Inside

Public Service Not Private Profit July 2014

ReviewCity and County of Swansea

Full coverage of the July10th Pay Strike:Whathappened and what weneed to do next

UNISON picket, July 10th

“ “

➥p2

Break the Tory pay-freeze:

J10J10

Wewere right to strikeWewere right to strike

The crisis is supposedto be over, but whyhave I lost thousandsthanks to SingleStatus? I’m proud tobe in Unison and onstrike but we shouldescalate and keepcoming out with otherunions. It makes usmore effective.

The mass public sector strike on July10th was a big success. There werearound 1.5 million on strike, with picketlines and protests in cities and townsacross Britain.

From admin workers to refusecollectors to teachers, civil servantsand firefighters - public sector workersin their thousands joined marches andrallies on the day (see inside) as didtheir supporters.

The strike brought together workersacross several unions — includingUnison, Unite, GMB, PCS, NUT andNipsa. All unions united in their angerat the Tories’ determination to holddown our pay. Firefighters acrossEngland and Wales also joined thewalkout on the day as part of theirpensions dispute. PCS membersprotested outside the gates of the

Houses of Parliament against plansto privatise services and outsourceworkers.

Support for the strike is notsurprising. Thanks to no or below-inflation pay ‘rises’ we have lost upto 20% of our pay side 2010, whichin turn cuts the pensions we willget. 450,000 jobs have been lost inlocal government since 2010. Wecan’t afford another pay andpension cut.

Worst conditions

Our pay and conditions are theworst in the public sector from topto bottom, many members in localgovernment claim benefits or tax-credits to make ends-meet andcouncils attack our payand terms and conditions

Wewere right to strike:continued from front page

London up to 20,000Liverpool 7,000Bristol 4,500Birmingham 4,000Leeds 3,000Nottingham 2,000Hull 2,000Newcastle 2,000Huddersfield 1,500Exeter 1,000Portsmouth 600Preston 500York 500Cambridge 400Ipswich 350Cardiff 300Chelmsford 300Bolton 250Swansea 250Barnsley 200Wigan 200Derry 200Belfast 200Torbay 100Peterborough 100

Rallies a successTens of thousands ofstrikers and supporterstook to the streets of townsand cities across Britainfor joint union marchesand rallies. Up to 20,000marched through centralLondon, despite a downpour.Thousands gathering inLiverpool at the Pier Headcompletely filled out thewaterfront before marching totheir rally at St George’s Hall.

Below is a round up of someof the regional rallies:

As members will know, Single Status hasbeen imposed by Swansea Council withoutagreement with the trade unions. This hasmade employees conditions worse in manyways including:

Unfair Job Evaluation Panels with twomanagement representatives to one unionrep.

Forced changes to hours of work withno consideration for family commitmentsetc.

Compulsory charge of job or workplace,with only partial protection for earnings.

Loss of retainer pay for 2000 schoolemployees

Compulsory overtime with a requirementto work to the completion of the task.

900 more staff moved to the Guildhallwith no parking space available and staff

forced to pay parking charges.

UNISON recently undertook a indicativeballot of our membership in regards toindustrial action on the manner and issuesarising around the Implementation ofSingle Status, the so-called 'Best and FinalOffer' and related issues, particularly asnegotiations been lengthy but notmeaningful.

The result of the ballot was 55% infavour of strike action, and in a secondquestion 66% in favour of industrialaction short of a strike.

It is clear that UNISON's membership aredetermined to tackle the issues that theyfeel have wronged them by industrialaction if necessary. The branch is hopefulthat the council will wish to engagemeaningfully to resolve the issues,otherwise industrial action is the next step

Single Status Ballot votes for action

locally. Many members aredoing far more in work timeas workforce numbersdecrease, many have lostthousands through job-evaluation and servicescontinue to be stripped tothe bone, privatised or

stopped all together. Allthis will continue unlesswe act - and escalate theaction. The governmentand employers willcontinue to cut our payand conditions andservices the public needwill continue to bedecimated without a fight.

We are the 7th richesteconomy in the world,and some recent reportsput Britain as the second-largest economy inEurope. And yet ourexperience is continuedpressure on our lives froma government stuffed withprivately- educationmillionaires lecturing usthat we are all ‘in ittogether’ and a Torypress that scapegoatsmigrants.

A rich economy

These cuts aren’tnecessary and our claimfor a minimum of £1 anhour for all is affordable.Political choices can andshould be made. Councilsare banking ‘savings’made from cuts to jobsand pay instead ofrewarding hardworkingstaff. In additioneverything is rising -clothes, food, utility bills.Many people cannotafford holidays and worrywhether they will have ajob, how they will afford tolive and bring up theirfamilies.

The Tories claimed ostrike made no differeand had no support.Anyone involved in thaction on the day knothat isn’t true. Thegovernment wants torubbish our strikebecause our power isfrightening to them anthey are scared theunions will hit back. Tstrike was popular wiordinary people becapensioners, studentsdisabled people andothers have all beenhammered by the samausterity agenda.

Hard choices

We know the decisiostrike was a hard onemany members - buteven though many foit hard, they were alsreally pleased to seefightback. As one striput it, “The crisis issupposed to be over,why have I lost thousthanks to Single StatI’m proud to be in Unand on strike but weshould escalate andcoming out with othe

Teachers, fire-fighters, local government wUnite and escalate to wTeachers, fire-fighters, local government wUnite and escalate to w

ourence

heows

o

snd

Theithauses,

me

on toe fortoundsoe aiker

, butsandstus?nison

keeper

unions. It makes us moreeffective”.

We have no choice but tofight now to beat theTories, and to demandthat whoever forms thenext government ends theausterity programme. Nomatter how impressive aone day strike may be, itwill not be enough to beatthis government.

July 10th therefore needsto be just the beginning ofthe campaign. The TUChas called ademonstration the banner“Britain needs a pay rise”on 18 October. It’s reallyimportant that we build fora huge turnout. But whilewe need to marchtogether on 18 October,we need to strike togetheragain too - and soon.

Escalation

It’s crucial that ourcampaign does not losemomentum and that ourunion leaders name theday for more coordinatedstrikes. What’s needed isreal escalation – a

programme of strikes anddemonstrations thatshows the governmentwe’re not just protesting,we’re out to win this fight.

Firefighters have named15 strike periods overeight days from 14th July.This is a big stepping upof the FBU’s battle overpensions. Union leadershave said health workerswill soon be asked to voteon strikes.

Unison leaders haveraised the prospect of atwo day strike inSeptember. All of us, andmembers of every otherunion, should get behindthat move. If we are goingto lose precious pay bystriking we need to feelthat the union leadershave a strategy to win - abig one-day strike cannotbe used simply as a formof protest.

Imagine if over two millionworkers struck inSeptember, and then saidone day wasn’t enoughand went for more? Thenimagine they said they

would keep going until theywon?

Pride

More action is even moreimportant because we can’trely on Labour. Ed Milibandopposed our strike, has madeit clear that Labour will stickto Tory spending plans andthat the 1 percent pay limitwill stay in place if he’selected.

In 2011, 2.5 million workersstruck together againstattacks on public sectorpensions. But despite thehuge success. of the action,some union leaders pulledfrom the action. That cannotbe allowed to happen again.

We should be proud that July10th was such a powerfuldisplay of our anger. We’vehad enough of our livingstandards being driven downyear after year. Politicians ofall the main parties agree onone thing—making workingclass people pay for thecrisis. We need to build amass united fight to stop theassault. We have shown wecan fight, if we escalate wecan win.

workers & civil servants:win more payworkers & civil servants:win more pay

This newsletter is produced by the City and County of Swansea Unison Branch. Any letters, comments or suggestions for articles should be posted to the branch addressor emailed to Unison@swansea.gov.uk. Correspondence is not guaranteed to be published and contents may not necessarily reflect Unison policy.

Spor ts & Socia l websi te : www.suss.me.uk www.unison.co.uk

Contact us: Unison Office, Rm 153-G, The Guildhall, Swansea01792 635271 unison@swansea.gov.uk

Unison has over 100 trained union reps throughout the council, schools andFEcolleges.Wewill advise,support and represent you collectively and individually on issues from sickness, disciplinaries to legalmatters insideandoutside theworkplace. If youneedadviceor representationpleasecontact theSeniorSteward(s) for your department below or go to your workplace steward. Alternatively please contact thebranch office.

Branch Secretary: Mike Davies / Asst. Secretary: Ian Alexander

Social ServicesAlison O'Kane - 07856 641234Alison Davies - 07941 757853Martin Chapman - 01792 635271EducationPat Lopez - 07557 560097Mark Otten - 07789 485009Eve Morse - 07532 232873 (after 3.30 pm)Chris Bell - 07967 551025

Regeneration/HousingJohn Llewellyn - 07557 560093Roger Owen - 07847 942458Gower CollegeRon Job - 07963 454041ResourcesRhydian Prismick - 01792 635803HousingSallyanne Taylor - 07825 401711YO

URUNION

YOURUNION

Employment Law: our rights under attackTory leader David Cameron branded ourstrike a failure. But he then rushed to callfor even tougher anti-union laws to stopmore strikes. He wouldn’t be doing that ifhe really thought they had no impact. Thestrikes also sealed the fate of EducationMinister Michael Gove. Gove’s 'reforms'have outraged teachers and parents.Cameron Cabinet reshuffle was partlybecause he had to admit that Gove was aliability and that he was toxic amongteachers. Now their strikes have finishedhim off.

Hypocrisy

Also following the strikes there washypocritical comments from somepoliticians that trade-union ballots shouldonly be valid if a majority of membersvote. On this basis, many councillorswould not be elected. For example, theturnout for the last council election inSwansea in th Llansamlet ward was 16%.Nevertheless the Tories are planning orhave planned a range of attacks on trade-unions and the rights of working people.

These include reps getting no time off forunion business, bosses being allowed tosend out an argument against striking withevery ballot paper and bosses also gettinga fortnight’s notice before workers canstrike and no legal ban on them employingscab agency labour to break strikes.These are real proposals from theDepartment for Business, Innovation and

Skills’ employment law review written intothe Tory-Lib Dem coalition pact in 2010.The overarching principle of the review,'Making the labour market more flexible,efficient and fair', is to make it easier tosack workers and give them little or nolegal redress. It has seen the bosses’ CBIlobby group present their wish-list to limitstrikes.

Wonga

And Cameron gave millionaire owner ofpay-day loan company Wonga, LordBeecroft, free reign to shape employmentlaw in Britain. One of business secretaryVince Cable’s team described Beecroft’sreport as “bonkers”. Yet many of hisproposals have got through the back doorinto law.

The more well-known proposal may be hiscall for “no fault dismissal” or “fire at will”rights for bosses. Recent changes toEmployment Tribunals originated withBeecroft. They mean workers are nowcharged between £960 and £1,060 to geta full hearing and £250 just to make aclaim. This has led to a 79 percent drop inworkplace disputes reaching EmploymentTribunals.

Many proposals in Beecroft’s report firstappeared in a 2010 report by right wingthink tank Policy Exchange, titledModernising Industrial Relations. It waspublished to press the bosses’ advantage.

And it came soon before a landmark courtjudgement in favour of the trade unions inMarch the following year.The legal victoryfor the unions was the culmination of aseries of challenges to court injunctionsthat had overridden democratic unionballots.

Spurious

The employers had been wielding theweapon of the courts to get strikesdeclared illegal on ballot technicalities,despite them having no bearing on theresult. The March 2011 judgementopposed applying a “standard ofperfection” for holding ballots, which would“set traps or hurdles for the union whichhave no legitimate purpose or function”. Itmay have prevented some of the morespurious attempts by bosses to subvertunion democracy but it certainly hasn’tstopped them.

The Tories want working class people topay for the bosses’ crisis and they willstop at nothing to curtail our right to resist.

All members who were earning £19,850or less before April 2014 still have theopportunity yo put in an Equal Payclaim.The deadline is September butforms have to be registered withsolicitors and theAuthority to be valid, soany claims needs to be lodged as soonas possible. Please contact the BranchOffice for details