Inside
NF
No To Nazis
Worked too hard?
Stop the Nazi 'National Front' on March 9th
Know your rights to rest in work
What's in your burger? Cuts & the horsemeat scandal
City and County of Swansea
Review Job Evaluation/Terms & Conditions:
Robbing Peter to pay Paul? At the time of writing all members should all have Job Evaluation (JE) letters containing information about our proposed future pay. These outline our points score, factor by factor, total points score, the allocated job family and profile and how the total points score equates to a grade band under the new imposed pay model.
Which JE model? Before reaching this point when nearing the conclusion of this process, the Cabinet chose their ‘Council model’ which will result in paycuts for approximately 20% of staff. The remaining 80% will either see a pay-increase or their pay will stay the same.
?
This is not meant in any way to undermine the great work done by JE panelists, including trade union representatives, over the last 3.5 years or so but it certainly would have assisted where some doubt about the precise duties and responsibilities of the post existed. Interestingly, and quite rightly in our view, employees can attend the appeal though.
?
Loss of pay? Our offices have been bombarded with phone calls from members rightly concerned about losses of salary (including Unison stewards and Officers).
The proposed ‘trade union model’ was fairer than the council model, with less people losing pay and with less total-pay being lost. It was therefore not without it's problems, but represented the best that could be achieved by negotiation alone - and which, if adopted, would have to have been accepted by council workers.
At this stage we advise our members to take time to read and digest the letter. If there is a glaring anomaly contact your line manager who can take the issue up with the Head of Service who has the ability to look at the outcome and, if necessary, amend the score and salary thus avoiding the need for appeal. Additionally the Council has provided a helpline 01792 637653.
Unison members should be aware that trade unions had reservations about using Ways Consultancy job family approach to JE at the outset. We were told that we would have input into the JE process via panels comprising ourselves, members of the job evaluation team, a relevant management representative from the appropriate service and a senior manager.
For some members the huge scale of potential pay loss - up to £5000 in some cases - will mean huge hardship, and the loss of their home in some cases. Some local press reports have disgracefully tried to turn 'winners' and 'losers' against each other when in truth it is local and national employers who are at fault for low pay and pay cuts.
What happened on the JE Panels?
The scale of pay cuts for some of our members therefore means it is unlikely that Unison can ultimately support the proposals, which are still under consideration and further evaluation nationally and locally. Equal pay for equal work is a union principle - but so is not condoning pay cuts.
Trade union representatives were not aware of the duties and responsibilities of every post within the Authority and had to rely on information provided by management at the panel. From the beginning we urged the Authority to allow employees to attend the panel where appropriate as we were suspicious, in some cases, that Increase of pay? relevant accurate descriptions of employees’ duties and responsibilities were not shared with the panel for various reasons. Cleaners, catering staff, care-workers and other members that get Despite this lay-members were not allowed to attend to give an a pay increase deserve every penny. But we should not accurate description of their jobs. p2
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Public Service Not Private Profit
February 2013
continued from front page be 'grateful' - it is a long-overdue recognition that they should have equal pay. It partially rights an injustice that should not have occurred, as successive governments have done nothing to equalise pay for decades.
to 'justify' downgrading before an Appeal. This can only be because of the pressure to reduce pay.
Alongside JE the Council still has to resolve the issue of equal pay claims from some 1800 staff. We hope to have some news on this in the March For the 80% of staff who stand to not newsletter. have a pay-cut this is, of course, welcome but is in the context of national pay-freeze, cuts in tax- Terms and Conditions credits etc, which means all of us get less than we deserve. Prices of basic In the December Unison Review we goods are also going through the roof outlined the terms and conditions which eats up any pay increase, which we still wanted to discuss with whilst static-pay in this context is also Council. There has been some progress namely: effectively a pay-cut. We all therefore lose to some degree one way or another.
Branch strategy Stewards meetings are being held to discuss a Branch strategy. There are two issues. Firstly, the Council model has to be studied by national union solicitors to ensure it is ‘equality proof’ - that it does not unfairly discriminate against women. In turn, that can only be done once the council gives up to date and further precise information, which it has not to date. Secondly, Unison officers, stewards and members then have to decide if we agree the package or not. If it is rejected without agreement the council may choose to impose the model.
Appeals In relation to any Appeals, as the letters say, employees cannot appeal until implementation of the whole single status package. Appeals can then be lodged within 3 months of implementation date.
Pay Protection – The Council has made a revised offer which is unacceptable but has indicated that they wish to cushion the hardship caused to the highest losers and discussions continue. Shift Allowance – We have agreed a flat rate payment of £53 per week which equates to approximately 15%. We are still discussion about who qualifies for a shift allowance. On Call / Standby – At this moment in time we are in stalemate but remain hopeful of an improved outcome. Job Enrichment – One of the ways hoped of mitigating losses is by "enriching" jobs across the Authority via agreement of a new job description which, along with increased duties and responsibilities, will improve service levels and will allow our members a reasonable wage. This has not been achieved to date and agreement depends on the council paying more on its wage bill. The Council has agreed to undertake a job enrichment exercise in terms of refuse loaders within the protection period. With agreement this may apply to other groups of staff, both male and female.
Within Unison we intend to have several representatives who will have the knowledge to attend the appeal to assist, advise and support our members. At the moment we are still in discussion about the level of Other issues, such as hospital training our potential representatives appointments under Special Leave will receive. have been improved and staff are allowed 2 hours for hospital However, if the experience of other appointments from 4th February. councils is anything to go by, Appeals may takes years, and may not make Finally proposals for an alarming up the huge loss of pay for some ‘mobility clause’ proposed for some members. contracts where members could be Any successful appeal will be cold- moved anywhere within a ‘shared comfort to those that lose homes. services’ (i.e. out of county) now only Unison also has evidence that in apply to within the County. some sections managers are removing tasks from workers in order
The government's war on us all The overall culprits for pay-cuts for local government workers - and future planned service cuts and privatisation - is the national government. Despite talk of us all being 'in it together' the Tories are intent on making life miserable for those in work and out of work, whilst looking after themselves and their kind
RBS got a governm than £20 billion in 2 that we will never g back. But while top the way back to the misery deepens for economy shrank ag
State-owned bank RBS plans to pay millions of pounds of bonuses to its investment banking arm. This is the same bank that was fined around £500 million last month for conspiracy to rig the Bank of England’s Libor rate. RBS head of investment John Hourican has been forced out over the scandal, in order to appease the Financial Services Authority regulator. But he’s due to grab £4 million in shares before he goes. That’s enough to pay the wages of 190 nurses for a year. The total RBS bonus pool could pay for almost 12,000. Hourican got an even bigger windfall last year, when the bank was making thousands of junior staff redundant, on top of a £3 million salary.
There's no shortage o
What's in your burger? Cuts a
The government have raced to reassure people that they sh meat was found in several beef products.
“There’s no reason to believe any frozen food currently on sa Cameron recently. Apparently he thinks people don’t have governments have ignored repeated warnings that horse-m that could harm humans. And they have slashed the regula The number of food safety laboratories in the UK has drop
Liz Moran, president of the Association of Public Analysts more than 100 in 1956 to just over 30”. She added, “Only are tested. This makes it very unlikely that hidden contam The Tories have slashed environmental health and trad oversee food labelling. Unison figures say job cuts of 15 pe scheduled inspections.
Horse-meat has been found in cheap products, such as Bolognese. The Tories and their rich friends wouldn’t drea the scandal. That’s why they refuse to do much about it. industry as “red tape”. The horse-meat was only discover Safety Authority in Ireland. It regularly tests for horse DNA does not.
A new report in the Lancet journal this week said the foo marketing unhealthy food. It disagrees that the industry ca Moodie, one of the authors of the report, put it, “Self-regula
Tory minister Owen Paterson has blamed the scandal on a In reality the problems go far wider than a few criminal gang in Britain. The BSE crisis in the 1980s and the outbreak examples. Making money is more important to food produ industrial scale about what is in their products.
If any member is interested in attending UNIS Conference in Liverpool between 15th June an
ment bailout worth more 2008. MPs have admitted get all of that money bankers are laughing all e bank, the economic r the rest of us. Britain’s gain over the last three
of money for the banks
months, to a lower economic output than it had in 2012. It is on course to drop back into official recession for the third time since 2008. This would make the current economic crisis a “triple dip” recession. But the second dip only ended on paper—the cash the government threw at the Olympics artificially skewed the figures for the middle of 2012. For most of us the “recovery” never started. Chancellor George Osborne claimed to have found the “engine for growth” in the form of high speed rail links. These will cost £32 billion and take 20 years to deliver. But this is an expensive distraction that will have no effect on ordinary people’s lives. And the MPs’ treasury committee recently lambasted Osborne for hiding behind the forecasts of the Office for Budget Reliability. They said that this office of made up numbers set up by Osborne in 2010 was “biased to over-optimism”. Meanwhile bailed-out banks spend our money to pay their bonuses and fines. There’s clearly no shortage of cash out there.
are behind the horse-meat scandal
hould keep buying processed food after horse-
ale is unsafe or a danger to health,” said David a right to know what meat they’re eating. Yet meat has been contaminated with chemicals ators that are supposed to keep our food safe. pped from 40 to 18 over the past 30 years.
s, says the number of analysts is down “from products in which there is a known problem minants will be found.” ding standards. Trading standards officers ercent have led to more than a quarter fewer
s a £1.00 Tesco Everyday Value Spaghetti am of eating the kind of meals at the centre of Instead they dismiss regulation of the food red because of tests carried out by the Food A—but the Food Standards Agency in Britain
od industry is putting public health at risk by an be left to regulate itself. As professor Ron ation is like having burglars install your locks”.
a “criminal conspiracy” based outside Britain. gs. There have been repeated food scandals k of E-coli in Scotland in 1996 are just two ucers than safety. And they are lying, on an
“true consumer protection will not be achieved until daily, unannounced inspections are back in place. “The lesson we learned about control of the meat industry following the BSE and e-Coli crises was that only strong, independent government inspection could properly protect consumers from industry malpractice. “This has been forgotten as meat inspection, environmental health and trading standards services have been severely reduced by government cuts and light touch regulation”
Rally & March against the Nazi National Front Swansea March 9th The Nazi National Front have announced their intention of attempting to hold a march in Swansea on March 9th. All members are urged to peacefully demonstrate against them. Details of the counterdemonstration will be circulated to all members UNISON has long-campaigned against fascist organisations
Older readers may remember a generation ago the 'boot boys' of the Nazi National Front (NF) swopped their boots for suits in a bid to enter the respectable political mainstream via the BNP. They failed; riven by failure at the polls, financial scandal and internal infighting the BNP has no councillors left in the UK. The attempts by the English Defence League (EDL) to mount intimidating demonstrations against Muslims have also mostly been beaten back and the EDL is a shadow of its former self. However in climate of cuts and prejudice against Muslims fascists still attempt to get a hearing for their vile views. Ignoring them does not mean they go away. The BNP and the EDL have only declined due to consistent campaigning by anti-fascists and trade-unions, opposing their attempts to organise and inflict violence and division within our communities. Due to their political failures a few of the more desperate fascists have gone back to the NF. The NF were proud being the 'hardliners' of the fascist movement with a belief in 'white power' racism. They have not changed. Their policy document still says they want Britain to be ‘a white country’ and they are prepared to introduce forced ‘repatriation’ to remove millions of British-born citizens just because of the colour their skin. It is the most crude form of racism. Typical of their leading members is Richard Edmonds who published Holocaust News which claimed that the Holocaust was an 'evil hoax'. So it is not a surprise that just last year their Aberdeen branch was refused permission to hold a march on April 20th – Hitler’s birthday. When we call these people Nazis we are not kidding.
UNISON
SON's Local Government Conference and National Delegate nd 21st June please contact the Branch Office with your details
The last time Nazis tried to march in Swansea was 2009. Their members (right) did Nazi Hitler-salutes on Swansea's High Street. A huge counter-demonstration stopped them - let's do the same again.
Knackered? Your rights for rest-breaks at work By law, we are all entitled to adequate breaks throughout our working day. These will differ both in frequency and the ‘types’ of breaks we get according to the kind of work we’re doing and the number of continual hours we’re doing it for, although the minimum length per shift must be adhered to by law. The fact is that rest breaks from work are not just important to those who are carrying out the jobs but they are equally important to the employers themselves as both productivity and health and safety issues could both be compromised if workers did not receive the benefit of at least the minimum break periods required under the law. Scheduling a Break Where it’s possible to do so, employers should allocate appropriate breaks based upon consideration of the factors below. These include:
• • • • • •
Age and gender Nature of the job Environment in which the job is performed Level of physical activity involved Degree of repetition or monotony of a particular job Experience of the worker in that particular role
Different Types of Breaks Most workplace studies have reached the conclusion that workers are more productive if they have several shorter breaks a day as opposed to one much longer one. For most jobs which are full time based, two shorter breaks either side of longer ‘lunch’ type break is often adequate although employers may also need to take into account other considerations. For example, where a job requires lots of physical exertion, several much shorter breaks will often help to keep fatigue at bay and keep production levels up. People who work in highly monotonous or repetitive jobs alongside those whose work involves constant monitoring or inspection should be offered more frequent shorter breaks in order to prevent boredom which can sometimes result in human error or a reduction in proficiency. Driver fatigue is a serious problem resulting in many thousands of road accidents each year. It is not possible to calculate the exact number of sleep related accidents but research shows that driver fatigue may be a contributory factor in up to 20% of road accidents, and up to one quarter of fatal and serious accidents, shorter breaks through out the working day help greatly. People who work behind a computer all day also need to be able to get away from their screens every hour or so and to be able to get up and move about a bit in order that they’re simply not in a seated posture all day staring at a screen. Therefore, whilst it’s not always possible, where an employer is able to tailor breaks and structure them in a way which suits a particular type of job, the benefits will be clear for both the worker and the company alike.
YOUR UNION
by Chris Cooze, Health & Safety Officer Tel: 01792 635271 / 07825287218
Contact us:
Unison Office The Guildhall Swansea SA1 4PE 01792 635271
unison@swansea.gov.uk
Branch Secretary: Mike Davies / Asst. Secretary: Ian Alexander Unison has over 100 trained union reps throughout the council, schools and FE colleges. We will advise, support and represent you collectively and individually on issues from sickness, disciplinaries to legal matters inside and outside the workplace. If you need advice or representation please contact the Senior Steward(s) for your department below or go to your workplace steward. Alternatively please contact the branch office. Social Services Alison O'Kane - 07771 922985 Alison Davies - 07941 757853 Martin Chapman - 01792 635271 Education Pat Lopez - 07557 560097 Mark Otten - 07789 485009 Eve Morse - 07532 232873 (after 3.30 pm) Chris Bell - 07967 551025
Sports & Social website: www.suss.me.uk
Regeneration/Housing John Llewellyn - 07557 560093 Roger Owen - 07941819229 Gower College Ron Job - 07963 454041 Resources Gareth Parry - 07813 534627 Housing Sallyanne Taylor - 07825 401711
www.unison.co.uk
This newsletter is produced by the City and County of Swansea Unison Branch. Any letters, comments or suggestions for articles should be posted to the branch address or emailed to Unison@swansea.gov.uk. Correspondence is not guaranteed to be published and contents may not necessarily reflect Unison policy.