ReviewCity and County of Swansea

Inside

Public Service Not Private Profit March 2012

UNISONRetired

Members

♦

Gove: 'worth' £1million and paid

£60,000 a year by Rupert MurdochGrayling: paid £98,7

40 and claimed

£157,333 expense in 2008 - 09

Tories & Lib-Dem's cut our pay again

Cameron: paid £142,500 and haspersonal fortune of £3.2million

Lansley: 'worth' £700,000 and received

£21,000 donation from private company

UNISON, UNITE and GMB stated recentlythat even more local government workerswill fall into the trap of poverty, as thelocal government employers confirmedthat they would impose a pay freeze forthe third year running. More than 1.6million workers will be hit, even those onthe lowest wages who will not get the£250 minimum increase promised to themin Chancellor George Osborne’s June2010 budget – for the second year in arow.

A recent survey by UNISON revealed thatpay in the public sector has already beenslashed by 13% in the last three yearsalone, which has contributed to strippingwages down to 1990’s levels. More than aquarter of the workforce now earn lessthan the Living Wage of £7.20 per hour,and many are forced to rely on benefitsand tax credits to keep their heads abovewater. Any change in their family’ssituation can drag them into poverty. Atthe same time, Chief Executive pay inlocal government has risen by a massive59% between 1998 and 2007**.

UNISON head of local government,Heather Wakefield, said:“Many local government workers are inwork, but in poverty. It is a disgrace thattheir pay will be frozen for the third yearrunning – forcing even more into thepoverty trap. Many of them will be women

working in vital jobs in our localcommunities – like caring for the elderly,or for young children, or helping thevulnerable.“Not even the lowest paid in localgovernment will get the £250 increase theChancellor promised them – they didn’tget it last year either. Families can nolonger cope. This cannot go on – councilsdo have other choices such as increasingcouncil tax, or using their considerablereserves. The employers must thinkagain, and at the very least come throughwith the £250 minimum increase for thelowest paid.”

Unite national officer, Peter Allenson,said:"Local government workers are undersustained attack. Staff have endured adecade of below inflation pay increasesand freezes. Now attacks on pensions,conditions and massive job cuts haveheaped misery upon misery.

“It is time that local governmentemployers face the fact that they have acrisis on their hands. Failure to act willpush even more workers into poverty anddamage local government services. Staffneed a substantial pay increase this year.Unite will be meeting its activists acrossEngland, Wales and Northern Ireland, andfully supports its members in any actionthey are prepared to take for pay justice."

Brian Strutton, GMB National Secretary,said:“GMB members will be devastated at thenews they have to make ends meetwithout a pay rise for the third yearrunning. The Chancellor promised thatlow paid public sector workers would getsome protection against the cuts - so willhe reign in the Conservative-controlledcouncil leaders who have made amockery of that promise?

“This 3-year pay freeze is not an austeritymeasure, it is a deliberate political choiceby local government politicians who wantto win votes by keeping pay at povertylevels to fund council tax freezes. Councilleaders and chiefs who vote themselvesever higher allowances and salaries are adespicable bunch and rank as the veryworst employers I’ve ever come across.”

With rising costs with water rates, utilitybills and food-costs - to name just a few -all the above underlines the importance ofcontinuing to fight on pensions.

The current year is just the first year ofpredicted austerity. We also cannotexpect Labour to be any help with ourpay, as Miliband recently agreed with theTory pay freeze. Fellow public-servants -but not local government workers - arestriking on March 28th (see inside) and allmembers are urged to support them.

Teachers, Civil Servants, LecturersMarch 28th: Pension strikesare back on (but not for us)

Single Status updateAs you will be aware the Authority has been seeking to introduce a pay and grading exercise (also known as job evaluation) since 1996.In December 2010 changes to terms and conditions and amendment of together with new HR Policies were added to the package.

Since then joint trade unions have been in regular intensive negotiations with the Authority – in particular attending job evaluation panelswhere employees’ job are scrutinised and placed in a job family via a role profile (formerly known as a job description). Each job is given apoints score which is then matched to a pay structure known as a pay model.

Originally the Authority produced 8 pay models. This has now been reduced to 1 which, at present results, in terms of pay, in around 30%staff losing, 26% staying the same and 44% gaining. In contrast to this Unison-led joint trade unions have suggested an alternative paymodel which, even though more expensive, but not massively so, would reduce those losing money to around 15%.

One thing that we agree with the Authority on is that negotiations are progressing well but there are a number of outstanding issues suchas pay protection, shift allowances, Appeals procedure, bank holiday protection, overtime rates, professional registration fees includingpractising certificates, bank holiday rates, standby payments. This list is not exhaustive. In tandem with this trade union reps and the jobevaluation team are meeting regularly to hopefully mitigate against those who are losing the most under the Authority’s pay model.

So you can see that there is still a lot of work being done and a lot still to do. The Project Sponsor, Patrick Arran, will be presenting areport to Cabinet on 26.3.12 with basically 2 options: either to continue negotiating or to impose the Authority’s present pay model on theworkforce. Given the above we hope and expect the Authority will continue to negotiate.

Mike Davies, Joint Branch Secretary

UNISON will not be on strike onMarch 28th, but civil servants,teachers and lecturers probablywill be. Those unions are currentlyin 'consultation' with theirmembers as this newsletter goesto press, and will be on strike if theresult of the consultation ispositive.This will be great news for everytrade unionist who wants to fightthe government’s austerity plans.The next round of action issupported by the NUT teachers’union, the PCS civil serviceworkers’ union, lecturersbelonging to UCU, the EISScottish teachers’ union and civilservice workers in Unite. Otherunions and sectors may join theaction too. This means over700,000 workers are nowpreparing to take part in the nextphase of the battle.

As reported in the JanuaryUnison

Review, some unions rejected,and some accepted, an outlinedeal as a basis for negotiation.This outline deal is called the'Heads of Agreement' - thoseunions that rejected this outlinedeal are those which are on strikeon March 28th, unlessdevelopments change. After aseries of pension summits andnational meetings Unisonnationally accepted the Heads ofAgreement as a basis for talks.However many branches,including the City and County ofSwansea branch.Firstly, the governmentwas happywith it which indicated it was nogood for us. Danny Alexander,chief secretary to the Treasury,said that the proposed deal did notmean any additional money hasbeen made available. Secondly,the ‘agreement’ only delays theincrease in employee

contributions that was due to beimposed between 2012 and 2015to pay the Treasury’s £900 millionpensions tax. Finally, theHeads ofAgreement has no detail in it Thegovernment say we can negotiateon all the complex elements of thepension schemes elements - butonly within the same “costenvelope” so that anyimprovement in one element hasto be paid by worsening another -for example for lower contributionswe would have to accept workingeven longer than proposed orgettingevenworsepensionswhenwe retire.Since negotiations started, anddespite a positive gloss being puton them by union leaders whoshould be fighting rather thanengaging in fruitless talks, verylittle seems to have emerged fromnegotiations. In other words thereason we came out on action -

that the attacks mean we will paymore, work longer and get less -remains the same.

In a further recent move thegovernment has also nowdeclared the negotiations areover. The Tories will now try toimpose serious attacks on ourpensions. This is despite the factthat a number of union leadershipshave rejected the plans and manyare still consultingmembers. MarkSerwotka, General Secretary ofthe PCS, said in response to thison March 9th:

"Over more than a year,ministers have refused to budgefrom their entirely unnecessaryand politically-motivated attemptto force public servants to paymore and work longer for aworse pension. They haveconsistently refused to listen tothe genuine concerns of theirstaff and others, and have

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Teachers, Civil Servants, LePension fight is back on

➥

Members are invited to give expressions of interest for attending Local Government Conference on 17thand 18th June and National Delegate Conference between 19th and 22nd June. The deadline to expressan interest in being a delegate is 16th March to the branch office. Delegates will be expected to attendboth conferences.

Both conferences are in Bournemouth. As a Branch we can send 6 delegates and we have to abide bynational Unison rules in terms of proportionality, sending a mix of low paid, women, young membersetc.

fused to negotiate on the keysues that brought two millioneople out on strike lastovember. Ministers' obstinacyeans we have this ludicrousarade of what is now our fourthnal' offer...we will continue tolk to other unions aboutanning further widespread co-dinated industrial action andere is as much reason as everr our members to vote in ournsultation ballot to reject theseiteful cuts."

is means that the pensionspute is not over, as membersay have wrongly believed afterfurther strikes were called lastar. On 30 November we tookrt in the largest strike action in atast a generation, in anprecedented display of unityross public sector unions.nfortunately this magnificentike was a long time ago. If the

new action is going to besuccessful then there are seriousquestions to be answered. All theunions in favour of the next roundof action are recommendingrejection of the deal and supportfor further national and sectionalaction. Given that the strike on 28Marchwill be smaller than the 30thNovember action, this does notmean they cannot win, and it doesnot mean that we cannot join themat a later date. The30thNovemberstrikes were brilliant but theycontained an inbuilt weakness -the fight was always conducted atthe paceof the slowest union. Thatmeant the gaps between the 30thJune and 30th November (fivemonths) and 30 november and 28March (four months) were far toobig. Momentum built up was lostwaiting for the next strike.Many public sector workers willnow be involved in their third orfourth strike day. The mood ofthose workers is going to harden

as they make greater sacrificesand will rightly expect otherworkers not to cross their picketlines. On 28 March, GMB andUnison members in schools,colleges and possibly hospitalsmay be confronted by picket linesof workerswho are fighting to savethe same pensions we have. Weowe it to our fellow public sectorworkers not to cross their picket-lines if they are at our workplaces.Strikes of 700,000 workers canbeat thegovernmentand The28thMarch is not intended to bea tokenstrike, as Mark Serwotka has alsosaid, “There are fewer of us, so weneed to do more, and at a fasterpace than we did before". Thisshould be welcomed as a seriousattempt to develop a strategy thatcan win and demonstrates theneed to draw up a plan of furthernational and sectional strikes inthe aftermath of the 28 March -with the need for us to join them ina fast-changing dispute.

Could strike on the day:

UCU—members underconsultation until 13 MarchNUT—consultation votecloses 14 MarchPCS—consultation until 16MarchEIS—consultation until 15MarchUCAC (Wales)—rejectedgovernment offer, innegotiations about joiningstrikeINTO (Northern Ireland)—alsorejected and in negotiationswith other unionsNASUWT—rejected thegovernment offer, unclearwhether it will join strikeUnite (Ministry of Defence)—Rejected offer and discussingaction with the PCSUnite health—consultationuntil 19 MarchNipsa—could join strike

Other unions in dispute:

British Medical Association—rejected deal and is nowpreparing to ballot for actionshort of a strike. Could work-to-rule in MayRoyal College of Nursing—62 percent voted to reject offeron 16 percent turnout. It nowintends to meet the otherhealth unionsFBU—consulting membersUnison (health)—servicegroup executive met recentlyand voted to defer anydecision until late March orearly AprilSociety of Radiographers,Chartered Society ofPhysiotherapists and RoyalCollege of Midwives—allintend to consult membersonce final offer is outUnison (local government)—awaiting results ofnegotiationsUnite (local government)—rejected offer in January, butrejoined negotiations lastmonthGMB—awaiting results ofnegotiations

ecturers:

National UNISON Conference

What you can do:Do not cross picket-lines on March 28th if they are at your workplace

Join the rally on March 28th - Castle Square, 1pm - andsupport other public servants on strike

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.

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Contact us: Unison Office The Guildhall Swansea SA1 4PE01792 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, discipliners to legalmatters insideandoutside theworkplace. If youneedadviceor representationpleasecontact theSeniorSteward(s) for your department below or go to your workplace steward. Alternatively please contact thebranch office.

Joint Branch Secretaries: Nicky Symons & Mike Davies

EnvironmentIan Alexander - 07584 505793Tony Dearden - 07971 121533Pat Lopez - 07584 505792Social ServicesAlison Bell - 07941 757853Bill Williams - 07557 560092ResourcesGareth Parry - 07584 341240

EducationChris Bell - 07967 551025Karen Verallo - 07771 922985Regeneration/HousingJohn Llewellyn - 07557 560093Roger Owen - 07941819229Gower CollegeRon Job - 07963 454041

I retired last March after 38 years working inLocal Government, working at SwanseaCity Council, West Glamorgan CountyCouncil and the last 15 years working for theCity and County of Swansea.When I retired due to ER/VR I was madeaware that your branch had a retiredmembers section, which really interestedme! During my working years I met andmade some great friends and I was, to behonest, a little sad to say my farewells butnevertheless looking forward to a new wayof life.Unison retired members are an importantorganising asset as we continue to becommitted to protecting our public servicesand have awealth of personal experience tocontribute to our campaigns. Retiredmembers often have time, experience andhelp to give which can be a real benefit toyour branch if they are short of help andsupport on occasions.

At the first meeting I attended, which was inJune 2011 held at the Civic Centre, I was fullof apprehension. Who will I meet there?What would be on the agenda? Would I seeanyofmyold colleagues? Well therewasnoneed to be apprehensive, it was great to seeold faces as Imademyway to the committeeroom and yes there were several old workmates there too.So what do we discuss, well the group is notreally political however we do discuss whatis topical in the Branch and always supportyou, themembers, who are still working. Onarrival we enjoy tea and biscuits and catchup with other retired friends. Our socialsecretary arranges two trips a year, thechoiceofwhere is left tous todecide,alsoweall get together each Christmas and enjoylunch. Last year we dined at the Guildhall’sKent Room. At our meetings we usuallyhave guest speakers who present a varietyof interesting subjects.

Unison retired member’s enjoy all thebenefits of Unison membership including,• Legal Services.• Welfare support.• Special discounts and offers on a wide

range of financial and otherservices.

If you’ve been a Unison member for at leasttwo years on the day you retire and haveeither received state pension or get apension, you can become a retiredmember.There is a one off payment of £15.If you would like to join us please contactyour Branch Office at the Guildhall whereyou can give your details, and in turn thisinformation will be passed onto me and I willcontact you with details of our meetings. Orif you wish to e-mail, my e-mail address ispimms88@sky.comPeter Ryan. Secretary, Swansea UnisonRetired Members Group.

Support Unison retired-members