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To All Members Employed in The Mungo Foundation

Dear Member

We are writing to update you on a number of matters and to offer some general advice to members that we think is important to set out in the hope it will help you avoid getting in to difficulties at work. UNISON is here to help you if you do have problems at work but we also want to be proactive in helping you avoid some if possible.

I am pleased to announce that the role of Convenor that I have been carrying out since last September has been extended for a further 3 months.  I would like to remind you that I am based at Govanhill Street on a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday each week.  I do not have access to a land telephone number at Govanhill Street but I can be reached at the following mobile number and email: 07557561903 unisontmf@gmail.com .  For my other two working days I am based at Springbank Street Project as a project worker.

GLASGOW HOUSING SUPPORT SERVICES

The Mungo Foundation advised UNISON over a year ago there would be a massive restructure dictated by the implementation of ‘Personalisation’ by Glasgow City Council and the subsequent cuts to service users budgets that would arise from this. We are now dealing with the consequences of this.

New contracts of employment have been issued to staff as from 1 August 2011, this also being the date the new planners were implemented in Housing Support.  Many members have had their hours cut and their location changed and for some (part time workers mainly) an increase in the amount of sleepovers they are now required to work due to the new structure.  Part-time workers are also having to work more days often with split shifts but still doing the same amount of contracted hours or less, which adds more traveling time and increases transport costs as well as meaning spending considerably more time away from home for no extra payment.  UNISON advised members in our last update that if you were not happy with your new contract not to sign it.  It would appear that many, though not happy with their new hours, location and planners have signed their new contracts as they were anxious about their future security and concerned about their job.  Some members have yet to sign their contracts and are still on their old contracts but agreeing to work with the new planners until such time as they have reached an amicable agreement with the organisation.  This is likely to be once the planners introduced on the 1st August have been reviewed and where necessary adjusted.  Some members have reported back that the new planners are working for them, this appears to be at locations where staff are working sleepovers and there is a staff presence 24 hours.  At other locations where service users have what we can only describe as unsustainable budgets, service users’ support hours have been cut drastically and they are no longer in a position to pay for the support they need and deserve.  Reports from members state that the planners do not allow for accompanying service users to appointments (this includes medical appointments), any incidents that arise whilst on shift, appropriate medication times, service users being delayed or staff being delayed or liaising with other agencies.  This is also made more difficult by the number of staff vacancies, holidays, sick leave and the use of relief staff that are unfamiliar with the service users.  Another contributing factor is the ever changing needs and support required by the service users. 

Given all of the above UNISON raised the whole situation with TMF management at a meeting of the Joint Negotiating and Consultative Committee on Wednesday 5^th October. A detailed discussion took place where management candidly acknowledged they were aware there were many issues and that as it stood the service was not meeting its targets. They further acknowledged all this was having a detrimental impact on staff. At the meeting we received the following immediate assurances - that staff are able to claim for traveling time and travel expenses where they incur this due to one way pickups or drop offs. Furthermore a short life working group would be set up to look at all the issues in housing support; Mary Madden will represent UNISON on this.

If you wish to bring your views to the attention of the organisation I would suggest you do so in writing to your line manager and copy Mary Madden in. If you wish to raise issues in confidence then get in touch with me or Mary but we can only deal with individual issues in most cases if you have at least raised it with your manager.

WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE

We again remind staff that they are not obliged to work more than 48 hours over an average of 17 weeks.  Staff have the right to opt out of the Working Time Regulations if they wish to work more than 48 hours, this should be done in writing and can be changed again if your circumstances change.  For staff working sleepovers the hours spent on sleepover count as part of the 48 hours, e.g. if you are contracted to work 38 hours a week plus one sleepover, this can amount to 47 hours, you are not obliged to work any more hours than that a week; contact a TMF union steward if you require any further information regarding the Working Time Directive.

FOOD POLICY

UNISON at the JNCC again raised issues around the food policy, in particular in relation to sleepovers and the basic breakfast essentials being available and the treatment of staff supporting service users in the community at lunches etc. Again management acknowledged there were issues and it was agreed these would also be looked at in the short life working group that is being set up. UNISON is acutely aware we need to see concrete outcomes and procedures from this working group quickly and will be pushing for this.

MOBILE TELEPHONES 

We are aware that TMF have issued questionnaires to staff in Housing Support asking for their views on mobile telephones.  Staff are being asked if they would prefer a work mobile or to receive an allowance to cover the cost of work related telephone calls, our advice to members would be to request a work telephone.

TEAM MEETINGS

Members have been raising concerns about the lack of team meetings and supervision sessions and poor communication with managers, this has been mainly in the Housing Support projects, again we have raised this at the JNCC and will be monitoring the situation closely.

REQUESTS FOR ANNUAL LEAVE

We would like to remind members that they should put all their holiday requests in writing to their project manager as soon as they have dates in mind, for those who have access to e-mail you could also e-mail your manager with the dates.  Staff should have possession of their (pink) holiday card stating their personal leave allocation and it is the responsibility of staff to ensure that the card is kept up to date and signed by your manager or senior were appropriate.  Please ensure if you are carrying forward any leave from one year to the next that you have permission for this in writing.  We would suggest that all members have a supply of Holiday Request Forms in their possession and pass your request to your manager or senior giving as much notice as possible.

FESTIVE ROTA's  

We would advise members working in Housing Support to discuss festive rota's with their manager as early as possible as we are concerned that cover over the festive period will now become more complex due to the new planners. Please keep UNISON advised of any problems.

REQUESTS TO ATTEND A MEETING

All requests to attend personal meetings to discuss matters such as sickness absence, grievance and disciplinary should be in writing and should advise you that you have the right to be accompanied by UNISON.  UNISON considers a meeting that is being conducted by two senior staff members or one senior staff member and a member from HR constitutes a ‘formal meeting’.  If invitation is by telephone this should be backed up in writing before the meeting takes place.  If you are unsure about your right to representation at any meeting contact a steward as soon as possible for advice.  Also if you receive an invitation to attend a meeting and you wish representation please contact a steward immediately to allow the steward time to make the necessary arrangements, I am available at the moment Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday, other stewards are working shifts and require notice to rearrange their shifts if they have to attend meetings. 

POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

We would advise all staff to keep up to date with organisational policies and procedures and also local policies and procedures relating to your particular project.  If you are faced with any situations or incidents or have any concerns out with the normal 9 to 5 hours it is important that you seek advice from On-call sooner rather than later.  If an incident occurs while you are on shift please ensure that you complete an incident report and bring it to the attention of the appropriate person as soon as possible, it is important that you also record the completion of incident reports in the service users file and also at handover or on handover sheets if you are lone working. As incident reports can form part of the evidence at further investigations.  For all lone workers please ensure that you are fully up to date with the Lone Working Policy and Health & Safety in the Workplace.  If there are any aspects of the policies that you do not understand seek advice from your manager or senior, also if there is any training that you feel is important for you to carry out your duties raise this also with your manager or senior, preferably in writing.

CONTACT DETAILS FOR TMF STEWARDS                                          BRANCH OFFICE

                                       

Patricia (Pat) Gunnion: 07988549443 patriciagunnion@ntlworld.com           4^th Floor

Mary Madden: 07531 772832 marymadden_fol@hotmail.com                    Empire House

Stuart McVey: 07917 378116 stew_mcvey@hotmail.com                           131 West Nile Street

Luka Obroslak: 07872 394300 obroslak@op.pl                                          Glasgow G1 2RX

                                                                                                            Tel: 0141 331 4450

UNISON TMF Website (blog) http://unison-mungofoundation.blogspot.com – please watch this space regularly.

Whilst writing we would also like to make a few further points. You are the union, we your stewards and the Branch and the union beyond that are there because of you and are responsive to your views and needs. However we also need you to be active and engaged in the union especially at this time of unprecedented attacks on public spending and thus the funding for the work we do. UNISON is campaigning daily against the cuts and sticking up for the services we provide. As I write hundreds of thousands of our fellow members are being balloted on strike action to defend their pensions. They need our support as we need theirs to stand up for the services we all provide and for decent pay and conditions. So please do look at the UNISON websites from time to time at http://www.unison.org.uk/ and http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/ to see what is going on and to get involved.

I would also remind you that whilst UNISON’s number one job is to help you get a fair deal at work there are loads of other benefits to being a member, you can find out about these all at www.unison.org.uk/benefits/special.asp or if you don’t have access to the internet contact me or the branch to discuss these.

Please do keep in touch and let me know your thoughts and views. Lastly, I would like you to do one thing to make us bigger and stronger and thus better able to represent you in The Mungo Foundation, please ask a non-member colleague to join, they can do so by calling 0845 355 0845 or by visiting www.unison.org.uk/join .

Yours sincerely

Alice Lyness

UNISON Convenor

The Mungo Foundation

Scottish Spending Review – UNISON Scotland response

Commenting on today’s Scottish Spending Review announcement, Mike Kirby, UNISON’s Scottish Secretary, said: “While we welcome the news on public sector pensions as it applies to local government, the Finance Secretary had the discretion to carry this across the public services and chose not to do so.
“Although his announcement removes the threat of industrial action in local government, we still have serious issues across the public sector with many thousands of our members still facing unprecedented attacks to their pensions.
“We’re angry at the continuation of the pay freeze which will affect hundreds of thousands of low-paid workers, who have already faced a real-term pay cut for the past two years. There’s also no evidence that the £250 payment for workers earning under £21,000 will be universally applied.”

UNISON Scotland’s Policy Briefing #13 on today’s Spending Review is published on our briefings page – www.unison-scotland.org.uk/briefings.

MEMBERS AND STEWARDS

There has never been a more vital time to be a member of a trade union. Please pass the enclosed form to a non member colleague or they can join online at www.unison.org.uk/join or by calling 0845 355 0845. Also we need more members to come forward to be stewards. Please consider giving this a go, it is rewarding and stimulating work, you get full training and paid time off to do it. Please let me know if you would like more information on getting active.

UNISON calls on Glasgow City Council to halt attacks on people with learning disabilities

UNISON, Scotland’s largest union in public services, has joined together with communities across Glasgow to fight against service cuts.


Trade unionists and members of the public packed out a meeting last week to share concerns over personalisation and fears that Glasgow City Council is using this process simply as a means to save money.

Glasgow City Council started its personalisation agenda last summer. While UNISON supports the principles of personalisation, which are about providing people with more independence, control and dignity, this is not what is happening in Glasgow. The council has always been explicit in its ambition to realise 20 per cent savings as a result of the process.

Mandy McDowall, regional organiser for UNISON, said: “We’re not against the concept of personalisation, but direct payments should be used to complement a range of public services and should not be used as a disguise for cutting services.

“We held this meeting to bring together those who are being directly affected by these cuts. The meeting was packed with staff, users and members of the community who all wanted to share their experiences. We heard from carers who are having their packages cut by 50 per cent; staff who are having their terms and conditions slashed and communities who are suffering facility closures.

“Each person had a different story to tell and the true human cost of each and every cut was laid bare.”

Parents, carers, service users, campaign groups, academics and disability groups were all in attendance at Thursday’s meeting. UNISON says the meeting will be the first of many and is calling on Glasgow City Council to put a halt to service cuts.

Simon Macfarlane, regional organiser for UNISON, added: “Glasgow City Council has not properly assessed the impact of these cuts and is rolling ahead with scant regard to the devastating consequences.


“We’re calling on the council to call a halt to this process and to reinstate the packages that service users had before the new personalisation agenda was agreed, until a thorough review of the process and the impact on people with learning disabilities is assessed. This assessment must involve service users, their families and front line workers and their unions.”

No if's, no but's, no disability cuts!

A very succesful protest was held today under the umbrella of the Defend Glasgow's Services campaign.

The protest which brought together trade unions, campaign groups, service users, families of service users and workers providing services heard a range of speeches from the broad range of people in attendance on how Glasgow city council's shameful cuts under the guise of personalisation are impacting upon service users, their families and cuts hours and wages for staff.

We hope it's the start of a unified campaign to fight these cuts, disguised as personalisation!

You can contact Defend Glasgow's Services on 0141 552 7069 or follow them on Facebook.

Scotland’s most vulnerable young people under attack as services face the axe

SCOTLAND’s most vulnerable young people are under attack by government cuts as thousands of staff in the community and voluntary sector face redundancy.

UNISON, Scotland’s largest union in the community and voluntary sector, said urgent action must be taken to halt these drastic cuts and urged the country’s politicians not to throw our young people on the scrapheap.

Councils across the country are being hit with the biggest spending cuts in living memory. No service is safe – but one of the hardest hit is services for young people.

This week alone, more than 2,000 workers from the voluntary and community sector have been threatened with redundancy, while others face attacks on their pay and conditions.

One Scottish charity, Quarriers – which was originally set up to look after orphaned and destitute children – yesterday issued 90 days’ notice to all of its 2,000 staff. The move comes as the charity announced plans to cut its staffing budget by £2.5m – almost twice as much as their own figures (£1.3m) claim are required.

Elsewhere, services to vulnerable young people are also under threat as the Cora Foundation – a voluntary organisation that runs three secure units for young people – issued letters to hundreds of workers threatening them with redundancy. This leaves staff at three of the country’s five secure units (St Phillip’s in Plains; St Mary’s Kenmure in Bishopbriggs; and the Good Shepherd in Bishopton) facing the axe. If secure units run by Cora close, then the courts will be left with no option but to send young offenders to institutions like Polmont, at a much greater cost to the taxpayer.

UNISON has also condemned moves by youth justice charity, Includem, which has refused to negotiate with the union and has instead unilaterally imposed a 9.5 per cent pay cut on its staff.

Simon Macfarlane, regional organiser with UNISON, said: “We’re calling on Scotland’s political parties to focus on the real issues in the week ahead and to prioritise putting a stop to these outrageous cuts. We also need voluntary organisations to act in a responsible manner, to engage constructively with UNISON and not to capitalise on the situation to make unwarranted attacks on low-paid workers.

“Our members work hard to provide services that make a huge difference to the lives of young people and cutting them will only store up problems for generations to come. Services for our vulnerable young people are vanishing and, once these services are destroyed, they will take a long time to recover. Surely every young person deserves a fair chance?”

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The above press release was picked up by a number of media outlets including The Herald

Meeting to discuss cuts in the voluntary sector – 13th APRIL

Pay freezes, pay cuts, redundancies, attacks on terms and conditions are happening all over Scotland in the voluntary sector. One example of this is the impact of the personalisation agenda in Glasgow which has seen the Council impose massive cuts in the budgets of service users.

So far most voluntary organisations in Glasgow involved in learning disability services are responding by passing on the cuts to staff in one way or another.

UNISON is calling a meeting to look at how we can respond to this in a more co-ordinated way and the UNISON Quarriers Branch has kindly agreed to host the meeting.

The meeting will be at 10.00am on Wednesday 13th April at the UNISON Office, 4th Floor, Empire House, 131 West Nile Street, Glasgow G1 2RX.