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.
Tuesday 31 March 2015
Friday 20 February 2015
Free Learning Event
UNISON and Ruskin College
Free Learning Event
10am until 4pm 18 March 2015
@ Ruskin College,
Dunstan Rd,
Old Headington,
Oxford,
OX3 9BZ
For more information about the above please contact Katia Widlak on 07508 080 397 or k.widlak@unison.co.uk
To celebrate and promote the benefits of adult learning, UNISON in partnership with Ruskin College is organising a taster day of courses and workshops for everyone.
The event will showcase Ruskin College’s courses ranging from informal short courses to degree level and UNISON’s learning activities and opportunities.
The event will include a market place where you will get information from various stalls about what UNISON and Ruskin College have to offer. The marketplace will be available throughout the day to answer your questions. Please come and join us!
Wednesday 18 February 2015
staff slice cards
Dear Members
At yesterday’s AGM we raised the issue of staff slice cards
and it is the Council’s indication that they want to increase the price of the
Staff Slice Cards from £25 per year to £20 per month. UNISON considered this
increase is completely unnecessary. We have asked Management for the breakdown
of the savings they hope to make, to enable us to challenge the figures, but to
no avail. We have expressed our view to Councillor Bob Price and Councillor Ed
Turner.
The savings in the budget are of £25K for 2016/17 from the
Human Resources and Facilities budget and it states that the Slice Card would
then cost £20 per month!
We feel we got our strong argument across to Councillor
Price and Councillor Turner and they took this on board. We also reiterated
that it is against the spirit of the Council’s Wellbeing Strategy.
With that in mind, there is a Wellbeing Survey live at the
moment
http://consultation.oxford.gov.uk/consult.ti/healthandwellbeing/consultationHome
you can select Respond by filling in the online questionnaire
It is a very short questionnaire and closes on Friday. We
urge all members and non- members to complete this survey and voice your
opinion of the Staff Slice Card increase for 2016/17.
For information on Staff Leisure Card visit this intranet
page: http://occweb/intranet/documents/staff-leisure-membership-application-form-201415
It could not be found in Employee Information > Pay and
Reward >> Staff Leisure Card
Current Prices are:
1. Individual
Card (Swimming and Dry Sports) £25.00 per year.
2. Individual
Card (Dry Sports only) £20.00 per year.
3. Family
Card (Swimming and Dry Sports) £37.00 per year
4. Duplicate
Card £5.00
Tuesday 17 February 2015
Stewards Required
Stewards Required!
Without stewards there would
be no one there to act as the link between members and the union and to
organise and support people in the workplace.
What rights do you get as a
steward?
In workplaces where UNISON is recognized by the employer stewards have rights to time off for training and to
carry out their work. This includes:
- Meetings with members and management
- Preparation and research
- Keeping members informed
You will be entitled to
training and mentoring.
All new stewards are encouraged
to take advantage of the courses unison offers. There are a wide range of
courses many of which are provided on a local level.
Support and advice are
readily available.
Colleagues, workplace contacts
and more experienced stewards, health and safety reps and branch officers will
all help you. Most branches will make sure that reps have details of local
union officers who can give prompt advice and guidance. Your regional organiser, regional education officer,
women's officer and branch support teams are based in the regional office and
can be approached for assistance through your branch secretary.
Contact chair@oxfordcityunison.com or speak to your
local steward for more information
Stewards are the backbone
of UNISON.
Branch Secretary’s Report from this years AGM
Branch Secretary’s Report
Stewards
and Officers and Members:- Here
we are again, another year has passed, this job really doesn’t get any easier,
but it would be even harder without the support from all of you here today, so
I need to say a huge thank you to all of you.
Nothing really changes in the world of trade
unions in the workplace. The past year has been yet another difficult year for all
of your elected stewards and Officers, who have been dealing with a multitude
of issues.
As a branch committee we have had to deal
with many things from representing members who have fallen foul of disciplinary,
attendance policies etc. Re-structures appear to have tailed off slightly but
only to be replaced with the Admin review. We have had to make some difficult
decisions, which to be fair is why you have elected us.
Policies:- Every year we are trying to improve on existing policies
when they come up for review, for example we have just recently agreed a much
need improved family leave policy, which takes into account the new legislation
relating to maternity/Paternity leave, but what we are particularly proud of is
that we now have is recognition for fertility treatment, and have achieved some
paid time off for both the female receiving the treatment and also partners
wishing to take time off work to support a partner undergoing fertility
treatment for up to two days paid leave in any leave year. Now we know that this isn’t overly generous,
but it’s a great start, and I think this is a first in local Government, so
maybe we are helping to change perceptions.
The attendance Policy that was
reviewed last year was imposed upon us, and implemented without Trade Union
Agreement. We were unable to negotiate a better deal for those of us who suffer
with a Disability related illnesses, this particular issue was a big deal for
us, and that is one of the reasons why we couldn’t agree to it.
Now we are getting into dangerous
territory as an organisation. We have been given a new policy to review, the
Employee Data Monitoring Policy, this will give the employer the right to use
CCTV monitoring and any other electronic monitoring equipment to spy on employees
and to use the data collected when carrying out
Disciplinary’ s, or attendance issues, it is imperative that we kick
this into touch, personally I believe this is illegal and they shouldn’t be
able to do this unless there is strong evidence to suggest that a crime is
being committed. On this basis I have requested advice from our Regional
representatives.
It is vital that we have your
support on this one; we will take it to a ballot if necessary. This is an invasion of your privacy; we must
not allow this policy to go through! It’s a step to far” I have already had two
cases in the last 12 months within the same service area, where CCTV footage
and entry fob data has been the main driving force behind two long serving members
of staff, with no previous records of a disciplinary nature. This is nothing
short of Spying on you, together we can tell the Council what we think! But we
must be one voice!!
Re-structures/Admin Review
Re-structures was the main focus for the branch in previous years, and
haven’t we had some bad ones!! Whilst they haven’t completely gone away, they
are being disguised under the banner of the Admin Re-view, even after repeated
warnings to the employer about how this will not work in this authority, (as we
are too small and to diverse) it is clear that our opinions have not been considered,
I would challenge anyone who has already been through this process to tell me
if they completely understand how this works, Because it has certainly baffled
me and my colleagues on your Branch Committee.
We as a branch are very concerned about the Admin Review for some good
reasons, primarily, we are concerned that some individuals will be
unnecessarily made redundant based on their poor review outcomes. Secondly if
they are so concerned about productivity, it is our belief this is going to have
a huge detrimental effect on just that, it really does not make any sense what’s
so ever.
Partnership Payment
As many of you will remember we had quite an issue with the way that the
Partnership Payment was calculated, as it appeared that HR had moved the goal
posts without seeking agreement, or at least finalising it! this in turn, meant
that some of you were a £100 light in your salaries. That being said we came out the other side
with a much better deal going forward for all eligible recipients.
Recruitment.
Recruitment will always be one of our main focuses; to be affective; we
must at all costs, keep our membership numbers up! And that isn’t just our
responsibility as a branch committee, but yours as well, we are all part of
this union, and I urge you strongly, to encourage your colleagues who are not
members, or new starters to Join, tell them what we do, tell them don’t leave
it till it’s too late, because if they
do leave it, they’re in trouble, and we cannot represent them until they have
been a member for six weeks. I think we have proven to you all, how valuable it
is to have a trade union presence within the workplace. Without them your T&Cs would be appalling!
Nice
Things
We recently funded the purchase of Table Tennis equipment, which has
been well used and a few competitions have taken place, it has to be one of the
best things we have invested in for a while. If you fancy a game get in-touch
with David Brown in Regeneration-Major Projects team.
The Membership Christmas Parties were a great success again especially
the Raffles, this year we will be doing something similar, unless any of you
has any better ideas please let us know, if it’s affordable, we’ll do it.
Once again thank you all for your continued support.
Caroline Glendinning
Branch Secretary
17/02/2015
Tuesday 10 February 2015
Annual General Meeting
Annual General
Meeting
3:00 – 4:00 pm
Tuesday 17th February 2015
The Long Room,
Town Hall
Agenda
1
|
Apologies
|
2
|
Minutes of the AGM 2014
|
3
|
Annual Branch Report (Secretary, Caroline Glendinning)
|
4
|
Ratification of Elections of Stewards (Chair, David Hawkins)
|
5
|
Ratification of Elections of Branch Officers (David Hawkins)
|
6
|
Nominations for delegates to Annual Conference 2015
|
7
|
Affilliations (Caroline Glendinning)
|
8
|
Leader of the Council Bob Price and Deputy Leader Ed Turner
|
9
|
Treasurer's Report and Presentation of Branch Accounts (Gwen)
|
1
|
Honoraria 2013–14
|
1
|
Motions
|
1
|
|
1
|
Any Other Business The
Chair or Secretary must be informed of the matter before the meeting is
opened
|
Followed at 4: 15 pm by Cheese and Wine
in The Long Room, The Town Hall.
|
Pledge support for public services
Pledge support for public services and keep up to date with UNISON's general election work.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
2024 Annual General Meeting
2024 Annual General Meeting Thursday 28 March 2024 15:00 till 16:00 St Aldates Tavern, St Aldates or online via Teams One of the most ...
-
The team involved in negotiating over the 'new' Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) from 2014 has been considering whether to pro...
-
2024 Annual General Meeting Thursday 28 March 2024 15:00 till 16:00 St Aldates Tavern, St Aldates or online via Teams One of the most ...
-
A Message From Mental Health First Aid England As more organisations move to online working, human connections are more important tha...