The table above are the current London Borough of Barnet Grades for 2021/22.
The current National Pay negotiations are taking place and at some point in the next 9 months the Pay award for this year will have to be applied to all of the grades above.
The following communications has been sent by Barnet UNISON to the following contractors who deliver services on behalf of Barnet Council.
Dear Contractor
On Monday 6 June 2022, Barnet UNISON, GMB and NEU submitted a Joint Trade Union Cost of Living Crisis claim to Barnet Council on behalf of all our members.
In the space of a week, we now some Petrol pump prices have reached £2 per litre with no sign that this will stop at this price.
I am submitting the same emergency Cost of Living Crisis claim to your organisation on behalf of UNISON and GMB members.
We are submitting the same claim to all contractors commissioned by Barnet Council to deliver services.
For the purposes of transparency, we are copying in the Chief Executive of Barnet Council.
Introduction:
National Pay Bargaining has failed to deliver meaningful improvements in pay for many of our members. Our members have endured a decade of pay freezes and below average pay awards which has seen our members lose on average 27.5% from the value of their pay since 2010.
Whilst we wait for the national pay negotiations to reach an outcome our members are facing the fastest fall in living standards since the 1950s. Inflation is forecast to peak at over 10% this year, the sharp rise in the cost of living is hitting our members hard. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has warned economic conditions are now unlikely to return to pre-Covid levels until at least 2024.
The UK’s biggest supermarket chain, Tesco, predicts food price inflation will soon hit 5%. The cost of many supermarket staples has increased far more than this already – the average price of pasta increased 41% last year and tinned tomatoes went up 29%.
Within these figures, some costs are rising at an unprecedented rate, such as gas bills at 28.8%, petrol and oil at 21.4%, and electricity bills at 19.2%.
What is of concern for our members is that the support measures offered by the government are not enough.
The Joint Trade Unions welcome the “Cost-of-Living approach: Debt and Financial Vulnerabilities workstream” report going to Policy & Resources Committee on 8 June 2022. (https://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s72786/Cost%20of%20Living%20approach%20Debt%20and%20Financial%20Vulnerabilities%20workstream.pdf )
In particular we agree with Recommendation 3 which states “notes the urgency of the cost-of-living challenges facing residents”. Some of our lowest paid members live and work in the London Borough of Barnet.
Poorer households are currently experiencing higher inflation – on average – than better-off households
As Trade Unions we recognise that we need to act in the interests of our membership in these unprecedented times which is why we have tabled three proposals to address some of the concerns raised on a daily basis by our members.
The cost of fuel is driving up prices both for car users and for those using public transport.
In terms of public transport costs between 2009 – 21 Bus & coach fares have gone up 88% and Rail fares have gone up 55%.
Petrol and diesel costs are at a historic high. Filling up a tank costs £17 more than just one year ago, but HMRC mileage rates have not been updated since 2011/12.
There are staff, keyworkers, who have no choice but to travel to work. They are not able to work from home. Throughout the COVID pandemic they have had to keep travelling to work and incurring their travel costs at a time when many other workers have saved money because they were able to work from home.
Barnet UNISON/GMB is asking for a Travel to Work payment to be paid each month.
The COVID Pandemic forced home working on many employers. We now have a hybrid pattern of working where staff are still working from home with occasional days at the office.
Energy prices rose even more sharply from April 2022, when the price cap received an enormous lift and the average bill increased from £1,277 to approximately £2,000 a year.
In terms of some escalating costs which we believe impact on the Home worker, between 2009 – 21 House prices have risen by 53% and Electricity bills by 65%.
The Emergency Cost of Living Crisis has changed things dramatically. The energy bill hikes are putting many of our members under financial insecurity especially in light of further energy bill increases in the Autumn.
It is only fair that the employer should contribute to energy costs for those staff working from home.
Barnet UNISON/GMB is asking for a Home Working payment to be paid each month.
Last year the trade unions requested a COVID Recognition payment as a sign of goodwill and recognition that many of the frontline workers had continued to deliver services right through the Pandemic and when the vaccine was not available. Our request was turned down. As previously stated in our Cost-of-Living Crisis proposal many of our lowest paid are under serious financial pressure and they want a payment in recognition of what they did during the height of the COVID pandemic.
Barnet UNISON/GMB is asking that Barnet Council makes a one-off COVID-19 recognition payment.
End.
The Barnet Group UNISON Reps wrote to Christina MacAnea, UNISON General Secretary, about the plight of workers in TBG and what its like being 2nd class Public Servants and the lack of access to the Local Government Pension Scheme for our members.
We received this response:
Dear Patrick
Good to hear from you again. Thanks for your email. Like you I am hopeful that in those councils that are now controlled by Labour councillors we can get positive progress and recognition for the work our members do.
I am planning to write to all new Labour council leaders asking them to meet with Unison and work with us to deliver decent pay and conditions for local government workers, prioritise insourcing and support our campaign for a national social care service among other issues.
Not all these councils have formally selected their leaders and my letter will go once we have this information. We are also hoping to work with the Labour Group on the Local Government Association.
I know what a great job you have been doing to support our members in Barnet during really difficult times.
I understand from the region that the new council leadership have already contacted the branch. Here’s hoping having a Labour controlled council gives you and the branch an opportunity for genuine partnership working.
Best wishes
Christina
As we approach Council elections, our members are asking if there will be a political change here at Barnet Council and if so, what it would mean for them.
It is now 20 years since Labour handed back power to the Tories in Barnet Council. Back then it was a very different time, and the Tories were not keen on outsourcing. They appeared to enjoy running the services themselves.
Things changed around 2008.
This is when easyCouncil was presented as the future for delivering Council services. This approach was promoted by a succession of consultants who were richly rewarded with lucrative contracts. It would be fair to say Barnet Council was “consultant dependent”, no decisions could be made without first paying a consultant 100’s of thousands of pounds of public money.
“The One Barnet Consultant’s bill hits £6.3 million” http://reasonablenewbarnet.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-one-barnet-consultants-bill-hits-63.html
Easycouncil became One Barnet, which enabled the mass outsourcing sausage machine to churn out report after report, all extolling the virtues of outsourcing and undermining the hard work of the in-house staff.
Fast forward 14 years and there appears to be growing anger towards the Government over the alleged breaches of Covid rules at its heart. There is even speculation that previously safe Tory Councils could be at risk.
If there was political change in Barnet would it be a Labour or Lib- Labour Coalition?
And if so what would that mean for our outsourced members all of whom are desperate to return back under direct management of Barnet Council?
What will a change in political leadership mean for our Barnet UNISON members working for NSL the Parking Services contractor?
What will a change in political leadership mean for our Barnet UNISON members working for Capita and the two contracts?
What will a change in political leadership mean for our Barnet UNISON members working for the Catering Contractor ISS?
What will a change in political leadership mean for our Barnet UNISON members working for Barnet Education Learning Skills (BELS)?
What will a change in political leadership mean for our Barnet UNISON members working for Housing workers working for Barnet Homes?
What will a change in political leadership mean for our Barnet UNISON members working for 600 care workers working for Your Choice Barnet?
What will a change in political leadership mean for our Barnet UNISON members working for the cleaning contractor Norse?
What will a change in political leadership mean for our Barnet UNISON members working for the security contractor Blue Nine?
All the above services used to be provided by Barnet Council and many of the outsourced services are frontline services run by key workers clapped as heroes during the pandemic.
UNISON policy is for all these services to be run in-house and that they will publicly support Barnet UNISON to try to campaign to bring these services back under direct control of the Council.
The other big concern for Council workers and the low paid is PAY.
The National Pay Campaign was a failure and whilst UNISON begins the work to address the massive deficit between the union and its membership nationally what does this mean now?
Our low paid members are facing serious financial hardship and do not have the luxury of waiting for another national pay campaign.
What is low pay in our depot based Street Scene Services ?
A Street Cleansing operative earns between £11.31 to £12.03 and hour annual salary £22,575
A Bin worker loader or a Gardener earns between £11.82 to £12.47 and hour annual salary £ 23,400
A Passenger Transport Driver, Gardener Driver, Town Keeper earns between £12.24 to £12.91 and hour annual salary £24,245
A coach escort, skilled gardener driver, tractor driver earns between £12.69 to £13.39 and hour annual salary £25,128
A LGV driver operative, LGV Tractor drive earns between £13.15 to £14.12 and hour annual salary £26,508
A Bin worker driver earns between £14.12 to £15.72 and hour annual salary £29,502
Barnet UNISON had its first Emergency Cost of Living Crisis meeting on 30 March 2022. The meeting agreed to progress the claim and bring the full proposal to a vote of the second Cost of Living Crisis meeting on Tuesday 26 April at 6 pm.
What will a change in political leadership mean for our low paid Barnet UNISON members working for Barnet Council?
The question on the lips of these workers is which political party will publicly join UNISON in advocating the return of outsourced services back into Barnet Council and to meet to discuss how to end pay poverty for low paid workers?
End.
Credit: Anne-Marie Sanderson
Barnet Homes Assist plays the role of a fourth emergency service. They respond to the most vulnerable in our Barnet community, visiting clients in their homes or alerting the other emergency services after being alerted by an alarm call from a client.
The Barnet Group brought forward proposals just before Christmas to outsource or close this vital lifeline which serves 5,000 Barnet residents by the 1st of April 2022, all for the want of a budget shortfall of £160k.
Members requested a ballot for industrial action.
The ballot closed on the 16th of March.
77% of Assist UNISON members returned the ballot on time with 100% voting to take industrial action to ‘Save Assist’ and oppose the outsourcing or closure of this vital service.
“The Barnet Group has listened and has made a commitment to look at other ways in which the service can become financially viable in the long term such as investment in new technology to allow Assist to bid for more contracts. This has gone some way to allay the fears of the dedicated staff who work at Assist and the vulnerable clients they serve. Talks are ongoing with the staff and Barnet UNISON about the future for the Assist service. But what is clear that Barnet UNISON members in the Barnet Group or in Barnet Council will stand together to fight against any proposal to outsource Public Services.” Patrick Hunter, Barnet Homes Convenor.
“UNISON members at ASSIST were and are prepared to fight against outsourcing of this vital frontline service that serves the most vulnerable residents in our community – we clapped for them during the pandemic – and I applaud them now, heroes, every last one of them.’’ Helen Davies, Branch Chair Barnet UNISON.
“Massive respect to our Barnet UNISON emergency response key worker members who work for the ASSIST service. They voted (100%) to take strike action with a 77% turnout in response to their employer seeking to outsource them. Today’s response from the employer that they are no longer pursuing outsourcing is welcome news. We are shortly to have fresh talks over the future for the service.” John Burgess Branch Secretary Barnet UNISON.
End.
Note to Editors: Contact details: Helen Davies Barnet UNISON on or 020 8359 2088 or email: contactus@barnetunison.org.uk
Background:
UNISON Official Ballot is on for “ASSIST” Workers to take Strike Action
Barnet UNISON, Response to Barnet Homes ASSIST Proposals, 17/01/22
Meet one of our inspirational #ASSIST #keyworkers who throughout #CovidPandemic were called the #4thEmergencyService. Their reward for their hard work is #Outsourcing Read here for more details about the ASSIST service https://bit.ly/3gXNn6E
Barnet Unison has now set up a Black Members Self-Organised Group (SOG).
The Group will be holding its official Launch on
March 16th 2022 1.00-2.30pm
Click here to join the meeting
Members eligible to attend the group are those who identify as ‘Black’ according to the political definition:
UNISON has its own definition of ‘Black’. It is a political term which embraces the shared history of nations which have experienced colonialism, the transatlantic slave trade and who continue to experience inequalities in modern day life due to the colour of their skin. The term ‘Black’ rose out of the Anti-racist activism in Britain in the 70s and 80s. It was championed by those such as Diane Abbott, Keith Vaz, Bernie Grant and Paul Boateng and is used to unite people of African, Asian, Arab and Caribbean Communities.
It is an agreed term being used across UNISON.
UNISON’s guide to defining Black https://www.unison.org.uk/about/what-we-do/fairness-equality/black-members/defining-black/
The importance of a Black Members SOG is to:
The Black Members SOG will be giving a presentation to Barnet Black Staff Resource Action Group (BRAG) at their meeting in April.
This will provide information regarding the SOG as well as general information regarding Barnet Unison.
If you identify as Black and would like to receive information about the group’s activities please contact beverley.berrick@barnetunison.org.uk
We look forward to your support in developing this important resource in Barnet.
Barnet UNISON and GMB have been in talks with The Barnet Group over the last year to address the issues of unequal pay within The Group (more than 8 different sets of terms and conditions for people doing similar work). Barnet UNISON believes there may be Equal Pay issues when comparing a largely female workforce in The Barnet Group to the Council workforce where there is a largely male manual section of the workforce.
We want all Barnet Group workers to be on the same pay, terms and conditions as the Council workforce. The Barnet Group is wholly owned by the Council and performs as well as the Council and carries out the vast majority of its work on behalf of the Council, yet you are paid second class rates of terms and conditions.
The Barnet Group has reiterated its stance that it could not afford to pay those terms and conditions. Nonetheless both parties have been engaged in a discussion as to what can be done to improve the terms and conditions for the workforce.
A 2-step approach has been agreed. First to improve the offer of the TBG flex contract and then to offer this to TUPE’d staff. No one would be forced onto a TBG flex contract.
The areas The Barnet Group presented for discussion were:
We wanted to discuss:
Throughout the negotiations we requested information. We were particularly interested in the cost of the agency spend as we believe if the offer is attractive enough then there is a potential for the increase in the wage bill to be offset by the decrease in agency spend.
The Barnet Group is keen to implement the proposals if possible on the 1st April 2022. Both parties have committed to further negotiations to address the concerns of the TUPE staff once these proposals have been implemented.
Once we have exhausted this round of negotiations we will consult with all of our members to take the next steps. At this moment we anticipate this will happen late February. Please attend the AGM and all Branch meetings in order to be best informed and to make a decision.
One more Christmas/ Lyrics by Beau King Houston to be sung to the tune of ‘White Christmas’ by Bing Crosby.
(For the residents/Victims, friends & family, and staff members affected by the Apthorp Care Centre move 2021)
Verse 1
We were dreaming of one more Christmas
With the loved ones we used to know
But nobody listened
Then one decision
Meant we were left out in the cold
Verse 2
We were told we’d be secure this Christmas
You promised we were here to stay
Now our days just don’t feel as bright
Cos you chose to ignore our workers rights
Verse 3
We were dreaming of our last Christmas
Alas that wasn’t to be so
We were moved like cattle
No strength to battle
We lost our lives to save you dough
Verse 4
We lost the home we loved this Christmas
We miss the life we always knew
Try to affect change and be true
Know that one Christmas this could be you.
