PETITION – SAVE OUR OUTSTANDING NURSERY SCHOOLS IN THE LONDON BOROUGH OF BARNET
The Joint Trade Unions have set up the following Petition which we are encouraging everyone to support.
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-our-outstanding-nursery-schools-in-the-london-borough-of-barnet
Moss Hall Nursery facing 50 per cent funding cut
http://www.barnet-today.co.uk/news.cfm?id=11019
Campaigners launch petition to save nursery in Barnet
Save Moss Hall Nursery From Drastic Proposals
http://www.change.org/p/save-moss-hall-nursery
Local Government Pay Proposals 2014/16 The Offer
Barnet Libraries dispute
17 October 2014
Dear Colleagues
The Council will announce the options under consideration for the Library Service on the 20th of October. These plans were originally to be disclosed to Library staff at meeting to be held at NLBP.
UNISON welcomed this meeting as an indication that the consultation process with staff would be conducted in an equable and meaningful manner.
However the Council has since decided to call off this meeting and replace it with a series of onsite meetings on the 20th of October, each lasting half an hour.
By calling off the meeting of all Library staff the Council are;
· Not treating Library workers in an equal manner to our colleagues in other Council services, who have been able to attend service-wide meetings on their futures.
· Hampering the provision of Trade Union representation at Consultation meetings with staff. It will be difficult for UNISON reps to attend each of the on-site meetings, due to other commitments as we deal with a number of Council initiatives and an increased level of casework. This is coupled with a reluctance by the Council to release reps for trade union duties.
· Holding meetings at several sites may distort the message the Council wishes to impart, as colleagues at one site receive the news and pass on their interpretations to staff at other sites. It is in the interest of all parties concerned that this does not happen.
- The half hour allocated to each meeting is too short for sufficient explanation by the Council and will not provide adequate time for staff to raise questions.
UNISON have called for the reinstatement of the all-staff meeting but have been rebuffed by the Council. Therefore we are raising it as a point of dispute in the Council’s highest industrial relations committee.
Yours sincerely,
Hugh Jordan John Burgess
Libraries Convenor Branch Secretary
Branch Health and Safety Officer
Barnet UNISON Branch to recommend to members rejection of revised national pay offer
Barnet UNISON Local Government Branch Executive
Wednesday 15 October
The following motion was debated and agreed.
Pay Dispute
This Branch Executive condemns the National decision to suspend the strike planned and organised for 14th October based on the employers latest pay proposals which do not come anywhere near to addressing our pay claim and are nowhere near to even covering the current inflation rate and that expected next year.
This Branch Executive agrees to raise our objections at Regional and National level to the last minute decision to call off the action agreed by members. If the proposals were agreed this would lock the union into taking no action on pay for at least another two years.
The National consultation on these pitiful and derisory proposals is due to commence on 20th October through individual Branch ballots. The proposals to be consulted on are:
2.2% increase payable from 1/1/2015, covering pay years 2014/15 and 2015/2016.
Larger increases for the very lowest paid on Spinal column points 5 – 10 (from 8.56% to 2.32%)
No back pay but unconsolidated payments of £100 for most workers, £150 for scp 8-10 and £325 for scp 5-7.
Further small unconsolidated payments in April 2015 to bring the amount paid up to the equivalent of 1% for 2014/15
The proposal fails to deliver the Living Wage for the lowest paid – and indeed in those authorities where it has already been achieved the lowest paid could get no increase at all
The proposal, of a 2.2% increase for most workers over two years with more for the very lowest paid, delivers no more than the 1% already offered for most workers in 2014/2015 and slightly less than 1.2% for 2015/16. It effectively accepts pay restraint not only this year but through the first year of the next government.
This Branch agrees to use all Branch resources necessary to campaign amongst members to urge them to reject the proposals and to return to industrial action if necessary to secure a decent pay rise and to work with other Branches and Regions where possible to achieve a national rejection of the proposals. We also agree to continue to build solidarity for health workers, civil servants and others still due to take action on pay and to build for the TUC “Britain Needs a Pay Rise” demonstration on 18.
Vote No to Poverty Pay – Reject the latest Local Government National Pay offer
Care workers – Fighting austerity National Pay strike 14 October
UNISON members: 5 reasons to go on strike 14 October
UNISON members: 5 reasons to go on strike
1. You can’t afford another pay and pension cut
The current government offer leaves most workers with pay worth almost 20% less than in 2010. Falling pay also means loss of pension for the rest of your life.
2. You are worth fair pay for the work you do
Your pay and conditions are the worst in the public sector – from top to bottom.
3. Taking another pay cut won’t save jobs and services
Despite a pay freeze, jobs have gone and services continue to be stripped to the bone, privatised or stopped all together. There’s no reason to believe a pay cut will stop this.
4. All this will continue unless we act now
Low pay is bad for workers and bad for the economy. That’s why politicians from all parties are calling for an end to low pay. Many local government workers rely on benefits to pay bills. Right now, the taxpayer is subsidising local government to pay poverty wages.
5. Our claim for a minimum of £1 more an hour for all is affordable
Paying all local government workers a living wage will boost Treasury coffers by around £0.9bn every year from increased tax and national insurance take – shifting many off in-work benefits and reducing the bill to taxpayers.
Capita Re – redundancy consultation in Highways Services
On Monday 8 September 2014 UNISON members working for Capita Re Highways section were informed that statutory redundancy consultation would commence on 10 September 2014. Capita Re have carried out a review of the Highways function against the output specification that forms part of the contract with the London borough of Barnet.
The proposal was that they can make efficiencies by changing work practices and use of technology alongside the need to reduce costs circa £65k with a reduction in the Highways fee by Barnet Council as from July 2014.
Capita Re currently employs 284 staff.
The current staffing establishment for Highways is 23 staff and all of them have been issued at risk of redundancy letters.
The proposal seeks to make 10 redundancies and create six new posts. However, the six new posts are not redeployment opportunities for the staff at risk.
Over the past few weeks meetings have been taking place with staff as they are having to go through an interview selection process.
UNISON has requested some detailed financial information about the proposed shortfall in funding and expressed concern about the ability of the service to deliver the service with reduced numbers of staff.
UNISON members have expressed concern and disappointment that when Barnet Council Cabinet Committee agreed to the award the DRS contract to Capita on Monday 24 June 2013 they did so in the knowledge that this was a contract which would grow and there would not be any redundancies.
As members have pointed out in Table 7.1 DRS Staff Numbers
of the report the Highways Teams are down to increase not decrease.
Update
Last week the Trade Unions were informed that Capita Re would be extending the consultation period. The reason being Capita Re had been summoned to attend the Environment Committee members briefing on 2 October at 7 pm Hendon Town Hall.
UNISON will be attending the above meeting in order to find out if there are any proposals which may mean the redundancy proposals will be withdrawn.
Urgent feedback on ACAS/Your Choice Barnet meeting
Urgent feedback on ACAS/Your Choice Barnet meeting
Dear Colleagues
At our meeting on Monday 22 September at ACAS HQ UNISON raised a concern that Your Choice Barnet (YCB) was being unfairly treated by Barnet Council.
I am referring to the Pension employer contributions YCB has to make to all members of the Local Government Pension.
For council staff the Pension contributions can be broken down into three parts
Employee contribution variable % depending on salary level.
Employer contribution 14.5 % for future benefits.
Employer contribution 9.8% for past Pension Deficit
The total amount paid by the employer equates to 24.3%.
Barnet UNISON has been investigating what has been happening in relation to Pension contributions since mass outsourcing started in early 2012.
What we have found is that YCB is having to pay 9.8% contribution towards the historic pension deficit accrued prior to outsourcing.
It is clear that this financial burden seriously inhibits the financial viability of YCB and does not reflect the true economic conditions for delivering the service.
In short the Council is imposing a cost on YCB which is not directly related to the service they are providing.
It is well documented that YCB is in financial difficulties otherwise why would they have had to attack low paid care workers on two occasions in the last 18 months.
To learn that the Council has chosen to impose another financial penalty on YCB when it has such a precarious financial situation is difficult to understand, which is why we have requested Barnet Council to remove this requirement.
Private sector being given favourable treatment.
Our investigations have revealed the following three private contractors, who won contracts to deliver services in Barnet, are not having to pay this 9.8% penalty.
NSL – Pension Fund Committee, 20 December 2011 at paragraph 6.3 it states:
“NSL will become an admitted body to the Pension Fund under a closed agreement. The agreement will be fully funded at the point of transfer and the contractor will pick up employer pension costs associated with future liabilities. Provision has been made in the business case both for the costs associated with a pension bond, and also for costs that the Council will retain in respect of the past deficit for these employees.”
Capita Re – Pension Fund Committee 9 September 2013 at paragraph 6.4 it states:
“The joint venture will pay the future contribution rate to meet any pension fund liabilities. The council has retained the element of the budget that pays for the repayment of the past service pension fund deficit.”
OSC – Pensions Fund Committee 18 March 2014 at paragraph 7.2 it states:
“Staff will transfer on a “fully funded basis”. This means that the pensions’ deficit will not transfer to OCS from Barnet in respect of these staff. The total deficit retained by Barnet has been calculated at £98k. £25k per annum needs to be retained from Adults and Communities budget to fund the repayment of the deficit over the lifetime of the contract.”
We are in the middle of a dispute over the 9.5% pay cut imposed on our members working for YCB. The knowledge that yet again the private sector is being treated more favourably than YCB is inexcusable.
If Barnet Council were to do the right thing and treat YCB like they have done with Capita, the 9.5% pay cut would be wiped out and the dispute would be over. It is that simple.
We have written to Barnet Council asking them to consider our request and do the right thing for the services and the loyal hard working low paid care staff who provide excellent services.