8/2/2019 SP Leeds City Council Bulletin 3 (Feb-Mar 2012)

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Our employer is proposing to cutan estimated 55m from thisyears budget that could translateto up to 600 job losses. The90m axed from last yearsbudget is already having adetrimental impact to theservices the Council delivers

predominantly through its EarlyLeavers Initiative and evenclosures to some frontlineservices.

Up to now, the position of Unisonhas been up to manage the cutsso they impact least on ourmembers, and although therehas been no compulsoryredundancies the imposition ofthe ELI scheme and employment

freeze has affected frontlineservices the most leaving manyservices short staffed, makingour members work harder. Thisis particularly acute in bothChildrens and Adults SocialServices.

In our consultation ballot lastyear, the employers ManagingWorkforce Change proposals

was overwhelmingly rejected,and although there are newproposals regarding ManagingWorkforce Change our employerstill intends to reduce the time ithas to redeploy staff and tobegin that time much earlier thanwe would like. Also, our

employer has no intention ofimplementing phase two of Pay& Grading re-evaluations andthat there are groups ofmembers still awaiting appealoutcomes in phase 1.

It is plain to see that further cutswi l l see more serv icesthreatened with closure.Cuts in our services have adetrimental effect to the social

mobility of service users andtheir families. Only those thatcan afford to will be able toaccess the better quality servicesin the private sector.

Defend Jobs & Services

In the first instance job cuts willaffect trade union density whichwill make it harder for us toorganise to oppose them.

Therefore it isnecessary tob u i l d acampaign nowto oppose all thec u t s a n dgeneralise allthe issues weface that has ad e t r i m e n t a leffect to jobs,

p a y a n dconditions.

A joint trade

union campaign is needed toprepare our members for actionnow. This will see an increase in

membership and put us in astrong position. As part of acampaign to defend our jobs andservices we must lobby ouremployer to stop and reverse thecuts by using its millions ofpounds it has in reserves toinvest in jobs and services, andas part of such a campaign, linkit to youth unemployment andinvolve service users, parents

and carers in the widest possibleway.

Unison must now build acampaign for industrial action todefend jobs and services, call foran all-stewards JTUC andconduct an indicative ballot ofthe all members for industrialaction to oppose all the cutswithin Leeds City Council. On the

basis of a YES vote build for aSaturday joint trade union rally inconjunction with an industrialaction ballot.

NO MORE CUTS IN

LEEDS CITY COUNCIL

Leeds Unison

AGM dates & venuesOpen to all members

Tuesday 20th March 2012,12.30 p.m., Leeds Art Gallery,

Henry MooreRoom, The Headrow, Leeds,

LS1 3AA

Thursday 22nd March 2012,12.30 p.m., Belle Isle WMC

Tuesday 27th March 2012,4.30 p.m., Hough Top Court

Thursday 29th March 2012,5.15 p.m., UNISON Branch

Office.

Find out more: www.leedssocialistparty.wordpress.com / leedssp@hotmail.co.uk / Twitter: @leedssp

Leeds Council Bulletin - Issue 3, Feb-Mar 2012

UNISON must take action & fight cuts to jobs and services

8/2/2019 SP Leeds City Council Bulletin 3 (Feb-Mar 2012)

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At last years UNISON conference,General Secretary, Dave Prenticedeclared that "This won't be theminers' strike. We are going towin... one day of industrial actionwill not change anyone's mind ingovernment... action would beneeded over an indefinite period."

So no doubt many UNISONmembers were surprised whenprecisely after one day of industrialand the government did not changetheir minds about the attacks they

are imposing upon us, Prentice andothers in the UNISON leadershipsigned up to the Heads ofAgreement (HoA) document andsuspended industrial actions fornegotiations.

The HoA hasn't changed any of thefundamental issues in the dispute -work longer, pay more, get less.

Other union leaderships have seenthrough this and have rejected theHoA, including UNITE in both the

health service and localgovernment. PCS (civil service),NUT (teachers) and UCU (lecturers)are now engaging in a consultationprocess with their members withfurther planned strike action on the28th March.

This issue still affects UNISONmembers up and down the country,and many branches, includingLeeds UNISON, have passedmotions calling for an emergencylocal government conference to

discuss the issue.

Hopefully, the conference will beable to debate the issue fully andresolve upon a fighting strategy todefeat the attacks on pensions. Inthe meantime, UNISON membersshould try to join the demonstrationthat will be taking place in Leeds on28th March to show their anger atthe pension attacks and demand

that next time UNISON membersare out fighting alongside otherpublic sector workers.

Leeds Council Bulletin - Issue 3

Find out more: www.leedssocialistparty.wordpress.com / leedssp@hotmail.co.uk / Twitter: @leedssp

Join the Socialists!The Socialist Party argues for

more than just fighting thecuts. As long as capitalism

exists working people will face

a future of uncertainly. Whatwe gain today, the bosses will

try to take back tomorrow asthey are doing with the NHS.

We need an alternative way ofrunning society, a socialist

society, based on meeting theneeds of the many by planning

production in that directionrather than making profits for a

few at the top. To do this we

need to take the banks andthe other monopolies that

dominate our economy intopublic ownership and run them

democratically. The SocialistParty is made up of ordinary

people like you, so if youagree then join us in the

struggle for socialism.

We campaign for the following:

Stop all cuts and closures.Oppose compulsoryredundancies and fight forevery job

No to privatisation and thePublic Finance Initiative(PFI). Bring all privatisedcouncil services back in-house.

Organise agency and part-time workers. No to a two-

tier workforce. Defend every service. Fight

for the council to set a needsbudget rather than doingCamerons dirty work for him.

Trade unions to disaffiliatefrom New Labour, whosecouncillors are cuttingcouncil jobs and servicesin Leeds, and supportcandidates opposed to allcuts.

Link up with service users,anti-cuts groups andcommunity campaigns todefend all public services.

Pensions: Battle Not Over

What the cuts mean for you: The VineWe received this from a union repat The Vine. We would like to printother info about how the councils

cuts are really impacting onservices (please send any reports

to leedssp@hotmail.co.uk)

The Vine in Leeds provides specialisteducation provision for young adultswith severe and complex learningdifficulties. Many of the staff arefemale Unison members working part-time as Learning Support Assistants(LSAs). But since the beginning of theeconomic downturn in 2008 they haveseen the service contract anddeteriorate.

The students' funding is provided byLeeds City College via the YoungPeoples' Learning Agency but there isa question mark as to how many

students will be funded this way andhow much will be provided by our ownemployer to keep our members in jobs.Overall it is predicted that Leeds Citycouncil is to cut another 55 million

from its 2012-13 budget. That maymean up to 600 jobs will go!

Our members at Vine have lost out inthe re-evaluation of our jobs as it failedto account for the 'Special Needs

Allowance' for the personal care weprovide to the students. Although wequalified for the three-year payprotection that ran out in February2011, and with no decent national payincrease in years, our members havereally felt the pinch.

We say enough is enough. No morecuts. Fair pay now.

http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Governmenthttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Leedshttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Studentshttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Payhttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Payhttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Studentshttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Leedshttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Government