaign for full citizenship rights for all those born in the UK and also to work with Labour Link to lobby the government for urgent legislation to end the discrimination. This motion was carried.
Motion 51 + 51.1 – Identity Cards : Conference noted that the ID Act 2006 was now in place and reaffirmed its opposition to the scheme and that the scheme had cost implications that would disproportionately impact on the less well off and also have a race relations impact. This will also impact on members who will be called onto check and record information for the national database. Conference resolved to campaign for the government to abandon this scheme and UNISON to work with relevant organisations to ensure this happens. This motion was carried as amended by 51.1
Motion 1 + 1.1 – Organising for Growth: Branches to adopt an organising approach, encourage stewards to attend the One Step Ahead training, work with national project team to establish reliable density figures, review and revise facility time, access regional pool for organising activities and also encourage young people to join. This motion was carried with amendment
Composite A – Organising for the Future: UNISON’s Strategy for Inter Union relation: UNISON reaffirmed its vision of organising for the future. Conference expressed the belief it was essential to explore all means of strengthening the position of workers to resist threat and deliver closer links. NEC to undertake an audit of relevant trade union and professional organisations; devise a strategy for strengthening inter-union relations by a number of means recommended by the motion. Motion carried and Amendment A.1 was withdrawn
Motion 4 - UNISON Learning and Organising: NEC to lobby government and devolved government’s to ensure that there is a consistent UK wide approach to resourcing the Organising for Learning Strategy, to ensure all regional organising plans include a strategy for activist learning by including education and training of activists, by promoting the establishment of Branch Education teams, by ensuring branches set aside resources and have a coherent activist education strategy, develop further methods for training and support and continue to promote learning partnerships with employees. This motion was carried.
Motion 91 – A Patient-led NHS: NEC to reinvigorate its campaign to oppose the Government’s NHS policy, which is more about privatisation than modernisation. UNISON to everything it can to stop this latest policy progressing. Say ‘NO’ to a two-tier workforce and ‘NO’ to a two-tier health service. Motion carried
Maggie Pilmore
Thursday 23rd June - AM
It was business as usual many motions to get through mainly this morning because it was rule changes to the rulebook this afternoon oh joy. What as been very noticeable this year at conference (no not that we were only 3 min’s from the venue) it was the brilliant selection of guest speakers and today the quality did not waver.
Speaking were two trade union leaders, one from Palestine by the name of Abla Masrujeh from the Palestine general Federation of Trade Unions. And, the other from Israel OPHIR ELKALAY representing Histradrut General Federation of Labour Israel, so as you can imagine the quality bar was still held high. The two speakers stood side by side portraying they all had one common goal PEACE.The point of view from Israel went first not the well documented side that is been shown on the news media, but from a personal side The story of a relative who died while serving in the army by an hammas suicide bomber. All he wants to do is to represent his members go to work and to live in PEACE.
The theme of everyday life was the subject of the Palestine address; Abla told the story of a woman who was in labour traveling to hospital in a ambulance and been stopped by Israeli Solders and taken 3 hours before been able to go to hospital. All she wants to do is to represent her members go to work and live in PEACE.
I am not a expert in the Israel/Palestine conflict, but the one and only way to move forward to me is to listen to the ordinary people Trying to live their ordinary lives in their ordinary communities and the answer will be PEACE, PEACE, PEACE
Thursday 23rd June PM
Rule Amendments
No big shocks for conference this after noon only minor adjustments, but one thing remained the same and something near to my heart to stop the wolf in sheep’s clothing getting the benefits of my unison. It is that rule 7 remains the same, and this is how it goes (you will not get the full benefit from unison until you have been in unison for 13 weeks).
However, want about the people who are on 3 month, or more short term contrcts, well my answer to that is most of those contracts are normally rolling ones where their signed before the end of contract.
Martin Francis
AN EQUALITIES OFFICER’S VIEW OF THE WEEK
I was one of an estimated 2000 delegates gathering in Bournemouth for UNISON Annual Conference, it seemed like most of them were on my train. During the week we debated and voted on about 70 motions, below is just a flavour.
Pensions Motions 35 - 44: Pension debate. The employers can be in no doubt that this remains the main issue for our members and that they will be ready to fight if no agreement is reached.
ID Cards Motion 51: The debate was one sided, and no surprise our Union is against ID cards on the grounds of cost effectiveness and believe its an infringement of our Civil Liberties.
My favourite motion was 114 submitted by National Retired Members Committee, Free Travel Pass this is bus and rail and they want it back dated to April for people aged 60 and over. In the future we all will be able to retire at 60 on full pension complete with free bus and rail pass, subsidised council tax, holidays, TV license and claim a summer air conditioning allowance. Sorry just dreaming again!
Protect Our Public Service Motions 24 – 25: UNISON is stepping up its campaign to protect our Public Services from PFI’s privatisation and budget cuts; our colleagues in the health service are spoiling for a fight. We all know there are massive problems in Health Education and Social Services.
Quango’s Motion 74: They spend billions of pounds of our money each year, UNISON say they must become democratically accountable to service users and the public. Surely you all agree with that.
Other Subjects Debated: Global Warming, Nuclear Power replacement of Trident, Work Place Monitoring, Disability Leave Off Shoring, Social Housing, BNP and Racism, Asylum Seekers.
As Joint Equalities Officer, I was interested to hear the debates on motions put forward by our Self Organised Groups (SOG’s). So here’s my report of the main motions presented to Conference from each group.
Young Members Motion 54 – Not So Sweet Sixteen
Young members highlighted the lack of consistency about the legal rights for young people when they reach the age of 16. At the age of 16, a person is considered old enough to pay taxes, to leave school, to marry and to join the armed forces, but not old enough to vote for the people who spend the taxes or to send them to war. They are also treated differently to older workers under the minimum wage legislation, receiving a guarantee for 16 and 17 year olds of just £3.00 per hour, whereas 18-21 year olds minimum wage is £4.10 per hour, and for those over 21 it is £5.05 per hour.
They also pointed out that even these inconsistencies are further complicated by differences across boundaries within the United Kingdom, for example in Northern Ireland the age of consent is 17. On voting age, the Isle of Man lowered its age from 18 to 16 in February this year. They called on Conference to support their call for the situation to be clarified and harmonised to provide for full adult rights and obligations at age 16. Conference agreed and asked the National Executive Council to:
make the case to the membership for full adult rights and obligations at age 16;
support the broad-based Votes at 16 campaign;
raise the issue through appropriate channels, including the Labour Link.
Disabled Members Motion 28 - The Disability Equality Duty and Public Services
Conference welcomed the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 which will impose a new disability equality duty on public bodies and some private companies from December 2006. We believe this Duty could help reconstruct a barrier free society and provide equality of opportunity for the millions of disabled people who are in work, wanting work and those who need public and private services to promote independent living. However, they felt that government has not fully understood the complex and diverse nature of disability discrimination. In particular they were concerned that:
the duties do not extend to cover all major private sector employers;
no extra funding will be made available to employers to assist them with barrier removal;
efficiency reviews may compromise barrier removal by further reducing the funding available;
the government’s Access to Work funding may be restricted within public services;
draconian employment policies and practices may adversely affect disabled employees and disabled people seeking work.
Therefore, they called upon the National Executive Council to work with Labour Link, the General Political Fund Committee and Service Group Executives, as appropriate, to:
lobby government to extend the new Duties to employers operating in the private sector;
lobby government to increase resources available to disabled people and employers to remove the barriers to getting and keeping work;
negotiate adequate employer funding for barrier removal;
negotiate incentives for disabled people to declare disability status;
lobby employers to introduce disability leave policies and review existing employment policies to ensure that unfair sickness absence procedures and punitive practices are removed;
ask branches to encourage public service employers to display the UNISON sponsored “Beyond the Barriers” poster series as a statement of their commitment to improving work and other opportunities to disabled people.
LGBT Motion 8 – 92: Monitoring of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity by Employers
Conference welcomed the growing recognition of the need to combat discrimination against LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) workers and the agreements reached with some employers to integrate work towards LGBT equality into their equality programmes. They noted that the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 introduced a requirement on public authorities to monitor workers’ ethnicity, as part of the statutory duty to promote race equality. Similar duties to promote equality on grounds of disability and gender will also be coming into force.
Conference further noted that some UNISON employers are seeking to introduce monitoring of workers’ sexual orientation and/or gender history, although this is not a statutory requirement. Conference recognised that some of the benefits of monitoring for LGBT staff include:
the recognition of our presence in the workplace;
raising our visibility within the workplace instead of pretending we don’t exist;
it will allow large employers to identify differences between work locations and progress over time.
Conference also recognised that workplace monitoring, even though it is becoming more widely accepted, does have some limitations and dangers:
we have no useful data from local communities to use as a comparator;
the mere presence of LGBT staff in itself does not provide us with information on whether they are out or not and on the level of homophobia staff experience;
concerns over preserving anonymity for LGBT staff who complete a monitoring form.
Conference believed that while workforce monitoring can play an effective part in a successful equalities strategy, it is too often embarked on with no clear thought as to its purpose. This results in merely the collection of data.
Conference noted substantive differences between a person’s ethnicity or gender and their sexual orientation or gender identity. These include the fact that many LGBT workers conceal their sexual orientation or gender history in an attempt to avoid discrimination and harassment, and the fact that people’s naming of their own sexual orientation/gender history often changes over the course of their working life.
Conference welcomed the detailed Trade Union Congress guidance on monitoring LGBT workers, which sets out principles that must be established before unions agree to the introduction of such monitoring. In view of this, Conference believed that where employers do undertake such monitoring that the following are essential:
steps are taken to ensure the anonymity of staff responses is maintained;
the employer makes a clear commitment to promoting LGBT equality in employment and service provision and everyone should be clear why monitoring for sexual orientation and gender identity is being carried out, and what will be done with the results;
full consultation with staff side unions;
consultation with appropriate LGBT employee groups;
a commitment to maintaining confidentiality for those who choose to respond, while respecting the right of those not wishing to do so.
Conference endorsed these principles and called on all UNISON negotiators to seek to ensure that workforce monitoring of sexual orientation and gender identity is only introduced if these points have been achieved.
Motion : AgendaID 092 - Screening of Blood Donors
Conference noted that the purpose of the blood services in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is to provide a safe and adequate supply of blood. Screening of blood donors for HIV is necessary for the safety of the blood supply because the available tests for screening donated blood for HIV are not infallible, it is not possible to heat-treat whole blood, and there is a 90 per cent chance of contracting HIV from a transfusion of HIV infected blood.
Conference was concerned that the current permanent ban on men who have ever had oral or anal sex with another man from giving blood perpetuates a damaging and false myth that all gay men are at risk of HIV. There are thousands of gay and bisexual men who have never had sex without using condoms or who have had negative HIV tests since they last did so. Many of these men are frustrated and angered by the current ban preventing them from giving blood. Policies on who may and who may not donate blood must be justified and must flow directly from hard evidence from risk assessments on groups at risk, subject to regular review. There should always be clear medical and epidemiological justification for any difference in treatment between groups of potential donors.
Conference noted that both UNISON and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have raised questions with the National Blood Service about reviewing the evidence on which it bases its current policy, the language used in information to potential donors and practice in donor sessions. They called on the National Executive Council, in conjunction with the Health Service Group Executive and the TUC to:
work with the Terrence Higgins Trust and other HIV/AIDS organisations to review current research and best practice in the field of blood screening and, if appropriate, call for the amendment of blood donation policy and procedures in light of it;
ensure that UNISON has an effective input into any National Blood Service review of the language and literature used in the Donor Screening Policy.
Black Members Motion 118 – 53
Progress of Black members’ Issues in UNISON. Motions passed at National Delegate Conference need to be actioned in order to deliver on outcomes. The NBMC is concerned at the number of repeat motions brought to Conference, indicating that these remained unactioned. Sharon Foster moved Motion 53 on Citizenship Rights regarding the shocking example of government legislation, not fully considering the impact where some babies less than 12 months old have to demonstrate their “good character” before they can obtain citizenship! Sharon called upon delegates to use the Labour Link, collectively to pressure the government to meet its commitment – as Tony Blair said, every child matters. The Motion was carried.
During the week a procession of guest speakers appeared at Conference the most emotion was Thabitha Kumalo, Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) gave a moving account of the corruption and poverty in Zimbabwe and some of the effects it is having on women and girls. Thabitha has been raped and tortured for standing up for the rights of women in Zimbabwe and faces being arrested on her return. Due to the economic collapse in Zimbabwe, essential hygiene products are unaffordable. Women, mothers and girls are having to decide whether to spend the little money they have on food or sanitary wear, inevitably opting for food and resorting to using newspaper, bits of cloth or the bark from trees to stem the flow during their periods. This brings additional problems with infections and no access to medical aid.
By far the best speaker was Shami Chakrabarti, ‘director of Liberty, she gave an inspired speech on human and civil rights. Commenting on the war on terror, ID cards and asylum rights, Shami called on members to fight together to protect basic human rights. Other guest speakers included:
Gloria Mills, first black woman to be elected as TUC president.
Kate Hudson, CND Chairperson
Abla Mesrujeh of Palestine, General Federation of Trade Unions and Optir Elticalay of Histradrut General Federation of Labour Israel.
After a full day’s work I found time to attend the following fringe meetings:
Havana Club Rum Reception: Present were Rene Mujica Cantelar, Cuban Ambassordor, Dave Prentis, General Secretary of UNISON and Colin Burgon MP, Chair of friends of Venezuela despite 45 years of us blockading Cubans puts us to shame when it comes to health and education.
Stop the War Bring Our Troops Home: Guest speaker Tony Benn
Latin America Fringe
Campaign Against Climate Change
Anti Racism Campaign: Guest speaker Claude Monees MEP
Save our NHS
CND Say No To Trident: Guest Speaker CND Chairperson, Kate Hudson
Lets make one thing clear you don’t have to agree to attend a fringe meeting. Listen to the debates is what matters. It was a hectic week but I enjoyed every moment, I’ve come back better informed on a variety of issues at home and abroad. Bye for now.
Selwyn Seymour
Notts County UNISON at Notts County FC
As part of our campaign to raise the profile of the Branch in the wider community, and to encourage non-members to join, the Branch has bought pitchside advertising boards at Notts County FC. These have already appeared on TV (during the BBC East Midlands Today coverage on Monday 11th September of NCFC beating Accrington Stanley last weekend).
02 September 2006
Defend the NHS March and Rally, Nottingham 23rd Sept
THE NHS IS ON ITS KNEES, GET ON YOUR FEET TO SAVE IT!
DEFEND THE NHS MARCH AND RALLY
Nottingham: Saturday 23rd September
11 am @ Forest Recreation Ground
(Goose Fair site - Assemble from 10 am)
The joint UNISON/RCN march will call for:
UNISON want 5 healthier options for the NHS:
No Cuts in Services
Across the East Midlands, NHS Trusts have announced around £200 million cuts. These include £60 million at Nottingham Hospitals, £15 million in Derby, £25 million for Leicester PCT,a nd £18.5 million proposed for Northampton. that's cuts at your local hospital and health centre. NHS Direct are also closing call centres, with staff at walk in centres not being replaced when they leave. These cuts will mean less people to deliver services and aptient care for your family. they must be stopped.
No bed closures
Less staff measn less nurses and care assitants. in Nottingham alone there will be 186 beds lost at the newly merged Nottingham University Hospitals Trust. Almost daily, more ward closures are being announced. This will mean longer waiting lists, more delays, and more pain. These bed closures cuts will affect patient care.
No privatisation of services - an end to profit from pain
The Government has announced plans to sell off the award winning NHS Logitics to a private haulage company. in Lincoln, confidential medical records may be processed in the Philippines. Across the region, over £3million of tax-payers money was paid out to private companies for operations they had not even carried out. The NHS is being increasingly privatised. Stop this scandal now - Keept the NHS public, not owned by shareholders.
No cuts in Pay & Conditions
The cuts are leaving NHS staff facing the stark choice of a pay cut or redundancy.
No Redundancies
A staggering 5000 NHS jobs are currently under threat in the East Midlands. This includes 1200 losses in Nottinghamshire and 300 in Lincoln - with more being proposed. In Chesterfield, 47 senior sursing staff will go. UNISON believes these redundancies will weaken local delivery of NHS services, and msut be stopped.
SEE YOU ON THE MARCH IN NOTTINGHAM ON 23rd SEPTEMBER
DEFEND THE NHS MARCH AND RALLY
Nottingham: Saturday 23rd September
11 am @ Forest Recreation Ground
(Goose Fair site - Assemble from 10 am)
The joint UNISON/RCN march will call for:
- The Government to give NHS Trusts more time and money to clear their deficits
- An end to privatisation
- Support to stop the sale of NHS Logisitics
UNISON want 5 healthier options for the NHS:
No Cuts in Services
Across the East Midlands, NHS Trusts have announced around £200 million cuts. These include £60 million at Nottingham Hospitals, £15 million in Derby, £25 million for Leicester PCT,a nd £18.5 million proposed for Northampton. that's cuts at your local hospital and health centre. NHS Direct are also closing call centres, with staff at walk in centres not being replaced when they leave. These cuts will mean less people to deliver services and aptient care for your family. they must be stopped.
No bed closures
Less staff measn less nurses and care assitants. in Nottingham alone there will be 186 beds lost at the newly merged Nottingham University Hospitals Trust. Almost daily, more ward closures are being announced. This will mean longer waiting lists, more delays, and more pain. These bed closures cuts will affect patient care.
No privatisation of services - an end to profit from pain
The Government has announced plans to sell off the award winning NHS Logitics to a private haulage company. in Lincoln, confidential medical records may be processed in the Philippines. Across the region, over £3million of tax-payers money was paid out to private companies for operations they had not even carried out. The NHS is being increasingly privatised. Stop this scandal now - Keept the NHS public, not owned by shareholders.
No cuts in Pay & Conditions
The cuts are leaving NHS staff facing the stark choice of a pay cut or redundancy.
No Redundancies
A staggering 5000 NHS jobs are currently under threat in the East Midlands. This includes 1200 losses in Nottinghamshire and 300 in Lincoln - with more being proposed. In Chesterfield, 47 senior sursing staff will go. UNISON believes these redundancies will weaken local delivery of NHS services, and msut be stopped.
SEE YOU ON THE MARCH IN NOTTINGHAM ON 23rd SEPTEMBER
30 August 2006
Press release: Crisis in Social Care in Nottinghamshire
PRESS RELEASE
FROM: NOTTINGHAMSHIRE UNISON
TO: ALL LOCAL MEDIA
DATE:30th August 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE USE
Crisis in Social Care in Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire UNISON today called on the County Council to act to stop the decline in services to the elderly and the vulnerable in the County as a result of the Council’s budget crisis.
Following the statement by Notts Coroner, Dr Nigel Chapman, about the risks of untrained carers assisting with medication, officers of Nottinghamshire UNISON (the biggest union at the County Council) told how they regularly get phone calls from members with horror stories of neglect after services have moved from the Council to private sector providers following the budget cuts announced earlier this year.
“Our members are telling us about instances where the private Care Worker fails to show up, where the elderly lie in faeces and urine or where they miss more than one daily meal. This is not an acceptable way to treat the elderly and the most vulnerable in our community” said Grace Perry, UNISON’s Joint Social Services Convenor.
“UNISON is warning the Council that they need to address how the private companies they employ operate. We are worried that if they do not stop privatising Social Care in this County there will be deaths, misery, despair, loneliness, hospitalisation, disease, etc.” she added. “UNISON is clear that the money for public services should be spent on those services, not have a percentage raked off to pay the shareholders of the private companies that then fail to deliver what they have promised. UNISON has long campaigned against the argument that private companies can provide high quality services at a much cheaper cost than the public sector. The comment from a private sector company based in Mapperly that they need more money to pay for training (NEP 29th August 2006) highlights what happens if the private sector goes for the lowest possible tender to win a contract. If they don’t include enough money for training in their bid, then they can’t provide training for their staff, and the public suffer.”
Ms Perry went on to call for Public Services to be properly funded. “Some people think that their Council Tax is too high. If you want decent public services delivered by properly trained people on a decent wage, we all need to start paying for them. Is it too much to ask that we all pay to protect and support the elderly population of Nottinghamshire? After all it will be us one day. We should be ashamed of ourselves if we just sit back while our parents and grandparents suffer. They deserve high quality public services delivered by highly professional staff. They deserve staff who are:
• Fully trained or are being trained.
• Experienced
• Professional
• Checked by the Criminal Records Bureau
• Employed after being interviewed, with references required
• Trained in Health and Safety Practices, given full training to understand equipment, disease, infection.
• Paid to National Standards
• Required to follow strict codes of practice, discipline, responsibility.
Is that too much to ask for your parents and grandparents?”
UNISON has launched a petition against the cuts in Home Care, Day Care and Meals on Wheels, and is asking the public to sign up to protest to Councillors. “We launched the petition on our stall at the Riverside Festival in Nottingham and had dozens of people sign up. We want the people of Notts to join us in opposing these cuts. Copies of the petition can be obtained from Nottinghamshire UNISON” said Ms Perry.
Further Info:
Contacts via Branch office on 0115 9810405:
Grace Perry, Joint Convenor Social Services (mob: 07894886274)
Linda Davy, Senior Steward for Home Care (mob: 07841270802)
Peter Thorpe, Branch Chair
Copies of the petition can be obtained by:
• downloading from: www.nottsunison.org.uk
• ringing: 0115 9810405
• e-mailing: branch.office@nottsunison.org.uk
• writing to us: 39 Loughborough Road, West Bridgford, Nottingham NG2 7LJ
FROM: NOTTINGHAMSHIRE UNISON
TO: ALL LOCAL MEDIA
DATE:30th August 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE USE
Crisis in Social Care in Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire UNISON today called on the County Council to act to stop the decline in services to the elderly and the vulnerable in the County as a result of the Council’s budget crisis.
Following the statement by Notts Coroner, Dr Nigel Chapman, about the risks of untrained carers assisting with medication, officers of Nottinghamshire UNISON (the biggest union at the County Council) told how they regularly get phone calls from members with horror stories of neglect after services have moved from the Council to private sector providers following the budget cuts announced earlier this year.
“Our members are telling us about instances where the private Care Worker fails to show up, where the elderly lie in faeces and urine or where they miss more than one daily meal. This is not an acceptable way to treat the elderly and the most vulnerable in our community” said Grace Perry, UNISON’s Joint Social Services Convenor.
“UNISON is warning the Council that they need to address how the private companies they employ operate. We are worried that if they do not stop privatising Social Care in this County there will be deaths, misery, despair, loneliness, hospitalisation, disease, etc.” she added. “UNISON is clear that the money for public services should be spent on those services, not have a percentage raked off to pay the shareholders of the private companies that then fail to deliver what they have promised. UNISON has long campaigned against the argument that private companies can provide high quality services at a much cheaper cost than the public sector. The comment from a private sector company based in Mapperly that they need more money to pay for training (NEP 29th August 2006) highlights what happens if the private sector goes for the lowest possible tender to win a contract. If they don’t include enough money for training in their bid, then they can’t provide training for their staff, and the public suffer.”
Ms Perry went on to call for Public Services to be properly funded. “Some people think that their Council Tax is too high. If you want decent public services delivered by properly trained people on a decent wage, we all need to start paying for them. Is it too much to ask that we all pay to protect and support the elderly population of Nottinghamshire? After all it will be us one day. We should be ashamed of ourselves if we just sit back while our parents and grandparents suffer. They deserve high quality public services delivered by highly professional staff. They deserve staff who are:
• Fully trained or are being trained.
• Experienced
• Professional
• Checked by the Criminal Records Bureau
• Employed after being interviewed, with references required
• Trained in Health and Safety Practices, given full training to understand equipment, disease, infection.
• Paid to National Standards
• Required to follow strict codes of practice, discipline, responsibility.
Is that too much to ask for your parents and grandparents?”
UNISON has launched a petition against the cuts in Home Care, Day Care and Meals on Wheels, and is asking the public to sign up to protest to Councillors. “We launched the petition on our stall at the Riverside Festival in Nottingham and had dozens of people sign up. We want the people of Notts to join us in opposing these cuts. Copies of the petition can be obtained from Nottinghamshire UNISON” said Ms Perry.
Further Info:
Contacts via Branch office on 0115 9810405:
Grace Perry, Joint Convenor Social Services (mob: 07894886274)
Linda Davy, Senior Steward for Home Care (mob: 07841270802)
Peter Thorpe, Branch Chair
Copies of the petition can be obtained by:
• downloading from: www.nottsunison.org.uk
• ringing: 0115 9810405
• e-mailing: branch.office@nottsunison.org.uk
• writing to us: 39 Loughborough Road, West Bridgford, Nottingham NG2 7LJ
23 August 2006
Reggae Industry and homophobia
New Nation newpaper on 17 July 2006 ran a front page report headed "Reggae War Is Back On" after gay campaigners put pressure on music venues to prevent certain artists performing. There had been an agreement in place whereby dancehall artists refrained from using homophobic lyrics but gay campaigners said the agreement had been broken after Buju Banton, Beenie Man and Bounty Killer had made homophobic comments in Jamaica. DJ Doctah X (a community radio DJ) said "this takes away our democratic right to speak about gays". Peter Tatchell (Gay rights campaigner) wants a guarantee from the artists that "they won't perform these songs or make public statements encouraging violence against gays and lesbians anywhere in the world".
As an Equalities Officer with Unison I work with all strands of equalities, race, sexual orientation, gender, age, disability and religion and belief. The different areas can sometimes be difficult to balance especially where there are conflicting views held.
What do you think about this story?
Selwyn Seymour
Joint Equalities Officer
Notts County Unison
As an Equalities Officer with Unison I work with all strands of equalities, race, sexual orientation, gender, age, disability and religion and belief. The different areas can sometimes be difficult to balance especially where there are conflicting views held.
What do you think about this story?
Selwyn Seymour
Joint Equalities Officer
Notts County Unison
17 August 2006
August Branch Committee meeting
Each year, the August Branch Committee meeting is held at the Education unit in Bestwood Park.
The meeting, open to all stewards in the Branch, is held in the morning and is followed by a lunchtime barbeque as a way of thanking stewards for all the hard work they do on behalf of members.
It also gives stewards and Branch Officers an opportunity to visit the tree we planted in memory of former Branch Chair, Bob Moody who was a ranger at the Park.
This year, the rain held off long enough for everyone to have something to eat and for most to visit the tree after the meeting, before heading back to work or the Branch Office.
For larger versions of each photo, please click on it.
The meeting, open to all stewards in the Branch, is held in the morning and is followed by a lunchtime barbeque as a way of thanking stewards for all the hard work they do on behalf of members.
It also gives stewards and Branch Officers an opportunity to visit the tree we planted in memory of former Branch Chair, Bob Moody who was a ranger at the Park.
This year, the rain held off long enough for everyone to have something to eat and for most to visit the tree after the meeting, before heading back to work or the Branch Office.
For larger versions of each photo, please click on it.
09 August 2006
Workforce Monitoring - Update
Since I became LGBT officer I have been aware of issues about the way equalities monitoring information is held by Notts County Council. Last year the Council extended its monitoring to include sexual orientation and gender identity questions however this was simply added to information already collected on race etc without any consideration of the sensitivity and need for confidentiality to be assured. I discovered that information was held on staff personnel files and these files could be accessed by line managers.
I have raised this at a meeting of the Corporate Equalities Group LGBT subgroup and stressed the need for further confidentiality measures to be incorporated into monitoring information in order to ensure staff are not inadvertantly "outed" I also pointed out that the Council could in fact be breaching data protection requirements.
Following this meeting it was agreed that from 24th July paper copies of monitoring information would no longer be held on personnel files. It has also been agreed to build in extra password protection for the data which is held electronically, this is currently being investigated. However this is a big step forward and I hope to be able to report full success in this matter in the near future.
I have also asked for an investigation into the problem of school based staff where job applications are returned directly to the school involved as this clearly means that monitoring information will be seen by people involved in recruitment and this issue will need addressing in order to protect the individual's rights to privacy.
I will continue to update you as further news is received on this.
Let me know if you have had any problems with this type of monitoring or have concerns about confidentiality of your personal information.
Siobhan
I have raised this at a meeting of the Corporate Equalities Group LGBT subgroup and stressed the need for further confidentiality measures to be incorporated into monitoring information in order to ensure staff are not inadvertantly "outed" I also pointed out that the Council could in fact be breaching data protection requirements.
Following this meeting it was agreed that from 24th July paper copies of monitoring information would no longer be held on personnel files. It has also been agreed to build in extra password protection for the data which is held electronically, this is currently being investigated. However this is a big step forward and I hope to be able to report full success in this matter in the near future.
I have also asked for an investigation into the problem of school based staff where job applications are returned directly to the school involved as this clearly means that monitoring information will be seen by people involved in recruitment and this issue will need addressing in order to protect the individual's rights to privacy.
I will continue to update you as further news is received on this.
Let me know if you have had any problems with this type of monitoring or have concerns about confidentiality of your personal information.
Siobhan
07 August 2006
Down by the Riverside
The Branch sponsored the Bandstand at this year's Nottingham Riverside Festival, and Sunday 6th August saw several volunteers give up their afternoon to help run the stall.
The Region kindly supplied the marquee, and we supplied the balloons and sweets for the children (of all ages). We also handed out "spikeys". These are small plastic stoppers that go in the top of your bottle when you are in a pub or club and prevent people spiking your drink with drugs. Visitors were also given "goody bags" with application forms inside.
While we had people's attention with the freebies, we asked them to sign two petitions: one against the cuts in the NHS and one against the cuts in NCC Social Services.
We filled many sheets, and had lots of supportive comments from members of the public as well as members of UNISON from Council and Health Branches around the country.
The picture below is of a UNISON member from Exeter who visited the stall and chatted about how they are facing similar problems in the South West. She decided to pass the afternoon in the sun making a daisy chain of balloons.
The Branch leaflets and petition about the crisis facing Social Care in Notts with the major budget cuts that were on the stall in the marquee are all available to download:
NCC faces biggest financial crisis in its history (pdf)
Public Services not Private profit (pdf)
Petition for you to print off and circulate (MS Word doc)
For details of the NHS leaflets and petition that were on the stall: click here
AND we recruited a new member for UNISON (though not for our Branch) when a young man approached the stall for an application form to join UNISON as he had just started working for the Police force as a civilian. We gave him a regional application form and helped him fill it in there and then.
For bigger versions of the photos, just click on them
01 August 2006
LGBT SOG Meeting - 17 August
Attention all LGBT SOG Members
The next meeting will be held at 4.30pm on the 17th August.
This meeting will decide on the delegation for the conference in November and report back from July's meeting.
If you wish to attend please contact me on 0115 9810405 and I will let you have the details.
Siobhan Ford
LGBT Officer
Notts County Unison
The next meeting will be held at 4.30pm on the 17th August.
This meeting will decide on the delegation for the conference in November and report back from July's meeting.
If you wish to attend please contact me on 0115 9810405 and I will let you have the details.
Siobhan Ford
LGBT Officer
Notts County Unison
31 July 2006
UNISON publishes guide to Pension Scheme proposals
UNISON has published a guide to government proposals on a new Local Government Pension Scheme.
While talks continue on protecting the rights of workers in the scheme - around two million people across a whole range of public services - the government has published a document called Where Next?, setting out options for a new look scheme from April 2008.
The document is the beginning of informal consultation - which will run until 28th September - on options for the new scheme, which include:
* updating the current scheme, with additional benefit improvements;
* a new final salary scheme with an improved accrual rate;
* a new scheme with pension based on a career-average rather than final salary;
* a new, hybrid arrangement based on a career-average core with a final salary option.
To help members and branches find their way round the government document, and prepare their responses to the consultation, the union has now issued a briefing on the options. This can be found online at http://www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/DCLG_new_scheme_proposals.pdf
The judicial review of the government's decision to scrap the 85-year rule via regulations changing the LGPS due to come into force in October, is scheduled to be heard on 18th and 19th September.
While talks continue on protecting the rights of workers in the scheme - around two million people across a whole range of public services - the government has published a document called Where Next?, setting out options for a new look scheme from April 2008.
The document is the beginning of informal consultation - which will run until 28th September - on options for the new scheme, which include:
* updating the current scheme, with additional benefit improvements;
* a new final salary scheme with an improved accrual rate;
* a new scheme with pension based on a career-average rather than final salary;
* a new, hybrid arrangement based on a career-average core with a final salary option.
To help members and branches find their way round the government document, and prepare their responses to the consultation, the union has now issued a briefing on the options. This can be found online at http://www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/DCLG_new_scheme_proposals.pdf
The judicial review of the government's decision to scrap the 85-year rule via regulations changing the LGPS due to come into force in October, is scheduled to be heard on 18th and 19th September.
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