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UNISON NOTES OF UNDERSTANDING
A meeting took place between Unison; the Leader of the
Council, Jeremy Birch; Councillor Peter Chowney, Chair of Personnel
Consultative Committee; Roy Mawford, the Chief Executive: Nigel Ray and
senior Personnel officers to discuss issues relating to the implications of
the restructure of senior management.
The agenda below was set by Unison.
The following notes relate to Unison’s
understanding of the outcomes.
Agenda
1 Accommodation
2 Communication
3 Consultation
by Middle Managers
4 Re-evaluations
of Posts
5 Administration
6 General
Managers
Outcomes
1 Accommodation
Unison pressed for;
·
Strategic approach to office accommodation;
·
Analysis of accommodation requirements, available
accommodation, numbers of staff requiring accommodation, health and safety
issues relating to proposed accommodation.
·
Timetable for office moves once accommodation
analysis has been conducted.
Outcome;
It was agreed that a strategic approach to office
accommodation would be implemented with all staff being consulted and moves
undertaken in a coherent manner.
Unison understood that no movement of staff would be
undertaken until a strategic analysis was undertaken.
A meeting of executive directors will be held on 16/7/03
to discuss accommodation.
Unison further pressed for a long term solution to
accommodation problems through the provision of a Civic Centre.
It is understood that there will be a council-wide
strategy for accommodation completed within 1 year and implemented within 5
years.
2 Communication
Unison pressed for;
·
Strategic and consistent approach to Team Meetings
·
Monitoring of team meetings and their efficacy.
Outcomes;
It was accepted by management
there are discrepancies relating to the quality and frequency of team
meeting across the Council.
Unison understands this will
be addressed and further pressed for a monitoring of team meetings.
We required to ensure
consistency of approach and dissemination of information through regular
team meetings throughout the Council.
3 Consultation
by Middle Managers
Unison pressed for;
·
Meaningful consultation relating to the micro
changes within sections of departments as a result of the departmental
restructure.
·
Consistent approach to consultation by management
·
No changes to reporting lines without agreement.
Outcomes;
Unison understands that management accept the need for
consultation to be full and meaningful with any affected staff/teams. We understand that our concerns
will be relayed to managers and acted upon.
4 Re-evaluations
of Posts
Unison pressed for;
·
Consistent approach throughout the authority
·
Timetable for re evaluations
Unison stressed that we have trained evaluators who,
under the current system of evaluation, are being excluded from the
process. Evaluation was not
being viewed by staff as a fair and equitable process.
Unison understands that a review and assessment of the
evaluation process will be conducted by Hay and that Unison will be involved
in that process.
It was agreed that if jobs have changed as a result of
the restructure, evaluations would be undertaken.
Unison understands there is a commitment by management
to phase out the Vacancy Assessment Panel.
5 Administration
Unison pressed for;
- Evaluation
of and a consistent approach to the use of Secretarial and
administrative staff relating to team support rather than personal
secretarial support for managers.
- An
understanding that there is a shortage of admin officers across the
Council
Outcomes;
Unison understands that management accepted that whist
executive directors will require personal administrative support, the role
of the administrator will be for teams/sections rather than managers.
We understand that the lapsed council wide review of
administration is to be completed.
6 General
Managers
Unison pressed for;
- Information
relating who they were and what criteria they were being appointed.
Outcomes;
Unison understands from management that general managers
will be professional heads and will not be a tier of management under the
executive directors relating to old service heads.
We understand there will be general managers for the
following professional areas;
Planning, Environmental
Health, IT, Estates, Projects, Regeneration and Legal.
Recommendation
It was recommended that
a similar meeting is undertaken in 6 months time to review the progress
towards implementing the above issues.
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