UNISON SOUTH WEST REGION How to help us to help you – a guide to Communication with the Regional Office The following is a guide to members and branch officers on communicating with the Regional Office, particularly around the handling of case work. It is intended to:
Provide you with information about the service you can expect. Give guidance on how we can all use our time more effectively. Be clear about what we expect from callers and how we will deal with difficult situations.
All of this advice applies to any contact with Regional Office, although we have referred to our CASE system. CASE forms We aim to assess all case forms within seven days of receipt. There are occasions when we are unable to do that because of missing information or incomplete CASE forms. To help us deal with your case more quickly, please ensure the following :
You have enclosed copies of all relevant correspondence and documents, including your contract and employer procedures – your branch will help with this. The form has all sections completed and signed – we will have to return incomplete forms to the Branch. You have given a clear explanation of your case, relevant dates and explained the significance of all correspondence. Again, your branch can help.
Note to branch Officers
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Remember the following do not need CASE forms :
Requests for advice, rather than representation – it will be much quicker to call your Regional Officer Personal Injury matters – any claim for compensation or Industrial Injury benefits etc.
Please also note that all requests for legal advice on employment matters must be on a CASE form and should always be submitted at the earliest opportunity, NOT when attempts to resolve the matter internally have failed.
Rejecting CASES We will not allocate all cases – we will sometimes refer back to the branch and offer support, or we will advise that there is no case to pursue. We will give full reasons in all cases and will discuss further if needed.
Allocated CASES Once your case is allocated, you will usually be asked to meet with a Regional Officer to take a full statement of the issues and events in your case. This can be arranged more quickly if you can attend the Regional office or we can meet you more locally if you are happy to wait. In general, we do not visit members at home, but will try and arrange a local venue. You can help with the preparation of the statement by ensuring you provide all correspondence not already sent. These statements are chronological and while you may be keen to discuss recent events, you will be asked to “tell your story” from the beginning. You will appreciate the importance of evidence and proof and we will need to test statements you make on occasions, eg “he bullied me, picked on me”, “they were out to get me”; all would require further exploration. Doing this does not mean that we do not believe you, rather that we need to gather information and evidence. This probing or exploration will be part of any formal process in any event. You will receive a copy of your statement for checking and agreeing. We will advise you on your options and agree a way forward, which will be recorded on our CASE system. Where possible, we will seek to involve local stewards and branch officers in your case, either in representation or preparation. Progress of your CASE You may understandably feel anxious about your case and may think of little else except getting it resolved. This may be particularly so if you have been suspended or are off sick and you may be completely preoccupied with the case and want frequent updates or to discuss tactics or ideas. However, you should remember the following :
Regional Officers will be responsible for a large number of individual cases, in addition to being responsible for conducting negotiations, recruitment and branch development. For much of their time they are out of the office and will not be able to take your calls. Many internal and external procedures take a great deal of time to resolve and the time limits set down in many procedures are often meaningless. We will keep you informed of developments as they arise, and if you don’t hear from us, there is usually nothing to report. Regional Officers have a specialist role – unfortunately we don’t have sufficient resources to be able to provide a counselling service – if you feel “stressed” or anxious, you may need to seek help from your GP or internal counselling services, should your employer provide one.
To help us be able to deal with your queries promptly, you can take the following steps : (a)
If you want to discuss your case with the Regional Officer, contact their secretary to arrange a scheduled telephone call or meeting – we will check their diary to make sure they are free and agree a time. If you are simply requesting an update, our secretarial staff will check with the Regional officer and get back to you. Please remember that our secretaries are skilled, experienced staff who will ensure that they are briefed by Regional Officers before updating you – the words will be as valid from them as they would be from a Regional Officer!
(b)
Keep emails and letters to a minimum – and accept that you may not receive immediate responses. Imagine how you might feel if the Regional Officer was working on your case, but kept stopping to reply to emails about other cases? You might be tempted to send frequent email asking questions, checking on progress, suggesting tactics – but for the reasons outlined, prompt responses may not always be practical. It may be better to save all the thoughts, ideas and questions for a teleconference or comprehensive email or letter.
Legal Advice There may be occasions when we refer an issue to our legal advisors for a view. However, we will always attempt to find local solutions where possible and due to the limitations of employment law in this country, many unfair and unreasonable situations have no legal redress whatsoever. Access to a solicitor about employment matters is not an automatic right, but only used where we believe there is a potential legal claim. Respect and Dignity We will ensure that our staff treat you with respect and dignity at all times – and we expect all callers to do the same. In common with many of your employers, we will not tolerate verbal abuse and harassment of our staff – which might include the following : (a)
Aggressive or hostile language, including sarcasm or demeaning comments such as “I pay your wages”.
(b)
Unreasonable demands – such as insisting on speaking to someone who is not available or is busy.
(c)
Comments about other members of staff – eg referring to other colleagues as useless or stupid.
In cases such as these, our staff will politely inform the member that they are not able to help if they continue to be abusive and if the caller persists, the call may be terminated. If the abuse continues, in some extreme cases representation may be withdrawn or we may insist that contact is only in writing and is not abusive. Dignity at work is extremely important to UNISON and we expect it be upheld for all of our staff.
Disagreements about your CASE There may be occasions where you and your representative disagree about the handling of your case. We may believe that you should take a different course of action, that your case has progressed as far as it can, or that advice we have given has not been followed. Where this occurs, we will ensure that your case is reviewed by the Team Manager and you will be given full reasons for our view and an opportunity to discuss them. However, if you choose not to follow or accept our advice, we will not be able to represent you. These situations are extremely rare, however, and we nearly always are able to find an agreed way forward. Concluding your CASE Once your case is completed, we will write to you to close your case. We hope by that stage you will have reached a successful outcome and if you want to thank us – the best way is to recruit your colleagues into UNISON and to become active yourself – many of our existing representatives became active due to their own problems at work. Your experiences will have given you a special insight into difficult situations and you will have learned a great deal. Being a member or representative within UNISON is a vital part of our strength and without it, we could not achieve the things we do.
Joanne Kaye-Smith Regional Manager March 2007