Inside

Public Service Not Private Profit May 2016

ReviewCity and County of Swansea

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UNISON, has welcomed the newminimum wage of £7.20, whilst warningthe government could undermine thework of the Welsh Government in thisarea. It has also criticised chancellorGeorge Osborne for not ensuring youngworkers benefit from the new uplift inearnings.

Over-25

The Chancellor has rebranded thenational minimum wage a ‘national livingwage’ and rates improve from £6.70 per

hour to £7.20 per hour from 1 April 2016.The rate will only apply to those over aged25 and above and crucially, it is not basedon living costs but a percentage ofaverage earnings.

Over-18

By contrast, UNISON has managed tonegotiate with Welsh Government andWelsh Further Education employers aminimum payment of £8.25 per hour foranyone over 18 years old and UNISON isworking with the Welsh Government to

examine how quickly a similar rate can beimplemented in Welsh LocalGovernment. £8.25 has been identifiedby the independent Living WageFoundation, according to the cost of livingand based upon a basket of householdgoods and services.

Reduce poverty

Dominic MacAskill of UNISON CymruWales, said, “We want to reduce povertyand inequality, so an increase inminimumwages is good news.

Hands OffOur Pensions!

Local Government Pension Schemes (LGPS) are funded bylocal investment panels investing in the stock market – andmaking a profit. The government wants to use the money in yourpension funds to invest in their pet infrastructure projects. Thispotentially puts at risk themoney that should be used to pay yourpensions.Therehasbeennodebate inParliamentover this issueand we need to try and make sure it gets debated.

Petition

UNISON have established a Parliamentary petition whichrequires 100,000 signatures to get a debate in the House ofCommons.

You can sign it by clicking here https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/125475/signatures/new .And pass it on to a colleague – they don’t have to be a UNISONmember to sign.

Gamble

5 million people rely on the LGPS to pay their pensions. TheGovernment wants powers over LGPS investment funds, butthey could gamble away members’ money on infrastructureprojects. This is not allowed in any other UK scheme, includingthe MPs'. The LGPS must be invested in members’ bestinterests.

Accountable

UNISON believes Parliament must debate this issue and makethe government accountable for these powers of intervention asany such direction may breach the law. Specifically Article 18paragraph 3 of the EU Directive 41/2003 Institutions forOccupational Retire Provision: “Member States shall not requireinstitutions located in their territory to invest in particularcategories of assets.”

Social Media:Campaigningdo's and don't's

UNISON campaigns for genuine minimum wage

LearningLessons:the TradeUnion BillSchool Staff &

Medication

continued from front page

Low-paid National Museum of Wales (NMW)workers in PCS are now in their second weekof all-out strike action. Workers at seven sitesacross Wales face huge pay-cuts of up to £2 -3000pa due to savage cuts to their weekendpay.

Sack

Needless to say the managers - employed bythe Welsh Government - attempting to imposethis do not work weekends, will not lose out andhave threatened to sack staff who do not signnew contracts.

Solidarity

Solidarity and financial support is urgentlyneeded to bring this strike to victory. Pleasesee the links below about this dispute by publicsector trade-unionists who are fighting to

protect their pay, terms and cpublic services for all of us.

Speaker

Donate to the strike fund: Unaccount Name: PCS Amgued107006 Branch, account Numsort code: 08-60-01 Invite a syour union meeting. Email PCNeil Harrison at tubz1917@lSecretary Peter Hill atdennishill20@hotmail.com

Collection sheet: http://bit.lyPCS Financial Appeal: httpNMW leaflet: http://bit.ly/1rASStrikers Facebook page is ahttp://bit.ly/1VMa7HASwansea Solidarity Rally Jhttp://bit.ly/1VeKCxq

Support Welsh Museum SSupport Welsh Museum S

Cribbs Causeway Day Trip, Bristol - May 21stPrices from £5.00Stratford Upon Avon Day Trip - July 16thPrices from £6.00Birmingham Day Trip - August 13thPrices from £7.00London Day Trip - November 12thPrices from £10.00Children’s Christmas Party***Date To Be ConfirmedBath Christmas Market - December 10thPrices from £6.00***Please note that you must be a Unison memberfor your child to be eligible to attend the ChristmasPartyFurther information and booking forms are availablefrom the Unison Office, Room 153G, GuildhallSwansea / unison@swansea.gov.uk / 01792 635271

Members are advised that they should not usesocial media (such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest,Reddit) on their smart-phones, pc’s or tablets tomake personal or defamatory comments aboutanyone; this includes managers, colleagues orfriends etc.

Many social media platforms are often openlyaccessible online or via ‘friends’ or 'contacts'accounts which are shared. Members should notuse their accounts in an inappropriate or offensiveway which may lead to repercussions in work.

Members should also bewary of including “City andCountyofSwanseaemployee” or other reference tothe Council on their online profile. In particular,

members should not use thewhich may breach the conusers.

There are very justified reaspolicy around budgets cuts wdefend the right ofmembersalso make as a union. Camedia is a vital tool anddiscouraging members fromcampaign.

Howevermembers should nobetween legitimate debatemight be deemed as peinappropriately offensive.

Social media, campaigning and a waSports & Social

The newest member of the regional UNISON teambased in Wind Street is Liz Evans, who’s recentlybegun working as a local organiser, covering theSwansea and Neath Port Talbot regions.

Liz is from Swansea and has always been active inTrade Unions: “When I began working in the publicsector, I joined PCS union. I became BranchSecretary and then PCS Assistant Secretary, on anational level with HM Land Registry, fighting for theinterests of workers across England and Wales.”

Liz has represented people in many different areas- fromEmployment Tribunals to enforcingmaternityrights. “Currently, I’m seeing local authority cutsleading to staff taking on increasingly higherworkloads and it’s clear that many people areexperiencing unacceptable pressure and strain atwork”. Liz added that she’s looking forward tomeeting more UNISON members across servicegroups to discuss issues affecting staff.

Working with UNISON, the Labour Welsh Governmentand Further Education employers have taken muchmore positive action than the Tory Chancellor andensured Welsh hospitals and colleges don’t pay lessthan £8.25 per hour, with council employees hopefully tofollow as soon as possible”.

Muddled

“George Osborne has deliberately muddied what is aliving wage in the hope people don’t notice and his newrate of £7.20 is not based upon an independent analysisof living costs. £8.25 per hour is the agreed minimumincome needed to survive. The Chancellor isdiscriminating against young workers given his ratewon’t apply to anyone under 25. Let’s have one decentminimum wage for all workers.”

New Schools Organiser

TheTories’TradeUnionAct2016wasgiven royalapproval recently and Britain’s anti-union lawsgot even more restrictive.

Despite some concessions, the law makes itharder for workers to win a legal mandate foraction—and easier for bosses to have themoverturned.

The lawwill not come into force immediately. Lastsummer the government said it could take twomonths after royal assent. Laws allowing agencyworkers to replace strikers are not part of this actand still have to go through parliament.

Restrictions

Under the new act, if you want to strike legallythere must be 50 percent turnout in the ballot.With “important public services” workers, 40percent of thoseeligible to votemust backa strikefor it to be legal.These areas include fire, health, education,transport, border security and nucleardecommissioning. The Tories made oneconcession here, removing a reference tosupport workers in these services. But supportworkers could still have restrictions imposeddepending on their role.

Thenotice period for strikeswill be extended fromseven days to 14 unless bosses give theiragreement.

A ballot will only be valid for six months. Althoughthis is increased by two months from the originalbill’s proposal, therepreviouslywasno limit. It canbe extended to nine months—if bosses agree.

Proposals that bosses, police and theCertification Officer be given a full plan ofpicketing, protests and social media campaignshave been dropped.

Armband

Requiring a picket line “supervisor” to wear “abadge, armbandorother item”wasseemingly tooprescriptive. But they still must wear “somethingthat readily identifies” them. This does nothing toaddress fears that bosses could use this tovictimise trade union activists.

New provisions don’t apply to ballots that havealready opened before they come into force.

MPs watered down the Lords’ amendment tocommission a “review” into electronic balloting.This now requires the minister to publish only aresponse to it, rather than a strategy to roll it out.

Concessions

Concessions over political fund rules aresupposedly proof of what lobbying politicians canachieve. And it’s true the Tories backed offmaking every member of a trade union with apolitical fund opt-in instead of opt-out of it. Butafter a 12-month “transition period” newmembers will have to opt-in, and any tradeunionist whose union creates a political fund afterthis amount of time will have to do the same.

The Tories abandoned plans to ban unionsubscriptions via payroll—known as check-off—provided the union pays for processing costs.Many unions already do this. Plans to limit facilitytime and the amount of money spent on it bypublic sector employers are to be delayed forthree years.

Investigate

Finally the Certification Officer’s (CO) powershave been expanded. This ranges from requiringunions to annually report on all industrial actiontaken by its members to accounting for spendingfrom unions’ political funds. The CO has newpowers to investigate unions and impose fines.

The Tories’ concessions were almost exactly aspredicted by leaks in February. The Tories wantunion leaders to police strikes instead of leadingthem.What happens when union leaders are notconfident of reaching the new thresholds isshown by the latest rotten pay deal for councilworkers in England and Wales.Unison received a clear message frommembersto reject the employers’ offer. But thebureaucracy went over their heads and acceptedit.

Hollow

None of the local government strikes this centurywould have met the new thresholds. Unite unionleader Len McCluskey’s claim that “ourmovement’s determination has wrung significantconcessions from the government” ring hollow.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady was“pleased” to get the minor changes. But theTUC’s campaign to “protect the right to strike” hasfallen well short of its stated aim. O’Grady said,rightly, that “The history books will show that thegovernment’s firstmajoractof thisparliamenthasbeen to attack the right to strike.”

But they will also show that the TUC's campaignto oppose it has been a dismal failure.Now weneed to prepare to defy the new laws.

Draconian Trade Union Act could have been stopped

conditions and

nity Trust Bank,ddfa Cymrumber: 2033182,striker to speak atCS branch chairive.com or branch

y/1rOB8Obp://bit.ly/23yFbtwSNsgalso here:

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sons to criticise councilwhich we would alwaystomake, andwhichweampaigning via sociald we are not at allm using it to protest and

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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) or Contact for your department below or go to your workplace steward. Alternatively pleasecontact the branch office.

Branch Secretary: Mike Davies / Asst. Secretary: Andrea Thomas

YOURUNION

YOURUNION

SENIOR STEWARD SOCIAL SERVICESALISON DAVIES 01792 636351 / 07941757853FINANCE CONTACTRHYDIAN PRISMICK 01792 635803 / 07835757517SENIOR STEWARD REGENERATION(OUTDOOR LEISURE)JOHN LLEWELLYN 07920560208SENIOR STEWARD REGENERATION(INDOOR LEISURE)ROGER OWEN 07847942458

SENIOR STEWARDS ENVIRONMENTIAN ALEXANDER 07584505793PAUL WATKINS (CLYDACH) 07572153750PAT LOPEZ (CAVE ST) 07557560097EDUCATION CONTACTJOHN AUSTIN 07796275039HOUSING CONTACTSSALLYANNE TAYLOR 07825401711ALICE GREENLEES01792 457025 / 07773509299

UNISON has submitted a pay claim - andnow a collective grievance - to the City andCounty of Swansea to get fair pay forschool support staff who are administeringmedicines to children in our schools. Weare seeking payments for those staff takingon these additional tasks as well as arobust training package of initial trainingand regular updates to learn, develop andrefresh skills needed to carry out this role.

Unwilling

The Council has admitted it ‘relies on thecare given by many of its school basedstaff’ - but is unwilling to recognise thecontribution they make in providing a fullyinclusive education service within

Swanseaandwill not considerpaying themadequately for carrying out this role.

The excuse for not doing so is the wordingin the Teaching Assistant Level 3 –Behaviour Guidance and Support NationalProfile, ‘Attend to pupils’ personal needsand provide advice to assist in their social,health and hygiene development.’

No Recognition

It is UNISON’s view that this statement inno way covers the routine, regularadministration of medicines that enablemany individuals with health needs toparticipate fully in school life. We believethat to 'provide advice' in a child’s health

development does not constituteadministering a programme of medication.Furthermore, attending to personal needsshould be interpreted in a learning contextand not in a health context.

In addition, there has been no recognitionin the Council's response about othermembers of support staff who regularlyadministermedicines. Inmany schools it isthe school secretary or administrator that iscarrying out this role on a regular basis.

UNISON has therefore lodged a formalcollective grievance on behalf of theUNISONmembers whomay be requestedto undertake the administration ofmedicines in schools.

In the school spring term UNISONSchools Project staff visited schools inthe County to talk to Learning SupportStaff about the Education WorkforceCouncil (EWC) registration process andanswers the questions put forward bythe LSA’s.

It was a successful round of visits,keeping both UNISON members andnon members up to date, on theprocess of registering.Registration

City & County of Swansea UnisonBranch successfully negotiated with theCouncil Officers, to get them to agree topay the £15 registration fee, for allLearning Support Staff who are nowrequired to registered, with the EWC.

Vital

The School Project team will be outagain visiting schools across SwanseaCounty area during the summer term toprovide EWC Code of Professional

Conduct and Practice training sessionsfor all Learning Support Staff. It is vitalfor LSA’s to know the EWC Code insideand out, as this is what they will beworking towards, as set down by theEWC.

If you would like to book a session foryour school you can call SandraDavies-Perkes (Local Organiser –Unison Schools Project) on 07961475579

Council refuses paymentto school support-staff