Unions demand 4% for local government workers

Trade unions have lodged a pay claim of 4% plus £200, on behalf of one million local government workers across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The pay bid could set up a tough confrontation between the unions and local government employers, who - surprise, surprise - have warned unions against asking for an "unrealistic" sum.

But as Mo Baines, UNISON Manchester Branch Secretary states, far from being an unrealistic claim, it represents a modest step in the right direction towards meeting some of the key recommendations of the local government Pay Commission and in achieving UNISON's objective of a £6 per hour minimum wage."

Mo continued, "the claim tackles low pay, equal pay and better training for the workforce and is aimed at meeting the Government's agenda for first class public services." More information at the AGM or watch this space for future developments…

Pay Commission, Hours and Single Status update...

Set up following the 2002 pay dispute, the Pay Commission has now published its results. Many of its findings will come as no surprise to UNISON members. The Pay Commission found that the local government workforce:

• is made up of around 75% women
• comprises of 60% part time workers
• already works 'flexibly'
• is rife with pay inequality. Women earn just 74% of male earnings.

The employers wanted to change Green book terms and conditions of service. Yet the Commission found that the real problem was not with the Green book, but with the failure of many local authorities to implement it properly. The Commission condemned the fact that the majority of local authorities have not implemented the national Job Evaluation (JE) Scheme. So how do we fare in Manchester?

Through the UNISON Manchester Branch continually pressing the employers, agreement was reached on implementing Single Status and JE in June 2003. Much of the content of Manchester's Single Status agreement fits into what the Commission identified as the best way forward. For example, although the employers want to see greater flexible working in Manchester, the Branch achieved this by ensuring that affected employees (mainly those who previously earned bonus) were compensated. It also made sure these changes were recorded through a formal 'Part 3' agreement - meaning that the changes, including measures to protect employees from working excessive hours, consecutive days off and protection of earnings, have a legal enforceability.

The Branch also achieved a reduction in the working week to our target of 35 hours for all which is being achieved through gradual reductions. This April will see another reduction down to 35½ hours with 35 hours due by next year and without any increased hours for those already on a 35 hour week. This decrease in working hours effectively increases the hourly rate for part timers by around 6%.

The Branch has also continued negotiations to implement Job Evaluation (JE). However, much more work needs to be done because JE is a very complex process and clearly, how it is implemented affects the way in which it will work for the UNISON members. For example, the employers had claimed that members in Libraries and in City Works had been 'evaluated'. This is not true, as the JE scheme provides for a joint process of evaluation. Job scores that are reached after an evaluation are completely invalid unless they are agreed by all sides. So it's important that UNISON stewards and members are involved everyday on issues like restructures so that JE is carried out under the terms of the national agreement. And, as the Branch has trained over 180 UNISON stewards on Single Status and JE since 2000, they are in a prime position to help you and your colleagues.

So does all of this mean that members of the UNISON Manchester Branch can sit back and relax? Certainly not! The solidarity of the Branch's growing membership is needed as much now as it ever was. There's still a long way to go, particularly on implementing JE. So even though we are more advanced in dealing with Single Status and JE than most authorities, the Branch welcomes the Pay Commission's findings as they demonstrate just how much work local authorities need to do to bring about equal pay, fair pay and a decent pay increase for all UNISON members.

If you think your workplace would benefit from a short briefing on Single Status and JE contact the Branch office to arrange a speaker to attend your team meeting.

Pensions Review..?

Claims by the employers that the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) pension is too expensive, and hence puts off part timers from joining, have led the Government to announce a series of proposed changes to the LGPS.

This is clearly propaganda actually designed to introduce a two-tier scheme whereby part timers get a reduced rate for joining but receive a pension of much less value. This is an insane starting point. It's like to saying if you work on a low income, you can survive retirement on even less money! Needless to say, the employers are also pressing for their contributions to your pensions to be reduced but employee contributions to increase! Hardly a proposal designed to get more people to join the scheme.

The Government is also suggesting the possible abolition of the 85 year rule. UNISON opposes any moves to reduce the current flexibility within the scheme that can assist members to have a flexible retirement date. As one of the Greater Manchester Pension Fund Employee Reps, Mo Baines successfully argued for the Greater Manchester Pension Fund to water down their support for this provision in their response to the proposals.

Another proposed change is to increase the earliest possible retirement date from age 50 to 55. Younger members might not think that this is an issue of immediate concern but think on… This provision could have a potential damaging effect on all members because if we face major restructures or changes to services, local authorities like Manchester can offer early retirement or redundancy packages to employees over 50. However, if the age were increased to 55, the flexibility to deal such changes is reduced. This increases uncertainty for all members of staff, especially when we consider the serious challenges before us, such as Housing Stock Transfers, restructuring in City Works and Environment and Operations, and further potential changes to Social Services.

Our survey said...

The Branch survey in January 2003 showed some important results. Over 85% of members were willing to take industrial action in support of their pension. The survey results were analysed by the independent Labour Research Department and used as part of UNISON's national response to Government on proposed changes to the pensions scheme. So if you think that 'it's just another survey,' in fact it is only by members participating that UNISON can begin to influence the debate on the future of our pensions.

A copy of UNISON's response to the latest proposals is available on request at the branch office and is free to UNISON members.

Social Services Update

Well for a start it's not called Social Services any more. It now has the snappy title of 'Children and Families and Social Care'! Which is proving to be confusing for callers to district offices, to say nothing of the mouthful reception staff now have to chant. But here follows UNISON Manchester's Pete Banks' brief update on the acronym now to be known as CF&SC.

• Manchester Advice - The review of this service finally looks like taking place. Thankfully, this section has a well organised, dedicated UNISON stewards body.

• Children and Families - UNISON is revisiting all social work teams as case loads seem to be climbing again after the Branch's intervention 18 months ago. With the introduction of recommendations stemming from the Victoria Climbié Report, work loads have increased significantly for all staff in this division.

• Cheetham Family Centre - The proposal to TUPE transfer the staff out to external providers looks less and less likely.

• Residential Workers - The isolation of this group of workers is a constant concern of UNISON. Violence to staff is also an ever-present issue and UNISON is involved with the authority to combat this.

• Mental Health Section - After many months of negotiations, the transfer of staff in this service to the NHS has again been delayed for a further two years and it looks likely the two services will remain separate. This is a victory for UNISON and common sense.

Charging Social Services for delayed discharges

A new Act of Parliament means that Social Services Departments are now given 72 hours' notice by the NHS of the imminent discharge of a patient who requires a care package. If the patient cannot be discharged because a care package is not in place, then the authority will be charged £100 per day until the patient is discharged. This is adding yet more pressures on already over-burdened care management teams, especially those based in hospitals and dealing with older people and service users who have disabilities. Further, this measure is bound to have significant implications for staff across the Department.

At present, UNISON Branch Officer Wendy Allison is in negotiations with the Assistant Director of Older People's Services regarding the development of weekend working arrangements and examining ways to implement this with minimum impact on staff. Initially staff will be approached to see if any are prepared to work some weekends on a voluntary basis. However, as this requirement is likely to increase, negotiations are underway regarding a new pay package for staff who work weekends.

Education update - Remodelling the School Workforce

The national Remodelling the School Workforce agreement was reached with UNISON, the teaching unions, national employers and the Government late last year. The agreement is designed to ensure that teachers spend less time carry out support duties and more time teaching. For UNISON however, it is also about recognising the vital role of all school support staff who have been undervalued for years, such as Teaching Assistants, Nursery Nurses, School Administrators and Technicians.

Education workers' jobs will still be evaluated but their roles will be 'grafted' onto national job descriptions. This will ensure that there are proper and transparent grading structures in schools. For an authority the size of Manchester it is important to over 2,500 of our members who work in Education that the agreement is quickly and effectively implemented. The authority have been slow on the uptake despite them being a national 'remodelling Champion' and awarded a start-up grant to help implement the agreement.

UNISON is now pressing the employers to agree the way forward on the implementation of the agreement in Manchester. Implications of the agreement on Manchester's Job Evaluation Scheme will be picked up in Council-wide negations.

UNISON believes that Remodelling the School Workforce is a modern agreement that takes us forward. UNISON's Kate Farrell said "It will help improve education for our children by maximising the time that teachers spend teaching and it will help to deliver better training, qualifications and recognition for school support staff." Brian Stangoe warned however, "It can't be done on the cheap. All members working in schools deserve the agreement to be implemented on a partnership basis with UNISON - the lead union in the national negotiations".

News in Brief

• All members of UNISON Manchester are invited to the Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 10th March at 12.30 pm in the Friends Meeting House on Mount Street (behind Central Library). Among the important issues to be discussed are the negotiations on pay, single status and the Government's proposals for an elected regional assembly.

• The NHS is being charged well over the odds by private hospitals. In some cases the NHS is paying up to 50% more for operations in the private sector compared to NHS hospital rates. The Financial Times estimates that premiums paid to private hospitals may have cost the taxpayer £100m. More evidence that public services are not only more effective, they're cheaper than the private sector.

• Dave Prentis, UNISON General Secretary warns of the danger of the BNP "We have seen that where they have been elected to a few local councils, they don't care for democracy and they don't care for the public services so essential to so many of our inner city areas. Instead they prey on people's fears, especially in areas of social and economic deprivation. The BNP is not a respectable political party. Beneath the veneer of suits and so-called policies on social issues lies deep seated views of racial superiority." Locally, regionally and nationally, UNISON will continue to stand up to the BNP menace and make sure their politics of hate is rooted out of our communities.