Inside
No Nazis: Stop the Nazi NF on March 26th
Learning Pay 2016 - 18: Lessons: Reject the lousy Action can pay offer win
City and County of Swansea
Review No Cuts: Defend our jobs and services
Part of the anti-austerity protests from June 2015 - we need to do the same again Swansea Council is about to approve a package of cuts of £90m over three years that will see some departments cut by 50%, up to 640 posts lost, and the likelihood of some services closed completely, or sold off. This comes on top of £50m in ‘efficiency’ savings from the current budget that has seen vacant posts go unfilled, with fewer workers carrying heavier workloads.
leisure centres, cleaning for all non-school buildings, pest control and food hygiene inspection. Another 50% off Corporate Services. That includes all the ‘backroom’ services that enable the Council to run efficiently.
What are the proposed cuts?
15% off the budget for social care for children and families, including help for children with disabilities, and their families.
Over the next three years the cuts will mean:
15% off the Schools and Education budget.
20% off the budget for social care for adults. That includes residential care and help in their homes for people who are elderly, disabled or unwell. A massive 50% off the budget for waste management, cleansing, parks, highways, libraries,
Don't forget!
AGM's
Public Service Not Private Profit
For the coming year the Council’s proposals include: £3.9m and over 200 jobs cut from the Directorate of Place, including closing Dan-y-Coed outdoor centre, putting the Grand Theatre and other leisure services up for sale, and looking for unpaid volunteers
to run services currently provided by the Council. There is also a proposal to increase burial/ cremation fees and increase income from enforcement in residents parking areas. £3.8m and nearly 150 jobs cut from Corporate Services and business support. Over £1m cut from Education Just under a £1m cut from Social Services in domiciliary, residential and day care. Up to 100 senior management posts cut. Many of the more detailed proposals have come from a series of Commissioning Reviews, set up by the Council to look at all services. They have already recommended reductions in business support staff, in cleaning services,
➥ p2
10.3.16 - Guildhall Council Chamber, 12.30pm / 14.3.16 - NSU, 12.30pm 15.3.16 - Civic Centre Council Chamber, 12.30pm / 17.3.16 - Clydach Depot, 6.45am 17.3.16 - Bishop Gore School, 3.30pm / 18.3.16 - Pipehouse Wharf, 6.45am
January 2016
Yes
continued from front page
Re
and the sell-off of Council assets such as Dan-y Coed. Over the next few months they will look at reducing spending on budgets and staffing in catering, services for children with Special Educational Needs and/or disabilities, highways, parks, street cleaning, pest control and the remaining Education and Social Services. What does it mean for Council workers? Firstly, the Council says that its proposals mean that ‘a significant reduction in posts in 2016-17 will be unavoidable’. So, the Council will want to enforce compulsory redundancies. Secondly, If you’re not made redundant there will be more pressure on your job as there will be fewer people to deliver the services. That leads to stress and sickness, and the Council has already seen a rise on days off sick from stress as the current ‘savings’ begin to bite. Thirdly, most of us don’t only work for the Council but we also use its services. Our kids go to school, we put our rubbish out, we travel along the streets, we walk in the parks, we call the rat catcher, and sometimes we, or our families, need help with day to day living or care. These cuts mean that we will all get worse services. So, is it inevitable? No, it isn’t. These cuts come from the Tories’ and are part of their bid to make us pay for the economic crash caused by the bankers. Labour is in a strong position in Wales to resist Tory cuts, if they have the will. They lead 10 councils and the Welsh Government. Instead of passing on the cuts, why doesn’t our Council link up with the other Labour controlled councils in Wales, with local government trades unions, with community groups and the Welsh Government and campaign against the Tory cuts. Ultimately we need a mass campaign, including potential industrial action, to demand back the money the Tories have stolen to save our services and jobs for the future. What you can do Your UNISON branch is asking you to: Get your family and friends to sign the Unison petition against the cuts to Cultural and Leisure Services here: http://tinyurl.com/j7kgs4n Contact your local councillor and tell them why they should vote against the proposed budget – if you don’t know who they are, you can look on the Council’s website. Organise a meeting in your own workplace – someone can come along from UNISON office to explain more about the proposed budget. Come to the branch AGM – there will be a meeting near you or at a time that you can make. If you’re against the cuts, or want to find out more, you need to be there. Help take the petition out in town and around Swansea on a Saturday or weekday lunchtime. We need to make sure as many people as possible in Swansea know what is proposed, and what it will mean. There is a full Council Budget-Setting Meeting on Thursday, 25 February. Swansea Trades Council have called a lobby - Meet at 4.00pm, The Guildhall SA1 4PE. Council meeting starts at 5pm Bring along your friends, placards and banners.
Action for services can win In a welcome sign cuts can be fought, residents across Neath and Port Talbot responded in their thousands to a campaign to save their local libraries. More than 4,000 people signed a petition initiated by UNISON to tell their councillors not to close libraries in Baglan and Skewen, the mobile library service and Cefn Coed Museum. The local UNISON branch presented the petition to Neath and Port Talbot council leader and the director of education in January. “There has been an absolutely overwhelming response from the public to our campaign, joining us in public meetings and signing the petition,” said Neath Port Talbot UNISON branch chair Mark Fisher. “They feel passionately that libraries are at the heart of community life and must be saved. The Cefn Coed Museum is the only remaining museum left in the borough and has a fantastic mining heritage. We know that Welsh councils are under severe pressure from savage UK Conservative government funding cuts. However, there is an onus on Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council to protect our vital public services. Our libraries serve a social and educational need. They also provide necessary digital and internet facilities for our community. Threatening libraries’ future goes against the council’s desire to move to online accessing of its services.” In addition to the 4,000 letters, UNISON collated over 2,000 letters to be presented to Welsh government deputy minister for culture, sport and tourism Ken Skates AM, asking for Welsh government intervention. UNISON warned that the council will fall below the statute for library provision set out in the 1964 Public Libraries and Museums Act if the cuts went ahead and the minister has powers to intervene if required. In response to the campaign the council backtracked and are keeping open Skewen, Baglan, the Mobile Library service and Cefn Coed Museum. UNISON thanked all who have contributed towards the fantastic campaign . It showed that campaigning worked in keeping those services open, protecting jobs and supporting the communities.
In 201 was fi and p campa We ar at lea Londo paid t
Fairer staff h paid fo review some and m autho protec mean pay a howev brach
UNISO decide
60 just 1% Th is pred mean The comp to star be pai be bre
Co
UNISO County announ the reg learnin concer Swans first loc official be intro Vital
Learnin teachin vital bu school Educat underp helping classes learnin Wales registe Workfo registra
s to action over pay:
eject the lousy pay 'offer'
15 school and council workers’ pay is worth 20% less than it ive years ago. This is a result of government pay freezes pay increases that did not keep up with inflation. UNISON is aigning for a better deal for 2016/17 re asking for all school and council workers to be paid ast the Living Wage (£8.25 per hour or £9.40 per hour in on) and a £1 per hour pay rise for all staff already being the Living Wage.
r treatment for school support staff. Many school support have been moved on to contracts that mean they do not get or school holidays, unlike teachers. UNISON is calling for a w into this. The protection of terms and conditions conditions such as those around sick pay, annual leave maternity rights have come under threat in some local orities. UNISON is campaigning to ensure we retain and ct them. The offer from the employer is lousy but what it ns for you will vary from council to council depending on the nd grading structure - what the variations have in common ver is that the offer is rubbish. (Details are available from the h office).
ON’s NJC Committee met on 7 January to consider the offer and ed to reject it for the following reasons:
0% of NJC employees on scale point 18 and above will receive % on 1 April in 2016 and 2017 he offer is for two years. RPI inflation currently stands at 1% but dicted to rise to as much as 3% in 2017 and 3.3% in 2018. This ns that the value of your pay will decline even further e higher increases on scale point 6-8 are to ensure that employers ly with the statutory National Living Wage (NLW) of £7.20 pence, rt on 1 April 2016. Members below the NLW rate would have to id this, regardless of the offer. If employers didn’t pay, they would eaking the law.
The higher increases on scale points 6-17 are also to ensure that employers ‘keep ahead’ of further rises needed to reach the National Living Wage rate in 2020 – likely to be around £9.35 an hour In any case, almost two thirds of councils are now paying the real Living Wage of £7.85 pence an hour and £9.15 pence in London, so they would not face the cost of the National Living Wage. The employers’ estimate of the cost of our claim is over-inflated Members in the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) will start paying National Insurance contributions from 1 April 2016 when ‘contracting out’ ends, reducing the value of the pay offer further More than half of the cost of our claim for the real UK Living Wage for the lowest paid and £1 an hour for everyone above that rate would be met from higher tax and National Insurance income and reduced benefit costs. Many employers are cutting sick pay, annual leave and other NJC conditions. The employers refused to meet our claim for future protection of these conditions. For more information visit unison.org.uk
ouncil agrees to pay learning support workers fees
ON has welcomed the City y of Swansea Council’s ncement that it is to pay gistration fees for its ng support workers after rted lobbying by the Union. sea becomes one of the cal authority in Wales to ly commit to pay the levy to oduced in April next year.
ng support workers or ng assistants do all those ut unheralded jobs in our s, supporting Special tional Needs children and performing children and g teachers cope with large s. From April 2016, all ng support workers in will be required to be ered with the Education orce Council (EWC). The ation fee is an annual
payment of £15 per person. As the union for school support staff, UNISON has been campaigning for local authorities to pay the registration fee for all learning support workers in Wales and reiterated this message recently to all Welsh Council leaders at a joint meeting. Positive Clive Lloyd, City County of Swansea Cabinet member said; “We recognise the invaluable contribution that school support staff make to the education of our children and young people across Swansea which is why we have agreed to pay this registration fee on behalf of all those staff who are required to register. We are committed to supporting low paid workers across the council. Whilst we believe that registration is a positive step forward, this
annual registration fee would be a significant cost to these individuals who are predominantly low paid, term time workers when measured against their pay.” Low Pay Tracy deSchoolmeester, Teaching Assistant and UNISON steward with City County of Swansea Council’s , said, “As Teaching Assistants we are dedicated to our work of supporting pupils and teachers within the school setting. A registration fee of £15 when you are on a low paid term time only contract is a lot of money for people to be expected to pay. We are pleased that our contribution to the learning environment is being recognised by the Council and welcome the move to recognise us as professional
members of staff.” Jess Turner UNISON Cymru/ Wales Lead Organiser for Schools said, “Swansea Council is to be commended for their progressive decision. It is hugely symbolic that learning support workers in over 100 Swansea schools will now benefit and we call upon other local authorities to follow suit and we have an indication that a number of other councils are actively considering following several positive examples. This shows local authorities can afford to pay the registration fees. UNISON will continue our campaigning efforts to ensure learning support workers get the fair recognition they deserve with decent training, a uniform career structure and fair pay.”
Stop the Nazi parade Swansea, Saturday March 26th
Castle Square, Midday ** On February 19th it is 75 years since the infamous '3 nights blitz' of Swansea by the Nazis in World War Two. 230 people were killed and 400 wounded - yet to the total disgust of everyone those who believe the nazis were right are planning a fascist rally. The National Front (NF) and other nazi groups are attempting to hold a 'white pride' march in Swansea on March 26th. The NF is a Hitler-loving fascist organisation pure and simple.
Swansea NF in ac
tion
Their event is about not about 'pride' or free-speech - it is about intimidation, inciting hatred and organising for racist violence. NF members openly celebrate Hitler, the Holocaust, racist violence and racist murder. The NF pose on social-media sites with knives, nazi-flags and Hitler-salutes. They would love to inflict violence and division in our communities as they did in the 1970's. Swansea is a multicultural city where people are welcomed and people from different backgrounds work, play and live together. Keep our community safe and keep out these violent fascist thugs. The NF 'white pride' event is a violent incitement to racial hatred. After the 2013 event their gig had their members dressed in Ku Klux Klan costumes and featured a mock lynching. One NF member Christopher Phillips - put pictures of himself on YouTube doing the lynching, was arrested by antiterrorist police and jailed.
What you can do:
click 'like', 'share' and 'going' on the events on Facebook: • Please 'Swansea Uaf' & 'Say no to white pride racists' **updates to times and venue will also be on these sites.
YOUR UNION
to your councillor and MP • Protest Sign the online petition here: http://bit.ly/1Xc1Gmp • Leaflet your street, workplace, Uni. etc: download a leaflet here: http://bit.ly/1XcfYDw • Download a shop or window poster here: http://bit.ly/1SXdk40 • your own leaflets, banners for the protest on March 26th Attend the March 19th Cardiff demonstration against racism • Produce • Organise a social/ fundraising event to build March 26th and fascism: http://bit.ly/23RFcLV •
Contact us:
Unison Office, Rm 153-G, The Guildhall, Swansea 01792 635271
unison@swansea.gov.uk
Branch Secretary: Mike Davies / Asst. Secretary: Andrea Thomas 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) or Contact for your department below or go to your workplace steward. Alternatively please contact the branch office. SENIOR STEWARD SOCIAL SERVICES ALISON DAVIES 01792 636351 / 07941757853 FINANCE CONTACT RHYDIAN PRISMICK 01792 635803 / 07835757517 SENIOR STEWARD REGENERATION (OUTDOOR LEISURE) JOHN LLEWELLYN 07920560208 SENIOR STEWARD REGENERATION (INDOOR LEISURE) ROGER OWEN 07847942458
Sports & Social website: www.suss.me.uk
SENIOR STEWARDS ENVIRONMENT IAN ALEXANDER 07584505793 PAUL WATKINS (CLYDACH) 07572153750 PAT LOPEZ (CAVE ST) 07557560097 EDUCATION CONTACT JOHN AUSTIN 07796275039 HOUSING CONTACTS SALLYANNE TAYLOR 07825401711 ALICE GREENLEES 01792 457025 / 07773509299
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.