Staff Car Parking

As you are probably aware, DMBC was intent on introducing Car Parking charges for some Town Centre staff wef 1st July 2012.  Due to the fact that an inadequate period of consultation has taken place and the proposals have not been discussed or ratified by the Employee Relations Committe, UNISON have lodged a Formal Trade Dispute with DMBC.  Please see letter below:-

"Up To Standard?" - What should your employer be doing to support Social Workers?

Those Social Workers (and other Social Care staff) struggling to cope with the demands of working under unreasonable caseloads and ridiculous hours might want to take a look at the following link to the UNISON website; www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/20748.pdf

The "Up to Standard?" Branch Guide, provides advice to activists and to Branches on using the, "Standards for Employers of Social Workers in England," to inform negotiations and dispute resolution to supprt UNISON members working at the sharp end in both Children's & Adults Social Care.

Particularly now, with a formal, "Dispute," lodged in support of Social Workers and Social Care Assistants in TFS East (Vermuyden) and TFS West (Martinwells) over the unsustainable workloads and the continuing expectation that UNISON members (and others) will work all the hours God sends to shore up a system creaking under the strain, these, "Standards," are massively important.

The real problem is shortage of staffing and under-resourcing for all teams and, for an increasing number of staff the solution seems to be to look for work elsewhere with less pressure and better support. All of this, taken together with DMBC's arrogance and determination to impose pay cuts to hard-pressed workers and it doesn't take a, "Rocket Scientist," to figure out that recruitment and retention of committed Social Care staff will get more and more difficult.

You might also want to take a glance at the following, "short guide," for Social Workers - your comments would be gratefully received. (just click on the image to enlarge)










We have all heard Children's Services managers "talking up," the progress that has been made since government intervention in 2009 but for many this increasingly seems like an illusion.

Case-loads continue to be at a level which are damaging to personal well-being and professional practice; hours worked continue to creep up with staff members carrying ridiculous and unsustainable TOIL balances - effectively delivering weeks of, "free," work to DMBC; supervision, when it does take place, is more often about case management than real support and the numbers of agency staff continues to be too high and is increasing as permanent workers look elsewhere for greater support and continuity.

Doncaster UNISON believes that urgent steps must be taken in DMBC to stabilise the current situation. Rather than seeing increasing use of Capability and Disciplinary procedures when workers succumb to the pressure we believe that you must be properly supported to do the work you do. We will shortly be bringing together UNISON activists in Children's Services to begin to plan for a campaign around the challenges you face - your input can make all the difference!

UNISON National Delegate Conference Update

It has been an interesting week so far at Conference with many things discussed and debated both in main conference and the various fringe meetings.  The debates have included Health & Safety, Fair Pay and the links between UNISON and the Labour Party.

We have had 3 new young delegates to conference this year; Emma, Jodie & Kirsty.  They are pictured below with UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis and other members promoting the Hope not Hate campaign around racial equality and the fight against racism.

In Conference, Dave Prentis put forward the arguement about how we need to fight the Public Sector pay freeze and plan for the biggest ever demonstration in London on 20th October this year. He also went on the offensive and put forward that it is no longer acceptable for the Labour Party to follow the austerity arguments put forward by the ConDem Government, only not as quick and not as severe.  The support of UNISON for the Labour Party could be in question if this is the best they can offer.  Paul Kenny from the TUC has today backed up these comments with a similar view.

 

Today is also a day that sees debates on Rule Changes, in particular internal disciplinary rules and Branch finances.  These debates will have major implications for UNISON members and individual branches.  Details of the outcomes of these debates will be relayed later.

 

Tomorrow will see Pensions debated once more, this time with all service groups in attendance.  Again the outcome of this debate will be relayed to you at a later date.  The Branch emergency motion in support of the "68 is too late" campaign has, unfortunately, not been accepted on to the agenda for debate.  Although this is a disappointment the point will be put over in the pensions debate.

Pensions

UNISON Conference 2012, held in Bournemouth this week saw a key debate on the future of your Pension Scheme. Doncaster UNISON played a leading role in this debate, moving Emergency Composite 1, which called for Conference to give a clear and transparent assessment of new proposals to all members, in other words to tell members whether we believe this is a, "good," or a, "bad," deal. This motion, supported by many other branches was, unfortunately in our view, not carried. However, what was agreed is that a process of consultation with members will take place over the next 4-5 weeks and will be followed by a ballot of members at the end of July!
We do not believe that this is an appropriate timetable,  particularly as many of our members based in schools will break for the summer holidays in July and may not have been able to attend briefings on the new proposals. In addition, what is clear is that this is a timetable demanded by the Con-Dem Coalition government to suit their aims of attacking the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). Indeed, as admitted by Heather Wakefield (UNISON National Officer), "...this is not our timetable!"

So what are the, "Highlights," of the, "New Look LGPS 2014," and what do we think?

• A Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) scheme using CPI as the revaluation factor (the current scheme is a final salary scheme).

Our View:- There is no funding issue with the current final salary scheme, indeed it takes in 4 bn more every year than it pays out. When we took strike action on 30th Nov 2011 we were told that a Career Average Scheme would be inferior and that we were defending the Final Salary Scheme. Uprating by CPI (rather than RPI) only looks good if we assume low levels of growth in wages. That may fit right now, but historically wage levels have increased at a level higher than this every year.

• The accrual rate would be 1/49th (the current scheme is 1/60th).

       Our View:- This seems to be better - this means that for every year you pay into the scheme your pension pot will grow by 1/49th of your actual pay for that year. However, if you remember that this will be on a career average salary and not final salary it doesn't sound quite as good.

• There would be no normal scheme pension age, instead each member's Normal Pension Age (NPA) would be their State Pension Age (the current scheme has an NPA of 65).

Our View:- Linking your retirement age to the state pension age (SPA) means that many UNISON members will face working to 68 (increasing potentially to 71 if the government get what they want). This means potentially more members dying in service, or being physically unable to work to this age, more dismissals through capability and of course fewer years in retirement. Any future increase in the SPA would automatically apply to the age you could then retire.

• Average member contributions to the scheme would be 6.5% (same as the current scheme) with the rate determined on actual pay (the current scheme determines part-time contribution rates on full time equivalent pay). While there would be no change to average member contributions, the lowest paid would pay the same or less and the highest paid would pay higher contributions on a more progressive scale after tax relief.

Our View:- The fact that contribution rates will change for nobody until 2014 and for the overwhelming majority there will be no increase (in fact you may pay slightly less) is positive. The industrial action in Nov 2011 did force Government to reconsider their plans for this. However more highly paid members will see contribution rates increase significantly. But you will be paying more because your retirement age is going up to 68. Also making all pay (including overtime and additional hours) pensionable means that in the future you will see 6.5% average taken from all your pay and not just a part of it. This does mean your pension pot will be bigger but it also means you will pay more.

• Members who have already or are considering opting out of the scheme could instead elect to pay half contributions for half the pension, while still retaining the full value of other benefits. This is known as the 50/50 option (the current scheme has no such flexible option).

Our View:- The average pension for local government workers is £4200 per annum and for women workers this falls to £2800. If you take this along with up-rating by CPI and paying only 50% contributions this will mean an even lower pension for the lowest paid workers. The real issue for people who currently don't feel able to afford a pension is the rotten culture of low pay and pay freezes in local government - 50% of a very low pension after a lifetime of public service is no reward at all.

• For current scheme members, benefits for service prior to 1st April 2014 are protected, including remaining „Rule of 85‟ protection. Protected past service continues to be based on final salary and current NPA.

Our View:- This simply means that the value of what you have already paid in will be protected and if you meet certain age criteria you will be able to access your pension if your age and length of continuous service added together is 85 or greater.

• Where scheme members are outsourced they will be able to stay in the scheme on first and subsequent transfers (currently this is a choice for the new employer).

Our View:- This is a welcome move to protect staff who find themselves in a TUPE transfer situation. In the current climate of outsourcing and privatisation in the public sector any protection to members pensions is welcomed.  Currently a new employer simply has to provide a pension scheme of an equivalent value to that of the LGPS. However this protection doesn't change the fact that your right to stay in the pension scheme will still be on the new provisions of LGPS 2014.

When we took strike action on 30th Nov 2011 we did so on the basis that we would not, "Work Longer, Pay More and Get Less!". It is Doncaster UNISON's view that although some elements of the new proposals are not as bad as they might have been, overall they fall well short of the objectives that you and millions of other public sector worker took action to defend. The unity that we saw across the Trade Union movement gave us the upper hand in challenging a weak and vicious ConDem government. Doncaster UNISON will now be arranging a series of  meetings and briefings in order to consult with our members.  Time is short, please make every effort to attend one of these meetings.

Full details are available online at - http://www.unison.org.uk/pensions/lgps.asp

Doncaster UNISON Letter to Jo Miller - 14th June 2012

Further to Jo Millers letter 30th May, which was previously posted on this blog, we have now written to her again (Letter below).  As you will see, we are again asking DMBC to reconsider its position over Terms & Conditions. In light of £4.5 Million underspend by DMBC in 2011/12, this seems like it would be a reasonable course of action.  Should that not happen, we will lodge legal claims for members. 

Many people will have also seen the post on our Facebook site yesterday about what is happening in Southampton.  It appears that the Local Authority there are looking at re-instating previously reduced Terms & Conditions. 

Our One Voice Newsletter will be out next week, there will be updates on Pensions and a further update on Terms & Conditions.

We Told You So!!

As many of you will have seen, DMBC has just published its accounts for the financial year 2011/12.  These show an under spend by DMBC of £4.5 million.  As we have always stated, there was sufficient money to avoid the draconian cuts to our members Term & Conditions. 

The Mayor has stated that “Some of the under spend will now be used to put some things right that have needed sorting for a while.  For instance we must invest more in our customer services to provide a better service for residents..”  This is why there is currently corporate review of this service that will have a further detrimental impact on jobs.

He states further that “We also have to ensure that we address the increased demands and pressures in Children’s Services which are significant.”  This is why there is currently a consultation on reducing the number of children’s residential care homes in Doncaster.

Let’s face it, we have always said there was money in the budget to avoid the scale of cuts to our members Terms & Conditions.  And despite the constant denial of this fact by DMBC, we have been proven right, yet again.  You were asked to believe that the cuts were necessary, would save jobs and protect services.  With this clear evidence of £4.5 million being available, is anyone from DMBC coming forward to try and reverse the cuts to Terms & Conditions or prevent further job losses???

LETS BE CLEAR, NOW IS THE TIME FOR DMBC TO DO THE RIGHT THING AND GET BACK TO THE TABLE WITH TRADE UNIONS. LETS SEE THE £4.5 MILLION PUT TO GOOD USE AND REDUCE THE IMPACT OF CUTS TO TERMS & CONDITIONS ON THE STAFF THAT PROVIDE THE SERVICES TO THE PEOPLE OF DONCASTER.

NEWS & UPDATES 8th June 2012

Due to the Bank Holiday we haven’t produced a One Voice newsletter this week, so have decided on a brief update via the Blogspot. Members are starting to return Letter B (unfair dismissal claims) to branch office and as at Wednesday lunchtime the figure stood at around 300 returned letters.  Other unions have also had large numbers returned.  We are ever hopeful that DMBC will enter into further negotiations over Terms & Conditions, but while they persist with the “see you in court” attitude, Doncaster UNISON will defend it’s members with every means available .  

Staff Car Parking Charges is once again on the agenda for DMBC.  After being shelved for a time, to concentrate on cutting your Terms & Conditions, DMBC have now put forward proposals to charge staff for the use of 4 town centre car parks; Council House, Scarborough House, North Bridge and Chappell Drive.   

Do we think the current system is fair? No we don’t!

Do we think these proposals are fair? No we don’t!

Due to the new found confidence in attacking members pay, at a recent consultation meeting DMBC have stated that these charges will be introduced on 1^st July along with the expansion of a car pool system or unknown, worse proposals will be imposed.  We believe that members will see that this is just another way to attack a group workers in isolation.  Negotiations are ongoing with DMBC, but the deadline of 1st July is looming large.  We have asked our stewards to forward to branch office any thoughts that they and our members may have on the matter to incorporate into these negotiatioons. 

PENSION NEWS UPDATE - LGPS

The Government has now unveiled proposals on the LGPS.  Details of the proposals can be found on UNISON’s main website at http://www.unison.org.uk/pension/lgps.asp   

A brief rundown on the proposals is:-

Introduction of new scheme from April 2014.

1.  A Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) scheme using CPI as the revaluation factor (the current scheme is a final salary scheme).

2.  The accrual rate would be 1/49th (the current scheme is 1/60th).

3.  There would be no normal scheme pension age, instead each member’s Normal Pension Age (NPA) would be their State Pension Age (the current scheme has an NPA of 65).

4.  Average member contributions to the scheme would be 6.5% (same as the current scheme) with the rate determined on actual pay (the current scheme determines part-time contribution rates on full time equivalent pay). While there would be no change to average member contributions, the lowest paid would pay the same or less and the highest paid would pay higher contributions on a more progressive scale after tax relief.

5.  Members who have already or are considering opting out of the scheme could instead elect to pay half contributions for half the pension, while still retaining the full value of other benefits. This is known as the 50/50 option (the current scheme has no such flexible option).

6.  For current scheme members, benefits for service prior to 1st April are protected, including remaining ‘Rule of 85’ protection. Protected past service continues to be based on final salary and current NPA.

7.  Where scheme members are outsourced they will be able to stay in the scheme on first and subsequent transfers (currently this is a choice for the new employer).

We will have further updates on pensions proposals when they become available.