Oxford's best-performing trade union, supporting workers at Oxford City Council, Oxford Direct Services, Proudly working in partnership with NHS and University branches across Oxford for the benefit of all members and a greater UNISON for all.
Thursday 8 November 2012
Help with winter fuel bills
This winter, many UNISON members will be worried about paying their gas and electricity bills as prices go up and wages stay the same. And they're not alone. Fuel poverty in the UK is increasing and today one in four households are in fuel poverty.
UNISON can help.
We've set up an energy switching scheme - a new way to save on gas and electricity bills. It works by getting as many UNISON members as possible to register their interest in taking part so that we can go to the energy companies and negotiate a competitive energy deal.
The more members that register, the better the offer we can get and the more money you can save, it's as simple as that.
There is no obligation when you register to sign up to the new offer, so please register your details so we can send you more information. You can find out more and register at unison-switch.co.uk. Registration closes on 25 November, so please register now.
As a UNISON member, you could also save up to £175 on your energy bills with free loft insulation and up to £135 with free cavity wall insulation from British Gas. Call 0800 107 2547 quoting IUM001 or visit britishgas.co.uk/insulation for more information. You need to apply by 30 November.
In addition, UNISON's charity There for You can help. There for You will be offering a winter fuel grants programme - members whose net household income is less than £18,000 a year can apply for help with their fuel payments. The application form will be available on the web at www.unison.org.uk in December.
We also know that we need to tackle the issue of high fuel costs head on. That's why we've joined forces with the Energy Bill Revolution to campaign to end fuel poverty.
The campaign aims to use the billions of pounds raised by the government's carbon emissions tax to end fuel poverty, create jobs and help the economy to grow.
Please take two minutes to sign the petition at energybillrevolution.org and ask all your friends and networks to do the same. This will help put real pressure on the government to sort out fuel poverty, and not a moment too soon.
Thursday 18 October 2012
Christmas leave arrangements 2012
You will all be
aware by now that the Council have changed the dates of the 3 days taken during
the Christmas/New Year period.
Unison had not
agreed to this happening as suggested and was under the impression this was
still being negotiated.
It has never been
the case that each year there is agreement on which dates will form the
prescribed annual leave days for the closure of some offices/services between
Christmas and New Year. The normal practise of Oxford City Council is to use
these days between Christmas Day and New Years Day and because of this people
have already made plans to be
with their family or go away on those days.
We have informed HR
that we are not happy with this new arrangement and there will be an
Emergency Branch Committee meeting on
Wednesday of next week to decide
what course of action Unison will/can take about this.
If you have any
comments or issues with this please speak to you Steward or leave comments below
Assistant Branch
Secretary
Oxford City Branch Of UNISON
Wednesday 17 October 2012
A home for life..... or a lifetime of being ‘home’ less
A home for life..... or a lifetime of being ‘home’ less
Public debate hosted by
Oxford International Womens Festival
October 25th 2012 at Oxford Town Hall
630pm – 8.30pm
Lack of social housing, high rent in the private sector,
landlord won’t take benefit payment, badly maintained properties, having to
live in shared accommodation, overcrowded, can’t access deposit scheme, experiencing
discrimination because of your lifestyle or circumstances????
Come and share your experiences of ‘housing’ with Oxford City
Council, local councillors and other interested parties.
We also welcome ideas on positive change for the future
Organsior: Debbie Hollingsworth
Contact: oxfordwomen@gmail
Thursday 11 October 2012
demonstrate the strength of feeling that there is on the coalitions austerity measures.
Dear
All,
Some of you may not be
aware that the TUC has organised a March and Rally in London on the 20th October
2012 to demonstrate the strength of feeling that there is on the coalitions
austerity measures.
We need to make them hear
us loud and clear, when we tell them that their cruel thoughtless tactics and
lies are simply not working! we need to let them know that we don't believe them
when they say we all in this together, when it's plain to see that to-date all
they have achieved is allow the rich to get richer and its plain to see that
more and more people are falling below the poverty line, the longer we allow
them to plough on, the worse things will become for people like you and
I.
We hear stories of children
going to school not having had any breakfast, wearing ill fitting shoes because
their parents can't afford new ones, we hear stories of disabled people who
clearly are unable to work, being forced on to job seekers allowance, reducing
their benefit to such a level that they barely survive, the housing problems are
getting worse for people, Housing benefit cuts are pushing people out of their
cities because rents are too expensive. What ever they can attack to make life
even more unbearable for those who already struggle, they
will!!
We see reductions in
government grants to our local authorities putting pressure on not only our
service users but also those individuals that deliver those services, threats of
job losses. We also face a fifth year without a pay rise, on a daily basis I see
people frightened, stressed out worrying about when is it their time to be made
redundant, what's going to happen next year, or the year after that, employment
laws are changing to make it easier for employees to be sacked, terms and
conditions are being slashed to save our services, jobs etc.
If you agree with any of
the above we would love you to join us in London on the 20th, we have two
coaches booked for us and the county, The
Departure
Points
Beaumont Street / Ashmolean Museum 8:00 am
Headington Shops /
London Road Bus Stop 8:15 am
Thornhill Park & Ride 8:25 am
In
Solidarity
Caroline Glendinning,
Branch
Secretary
Oxford City Branch,
The Old Police
Cells, Oxford
Town Hall, St.
Aldates
Oxford,
OX1
1BX
01865
252522
07795
332563
Tuesday 25 September 2012
AUTO-ENROLMENT into your pension schemes
From October 2012, employers will start to automatically
enrol all staff into a “qualifying workplace pension scheme”. This is being
done incrementally, with the biggest employers affected first. UNISON has
produced a briefing at www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/14625.docx which
explains what this involves, so please read it. Publicity material and bargaining and organising guidance will
be produced shortly, and the government has also started a publicity
campaign.
Pensions auto-enrolment provides branches with a massive
opportunity for recruitment and organising, especially in sectors where many
workers are not in a scheme.
The “at a glance” key points are as follows:
· All employees
paying income tax and aged between 22 and State Pension Age are
affected.
· From the 1
October 2012 the very largest employers will have to ensure that eligible staff
are automatically enrolled into a qualifying workplace pension
scheme
· By February
2018 all employers should be operating pensions auto-enrolment
· Most forms of
defined benefit pension schemes are qualifying schemes – as long as they are
open to new recruits. This includes the LGPS and NHSPS
· Employers
using a defined contribution pension scheme must pay “minimum contributions” -
1% for employers rising to 3% from October 2018. Employees initially pay 1%,
rising to least 5% (effectively 4% with tax relief applied) from October
2018
· Staff will
still be able to opt-out of the pension scheme should they wish
to
· Employers will
have to automatically re-enrol eligible staff into a qualifying pension scheme
at 3 yearly intervals
· The Local
Government and NHS Pension Schemes will remain the default qualifying schemes
for staff potentially eligible to join them
· Employers must
register their qualifying schemes with the Pensions Regulator and inform staff
of pensions auto-enrolment. They must not encourage staff to opt-out or
discriminate against staff who join a scheme (or those who decide not
to).
Friday 14 September 2012
SERTUC "Ending the Low Pay Culture" seminar
SERTUC "Ending the Low Pay Culture"
seminar Congress House Saturday 3 November 10am to 1pm. Register on
sertucevents@tuc.org.uk
- Chair Tony Lennon BECTU & SERTUC Vice-President
- Speakers
o
Duncan Weldon TUC Senior Economist
o
Helen Kersley New Economics Foundation
o
Heather Wakefield Unison Head of Local Government
o
Enrico Tortolano PCS Research Officer
o
Andrew Murray Unite Chief of Staff
- Closing Remarks Megan Dobney SERTUC Regional Secretary
SERTUC Regional Council at Congress
House speaker Frances O'Grady TUC general secretary designate10am
Saturday 27 October. All trade unionists welcome but registration
essential: Darren Lewis dlewis@tuc.org.uk
Tuesday 28 August 2012
UNISON members vote to accept changes
UNISON members vote to accept changes to Local Government Pension Scheme
I am writing to you because UNISON members across England and Wales have voted 90.2% in favour of accepting the proposed changes to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS).We led the negotiations, which resulted in proposals to maintain the current contribution levels for 90% of LGPS members, introduce a 50/50 'low cost' scheme for the low paid, and move from a final salary to a career average scheme.
I want to thank you for the hard work you have put in throughout the negotiations. Together we've managed to ensure that current LGPS members can afford to stay in the scheme and those who could not afford to join it can now do so via the 50/50 option.
This is vital for many of our members whose earnings have gone down as a result of the coalition's pay freeze policies. Contributions are now on a fairer progressive basis.
We will continue to campaign with all of the union, through the TUC, against the proposals to increase the state retirement age.
UNISON will now move into the next stage of discussions on improving the governance of the new scheme which is due to come into effect in 2014.
Yours sincerely
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