Oxford Unite the Resistance Public Meeting

"Trade unions and the fight against austerity: a strategy to win"

Monday, 29 April 2013

Ruskin College, Headington,

Oxford, OX3 9BZ

Speakers include: (personal capacity)

·         Zita Holbourne (PCS NEC / Black Activists Rising Against Cuts)

·         Chad Croom (Branch Sec CWU South Central)

·         Ellen Clifford (Disabled People Against Cuts)

·         Alan Whitaker (former President UCU)

·         Ian Hodson (President Bakers’ Union BFAWU)

   

Speakers from the bedroom tax and other campaigns willl also be attending and the floor will be open to contributions from all.

   

Supported by:

PCS DWP Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire & CWU South Central

UNISON masked ball photos

The photos can be viewed at http://www.onlinepictureproof.com/king/view-your-pictures/albums/39543  there are some great moments caught and well worth a look. The photographer will give a percentage of his profits to the CF Trust.

Many thanks for making it such a fun night.

Pay Ballot results

To All members,

The result of the pay ballot that we have conducted is as follows;-

93% voted YES for the proposals

7% voted NO against the proposals

Therefore we have elected to accept the proposed new pay deal, which will come into effect as of the 1^st of April 2013. Should anyone have any questions on this please speak to your steward where you have one or you can email me.

Regards

Caroline

Caroline Glendinning UNISON Branch Secretary, OXFORD CITY BRANCH, The Old Police Cells, Oxford Town Hall, St. Aldates, Oxford. OX1 1BX.

Tel 01865 252522  

What happens if the vote is NO

What happens if the vote is NO

What will happen:

We will stay on the National arrangements for the cost of living rise

They will still amend the flex leave and revert back to 1 day in a 4 week period

They will still be opening the offices between Christmas and the New Year

They will not offer incremental progression

They will still continue to replace the Casual Car Allowance

What might happen:

They might discontinue the Partnership Payments

They might remove Weekend Enhancement and Overtime rates for all staff

They might not offer the 20% travel concession

They might not increase the minimum wage for Oxford City Council employees

  

The current 2 Year agreement ends on 31st March 2013 so the Council can change any of the items in this agreement from 1^st April 2013.

National Pay Award

The government has capped Local Government pay increases to 1% a year until at least 2015; this is to include all costs such as pension, N.I etc.

The union is currently in talks with the local government employers over pay for the 2013/14 round, and is calling for the employers to give staff a decent pay rise. We will therefore be dependant on National negotiators to make a deal for us, the Local Government Association are already indicating that they can not afford any rise for this year, with many Local Authorities less organised and unable to budget for a cost of living rise it is likely to be refused this year.

Flex Leave

The arrangement for the 2 days flex leave in a 4 week period was negotiated and included in the Local Collective Agreement from 1 April 2011; this was a 2 year deal that comes to an end 31 March 2013. Therefore whatever the outcome of the ballot it will stop on 1 April 2013.

If there are any issues where the 2 days flex was used by you for Child Care etc then you should be able to come to some other arrangement with your Manager, this could be in the form of TOIL or flexible working, your manager should seek advice from HR if they do not know what they can offer and you should seek advice from your Steward or the Unison Office if you feel they have not taken into account your request.

Opening offices between Christmas and New Year

This did not have to be part of this deal, the Council felt for transparency it should be include it in this agreement. So if there is a NO vote on the ballot they will still go ahead and open during this time. See 4.7 of the Leave Policy and procedure

4.7 Council offices close during the Christmas /New Year period for 3 designated days, unless your Head of Service notifies you of different local arrangements. All employees are required to set aside and book off 3 days (pro-rata for part-time employees) of their overall annual leave entitlement (excluding bank/public holidays) unless notified otherwise by your Head of Service. The three days of office closure will be confirmed annually.

Incremental Progression

If there is a NO vote for this agreement the Council will not be able to afford Increments for all staff not at the top of the grade. The council will not be able to offer the deal from this agreement unless we vote YES for it.

Casual Car Allowance

The arrangement to replace most of the Casual Car Allowance with a pool car scheme is in the current Local Collective agreement that ends 31 March 2013. Therefore the Council will just continue with this arrangement

The Council will not stop the Casual Car Allowance without first approaching those affected and investigating whether a pool car scheme is viable for the work carried out.

Discontinuing the Partnership Payment

They may discontinue the Partnership payments, unlikely though, the Council say there is evidence that this payment encourages employees to have less sick

Removal of Weekend Enhancement and Overtime Rates for all staff

If they remove these rates of pay then people who are on 5 in 7 contracts and those who have to work at the weekend as part of their job will only be paid at their flat rate. You have to work weekends on a rota basis if you are on a 5 in 7 contract, if this happens many people will lose about £1000 a year and most of these are some of our lower paid workers.

20% travel concession

They do not have to offer this to us

Minimum wage for Oxford City Council employees

They do not have to offer this to us

Warm up this winter by entering our free prize draw

Warm up this winter by entering our free prize draw with £200 towards your heating bill up for grabs.

As temperatures plummet, the cost of keeping the house toasty invariably soars. Now's your chance to turn up the thermostat guilt-free. Fill in your details here before 31st January and cross your gloved fingers that you get pulled out of the hat first.

Best of luck! Last month's £200 Christmas shopping giveaway was won by Miss Emma Hodgkins.

NJC pay claim 2013-14

The pay claim for 2012 has been lodged with the employers. We are calling for a substantial flat rate increase on all scale points as a step towards the longer term objective of restoring pay levels and achieving the living wage as the bottom NJC spinal column point. The three-year pay freeze means that, since 2009, pay for the NJC workforce has fallen by a shocking 13% and is now more than 10% below where it was in 1996. Our aim is to restore pay levels, bring them in line with inflation and the cost of living, and in the longer term achieve a living wage as the baseline for NJC wages. A substantial pay increase in 2013/14 as the first step towards this pay structure is vital if our members are to receive a living wage, on which families can live, not just exist. 

Christmas appeal with Oxford City Council

Here is the correspondence documentation relating to the recent dispute over Christmas arrangements.

Please click links:-https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0B2C4mqiujgdDVk5obnBjUW5mVW8/edit

Public sector pay

UNISON, the UK’s largest union said that the latest figures from the ONS on the public / private sector pay divide were in danger of being used out of context to peddle a myth that public sector workers are overpaid for the same work as those in the private sector.

Across the public sector, workers such as hospital cleaners, cooks and porters or home care and residential care workers have been contracted out of the public sector, but still work in it. These lowest paid privatised jobs are counted as private sector workers - skewing the pay figures. Where public sector workers do get paid more, it is a reflection of the professional training necessary to carry out their jobs such as teachers and social workers or reflect high paid jobs such as army generals, judges and senior civil servants.

UNISON assistant general secretary Karen Jennings said:

“It is time that we nailed the myth of public sector workers enjoying a pay premium once and for all. The opposite is true as they have been hit hard by the Government’s pay freeze and many are fighting an uphill battle just to make ends meet.

“The great divide that the government would like us all to believe exists is a fallacy; their disastrous economic policies are the reason workers and their families across the UK are struggling. It is the old trick of divide and conquer to justify yet more swingeing cuts to the public sector and it must be challenged and exposed at every opportunity.”

A new factsheet from the union on this very issue highlights the key points that it said were frequently missing from the analysis of public / private sector pay, including:

The impact of outsourcing: A high proportion of the lowest-paid public sector workers have been outsourced. A catering assistant in an NHS hospital for example, will be counted as a private sector worker

The number of professional staff: Many public sector roles, including those relating to healthcare delivery, education and the emergency services require workers to have specific professional training. Average pay in the public sector reflects the specialism needed for many of these roles.

The cost of bonuses: Neither the Labour Force Survey (LFS) nor the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) data covers the main bonus period in the private sector, which can exaggerate the ‘pay premium’ of the public sector.

UNISON official app

UNISON has launched its official app for iPhone - it's the one place for members and non-members alike to find information on their workplace rights, as well as its campaigns.

The app has made it to The Guardian's list of top 20 apps.

The app has information to help you understand your rights at work because UNISON believes all its members have the right to be treated fairly.

UNISON campaigns for a decent society; one where we all benefit from good public services. From cleaner streets to better schools, to care for the elderly and the NHS; our public services make life better for everyone. We believe investing in public services that save, protect and enrich lives will boost our economy and strengthen our communities. That's why, as well as rights information, we've included some ways to find out more about supporting public services in the 'take action' and 'news' sections.

The UNISON app offers the following:

• Up-to-date advice on your rights at work
• Inside news on protecting public services
• Animations
• Get active - information and advice on how to fight austerity
• Update your membership details
• Join UNISON

The Android version is now available to download here.

The Blackberry version is available here.

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.

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

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 25^th 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

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

 

If you would like to go then please can you email me asap.

 

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