Protection of Workers (Scotland) Bill

You may be aware, UNISON was instrumental in pursuing legislation through the Scottish Parliament to protect Emergency Workers. The Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act, 2006 made it a specific offence to attack or hinder an emergency worker in performance of their duties. At the time UNISON argued that the Act should not just cover the traditional “Blue Light” services of Police, Fire-fighters and Ambulance personnel and we were successful in having all workers in acute hospitals included in the list of those to whom the Act would apply. To date over 800 members of the public have been successfully prosecuted under the Act.

However, this still leaves many thousands of our members who are not protected, such as social workers, parking attendants, environmental workers, health service staff working in the community, classroom assistants and many others. It is for this reason that UNISON supports a private members bill in the Scottish Parliament proposed by Hugh Henry, MSP. The private members bill gained sufficient support to proceed and is at the first stage in the Scottish Parliament as the Protection of Workers (Scotland) Bill. If successful the Bill will make it an offence for a member of the public to assault a public sector worker carrying out their job or because of the job they do.

However a majority of MSPs on the Committee considering the Bill (SNP, Liberal Democrats and Conservatives) voted against it proceeding. We will therefore need to persuade all MSPs to support it when it is debated in the chamber early next year.

UNISON, in conjunction with the STUC, is launching a campaign in support of the Bill. To assist with this, please email your MSP seeking their support for the bill. Further information on the campaign can be found here.

This will be a very important piece of legislation for our members and will give another layer of protection in our fight against violence.

Please do all you can to publicise the Bill and take part in our campaign.

Using a variety of methods: publicity, advice, legislation we can tackle this unnecessary burden on our members. Please make every effort to take up the recommendations contained in this letter and assist the campaign.

Living Wage letter to Glasgow City Council

UNISON Regional Organiser, Simon MacFarlane has written to the Chief Executive of Glasgow City Council, George Black, leader of the Council, George Matheson and the Principal Officer of the Council, Kevin Rush to request a meeting to discuss the council's support for a Glasgow Living Wage.

Below we reproduce the text of the letter:

I am writing to ask to meet with you to discuss the Living Wage and its applicability to the voluntary sector. The Living Wage will only be of genuine benefit if it provides a floor across as much of the economy in Glasgow and beyond as possible. It is my view that the Council must use it social, economic and moral leavers to help deliver this.


Being the first Council in Scotland to sign up to the Living Wage is to be commended, however it is time for the Authority to act. Words and a website have their part to play but the Authority needs to put its money where its mouth is.

My job in UNISON is supporting our members who work in the community and voluntary sector. Many or our members work for charities involved in the provision of social care. These organisations have seen their funding to service provision ratio squeezed year on year and as the bulk of the costs in this area are staff this directly impacts on our members.

To give just one example, the Council is the major funder of The Mungo Foundation, many staff here earn below the Living Wage of £7.15, some are only a few pence above the National Minimum Wage, yet instead of wages rising they have been frozen for two years.

As the major funder of The Mungo Foundation you should be calling on them to implement the Living Wage, and crucially you should be funding them to do so.

I would like to meet with you along with some of our members who are affected by these issues to discuss this matter.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Personalisation speech to Community Care Providers Scotland Conference

Speech by Simon Macfarlane on Personalisation to Community Care Providers Scotland Conference on 25th November 2010 (as part of a debate on whether workers had been dealt a full hand or no hand by personalisation).

UNISON’s position on personalization is clear - we support it, we have policy in support of personalisation; as recently as 2nd November our first ever Community Conference for our new dedicated voluntary sector service group passed a motion clearly stating our support for the principles of genuine personal choice and control and independence in personal care. The motion also though set out our real concerns around the impact on the personalised workforce and the funding and quality of care.

This is entirely consistent from a union that has equality at its core and has pioneered self-organisation and vigorously addressed access issues within its own organisation.

So UNISON’s position is not that the work force has been dealt no hand, our concern is much more that the current construct of personalisation is in danger of becoming a house of cards due to inadequate resources.

UNISON has long been engaged in the personalisation agenda and the challenges it brings. In the past, UNISON was wrongly criticised for what was seen as our opposition to direct payments, and assertions were made that our members discouraged their take up.

To counter this in 2006/7 UNISON met with various representatives of disabled people’s organisations, such as the Glasgow Centre for Inclusive Living (GCIL), Scottish Personal Assistants Employers Network (SPAEN), and the Scottish Consortium of Direct Payment Support Organisations (SCODPSO). A joint statement followed confirming our support for the principle of independent living. More importantly, all parties agreed to work together on areas of mutual acceptance.

The statement acknowledged that direct payments had a legitimate role. However, it was clear that direct payments were not a substitute for other flexible and responsive public services, and were not appropriate for all people’s needs. It was further agreed that direct payments must complement a range of public services and must not be used to cover for inadequacies in public provision. Additionally the organisations agreed to jointly promote union membership.

UNISON believes that the personalisation and transformation of social care has been introduced without adequate funding, with the focus being on reducing the cost of supporting individuals and reducing the proportion of provision in the public sector and potentially the voluntary sector.

In England which is further down the track of personalisation the evidence is clear on the impact on staff personalisation is having:

The National Minimum Data Set for Social Care in England shows that between December 2008 and February 2010 the following occurred to pay rates in the following posts:

Care Workers at NVQ 1 or 2 level saw their pay in the private sector drop from £6.30 to £6.00, in the voluntary sector it dropped from £7.04 to £7.03 and in the public sector is went from £6.80 to £7.73.

For higher graded staff the results were equally stark. Senior Care Workers above NVQ2 saw their wages drop in the private sector from £6.85 to £6.80, in the voluntary sector from £8.34 to £8.08 whilst in the public sector they rose from £9.11 to £10.69.

In Scotland I’ve spent the last 18 months in brutal negotiations with many organisations here today, seeing pay freezes, redundancies, terms and conditions slashed, and so far I have seen no evidence that a move to personalisation will lead to any reversal of this trend.

There is an issue that personal and privatised care has not increased the quality and choice of care for all care recipients, it has also produced a sector of the care market and workforce that is unregulated and provided little incentive for employers to invest in a well trained and paid workforce.

Not all service users wish to take a Direct Payment and become an individual employer. UNISON believes that individual service users would benefit from the option of paying for a Personal Assistant (PA) but not being their direct employer. This could be done by local authorities or voluntary organisations directly employing a pool of PAs which service users can select from. In this way PAs would be employed by the local authority and not budget holders acting as micro employers.

In Scandinavia models such as this are common and they offer significant benefits to the person requiring support and the personal assistant.

We need workforce remodelling agreements both at national level and at employer level. The direction of travel is clear and the key stakeholders are broadly signed up to this. So we need the Scottish Government, Local Authorities and Health Boards to set out some minimum standards and safeguards for individuals needing support, workers and providers. There is an opportunity for some joint work between CCPS and UNISON here.

It is incumbent on voluntary organisations to be clearer and louder about the need for care services to be adequately resourced and in particular about the pay and conditions of workers in the sector. It isn’t right to portray pay freezes as evidence of the voluntary sector’s efficiency. Poverty pay and poor conditions are simply inimical to high quality personalised care. The right to a personalised care service can’t be an unfettered right, it comes with significant responsibilities. Many will need help and assistance in meeting those responsibilities and the voluntary sector has a unique and crucial role in assisting people to get the personalised support they need whilst acting in an ethical and responsible manner.

It doesn’t have to be like this. Personalisation can and should be introduced with adequate funding and safeguards for staff. The voluntary sector needs to get active in campaigns such as UNISON’s Public Works and the STUC’s There is a Better Way campaigns. There’s too much fence sitting going on when many of the people you and our members support will be deeply affected by benefit cuts and the myriad of other cuts.

So I say to you don’t let personalisation tumble like a pack of cards. Join with UNISON and the STUC in campaigning for a better settlement for public services however they are provided. If your organisation doesn’t yet recognise a union, come speak to me about how we can work together to make personalisation work for service users, organisations and staff.

TMF Pay update

UNISON members within TMF have this week been mailed a letter from Regional Organiser, Simon MacFarlane with an update on our claim for a pay uplift this year. Below is the text of the letter.
********************************************************

Dear Member


PAY 2010/11

I am writing to update you on what has been happening with regards to our discussions with TMF regarding a cost of living rise for this year. You will recall that members overwhelmingly voted to support the submission of a pay claim for 2.5% from 1 April 2010.

Following submitting the claim we continually chased TMF for a response to the extent we wrote to the Archbishop Mario Conti expressing our frustration at the delay. This prompted a meeting with Dana O’Dwyer, Chief Executive in September where we were able to have a constructive dialogue on the challenges facing the organisation and some of the frustrations we felt. At a meeting subsequent to this we finally met to discuss pay.

Sadly TMF have advised us that once again they are not in a position to make a pay offer this year. We fully expressed how disappointing this will be to our members who are facing real financial pressure and are staring at an increase in VAT come 1st January. TMF were able to respond in some way to our demands for the pay of the small number of manual workers in TMF to be reviewed and those staff will be written to shortly advising them the outcome of this. Any movement for the lowest paid is welcome but this fell well short of our aspirations.

Living Wage
As you will know part of your claim was for TMF to adopt the Scottish Living Wage of £7.00 per hour now rising to £7.15. Much of the work of TMF is funded by Glasgow City Council which has declared itself committed to the Living Wage, so we intend to seek a meeting with officers and politicians there, calling on them to fund TMF to enable them to implement the Scottish Living Wage.

We also wish to consult with you about how you want us to progress with regards to this year’s cost of living rise. We need to know whether you will reluctantly accept the situation or do you want us to fight on. Please use the enclosed ballot paper to indicate your position. We must advise that we believe that in order to move the employer it is likely that members would have to embark on a course of industrial action and even then there is no guarantee that TMF would make an improved offer. On the other hand if we don’t put up a fight we’ll never know.

It is dispiriting to have to write in such terms to you but it is a reflection of the times and your union's first and foremost duty is to be upfront with you.

Convenor
On a more positive note we have secured agreement from TMF for Alice Lyness your Senior Steward to be seconded three days a week to work on behalf of members at this time. Alice is available to support members and is particularly keen to come and visit you and your colleagues at team meetings etc to speak to you about UNISON and hear about the issues that concern you. Alice is on union duties on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and is based in Govanhill but is often out and about. She can be contacted via Mobile: 07882551134 and via Email. You can use the form sent with the letter to indicate if you would like Alice to visit you or contact you.

On the broader picture of the current financial climate UNISON is spearheading through its Public Works campaign and through supporting the STUC’s There is a Better Way campaign an alternative to the UK and Scottish Governments’ austerity programmes. It doesn’t have to be like this and we need you to come on board with these campaigns. For more info visit http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/publicworks/index.html and http://www.thereisabetterway.org/ and please complete the enclosed postcard and return it in the envelope and we’ll send it to your MSP.

UNISON office now established in TMF

UNISON's TMF Convenor, Alice Lyness now has an office within Govanhill project and can be contacted there between 9 am - 5pm, Monday to Wednesday, diary permiting.

If you wish to meet with Alice at the office please telephone for an appointment. Alice's contact details are opposite.

Thanks to Paul Kelly former Convenor

UNISON's TMF stewards committee would like to record our thanks and gratitude to our former Convenor, Paul Kelly who was an active member and steward for many years.

Paul contributed a great deal to UNISON's development within TMF and worked hard to ensure members had a voice within TMF.

Unfortunately his project closed earlier this year, due to the cuts that are affecting all voluntary sector employers, and as part of this closure, Paul is no longer in employment with TMF.

Thanks Paul, your are sorely missed!!!!

VIDEO: Ska against the cuts

A lunchtime share for you. We’ve been humming along to this new tune from Captain Ska, a very catchy song in which the band let us know in no uncertain terms their views about the coalition government’s plan of public spending cuts.

Click on the Captain Ska link.

A message from Dave Prentis, UNISON general secretary

Today, we are beginning to see the shape of the coalition government's cuts agenda - half a million jobs axed in the public sector; services slashed to the bone and a brutal attack on the welfare state.

And it looks like local government will take the hardest hit.

George Osborne's Comprehensive Spending Review announcement contains only the headlines. The reality of what they will mean for public service workers and their families will be revealed piece by piece over the next few months as our devolved governments, local councils, police authorities, hospitals, schools, voluntary organisations and others struggle to make sense of the massive budget cuts they have been dealt.

Today's headlines are about job cuts - the government admits to half a million in the public sector alone. Other commentators say 600,000. And economists warn that the private sector is likely to suffer a similar level of job losses as councils and others cancel contracts, shut down projects and search for ways to cut expenditure.

And even those areas the government claims to be protecting are already under pressure - in the NHS alone, £20 billion of cuts are to be found.

Across local government, health, education, housing, police, all of our public services and the private sector that relies on them: a million jobs - axed.

Behind every one of those jobs is a real family dealing with real hardship. A million public service roles - vanished.

And for each service lost - communities losing the real services they rely on. And an economy taking another hit as our families tighten their belts and cut back our own spending. Women are estimated to use three quarters of the services or benefits being cut. That is the legacy of this spending review.

A million less jobs, £4.6bn in lost tax revenue. A million less jobs and £6.1bn increase in benefit payments. An 'austerity budget' that adds £10.7bn a year to the annual deficit and almost entirely wipes out the apparent £12.5bn saving to the public sector pay bill.

These are challenging times for everyone who works in our public services and for all those who rely on them. Our services, our jobs, our pay and our pensions - all under attack.

UNISON has been speaking up for public services. Our Million Voices campaign has warned that the effects of cutting so hard and so fast will ravage our communities. We have protested that public service workers should not be made to pay for the excesses of the bankers and speculators who caused the economic recession.

Today, we are seeing the big picture of the cuts agenda. In the coming weeks, we will see more detail. But I wanted all our activists and representatives to get the union's first take on the spending review as soon as possible.

See our first glance summary of the key issues for UNISON here.

In the coming weeks and months, we have hard work to do. Our members will be anxious and fearful for their jobs. We will have to represent our members and their concerns as well as continuing to put the pressure on government and employers through local campaigning.

We will have to work with public service users and community groups to make sure that we speak up for vital services.

But we will meet this challenge as a strong, united union, determined to speak with one voice whether locally or nationally, with one aim. To defend our public services and the people who provide them. Together, in UNISON, we will meet this challenge.

Dave Prentis

UNISON’s National Skills for Life Survey

UNISON is interested in finding out about the skills, confidence, attitudes and needs of our members in relation to literacy, numeracy and computers. This will help us to inform the development of the UNISON Skills for Life Strategy to support our members.




We would encourage UNISON member's to participate in this survey, It should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete and all responses will be reported anonymously.



To participate in the survey click here.

UNISON BEAR

JOIN THE CAMPAIGN FOR JOBS, SERVICES, FAIRER TAXES & A LIVING WAGE

The Con-Dem government say there is no alternative.

 We say the only sustainable response to the crisis is to promote growth and ensure fairness through creating jobs and protecting services, through fair taxation and a living wage.

UNISON is supporting the Scottish Trade Union Congress (STUC) organised campaign - 'There is a better way' - and a forthcoming demonstration in Edinburgh on Saturday 23rd October 2010. We would encourage ALL members and their families to attend this demonstration. Travel arrangements will be publicised nearer the time, so keep checking back or contact your steward about attending.

UNISON writes to Mungo Foundation Chief Executive Dana O’Dwyer and Chair of the Board Archbishop Conti Seeking Meetings to Discuss Concerns

On Friday 3^rd September following a meeting of UNISON stewards UNISON Regional Organiser Simon Macfarlane wrote to The Chief Exec and Chair of the Mungo Foundation to express UNISON’s concerns in 3 key areas, these were:

1)      Pay - we submitted a pay claim on 10 June 2010 for the Living Wage of £7, now £7.15 p/h to be the lowest rate in The Mungo Foundation with 2.5% for those above it. Given members had no rise last year we feel this is a very reasonable claim. We are concerned that to date we have had no formal response on this. You can find out more info on the living wage here and the full claim is also on the blog. On our blog you will also find info on what some faith based organisations are doing regarding the living wage and if you are a member of such an organisation we would encourage you to raise this there.

2)      Restructuring in learning disability services in Glasgow - we have raised concerns about the consultation process, in particular we are seeking clarity on the salary scale for the new project assistant post they want to introduce in these services. We need members to have the fullest information possible and we are not comfortable this is the case at present. At some stage we may well need to consult formally members in the projects affected. Please can you call UNISON direct on 0845 355 0845 and check that your membership record has your workplace properly recorded (note if you move following this restructure you’ll need to update it again).

3)      Progress on other issues. We have been pursuing a number of issues such as sleepover length for some time. We are concerned about the lack of progress on these issues.

For all of the above reasons we think it would be helpful to meet with the Chief Executive and the Board. We are meeting management on 8^th September and will update the blog following that on where we are at.

On a positive note TMF have agreed to trial out having one of UNISON’s stewards acting as a convenor 3 days a week for 6 months. Alice Lyness has been elected to fill this position, the details still need to be worked out. In the first instance members should continue to contact their local steward wherw they have one, Alice can be contacted on alicelyness@fsmail.net or 07882551134.

At this time we need to be as strong as possible so please encourage non member colleagues to join, they can do so by calling 0845 355 0845 or online at www.unison.org.uk/join .

Is your church paying a Living Wage?

UNISON receives information from many varied sources, one of these is the Church Action on Poverty who are running a campaign called 'Closing the Gap'. The 'Close the Gap' campaign encourages individuals to participate in the campaign against the ever widening pay gap between rich and poor in the UK which is greater now than at any time in the past 40 years. We need your help to tell those in power that it's time to Close the Gap.

Please read the information below, we would encourage all members involved in faith-based organisations to raise the issue of the living wage within those organisations and seek that they adopt the living wage if they have employees.

Each year, the level of the Living Wage gets reviewed and updated. It has now gone up from £7.14 an hour to £7.60. In London it is now £7.85 and in Scotland £7.15.

It is a sad fact that pay below this level is poverty wages. We believe that work should pay enough to lift people out of poverty. Thousands of hard-working families are still in poverty because people are paid just the National Minimum Wage. For Christians, this denigrates the fundamental dignity of humanity. It is an important issue of social justice to stand with people and families who are working hard but still in poverty.

Take action to stop this:

1. Make sure the administrators and cleaners at your church or employer are paid the Living Wage.

2. Ask your church leaders if they plan to implement the updated Living Wage across your area.

More information about the Living Wage is available on the Church Action on Poverty website.

Cranking up the campaign - Methodists lead the way

This summer's Methodist Conference saw them agree to require all Methodist churches and projects to pay the Living Wage by the end of this financial year, except in very exceptional circumstances. This has already lifted a significant number of lay workers out of 'in-work poverty'. This is the culmination of almost 10 years of work by Church Action on Poverty, and we pass on our congratulations to the Methodists. There is still a big job ahead to make sure the many churches and 600 Circuits adopt it.

Not far behind, the Baptists, the United Reformed Church, the Church of Scotland, and the Quakers are all publicly committed to the principle.

However, neither of the two largest denominations - the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England – has taken serious steps towards respecting their low-paid workers with a Living Wage. We will be in touch soon asking you to contact the Anglican or Roman Catholic bishops in your diocese.

Defend Glasgow Services

The DEFEND GLASGOW SERVICES campaign has called a PUBLIC meeting on

THURSDAY 9TH SEPTEMBER

7.30 PM

Glasgow city UNISON branch office

4th Floor

18 Albion Street

Candleriggs

Glasgow

ALL WELCOME

Who is the Defend Glasgow Services (DGS)Campaign

The DGS campaign unites public sector trade unions, public services workers and community organisations. Glasgow City Council and its Arms Length Organisations intend to make significant cuts to services over the next three years. Our NHS is under attack. Support to the unemployed and disabled is threatened. Grants to community organisations are being slashed. The citizens of Glasgow should not be asked to pay for the bail out of the banks and the mistakes of greedy bankers.

The campaign is co-ordinated by UNISON Glasgow City Branch, Public Services Trade Union

Tel 0141.552.7069 email

Campaign aims


• Defend Public Sector jobs & services

• No to cuts in public spending

• Oppose the privatisation of public services.

• Tax the banks and financial institutions that caused the crisis. End tax avoidance by the super-rich and make them pay their fair share.

• For a united campaign of public services workers, community/ voluntary organisations and service user groups to defend Glasgow’s services.

Items under discussion with TMF

UNISON are currently in negotiation with TMF over the the sleepover policy and rota provision.
We have attached draft versions of both policies the comments in bold represent additions/changes we are seeking.
If you have any comments on the policies please contact Alice Lyness.

Families to bail out banks

"The government has decided that women, families and children will bear the brunt of cutting the deficit," Ruth Lister, head of social policy at Loughborough University told a TUC forum on 22nd July 2010.
Although the government claims that the emergency budget is fair, the combined effect of changes to benefits and service cuts is hitting the poorest hardest, especially low paid women workers and their families.

The Chancellor has claimed that the budget will "have no adverse impact on child poverty".

But, according to research by Ms Lister, the government is asking families with children to make an additional contribution that others are not paying.

"Gender and family friendliness are vitally important when we're talking about passing the fairness test," said Ms Lister.

"The conservative manifesto promised to 'make Britain the most family-friendly country in Europe'," she said, "yet there seems to have been no assessment of how the budget will affect the coalition's family-friendly agenda".

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has recently advised the Treasury of its legal obligation to carry out an equality impact assessment of the budget.

"We need to remind the government of its duties to do an equality impact assessment of the emergency budget, and the spending review expected later this year," said Ms Lister.

Cuts to services announced in the budget, and housing benefit changes, will also hit women hardest. Research commissioned by UNISON, shows that service cuts will mean the poorest tenth of households will lose the equivalent of 20.5% of their household income, whilst the richest tenth will lose just 1.6%.

Service cuts will be particularly harsh for low-paid women, who make up most of the public sector workforce, and their families and children.

Low paid workers, who already face pay freezes and job cuts, will now also see their services and household income cut.

The government is planning to cap and put restrictions on housing benefit, which many hard-working low-income families depend on to meet rising housing costs.

Freezing of child benefit, and focusing on Child Tax Credits, which will be reduced and withdrawn from many families also indicates a shift in government policy from universal to means-tested benefits for families and children, warned Ms Lister.

One-off payment being made to staff

UNISON have been advised by The Mungo Foundation that following a review of the final year accounts, the organisation were in a position to make a one-off payment to the value of £217 (subject to tax and NI) to each full time employee. This will be paid with your July salary. This payment is being made to all staff currently on the payroll.


Part time staff will be paid a pro rata equivalent and relief staff will be paid based on average hours worked per week in 2009/10.

UNISON welcomes any increase in our member's wage and we acknowledge TMF's efforts to give some recognition of their employees commitment in this difficult financial climate.

Please note that this payment has no bearing on our recently submitted pay claim for this financial year.

We fully expect to meet with TMF soon to take forward discussions on our claim.

UNISON families hit by low pay

An in-depth study, published by UNISON, explores the complex relationship between working, juggling childcare responsibilities and low pay, a relationship that traps people into low wage jobs, with little chance of progression.

The knock-on effect to families is huge. From working two jobs, taking shifts on the weekend, or feeling too tired to discipline their children or help out with homework, many parents on low wages fear their kids are missing out on vital care and support.
Working alongside researchers from the Working Lives Research Institute from London Metropolitan University, UNISON members discussed and documented the effects of low pay, long and unsocial hours and/or multiple jobs on their own lives and those of their children.

The Impact of Low Pay on UNISON’s Families is available here

'Here's how you can cut the deficit' - Mr Cameron

UNISON had a message for David Cameron today, in response to his invitation for public service workers to suggest ways of cutting the deficit.

A letter to the prime minister made our ideas quite clear. It said:

"Dear Dave,

"You asked us how we could cut the deficit. We believe you can do this without devastating public services. Here's how:

"Stop cutting vital public services.

"Stop cutting public service jobs.

"Cut bankers' bonuses and bring in a Robin Hood tax.

"Keep services in-house, instead of paying consultants.

"Cut out the privatisation profiteers.

"Thanks for listening,

"From 1.3 million public service workers in UNISON."

General secretary Dave Prentis said: "Our members didn't cause the recession. It wasn't a nurse or a social worker or a teaching assistant that gambled millions on the stock exchange and almost brought the economy down.

"So our members should not have to pay. It's time that those who created the crisis paid for it

In our alternative budget and here, UNISON has shown how it can be done without making public services workers and our communities suffer."

There's still time to let the prime minister get the message by clicking here and leaving your comments. And let us know what you've said by emailing millionvoices@unison.co.uk.

You can find more ideas in UNISON's alternative budget here.

Click here to join our Million Voices campaign to defend public services.

Red Towers meeting for staff facing redundancy

UNISON representatives will be visiting Red Towers on Friday 2nd July at 2.30pm to meet with staff facing redundancy there.

Food Allocation Policy

UNISON is aware that a new Food Allocation Policy has appeared in many projects proposing significant changes of approach to the processes and practices currently in place.

This has been the source of major concern to our members.

UNISON has not been consulted with regards to this policy and has raised this with TMF management.

Our advice is not to sign the policy and to stick to the status quo and to politely advise managers accordingly, you should state to them that you are waiting for the matter to be discussed between UNISON and TMF. If there are issues because of this please contact us ASAP.

Regards

Alice Lyness

Senior Steward

Budget: Government declares war on public services

22/06/2010


UNISON General Secretary, Dave Prentis, today accused the Government of declaring war on public services and public service workers with the most draconian budget in decades.

He said: “This budget signals that the battle for Britain’s public services has begun with the Government declaring war. Public sector workers will be shocked and angry that they are the innocent victims of job cuts and pay freezes.

“Freezing public sector pay when inflation is running at 5.1% and VAT is going up, will mean a real cut in living standards for millions of ordinary workers and their families - already struggling to pay rising bills.

“Nurses, social workers, midwives, paramedics, police community support officers, housing and environmental officers who provide vital public services, are amongst those who will be hit hardest by the two year pay freeze. And for local government workers this comes on top of this year’s freeze.

“A 25% cut in departmental public spending will decimate our public services. The budget will do nothing to restore confidence or kick-start the recovery, but will push local economies into the ground, raising the spectre of breadline Britain.

“They haven’t even bothered to consider any other option but slash and burn. What of the bankers who caused the recession and the super-rich who evade tax? They must be breathing a sigh of relief that they got away so lightly. The bank tax levy is a poor substitute for a serious ‘Robin Hood” tax on financial transactions. It is a missed opportunity to raise £30bn which would have made a significant dent in the country’s deficit.

“Throwing tens of thousands of public sector workers on the dole will cost the country billions in lost tax revenue as well as piling billions onto the benefits bill.

“The Chancellor dreams of a private sector recovery but how can that be on the back of brutal cuts to public services workers. Local businesses, shops, hairdressers, restaurants will go to the wall as spending dries up. No amount of fiscal stimulus will do any good if they have no customers

“Vital services that the poor, the sick and the vulnerable rely on, are in the firing line. There is no compassion in this coalition.

“Freezing council tax is a useless gesture saving people pennies but cutting tens of millions from council budgets, trhreatening jobs, losing services and undermining the local economy.

“Raising VAT affects the poor the most as they spend a higher proportion of their meagre incomes on goods and services.

“Meanwhile major utility companies spend money sponsoring sporting events whilst attacking pay and conditions – that cannot be fair.”

Adding 500,000 public service workers to the dole between now and 2015 – which the CIPD says would be the likely effect of Osborne’s spending plans – will cost around £10 billion in lost tax and increased benefit payments. This would almost entirely cancel out the reduction in the pay bill, as well as dealing a massive blow to local economies and communities.

UNISON’s Save Our Services alternative budget:

£4.7bn could be raised every year by introducing a 50% tax rate on incomes over £100,000

£10bn could be raised every year by reforming tax havens and residence rules to reduce tax avoidance by corporations and ‘non-domiciled’ residents

£14.9bn could be raised every year by using minimum tax rates to stop reliefs being used disproportionately subsidise incomes over £100,000

£30bn could be raised every year by introducing a Major Financial Transactions Tax on UK financial institutions – the Robin Hood Tax

At least £1.5bn could be raised this year by bringing back the windfall tax on bankers’ bonuses.

£4bn could be saved this year by cancelling Trident, the project could cost as much as £100bn.

£500m could be saved every year by eradicating healthcare acquired infections from the NHS – the extra cleaners would cost half this.

£495m could be saved every year by adopting measures to improve the health and well-being of NHS staff, thereby reducing sickness absence

£1bn could be saved every year by halving the local government agency bill, as has been achieved by high performing councils

£5bn could be raised every year with an Empty Property Tax on vacant dwellings. This only exaggerates housing shortages and harms neighbourhoods.

£2.8bn could be saved every year by ending the central government use of private consultants who bring little discernable benefit

£3bn could be saved in user fees and interest charges every year if PFI schemes were replaced with conventional public procurement

Total – 77.895bn.

Joint Consultative Committee 10th June 2010

STAFFING LEVELS & CONTINUED USE OF AGENCY STAFF The point was raised that despite TMF implementing efficiancy savings,agency staff are still being used to quite a high degree.TMF said they are still having problems recruiting and retaining staff but it has been passed on to Managers that there is a protocol to follow when filling shifts :p/t,f/t,relief staff to be offered before going to agency.

DISCIPLINARY&GRIEVANCE PROCEDURES
It was raised by UNISON that that Managers were sometime not following procedures, TMF said they will be carrying out training with their Managers.

ANNUAL LEAVE/AUTHORISATION
There have been instances where staff have been told by their Manager that they can carry over annual leave in to the next leave year above the 38hrs referred to in the staff handbook when they have beeen unable to take it due to sickness or other reasons only to be told by HR that they will lose it, UNISON asked who has the authority to grant this,TMF said it should go through Service Manager.Lorraine Eivers has asked UNISON to gather any information on staff who are in this situation. So please get in touch with your steward if you are affected.

STUDY TIME/SVQ3&4
TMF will now have their own assessors, there will be induction and study/workshop days set up at Clyde St, Frank Doherty is working on this at present.

JOB DESCRIPTIONS
UNISON have asked for these as it would help Stewards in their role when advising members. TMF said they are almost ready to go out.

PAY CLAIM
Simon Macfarlane, Regional Organiser submitted the pay claim today, saying that the ballot had returned 90% in agreement with 2.5%, this will be taken to the Board meeting on 28/6/10.

REDUNDANCIES AT RED TOWER PROJECT
UNISON expressed it extreme concern about the recently announced closure of Red Tower with 30 redundancies. TMF advised they had been called in at short notice by Health Board and Glasgow City Council to be told funding was being pulled, prior to this they had been working on a remodelled service. UNISON asked for and received contact information for officers in Council and Health Board who had made decision so as the issue could be raised with them. UNISON pressed TMF to do everything they could to minimise compulsory redundancies and to find suitable vacancies for staff.

Any Other Business
New project for Dementia at Bankhall St will be handed over to TMF in August, start-up and funding has still to be agreed.

Rosewood Project will not close now until September with some staff moving to Elderslie Project and some trasferring to Health Board

These are the issues that were discussed at the Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) on 10th June 2010.

Alice Lyness, Convenor

Defend Glasgow Services - Oppose Tory/Lib Dem cuts! 12.15pm - 22nd June 2010

The newly elected Tory/ Lib dem coalition is wasting no time in announcing attacks on public sector spending and its our jobs and the vital services that we provide that are due for the axe!


This financial crisis is not of our making and is the biggest con trick for years – use public money to bail out the banks then bankers and politicians announce that the public sector must pay with cuts in jobs and services.

We reject the government and media campaign that places the blame for the crisis at the door of public sector workers/ public sector services.

We reject the idea ‘private good/ public bad’.

We need a united campaign of service providers and service users to fight cuts described as “worse than during Thatcher’s time”.

Get organised. Come to the lunch time demonstration

Join our All Glasgow Campaign!

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Defend Glasgow Services Campaign
The DGS campaign unites public sector trades unions, public services workers and community organisations. Glasgow City Council and its Arms Length Organisations intend to make significant cuts to services over the next three years. Grants to community organisations are also being slashed. The citizens of Glasgow should not be asked to pay for the bail out of the banks and the mistakes of greedy bankers.

Campaign co-ordinated by UNISON Glasgow Branch

Tel 0141.552.7069

Pay claim 2010

UNISON members within The Mungo Foundation were issued with a consultative ballot last month on our submission of a pay award from 1st April 2010. The ballot closed yesterday (Wednesday 8th June 2010) and we can can confirm a 90% vote in favour of the claim.

The claim was for:
a straightforward claim for an increase of 2.5% on all salary scales and the introduction of a minimum pay rate of £7 per hour in line with the Scottish Living Wage Campaign, this campaign is being backed by a number of organisations including church groups.

Your stewards appreciate the claim does not meet current inflation rates and are also aware that you did not receive a cost of living rise last year. However, after detailed discussion we have structured a claim which we believe is realistic in the current financial circumstances. We believe that for the Mungo Foundation not to reach swift agreement on our claim will be wholly unreasonable.

Other negotiations
In recent months your stewards have been meeting with TMF management on a regular basis to pursue a number of issues, progress has not been as swift as we would like but we hope in the coming months a number of positive outcomes will be reported to you.

Non Pay Benefits – child care vouchers, bike to work and Glasgow Club (the Council leisure club in Glasgow) discounts and benefits are now available. UNSION fully appreciates these will only be of benefit to some staff and they are in no way a substitute for decent pay, however they are important benefits that we have secured.
 
Rota’s – when we surveyed members last year it was clear there was huge variations in rota practices and staff satisfaction with these. We have been working with management to negotiate a best practice guide and hope it will be agreed and issued soon.


Sleepover facilities – we are seeking a minimum standard to be agreed in terms of clean fresh linen, storage, security, washing, tea/coffee, TV faculties etc that all staff should be able to expect when spending a night away from home. We have also called on a number of sleepover rooms to be revamped. If you believe yours needs revamped speak to your project manager about your ideas and contact us if matters are not resolved. We hope the minimum standards will be issued very soon.

Sleepover pay and terms – you will see as part of the pay claim we are looking for a sleepover rate of £33 for all sleepovers up to 8 and half hours. We do not believe sleepovers should be any longer than this except in exceptional circumstances and have been discussing reducing those that are wherever possible. Where there remain any sleepovers over 8 and a half hours we believe the additional hours should be paid at the hourly rate. UNISON maintains its positions that all sleepovers should be paid at the National Minimum Wage rate but this is unlikely at the current time.

We would also remind you that you cannot be compelled to work more than 48 hours a week including sleepovers on average unless you want to.

We have also given management proposals on how to handle disturbances and toil during sleepovers and will keep you updated on their response.

UNISON response to David Cameron's speech

UNISON General Secretary, Dave Prentis, responding to David Cameron’s speech today on the economy, said: “This was a chilling attack on the public sector, public sector workers, the poor, to the sick and the vulnerable and a warning that their way of life will change. There was nothing in this speech that told the rich, the banking and financial sector or the city speculators that their privileged way of life will change.


“With breathtaking gall, David Cameron is spinning a myth about a hard-done-by private sector. The Tories and their friends in big business seem to forget the tens of billions of pounds of profit made by the private sector out of public sector contracts.

“And Cameron is trying to fool the public into believing that cutting public spending, quickly and deeply, has nothing to do with political priorities or decisions. I don’t think people will be fooled.

“It is a complete nonsense to claim that you can cut tens of billions of pounds from public spending and still protect ‘front-line’ services. And throwing public sector workers on the dole does not make sense – that will have a drastic impact on local economies. For every £1 a public sector worker earns, nearly 70p is spent in local shops, cafes, hairdressers and businesses.

“Of course we have to manage the deficit, but there are other ways of reducing it and that includes making those who caused the crisis pay a bit more, and by tackling tax avoidance and evasion.

“Cutting deeply and quickly risks plunging the country back into recession – public services are too precious to be turned into a political football.”

Meeting of the J.C.C. (Joint Consultative Committee) 25th March 2010

On the 25th March 2010, following a postponement from February, stewards from TMF (The Mungo Foundation), accompanied by UNISON Regional Organiser met with members from TMF management at Clyde Street. Both sides had a long agenda and prioritising of items was necessary, with assurance that any item outstanding on the Agenda will be re-submitted as soon as possible at a further meeting. It was suggested and agreed that the JCC would meet by monthly in future; at present the meetings normally take place quarterly. New dates were agreed to discuss and finalise items such as Sleepovers, Rota’s, Manual Grades and organisation Policies and Procedures currently under review or being introduced.
The Director of HR informed the meeting that some non pay benefits such as, Child Care Vouchers, Discounted gym membership for the Glasgow Club and a “Bike to Work” scheme would soon be on offer to staff. Memo’s will be going out to projects with more information. TMF Management updated the committee on the impact the reduction of funding due to the recession is having on our organisation and the measures being taken to minimise the effect on the services we provide. A project update was also given, with reassurances that any changes necessitated by funding cuts would be discussed with UNISON in the first instance, priority being given to maintaining and delivering a good quality service and safe guarding staff employment. The organisation are planning SVQ monthly workshops with TMF accredited assessors, to support staff working towards SVQ qualifications and also TMF have extended an invitation to a union steward to attend the forthcoming Award Ceremony to those who have successfully completed their SVQ or other qualification.

It was good to get some matters resolved or progressed at the JCC but there are still many issues outstanding so it is good we have increased the frequency of meetings and have future dates set.

There is a lot going on in TMF. Keep in touch with your stewards to here the latest.

Best wishes

Alice Lyness
UNISON Convenor TMF

UNISON publishes major report on funding and the recession in the voluntary sector

Serious problems in the UK's voluntary sector are laid bare in an independent report, released by UNISON today. At a time when vulnerable Britons need charities more than ever, voluntary sector workers are reporting a huge range of problems, leading to sinking morale throughout the sector. Findings show many workers are turning their backs on their careers to stack shelves in supermarkets, forced out by poor pay, increased stress and falling standards.Massive cuts in funding are also affecting the public, as organisations fail to keep up with the demands of the public services they provide and struggle to compete with private sector contractors.The report shows that the recession has seriously speeded up the problems, which stemmed from the Government's push for low-cost competition.Findings include cost pressures affecting pay and conditions, with staff saying the charity sector is seen as a cut-price answer to larger economic problems. Due to the short-term nature of funding, insecurity is rife in the voluntary sector.De-skilling has led to a rise in unqualified staff or volunteers, and staff are expected to face cuts while working increasingly long hours.The huge focus on driving down cost is leading to burn out among workers, resulting in retention problems and extra expense for employers.Dave Prentis, UNISON's General Secretary, said:"The feedback from those working in the voluntary sector is shocking. The third sector should be properly funded and appreciated. It should not be a cut-price alternative."Workers are getting treated badly, with those normally willing to go that extra mile, being asked to go that extra marathon."Staff are facing job cuts, poor pay, unrealistic targets and increased stress. It's hardly surprising that it becomes too much for dedicated staff who can get a better deal working in a supermarket."And I find it extremely disturbing that some providers may go bust and some in home care are being 'wiped' out by private companies that undercut pay and conditions for staff."These services are needed now more than ever, to help vulnerable adults and children ride out the recession. But the Government doesn't translate that into proper funding or support for those hit severely by the recession. It's not too late for them to intervene to fund properly the sector."We want the Government to end the race to the bottom for public services provided by the third sector."Example interviewee quotes:Interviewee: "People leave to take an unstressed job in a supermarket. "There's a lot of stress on the senior staff as well who are having to bid for these contracts and they are just getting more and more insecure about their organisation. "They're spending more and more time scrambling for money, instead of running a service, and worrying about the next contract."Interviewee: "It's entirely conceivable to me that we will get to that point in social care where you're actually paying people less than the minimum wage and expecting some health service users to tip. "It sounds crazy, but we're not that far away from it really."Interviewee: "We've already seen in a couple of local authority areas, the voluntary sector completely wiped out of home care, as they just cannot compete due to their unit costs and staff costs. "They're still paying pensions and trying to do what they can for the workforce standards and they're being absolutely wiped out by private companies who don't pay pensions, who have zero hour contacts for staff."Download the report Government policy, recession and voluntary sector
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Keeping you informed

We aim to update the blog as soon as possible after the Joint Consultative Committee and any other disussions/meetings with the employer.