Open letter concerning Industrial relations at Somerset County Council
South West
UNISON House
South West
The Crescent
Taunton
Somerset TA1 4DU
Tel 0845 355 0845
Fax 01823 336013
http://www.unisonsouthwest.org.uk/
When telephoning please ask for: Ken Oasgood
20th November 2008
Open letter concerning Industrial relations at Somerset County Council
Dear Colleagues,
I am taking the unusual step of writing via Stewards to all members of the Somerset County Branch to provide you with information, about what you may have heard from informal sources, relating to serious allegations made against officials of your Branch.
The attached resolution was passed unanimously at an emergency meeting of your Branch Council on 13th November 2008. The resolution indicates the background against which severe pressure has been brought to bear by the Authority on some of your Stewards and Branch Secretary. One Steward has been dismissed, although an appeal is to be lodged, and two Stewards are to be interviewed as a part of an ongoing investigation. We understand your Branch Secretary will also be interviewed in the investigation and has been suspended from work by the Authority in the meantime. Regional full time officers are now dealing with their cases. Please send messages of support to the UNISON Branch Office in County Hall.
Thankfully many Stewards and Branch Officers are rallying round to maintain services to UNISON members.
I am not able to set out a full explanation of the facts and arguments in this letter because I am fearful of unwittingly prejudicing the consideration of your colleagues’ cases. However I believe you will wish to know what is at the root of the problem and the following is a brief summary.
In October 2008 UNISON took a case to an Employment Tribunal about our claim that the Authority failed to consult adequately with the union over the Southwest One contract. To prepare our case for the Tribunal our solicitors considered that it was essential to provide information about the employment status of certain groups of staff.
The information we supplied to our solicitors and they in turn supplied to the Tribunal is at the root of the problem.
Please be assured that the information submitted to the Tribunal was only to underpin the requested statistical analysis and the Branch was not aware that any public disclosure would take place.
The Authority’s investigation referred to above is concerned with how some of this information was obtained.
Until recently we believed relations between the Authority and the union were being conducted sensibly and rationally through dialogue between the Authority and regional and branch UNISON representatives. We are now clearly concerned about the deterioration in relations with the Council and the consequences for some of the individuals.
Your Branch has an excellent overall record of industrial relations with the Authority. Our role is to seek to protect our members’ interests and to challenge and test proposals about any aspect of the Authority’s business to this end. Good industrial relations are of immense benefit to Authorities such as Somerset.
It is vital for industrial relations to return to normal and issues to be handled proportionately. We are seeking ways to de-escalate the situation.
Ian Ducat
Regional Secretary
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Somerset County Branch of UNISON
Branch Council Meeting - Thursday 13th November 2008
Somerset County Branch policy – Southwest One
This Branch has campaigned continually to draw the attention of Councillors and senior managers to what it believes are significant drawbacks of a joint venture company to run a range of administrative services for Somerset County Council and others.
This Branch has commissioned independent research work that has provided advice to Councillors about the issues involved. It has advocated this advice to the Council and articulated its views through correspondence, presentations and discussions at Authority officer meetings, industrial relations consultation meetings and at the public speaking times of Council Boards and meetings.
This Branch has sought information from the Council about the proposals but, at all stages, access to information has been restricted such that the Freedom of Information mechanism for obtaining information has had to be used by the Branch.
In addition to considering that the general anxiety of the Branch about the proposals has been disregarded, the Branch believed that it had not been consulted properly over staffing issues at the time that the contract was signed to engage the Council with the joint venture company Southwest One and felt obliged to pursue its concern at an Employment Tribunal.
The Branch has conducted its campaign through its Branch Council of elected Branch Stewards and Officers. The Branch Secretary, as the leading officer of the Branch recognised for industrial relations liaison by the Council, has necessarily had an extremely prominent role in undertaking the campaign of the Branch, with the full support of the Branch endorsed at regular Branch Council and other meetings.
This Branch Council is extremely alarmed at the way in which its Branch Secretary and some Stewards have been treated by the Council since the closure of the Tribunal hearing. It believes that the treatment has been disproportionate and considers that an atmosphere of victimisation and corporate bullying has been created by the Council, so undermining the proper conduct of industrial relations. This conflicts with recent assurances given by senior Human Resources managers to regional and local UNISON officials that they wanted to build good industrial relations.
This Branch Council expresses its whole hearted confidence in its Branch Secretary, that he has undertaken his role in the campaign in good faith, with commitment and to the best of his ability.
This Branch Council anticipates that the regional and national tiers of UNISON will also be alarmed at the impact on industrial relations of an inadequately addressed instance of corporate bullying and instructs its officers to liaise with the South West Regional Secretary to ensure that the position is resolved in accordance with UNISON’s policies.
END
Branch Council Meeting - Thursday 13th November 2008
Somerset County Branch policy – Southwest One
This Branch has campaigned continually to draw the attention of Councillors and senior managers to what it believes are significant drawbacks of a joint venture company to run a range of administrative services for Somerset County Council and others.
This Branch has commissioned independent research work that has provided advice to Councillors about the issues involved. It has advocated this advice to the Council and articulated its views through correspondence, presentations and discussions at Authority officer meetings, industrial relations consultation meetings and at the public speaking times of Council Boards and meetings.
This Branch has sought information from the Council about the proposals but, at all stages, access to information has been restricted such that the Freedom of Information mechanism for obtaining information has had to be used by the Branch.
In addition to considering that the general anxiety of the Branch about the proposals has been disregarded, the Branch believed that it had not been consulted properly over staffing issues at the time that the contract was signed to engage the Council with the joint venture company Southwest One and felt obliged to pursue its concern at an Employment Tribunal.
The Branch has conducted its campaign through its Branch Council of elected Branch Stewards and Officers. The Branch Secretary, as the leading officer of the Branch recognised for industrial relations liaison by the Council, has necessarily had an extremely prominent role in undertaking the campaign of the Branch, with the full support of the Branch endorsed at regular Branch Council and other meetings.
This Branch Council is extremely alarmed at the way in which its Branch Secretary and some Stewards have been treated by the Council since the closure of the Tribunal hearing. It believes that the treatment has been disproportionate and considers that an atmosphere of victimisation and corporate bullying has been created by the Council, so undermining the proper conduct of industrial relations. This conflicts with recent assurances given by senior Human Resources managers to regional and local UNISON officials that they wanted to build good industrial relations.
This Branch Council expresses its whole hearted confidence in its Branch Secretary, that he has undertaken his role in the campaign in good faith, with commitment and to the best of his ability.
This Branch Council anticipates that the regional and national tiers of UNISON will also be alarmed at the impact on industrial relations of an inadequately addressed instance of corporate bullying and instructs its officers to liaise with the South West Regional Secretary to ensure that the position is resolved in accordance with UNISON’s policies.
END
Labels: press releases
National Pensioners Convention Conference
National Pensioners Convention (NPC) Conference100 Years of the Old Age Pension
The Conference took place at The Council House, College Green, Bristol on Saturday 22nd November 2008.Speakers included:
The Conference took place at The Council House, College Green, Bristol on Saturday 22nd November 2008.Speakers included:
Charlotte Leslie Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Bristol North West (On right end of table)
Stephen Williams Liberal Democrat MP for Bristol West.
NPC Vice-Chair (Centre)
Kerry McCarthy Labour MP for Bristol East.
Neil Duncan Jordan FTO for the NPC. (Standing)
The meeting was chaired by the National Vice-Chair of the NPC. In his opening remarks he said that of the 27 EU member states only Latvia, Cyprus and Spain have worse state pensions than Britain, while Britain is the fourth richest country in the world.
Kelly McCarthy said that in 1908 when the OAP was founded (after many years of extra-parliamentary campaigns and struggle) only 25% of people lived long enough to draw it and it was sustained by 14 workers to one pensioner. Today 80% survive to pensionable age and each pensioner supported by four workers.
Ms McCarthy say that 25% of all pensioners have incomes of £25k or more and that it is better to "target" the poorest pensioners by the Pension Credit Guarantee (PCG) - a means tested benefit. However, 2 million pensioners do not claim PCG they are entitled to. Labour is addressing this by improving winter fuel payments.
Stephen Williams suggest something like 36% of all claims for the PCG are incorrect:
41% of all pensioners don't claim the PCG
45% don't claim the Council tax rebate
18% don’t claim housing benefit.
The council tax is a big issue for many pensioners and Liberal Democrat policy is to replace it with a local income tax. The basic state pension is worth 15% of male median earnings.
Charlotte Leslie pointed out she is not yet an MP but she believes that older people have garnered great experience over the years and would be beneficial for them to continue working if they want to; don’t write off. We must:
Raise pensions
Refocus the National Insurance fund and make it simpler to claim.
Ms Leslie said that Labour’s taxation policy has put 2.5 million into fuel poverty. W must make it illegal to charge unfair payments for meters. We need to impose social tariffs on fuel companies.
Tim Lezard told the meeting that some ‘fat cats’ are getting pensions 25 times that of an ordinary workers pensions. Companies are closing pension schemes for workers while preserving those of the already very rich.
Neil Duncan Jordan said that in 1909, you could get your pension at the Post Office and condemned the PO closure programme. He also condemned the closure of local authority day centres, which in part is a failure of the Council tax, which itself is a big issue for pensioners. He said it should be replaced with a local income tax as advocated by the Liberal Democrats. Mr Jordan called for more on income tax. "The politics of ageing" needs further and deeper debate.
Life expectancy varies across the country and 20,000 people a year dies of cold related illness. You cannot currently claim carers allowance and the old age pension yet £18 billion is saved by voluntary carers. Means testing of care flags up the Victorian legacy of "the deserving and undeserving poor". We currently have the biggest means testing programme since World War 2. The bureaucracy around means testing often prevents it from reaching those who need it most. Administration of a means tested benefit costs ten times more to process than a universal one, and far more people would take it up.
Mr Jordan called for "Respect" to be backed up with real policy. He condemned David Blunkett’s remarks that working is good for you and that our homes are necessary to pay for our care in old age. Today there is £46 billion in the National Insurance Fund - in four years time there will be £140billion. He challenged the formula that in 1908 14 workers sustained one pensioner while today it is four worker sustaining one pensioners; that proves we are wealthier than ever and the wide economy can support the state pension. He said that the government are wrong to say that the surplus in the National Insurance Fund can be used to fund other things, people believe they are being conned over national insurance payments.
The Government found £500 billion at short notice to bail out the banks. The National Insurance is a hypothecated scheme, for pension, health, unemployment and industrial accident. The pension should allow workers, particularly those that have worked in hard manual jobs like mining building, road building, etc to have some dignity.
Inflation for pensioners is higher because they have to spend far more of their income. He called for the winter fuel payment to be increased to £500 - across the board. We must restore “the link” but the percentage raise should be to the higher of wages and prices, not just wages – it is the link to costs that is important.
Transport arrangements meant we had to leave early but there was considerable anger in the audience. One issue raised was the lack of attention paid to pensioner’s issues in the media, with the BBC taking the brunt of criticism as it is publicly owned.
Labels: news
50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution
Celebrate the 50th anniversary celebration of the Cuban Revolution at The Labour Club, Central Road, Yeovil BA20 IJL (near bus station)Friday 30th January 2009.
Door open 7:30pm
The Cuban Revolution refers to the revolution that led to the overthrow of the United States proxy ruler General Fulgencio Batista's regime on January 1, 1959 by the 26th of July Movement and other revolutionary elements within the country. The Cuban Revolution also refers to the ongoing implementation of social and economic programs by the new government since the overth
row of the Batista dictatorship, including the implementation of Marxist policies.Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
One free Cuban Cocktail per person. Prize Draw. Promoter: Joe Conway.
D J, Dave C providing music. 
DVD presentation, Cuban speakers.
Tickets £5 per person. Contact Joe 07801 817963 or Mark 07791 989374 . All proceeds toward Cuba Solidarity Campaign http://www.cuba-solidarity.org.uk/Labels: campaigns
Minutes for October 2008 meeting
The minutes for the October meeting are now available.
 Word (Open XML) |  Word (binary) |  |  XPS |
Labels: meetings
Yeovil & District 50+ Forum
On Thursday 13th November 2008, the inaugural meeting was held of the Yeovil and District 50+ Forum at the Day Centre, South Street Yeovil:
A talk was given by Somerset County Council Welfare & Benefits Officer, Fiona Johnson
and finance officer, Robin Munday.
Chair: Len (Mac) Mc Cavish 01935 426542 and Secretary, Dorothy Bennett
objectives as part 2 of it's constituition.
A talk was given by Somerset County Council Welfare & Benefits Officer, Fiona Johnson
and finance officer, Robin Munday.
Chair: Len (Mac) Mc Cavish 01935 426542 and Secretary, Dorothy Bennett
objectives as part 2 of it's constituition.
- 2.1 promote the welfare and interests of older people within the Yeovil and surrounding Distict.
- 2.2 promote a positive image of older citezens.
- 2.3 help create opportunities for older people, whether through access to advice, services, or through specific project activities and initiatives.
- 2.4 be a democratic, non-sectarian, open and non-profit making organisation, that respects equality and human rights, regardless of creed, colour, ability or gender.
- 2.5 be an idependent forum. non-party political, and be able to act and liase with, bit not controlled by any local authority organisation.
- 2.6 provide a platform where matters of concern to and for older persons may be raised and appropriate poloicies for these concerns can be developed.
- 2.7 promote policies that benefit older people and put forward the views of our membership.
- 2.8 act as an unbrella organisation whem making reresentations to the County, District and Town Councils, or when requested in consultation processes by statutory authorities.
- 2.9 do such lawful things that shall further the attainment of the above objectives.
The next meeting will be a social event, with buffet 11th December 2008 at the Day Centre, South Street,Yeovil. Tickets available from the secretary £5 01935 426542
Labels: news
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