Mike Short, Community National Officer responds to news Women's refuge chief returns OBE in protest over cuts

Big society sums just don't add up

The Guardian, Tuesday 22 February 2011

It was sad to read about Denise Marshall's no doubt tough decision to return her OBE in protest at government cuts (Report, 16 February) – a further indication of the damage the Tory-led government is inflicting on the "civil society" it wants to use to replace the state. Organisations like Eaves and Women's Aid already provide vital services for vulnerable women, in partnership with the public sector. But the government's cuts will cost the voluntary sector as much as £5bn when demand for the services such organisations provide is increasing.

The proposed "big society" bank, which will lend two-thirds of its £300m at expensive commercial rates, is just window dressing and will be of little assistance. Against this backdrop, the so-called big society will not empower or strengthen communities; it will leave them with more to do, but with only a fraction of their current resources. It is an attack on both the public sector and the voluntary sector, and it will cause real hardship for millions of people.

Mike Short

National officer, community and voluntary sector, UNISON

Copy of members letter on pay and other information updates

To All UNISON Members in the Mungo Foundation


Dear Member

PAY 2010/11
I am writing to update you on the latest developments with regards to the ongoing pay situation in the Mungo Foundation. To recap events to date, so far we have:

• Consulted you on whether you supported the claim or not. Members voted overwhelmingly in support of our claim which called on TMF to increase rates of pay by 2.5% and adopt the Scottish Living Wage of £7.15 per hour as the minimum rate;

• We have submitted the claim;

• Written to the board to express dissatisfaction with the time taken to get a response to our claim;

• Met with Dana O’Dwyer, the Chief Executive;

• Formally met with TMF to be advised that they were making no pay offer for 2010/11;

• Written to the Leader and Chief Executive of Glasgow City Council calling on them to fund the TMF better;

• Balloted you on the proposed pay freeze. Members overwhelmingly indicated that you are not happy to accept a second year of pay freezes and want to campaign in UNISON to demand a pay rise.


We now need you the members to tell us what action you are prepared to take to put pressure on the Board and Management of TMF to budge. One idea we have is to lobby outside the next meeting of the TMF Board, we would write to them in advance and ask that they let us address them directly. We need to know if you think this is a good idea and whether you would come along and support the lobby, you can tell us on the enclosed for. We will let you know if we are going ahead with this in due course and please keep an eye on our blog at:

http://unison-mungofoundation.blogspot.com/

However it will likely take more than a lobby for them to budge and therefore we may need you to take part in some form of industrial action. The enclosed ballot is not a formal industrial action ballot and won’t result in you being called out on strike, but we do need to know your views and whether you would be prepared to strike.

We know that there are real and genuine financial pressures on TMF and organisations like it due to the ConDem government’s cuts. However, we also know that our members are facing a real squeeze as costs go up and yet your pay stays the same. It is also likely that if we don’t get some movement now they will no doubt propose a pay freeze next year, meaning 3 years without a wage rise. Inflation was at 5.3% at the settlement date of 1 April 2010 and was 4.8% in December 2010 (before the hike in VAT) and is likely still to be high in April this year.

So please fill in the form and return it now.

LEARNING DISABILITIES & PERSONALISATION
It continues to be a difficult time for members employed in learning disability services. We met some of you at meetings organised at short notice by the TMF before Christmas and have been at further meetings since. At the meetings just before Christmas we handed out a briefing note, we did this because we understood that management would also be putting out a copy of their statement to staff.

We believe it would have been better had they done this at the time as there was so much to absorb. You now have their briefing and things have moved on but it was unfortunate you only had one side of the story (our briefing responded to theirs) for a while. Just to be absolutely clear the moves made to reduce contracted hours in learning disabilities are management’s not ours. We have been consulted and negotiated on them and have worked hard to secure the best deal possible in the situation and will continue to do so. This is what you would expect your union to do.

If you are worried or want to chat about your situation please contact me or one of our reps in learning disability:

Mary Madden, Tel: 07531 772 832 or Luka Obraslak, Tel: 07872 394 300.

SLEEPOVERS
We are still pursuing the issue of the varying length of sleepovers in TMF. UNISON’s position on sleepovers is that we believe that they count as working time; therefore they should be paid at least at the rate of the National Minimum Wage (£5.93 currently). TMF and other employers don’t agree or at least say they can’t afford to pay the NMW for sleepovers as they don’t receive funding at that level.

UNISON is keen to explore test cases in this area. We would be very keen to hear from you in particular if you think that your combined earnings for waking shifts and sleepovers don’t average out at the NMW. If you think this applies to you then please indicate this on the form.

We have made good progress in another regard on sleepovers. There are now minimum standards in place with regards to sleepover facilities, such as clean decent linen, refreshment facilities, access to TV, secure storage for personal belongings. If you believe your project is not coming up to scratch on sleepover facilities let us know what the issues are and we will pursue.

UNISON MEMBERSHIP
Our membership is growing in TMF, which is very welcome as it gives us more clout and means more people have us on their side. Please help us grow by encouraging colleagues to join by visiting our blog, or www.unison.org.uk/join or calling 0845 355 0845 or getting in touch with me and I’ll send them a form.

JOIN THE MARCH FOR AN ALTERNATIVE
Lastly, can I advise you that UNISON is fully supporting the TUC’s March for the Alternative in London on 26th March 2011, which calls for Jobs, Growth and Justice as opposed to ConDem cuts. If you want to join us and want more information please indicate that on the form too.

Yours sincerely

Alice Lyness

UNISON Convenor

The Mungo Foundation

Email: unisontmf@gmail.com

Telephone: 07739 324354

UNISON's response to SCVO chief executive on 'cuts'

Below we reprint a letter from Ian Williamson, Chair of UNISON Scotland's Community sector committee and an employee of SPPA. Ian has mailed this letter to 'Third Force News' following comments made by the SCVO Chief Executive, Martin Sime.

Dear Sir

At a time when a broad, cross sector campaign against the coalition’s ideologically inspired spending cuts is required, it is disappointing to hear the Chief Executive of SCVO, Martin Sime, call for the Scottish Government to ‘stop protecting’ the jobs of public sector workers delivering vital public services (‘Battle Begins for a Fair Future’, TFN 4 February).

His assertion that the third sector also provides public services is one that UNISON is in complete agreement with. It is for this reason that UNISON has over the years worked with third sector employers to push for funding arrangements which factor in full cost recovery and parity (with the wider public sector) of pay and conditions for employees in the sector.

Our 6,000 members working in the sector in Scotland are among those facing redundancy or an uncertain future as a result of the cuts. We are determined to fight for each and every one of our members’ jobs in the third sector as well as the public sector.

Instead of evoking the legacy of Thatcherism with his attack on the ‘bloated’ public sector, Martin Sime should be standing alongside his partners in the trade unions to defend all public services, whether they are delivered by the public sector or by voluntary and community organisations. Instead of engaging in a divisive “don’t sack us, sack them” exercise, he should be directing his fire at the Government in London, whose programme of savage cuts will throw hundreds of thousands on the dole and do untold damage to public services and to the wider economy.

Ian Williamson

Chair

UNISON Scottish Community Service Group Committee

Default retirement age comes to an end

The Coalition Government has announced that the default retirement age will be abolished from 1st October 2011. The phasing out will begin in April 2011. The last day workers can be forced to retire using the Default Retirement Age (DRA) is 30 September 2011. As a result, the final day that an employer can provide six months’ notice using the DRA is 30 March 2011.

In general terms, under the new system the dismissal or retirement of older workers is intended to be dealt with either by an objective company policy, individual negotiation or by formal performance management procedures. The recently published ACAS guidance on this subject summarises the issue with the following statement: “Removing the DRA does not mean that employees will never be able to retire. It just means that employers cannot force employees to retire at a set age unless the age can be objectively justified”

UNISON advice to workplace reps is to monitor closely all retirement and dismissal procedures during the transitional period described above. Branches should seek to negotiate a workplace retirement policy which incorporates these changes and creates a level playing field for all employees regarding retirement.

Austerity and UNISON members: a survey

UNISON and PCS are launching a joint survey to measure the impact of the austerity measures on our members’ finances. We know that members and their families are struggling to make ends meet. The recent rise in VAT has come on top of price rises on household essentials, cuts in benefits and proposals to increase pension contributions - all at a time when members are being hit by pay freezes, pay cuts and redundancies.


In this survey we hope to obtain clear evidence to show the hardship these austerity measures are causing our members.

The survey is available by clicking on the link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/J69PSTK or there will be a hardcopy available for those members that do not have online access. The survey should take no longer than 15 minutes to complete and we would urge as many members as possible to take part in the survey by Sunday 20 February 2011. You will be making an important contribution to your union’s campaign against the cuts.

The survey asks members some quite sensitive financial questions, but it is information that is necessary for us to calculate the true impact of the cuts on our members’ finances. The information will be treated as completely confidential. The results will provide the UNISON with hard evidence that will help us make our case in negotiations on pay and pensions and our campaigning and media work.

If you have any questions about the survey, please contact Deborah Littman.

For any technical problems accessing the survey contact Louisa Withers.

Briefing Note for Staff in GLDP

UNISON has been involved in ongoing discussions about the restructuring in GLDP Services with Mungo Foundation management over recent months. You will remember the background to this is Glasgow City Council’s move to personalise services for service users with learning disabilities through self directed support.

You may well have now been involved in assisting in the completion of Self Evaluation Questionnaires on behalf of service users. It is important that staff, and key workers especially, be consulted on the completion of these questionnaires as staff are amongst the closest to knowing the needs of the service user. These forms will now be put through a Resource Allocation System by the Council which will determine the budget that each service user gets for support. The Council have been explicit that they expect to make on average 20 to 30% savings per service user.

UNISON supports the idea that service users should have more control and say over the service they receive, we do though have major concerns about this move being introduced at a time of massive contractions in public spending as is happening here. More info on UNISON’s views on personalisation can be found in a speech by Simon Macfarlane, Regional Organiser which is on our blog for Mungo Foundation members, this can be found at http://unison-mungofoundation.blogspot.com/ .

After scoring staff according to the selection criteria, TMF came to us an initial proposal for allocating staff to posts. Through further discussions and negotiations we made representations seeking the maximum number of Project Worker posts possible.

On Thursday 16th December I and Simon Macfarlane met with TMF management to be updated on the position. The proposals which you will be hearing from management on mean significantly more staff remain on the Project Worker grade; this is obviously to be welcome. Some staff will have to move project, we have been assured that you have been spoken to about this on an individual basis if this is a potential outcome for you.

Management have been frank that they are faced with a dilemma in that they do not yet know the outcome of the Resource Allocation System process mentioned above, but fully anticipate 20% or more cuts to come out of it. This we are afraid is a reasonable assumption for them to make. They therefore have advised us that they propose to offer staff in GLDP services posts on 20% less hours than their current contract, subject to no one dropping below the 16 hour threshold for Working Tax Credits.

This is obviously very difficult news for you and comes on the back of rising prices, pay freezes and a forthcoming increase in VAT. UNISON is here to support you through this difficult time, and can advise the following:

• We are told the reduction in hours will take effect on 1 April 2011;

• We are told there will be pay protection for 3 months for downgraded staff, we are seeking clarity on this;

• We believe that you are being offered a new post as part of a redundancy consultation exercise and thus you should be entitled to a trial period should you wish one and/or to ultimately to refuse a post at reduced hours and receive a redundancy payment;

• We have sought assurances that wherever possible extra hours will be offered to staff first. On this point you should remember that if you for instance end up on a 30 hour and 36 minute contract and work additional hours over this, then up to the full time hours of 38 you are entitled for additional paid annual leave and sick pay entitlement for each extra hour worked. We have been assured by TMF that they have systems in place to deliver this but we would advise members to be vigilant to ensure they get what they are entitled to as it will be complicated;

• As and when TMF pick up any further services they should look wherever possible to increase the hours of existing staff who wish more hours.

We also want to give you an opportunity to comment on this proposed course of action. The alternative we have been advised by TMF is that if they don’t reduce hours by 20% across the board it is likely they will have to make more staff redundant. It is a difficult call to make but on balance we feel most members would prefer to save jobs. However, we want to hear your views on this. As you hopefully know I am now seconded 3 days a week to carry out union work on behalf of members. I am based at 380 Govanhill Street and am on union duties Monday to Wednesday, you can email me or telephone my mobile is 07882 551134. Please do get in touch and let me have your views.

I also want to let you know that UNISON has written to both the political leader of the Council Gordon Matheson and the Chief Executive asking for a meeting to discuss funding and wages in voluntary organisations including specifically the Mungo Foundation, we will keep you updated on this via our blog and other communications.

Finally, please remember we are stronger together and we are here to support you, so if you are not already a member now is the time to come onboard, please contact me or visit the blog to join. As members you can also get a range of support and advice such as financial advice from organisations UNISON has links to, for more information on this please see our website at http://www.unison.org.uk/benefits/special.asp . We also have a dedicated charity UNISON Welfare for members facing hardship and this can be contacted via your branch by calling them on 0141 331 4450.

Alice Lyness

UNISON Convenor

The top ten tax shirkers – vote now

The government talks tough about clamping down on benefit ‘cheats’. Yet when faced with tax avoidance by the very wealthy, which sucks far more out of our economy than benefit fraud, ministers go quiet.


To help throw some light on this murky world, the Tax Justice Network has nominated its top ten tax shirkers and we’d like you to choose the worst offender. The winner will receive a small token of our esteem.

We're not suggesting anyone is breaking the law. But that's the problem: we need action to make sure those involved in the multi-billion pound tax avoidance industry, who act legally but use loopholes and tax havens to pay less tax, are stopped in their tracks.

You can vote here http://falseeconomy.org.uk/tax

VOTING ENDS ON MIDNIGHT 30th JANURY 2011