Inside
Strike Oct 14th City and County of Swansea
Review Strike Oct 14th Demonstrate Oct 18th
Break the pay-freeze No to Cuts & Austerity Inflation in August was at 1.6 percent using the government’s preferred measure - but the index that includes housing costs was at 2.5 percent. That means if the government is pushing through 1% or worse for some of the lowest paid workers in reality it’s pushing through a pay cut. 19th Century Average real weekly earnings are 8% lower since the Con-Dems came to power and 15% lower for under-25s. No wonder an estimated half a million people a year will be receiving food parcels by 2016. The Con-Dem government and its big business backers are taking us back to the 19th century with poverty pay and the destruction of public services. July 10th Following our strike on July 10th, there is also a chance to broaden the resistance to Tory austerity. 500,000 NHS health workers started a ballot this month for strikes against poverty pay. As in local government, a 1% offer is an insult to people who struggle to keep our services running day after day in the face of Tory cuts
Public Service Not Private Profit
Services cut Strikes can also help to galvanise the wider fight to defend local government and the health service from closures, cutbacks and privatisation. All of us have experienced our jobs getting harder as more and more staff who have left have not been replaced, and the work stays the same or increases. Cuts to vital services also make it harder to do our jobs resulting in worst services for our community and our friends and families in Swansea. On 10 July 1.4 million of us struck against the government’s 1 percent pay cap. If NHS workers vote to strike (the planned date is 13 October) the next day (14 October) hundreds of thousands of local government workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will strike. Local government workers in Scotland began a ballot over pay on 9 September, with a potential to join the strike on 14th October.
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Ballots And even more trade unions could join in. Firefighters, members of the FBU, held strikes over eight days in August as part of their long running pensions dispute.
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It's not hard to understand government thinking... September 2014
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continued from front page Civil service workers, teachers and firefighters could all potentially join a strike on 14 October. It would be a wasted opportunity if the maximum numbers don’t strike together.
National Demonstration The TUC and STUC have also called demonstrations on Saturday 18 October under the slogan “Britain needs a pay rise”. These demos needs to be a massive show of strength and anger against the Tories. From 18th October the movement against austerity could really develop momentum.
Therefore there is a growing mood to resist. But we’ve been here before. Back in 2011 we saw massive strikes of 2.5 million to defend pensions. Then some union leaders stepped back from the fight and the movement lost momentum. That can’t be allowed to happen this time and we need to organise to put pressure on our union leaders to see the fight through this time. There are some in the unions who may argue that we can wait for Labour to save us. But Ed Miliband and Labour are committed to pay restraint and austerity if they are elected next year. Ed Miliband says that Labour will stick to Tory
spending plans - that means cuts and low pay will continue.
Organise Therefore every steward and member needs to organise in our workplaces to make sure that the strikes and protests in October are just the beginning of the fightback. Two big one-day strikes, no matter how powerful, won’t be enough to shift the Tories. We need to strike on October 14th - and we need a series of strikes that show Cameron we’re fighting to win.
National protests like this at the Civic Centre also took place on August 20th to campaign for our pay rise
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Are negociations workin
he employers refuse to renegotiate on the The employers have offered 1% to the 90% 1% final offer. of the workforce on the national spinal column point 11 and above. Those on points The trade union side claim this year is 5 to 10 have been offered slightly more than designed to call a halt to poverty pay in local 1% to keep their pay levels just above the government and schools. national minimum wage. There is no sign that employers will be prepared to meet the We are seeking a minimum of £1 an hour for union's demand. employees on NJC terms and conditions to make the living-wage the bottom pay-rate in Local government workers have already local government and - because everyone endured three consecutive years of pay on NJC pay is low paid for the jobs they do freezes, followed by a below inflation - the same flat rate increase on all other pay settlement in 2013. points. For most of the workforce, this year's offer will be a further pay cut, leaving Living wage their pay reduced by almost 20% since the coalition came to power. On top of The living wage has increased by 20p since that, the Local Government Employers we submitted the claim. This means in effect chose to impose an additional one-year our claim is now £1.20 an hour on all pay freeze in 2010, before the rest of the points. public sector
Over one million NJC workers (two thirds) earn less than £21,000 a year. That's below the government's 'low pay' threshold and over £5,500 less than annual median earnings in the economy in 2012. Over half a million local government workers earn less than the living wage of £7.65 per hour. At the same time, local government reserves have risen to over £19bn. That means that councils have chosen to bank money, rather than reward the very people who are keeping their council services going - our members.
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It is s essenti decent just the those w greater commu work an spend busines
Scandelous Without a decent level of pay, local government workers are struggling to pay their household bills let alone save for major items of spending. Payday loans, handouts
Pay isn scale. contribu and car allowan
TUC March: All out for 18th October With the TUC's 'Britain needs a pay rise' demo called on 18 October in London, we could see a mobilisation on the scale of the mammoth 26 March 2011 demonstration that saw 750,000 trade-unionists march through London. That march, coming a few months after Osborne's first austerity budget, seems an age ago. Many argued that if the cuts went through it would be a catastrophe for working class people and the vast majority in society. Isn't that the reality for many today? 1870's Many UNISON members are lying awake at night worrying about their job, or how to make ends meet, because their pay is frozen and prices are soaring. UNISON is campaigning for better and fairer pay, and we are making sure pay stays at the top of the agenda. People in the UK are facing the biggest fall in real wages since the 1870s. - the biggest drop in any Parliament since Tory Benjamin Disraeli was prime minister. All workers, whether they work in the public, private or voluntary sector, have faced major cuts in the value of their pay over the last few years. Meanwhile, the average director of a FTSE 100 company enjoyed a 14% pay rise in 2013, and dividends going to shareholders are expected to jump by 24% in 2014, hitting just under £100bn. Rather than putting some of their wealth back into society, many millionaires (individuals and companies) are using off-shoring and loop-holes to dodge tax. Public services need motivated, well-paid staff. We all expect and deserve high quality public services, and one of the most vital ingredients of quality services are motivated staff who are valued and decently rewarded. Yet the government's slashing of funding on an extraordinary scale has resulted in more work and less pay for public service workers. March against austerity The 'short sharp shock' the government said we needed in 2010 is now going to last until 2019. The government's austerity programme is projected to cost £178bn by 2019 through slashed budgets for delivering public services and higher taxes. Under-paying public service workers is bad for the economy: When public service workers aren’t paid much, they don’t spend much, which harms local economies. When public service workers aren’t paid enough to live on, they are forced to rely on benefits, which are funded by taxes. This will continue unless we resist - every Unison member, every trade-unionist and our supporters needs to be on the TUC march on October 18th.
UNISON is providing coach transport to the demonstration - please contact the branch office to reserve your place
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od banks are becoming a way of life Car allowances ny. Local Government Employers have also unity encouraged councils to cut pay-related conditions at local authority level. Over 60% scandalous that people providing of councils have cut car allowances and al public services do not have a many of our members are subsidising travel standard of living. However, it's not for work purposes. Many councils have cut e workers who are being affected, for unsocial hours and overtime payments with families the impact can often be hitting the lowest paid hard. r still. Pay also matters because unities depend on people being in Now is the time nd earning decent pay – pay that we where we live, which boosts local Some councils have also cut sick pay, basic sses and creates new jobs. pay and redundancy pay. Others have imposed unpaid holidays or cut annual n't just where you are on your pay leave. Many - like Swansea - are imposing It can also include your pension car park charges Others are closing utions and sick pay, annual, parental workplace canteens and refusing to pay the rers’ leave, travel and unsocial hours increase in professional registration fees. nces and much more besides. If now is not the time to fight, when is?
Single Status Update Our members will be aware that we recently conducted an indicative ballot on the whole single status package The indicative ballot on single status posed 2 questions and yielded a 55% vote in favour of strike action plus a 66% vote in favour of action short of strike action. Since the ballot result a further £25m of cuts to Swansea Council’s budget has been announced thus leaving total savings of £70m to be made within the next 3 years. Our Branch Committee discussed the situation at length and decided to delay any further single status ballots pending the outcome of budget discussions with the Authority. This does not mean we won’t ballot our members on single status in the future and we still have some grave concerns about the whole approach taken by the Council, for example the cynical decision to implement single status on 1st April thereby denying hundreds of our members the right to an increment they would have had if implementation had occurred on 31st March.
Unison News
Malcolm Harrington has been elected to the new branch post of Terms and Conditions Officer
Do you consider yourself to be a disabled person, or are you categorised as one (even if it is not the term that you would use)? Would you like to join a forum that discusses matters around ability and that will feed information and ideas to TUC Cymru? If so, contact Steffan ap Dafydd (email: steffanap@msn.com). He will arrange for you to be a part of the TUC Disabled Network and invite you to the Disability Forum meeting in Cardiff in September, or enable you to use the network which will feed into the Wales TUC Equality Committee and the General Council TUC Cymru.
Welsh Labour is selecting candidates to stand in a number of Parliamentary and Welsh Assembly seats over the coming months, and are looking for UNISON candidates to fill those seats and provide a voice for public services at a UK and Wales level. Any member - who would also have to be a member of the Labour Party - should contact Dave Bezzina (d.bezzina@unison.co.uk)
Job Evaluation Appeals
Job evaluation appeals will take place in the near future. Contact details for Unison members are attached. For any general job evaluation queries please contact Andrea Thomas via email Andrea.Thomas@swansea.gov.uk or on telephone number 01792 637458. Members will receive information presented to the original job evaluation panel 20 working days before the individual or group appeal date. Members will need to supply information in support of their appeal 10 working days before the appeal date Name
Dept
Work Place
Tracy de Schoolmeester Education Crug Glas David Walters Social Services Canoldre Centre Alice Greenlees Regeneration Phoenix Centre John Llewellyn Regeneration Parks Ian Alexander EVH Pipe House John Austin Education Schools Mark Otten Corporate Services Cave Street Steve Kime Housing Townhill DHO Sandra Baglow Corporate Services Guildhall Simon Jones Social Services Oldway Christopher Cooze Facilities Civic Centre Malcom Harrington Regeneration Plantasia Dave Evans Housing Penllegaer Christopher Bell Education Morriston Comp Alison O'Kane Social Services Maesglas Day Service Sheet2
YOUR UNION
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Mob:
driva333@gmail.com David.Walters@swansea.gov.uk Alice.Greenlees@swansea.gov.uk johnllewellyn0@outlook.com
Mob: 07967143822 Mob: 07944512449 Mob: 07773509299 Mob: 07557 560093 Mob: 07584505793 john.austin@swansea-edunet.gov.uk Mob: 07796275039 mark.otten@ymail.com Mob: 07789 485009 steve23sk@gmail.com Mob: 07463451968 sandra.baglow@swansea.gov.uk Mob: 07551154539 simon.jones@swansea.gov.uk Mob: 07858411470 christopher.cooze@swansea.gov.uk Mob: 07825287218 malcolm.harrington@swansea.gov.uk Mob: 07776172879 Dave.Evans2@swansea.gov.uk Mob: 07814029033 mcs-cbell@morriston.swansea.sch.uk Mob: 07967551025 alisonokane3@gmail.com Mob: 07856641234
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Contact us:
Unison Office, Rm 153-G, The Guildhall, Swansea 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 - 07856 641234 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 - 07847 942458 Gower College Ron Job - 07963 454041 Resources Rhydian Prismick - 01792 635803 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.
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