West Dunbartonshire Branch
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West Dunbartonshire Branch
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Branch Address: UNISON Council Offices Garshake Road Dumbarton G82 3PU
Telephone:01389 737246 Fax: 01389 737884
e-mail (office):
All UNISON logos and graphics published with authority
All photographs published by kind permission of subjects
© UNISON West Dunbartonshire Branch 2002 |
Current Issue Articles Stock Transfer – Privatisation by the Back Door The G8 at Gleneagles – What Really Happened? 21st Century Social Work Review Branch Secretary Leaps for Charity
The lessons from Aberdeen and elsewhere Single Status and the job evaluation process have
been in the news recently, following Unison protests in Moray and Aberdeen City
against possible salary cuts for council staff. ‘Action 4 Equality’, a firm of lawyers taking equal pay
claims, have also received a lot of publicity.
It is particularly important at this time that Unison members understand
the truth of the situation amongst all the media hype and spin. What is Single
Status all about? The Single Status agreement was established in 1999
following lengthy negotiations between employers and unions in Scotland.
It created a single set of universal terms and conditions for Manual and
APT&C staff, replacing the previous separate agreements.
One of the central aims of this agreement was to tackle the issue of
‘equal pay’, ensuring that employees receive equal pay for equal work, with
no discrimination on the basis of gender or any other difference.
A ‘job evaluation’ system was agreed as the best means of assessing
all work across local authorities to decide where each post should be placed on
the pay scale. Where have we
got to in West Dunbartonshire? What was the
problem in Aberdeen and Moray? Single Status should not result in enormous pay cuts
for anyone unless councils have failed to take any notice of equal pay
legislation since it came in 30 years ago and have allowed huge discrepancies to
develop. The overall effect of
Single Status should be neutral, so if some are losing out in pay terms, others
will be gaining because they have historically been underpaid.
Moreover, those individuals who do find their pay being reduced will
receive three years protection on their salary.
Unison is currently attempting to increase this protected period. Won’t it be
quicker to let ‘Action 4 Equality’ sort out unequal pay?
Stock
Transfer – Privatisation by the Back Door West Dunbartonshire Council is currently consulting
on a proposal to transfer all or part of its housing stock to a housing
association. UNISON has
consistently opposed such large scale stock transfers of council housing as a
form of privatisation. • Stock transfer is not a good use of public
money. Stock Transfers bring about a long-term tax liability, because housing
association tenants receive more housing benefit than council tenants as their
rents are higher (£16.10 a wk more in Aug2002). This means that if 300,000
council tenants become housing association tenants the extra annual cost is
likely to be £150m. • Social housing should be run by publicly
accountable organisations with proper resources. • UNISON does not believe that stock transfer is
the most effective way of delivering decent social housing.
Evidence from England shows that where local authorities are investing
directly into their housing stock the decent homes standard is being achieved
faster. • We have concerns over staff transferring from
the public sector, and receiving inferior pay and conditions, creating a two
tier workforce. • These same concerns apply to partial stock
transfer, with added worries over divisions created between local authority
housing employees.
If you had £1 billion of
public money to spend on anything you liked, what would you spend it on? Schools? Hospitals?
Local government services? Or
5 miles of motorway that will damage health, divide communities, exacerbate
social exclusion, remove jobs from West Dunbartonshire, but shave 9 minutes off
the Holyrood to Barcelona journey time? Despite a Public Local Inquiry Report which clearly
recommended against the building of the M74 extension, the Scottish Executive
has decided to go ahead with the building of 5 miles of motorway through the
south side of Glasgow, at a cost likely to be at least £1 billion.
The Report stated that, ‘the new road would
be of little assistance to those suffering exclusion, and would be likely to
worsen travel opportunities for this section of the population by undermining
progress towards major public transport improvements. The presence of the new
road, largely elevated on embankments and viaducts, would increase community
severance for those living along the route.’
And all this in a city where 59% of households do not own a car. It went on to say that, ‘environmental protection and improvement would
be breached along various sections of the route, where some adjacent and nearby areas would be affected by
increased noise, visual by increased noise, visual intrusion, and airborne
emissions, and severe noise and disruption during construction,’ and that,
‘the new road is predicted to increase Carbon Dioxide emissions by about
135,000 tonnes a year (an increase of 5.7%), for the year 2020. This would be a
significant setback to the achievement of the Government’s commitment to
reduce greenhouse gases.’ And the
increases in overall traffic levels arising from the motorway will mean that any
congestion reduction will be short-lived at best. In addition, in terms of economic
benefits, the Reporter concluded that the road, ‘would improve access to the
area to the west of Glasgow south of the Clyde, and the perception of the
business competitiveness of that area, although access benefits would be
progressively lost through traffic growth, in the absence of measures for
traffic restraint. Most of the jobs that the new motorway would be expected to
attract to the area would be drawn away from other locations in Scotland, at the
expense of those areas,’ specifically including West Dunbartonshire. West Dunbartonshire Unison has passed a
motion opposed to this iniquitous scheme and will be encouraging Unison Scotland
to voice opposition too. The best
hope at the moment to stop this unnecessary and damaging development is the
legal case being pursued by the campaigning group JAM74 and Friends of the Earth
Scotland. To find out more and get
involved, see: JAM74 - www.jam74.org Friends of the Earth Scotland - www.foe-scotland.org.uk
Following the union victory earlier in 2005 when the
threat of strike action forced the government to back down on plans to change
public sector pensions, negotiations are ongoing at UK and Scottish levels. At the UK level, Unison and sister unions are
involved in the Public Service Forum with Trade and Industry Secretary, Alan
Johnson, following his promise of a ‘fresh start’ to negotiations in March.
At the recent TUC conference, however, Dave Prentis, Unison General
Secretary, warned that members would put up with no more hypocrisy – MPs
voting themselves a huge pensions increase while reducing those of public sector
workers. “Many in the government
underestimated our members’ anger,” said Prentis, “Those on the front
line, praised by politicians for their selfless heroism one day, and let down
the next.” At the Scottish level, Unison is engaging in
discussions with the Scottish Public Pensions Agency (SPPA), as there is no
requirement for the Scottish scheme to follow the England and Wales scheme.
However, the SPPA is clear that, although the financial health of the
funds in Scotland is better than in England, this will not always be the
position in the future and therefore reforms will be needed. Unison will continue to work with government on
pension issues to ensure that our members receive the pension they deserve and
have paid for.
Pay Claim 2006 - Update on Progress The process for negotiating the pay claim for 2006 is just starting, with the Branch undertaking workplace meetings to consult with members about their preferred option. If you don’t have a steward in your workplace, you may not automatically be included in this consultation – contact the Branch office on 01389-737246 to find out about becoming a steward, so that you and your colleagues can be fully involved.
Mileage Allowances – Council agrees to review scheme Following concerns raised by members, Unison raised concerns at the Joint Consultative Forum about the fact that mileage allowances for car users have not been raised since 2000, despite increases in the cost of motoring. Particular concern was raised about the fact that fixing the mileage allowance to the Inland Revenue rates does not allow for either local or national negotiation. The JCF agreed to review the scheme.
The
G8 at Gleneagles – What Really Happened? After the G8 summit at Gleneagles in July, most of the media
coverage (between the inevitable focus on the London bombings) suggested that
the world leaders really had ‘Made Poverty History’ and that Bob Geldof’s
Live8 concerts had changed the world. Unfortunately
the reality is far less positive – whilst some progress was made, the final
outcome has been described by the World Development Movement (WDM) as, ‘an
insult to the hundreds of thousands of campaigners who listened in good faith to
the world leaders’ claim that they were willing to seriously address poverty
in Africa. More importantly it is a disaster for the world’s poor. The
agreements on trade, debt, aid and climate change are nowhere near sufficient to
tackle the global poverty and environmental crisis we face.’
So what actually came out of Gleneagles? On
trade On
aid The modest increases to be delivered by 2010 will be too
little too late – and far from the $50 billion a year the UN say is needed to
reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). On
debt The re-announced cancellation initiative is a step forward
but it is woefully inadequate. Only 18 countries currently qualify (with a
possible further 20) when over 60 have been identified as needing immediate debt
cancellation to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Therefore the amount
of money on offer can only address about 10 per cent of the multilateral debt
problem. A potential crumb of comfort on aid and debt is a statement
from the G8 recognising that poor countries should be free to determine their
own economic policies. However, George Bush has made it very clear that the US
only supports giving money to countries that are pursuing free market policies,
this calls into question his willingness to abide by this promise. On
climate change The G8 failed to take any significant steps to address the
greatest environmental crisis facing human kind. The poorest people in the world
will be the ones who suffer most from this inaction. So what’s
next? The campaign to end global poverty and inequality goes on.
To find out more and get involved, see: World
Development Movement
– www.wdm.org.uk Make
Poverty History - www.makepovertyhistory.org Unison
- www.unison.org.uk/international/makepovertyhistory.asp Make Poverty
History is now organising a mass lobby of Parliament on 2 November to impress
upon MPs the huge public support for the campaign, and in particular, demands
for trade justice.
21st Century Social Work Review The 21st Century Social Work review is
due to conclude its work by late September, at which point it will report to the
Minister, although the report will not be released until the Executive has
decided on their response. Unison’s Social Work Issues Group has been working
on the various issues raised by the review, submitting a response to the recent
consultation on Protection of Title and considering representation on the
proposed National Strategy Group for leadership in social work.
In addition, the review is likely to comment on the current free-for-all
in relation to Social Worker’s pay in Scotland and has held informal
discussions with CoSLA looking at introducing a national framework for pay.
When is it? Saturday 10th December, 8 till late Where is it? Dumbarton Masonic Hall (the drink’s cheap!) Disco, Party Games,
Raffles, Buffet Tickets £5, available from
your steward or the Branch Office (01389-737246) Bus available from Clydebank
Town Hall at 7pm, returning after midnight
You
want to know what’s going on and the Branch wants to keep you up to date, but
we can only disseminate information quickly and easily if we have people on the
ground. Would you be prepared to
act as a contact person for your workplace? Most
information is now available on email, so if you and your colleagues have email
access, it can be as simply as forwarding an email. If you would be prepared to act as a contact person for your
workplace, to ensure members are kept up to date with the latest news from the
Branch, contact the office on 01389-737246, or Steve Rolfe, Publicity Officer,
on 0141-951-6156.
Leven Cottage
Closure Unison is working closely with West Dunbartonshire
to ensure that staff from Leven Cottage are properly protected following its
closure. Scheme of
Delegation Recent progress towards reinstating the former
Strathclyde ‘scheme of delegation’ appears to have ground to a halt.
The scheme allowed costs for damage to personal property (e.g. to
clothing, insurance excess on cars, etc.) which occurred whilst an employee was
on Council business, to be reimbursed by the authority.
The Council appeared to be sympathetic to the reinstatement of this
scheme, but have now turned the proposal down. Nursery Nurses Review Unison
has been intimately involved in the National Review of the Early Years and
Childcare Workforce, which is due to complete its work soon.
Unison has worked hard to ensure that members’ concerns were addressed
by this review, highlighting the need to value staff if we want staff to value
children in their care, as well as the need to look at the long-term cost to
society of not developing good early years and childcare services. Proposal to close Auchentoshan
Branch Secretary Leaps for Charity He may be hard to spot (and no, I’m not going to
repeat the jokes being bandied around the Unison Office about how hard that is
to believe), but the person about to throw himself off Drumkinnon Tower in this
photo is Branch Secretary, Tom Rainey. Along
with the leader of the Council, Andy White, other union officers and other
Council staff, Tom recently abseiled down the tower for a number of local charities, including
the Children’s Hospice (CHAS) and local talking newspaper for visually
impaired people, Rockvale Rebound. Bystanders reported an interesting debate between Tom and Councillor White at the top of the abseil, regarding who would be going first. Apparently Councillor White had some concerns about the effect of Tom’s descent on the rope, but was also concerned about the idea of union leaders being present at the top of the
rope whilst he was dangling below. No
confirmed details are available about rumours that this decision was nearly
referred to the Joint Consultative Forum, nor about the role of Personnel
Officer, Anne-Marie Cosh (who was also doing the abseil) in resolving this
industrial dispute. Tom described the daring leap as ‘exhilarating’, although no plans have been made for a follow-up stunt.
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