One Barnet UNISON Strike Action 9 Feb 2012

Barnet UNISON are balloting for a further round of strike action to prevent the wholesale privatisation of Council services in their borough. Send the branch messages of support via the website
www.barnetunison.me.uk. During previous strike action when members of the branch finished their picket line duties they went off to volunteer and work unpaid on various local Barnet community projects for the rest of the day.

Pension Strike - Hollywood Version

Weird and wonderful YouTube video from Barnet UNISON (as always) on the public service strike to save pensions next week. I don't recognise the first clip and I am not a great fan of Star Wars (but I have a view on the "dark side").  The rest of the clips are great.  So lets work together for a wonderful life after N30 :) I am certainly proud to be in a union.

Call You and Yours: Do Strikes Work?

Yesterday lunchtime there was a debate on the Radio 4 programme "You and Yours" on "Do Strikes Work?"

UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis was a guest with Ed Holmes, from the hard right Tory think tank "Policy Exchange".

I rang into the programme and was able to say (about 9 minutes in) that strikes can work if they are a last resort and if the membership is behind it.  I pointed out my own example of a "successful" strike. I took part in a month long strike to stop cuts in local housing offices and staff redundancies.  In the end we were able to hammer out a compromise which saved people's jobs. 

UNISON John Burgess also rang in from yesterday's picket line in Barnet.

One of the (many) irritating things that Ed Holmes kept saying during the programme was that public service pensions were "over generous"....  if I work for 40 years the maximum pension I will get is just over half pay and a lump sum around 1.5 x my final salary.  I am currently contributing nearly £200 per month - so is a half pay pension "over generous"? Is he saying it should it be less?

Barnet lockout, strike and lobby

The title of this post could have been "Big guns target Barnet" (I'll explain later). I left the TUC conference a little early to get to Hendon Town Hall to join the UNISON lobby against the Tory plans to privatise 70% of the staff employed by Barnet Council. 

Earlier in the day, the incompetent and completely daft, Barnet senior management team had decided to send home all workers who came into work in the morning while planning to strike in the afternoon.  This meant that the employer employed 19th century bully boy employment tactics and "locked out" its workers and prevented them from providing a service.  They turned a half day strike into a full day?  I thought managers wanted to avoid strike action!

At the rally there were a number of speakers.  Pickets reported back and messages of support were read out (including from our General Secretary Dave Prentis).  Local residents, activists from UNISON and other unions spoke in support, including London Regional Convenor Gloria Hanson (see picture) and the Regional Secretary, Linda Perks.  The rally was also a lobby of a meeting of the full Barnet Council.  Barnet Council Labour Group had tabled a motion calling for the end of the "One Barnet" Easy Council policy.  Deputy Labour Leader Barry Rawlings (former NUPE steward) spoke to the rally about their motion.  Well done to the Branch, the pickets and to John and Helen for a successful strike and rally.

(According to my esteemed NEC colleague the Ship on the London UNISON regional banner seen behind Gloria is the Battleship HMS Belfast which is moored in the Thames.  For some reasons the Guns of HMS Belfast are always pointed towards the London Borough of Barnet!).  Stop press  Barnet Labour Group walked out of the Council chambers last night when the Tories refused to allow them to debate their motion.

Barnet UNISON Strikers face "lock out" threat by Tory Council

Good luck to the 400 Barnet Council UNISON members who are going out on strike tomorrow
afternoon over the potential privatisation of all Council services. 

The Tory Council is now threatening to send home workers as they arrive at work in the morning if they are going on strike that afternoon. In effect they are imposing a "lock-out".

Linda Perks, UNISON London regional secretary, said:

“Barnet Council continues to push through reckless plans that gamble with the future of hundreds of staff and the vital services they provide.

“The response from the council to the action has also been disgraceful, as they are now threatening to send workers home without pay if they do not work the full day.

“A week ago, UNISON presented council bosses with a report that highlighted the potentially devastating impact of outsourcing on staff pensions, terms and conditions and on job losses.

“A report by the council also raised concerns about how well existing contracts are being run. It flouted its own contract procedure rules by paying more than £1million to a private company without background checks - this is unlikely to be a one-off.

“A huge amount of money will be wasted during the procurement process through payments to consultants, shareholders, and in contract costs. This cash should be invested in local people and in keeping vital services running.

“We are calling on Barnet Council to listen to staff and the union’s concerns. Barnet council workers do not take action lightly, and it could be avoided if the council put a stop to its devastating plans.”

Send messages of support to Barnet UNISON and there is a lobby of the Council meeting at Hendon  Town Hall tomorrow (Tuesday 13th) 5.30pm to 7.30pm (nearest tube: Hendon Central on the Northern Line) which I hope to attend.

Protecting Your Pension from Tory Dummies

Well done to Barnet Local Government branch and UNISON for commissioning an independent report on the threat to pensions and the likely huge cost to Council taxpayers from Tory policies. Local and national.

First Actuarial LLP warn that the Tory led government plans to increase contributions to the Local Government Pension Schemes (LGPS) by up to 50% could cause many council workers to leave. They will simply not be able to afford it anymore, especially after years of no pay rises, tax increases (and high inflation).

While Tory "easyjet" Barnet Council are trying to outsource nearly all its services.  This will result in even less active members of the scheme.

The government is considering getting rid of Labour's "Fair Deal" for pensions and banning Council workers who are outsourced from being in the LGPS at all.

What this collapse in scheme membership could mean locally is that the pension cash flow in Barnet Council will move from being £22.9 million per year in the black to being £25 million in the red! With fewer contributors to the pension this could double the fund deficit. This will also mess up the investment strategy and make the scheme pull out of equities and pursue a low growth policy. Which will make funding even worse.

Barnet has already had to pick up a bill for £1.4 million in June this year after a private contractor went bust. More outsourcing, more risk to the scheme.

Barnet is of course a rabid Tory borough but all Councils potentially, face huge potential financial problems from these policies. If the Government goes ahead and forces pension contributions to rise by a half and the outsourcing of services and workers continues, this will dramatically increase the risk and cost of the pension fund (to Council taxpayers).

The LGPS protects millions of ordinary working people from extreme poverty in old age. The Tories, locally and nationally, risk destroying it.

(BTW shame that someone did not check the facts and even used this report to attack their own union! not that I'm surprised...)

Tories Terminating Our Pensions

Hat tip to Barnet Local Government UNISON for this YouTube video invite to a meeting next week they are holding on Pensions.   I would have also highlighted that the proposed changes risk destroying the scheme.  I suppose they didn't want to depress people too much.

The music is of course very apt.

Dont' let Nurses Freeze

So the CONDEMs are going to protect the NHS and front line services?

The first of many protests - Nurses at Kingston Hospital protest today at a job freeze.  Check out this UNISON press release.

"Dont' let Nurses Freeze

Kingston hospital’s decision to freeze front-line nursing posts will hit patient care hard as well as adding to the burden on existing over-stretched staff, said UNISON nurses at the hospital today (insert date). The nurses condemned moves to cut the number of nurses on wards as part of a jobs freeze at the hospital, saying that it flies in the face of pledges to protect front-line NHS staff.

The Trust management have stated that they will not replace nurses who leave unless they are “critical”.

Michael Walker, Nursing officer for UNISON slammed the proposed cuts as “putting patient care at risk” saying:

“ it is outrageous that overworked nurses are being expected to cover for nursing posts that are not filled. UNISON believes that the cuts will put lives and patient care at risk. The Coalition Government told us that they would not cut front line services, and yet at Kingston - Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s local hospital - this is exactly what we are witnessing - nurses are very much frontline service”.

Nora Pearce, UNISON Nursing & Midwifery Convenor at the hospital said:

“The NHS has a very high turnover of nursing posts; nurses cannot simply be expected to pick up the work of posts no longer filled without compromising the care we provide.

“I urge those implementing the cuts to take serious consideration of our concerns and reverse this decision”

Ends

Homeless Charity Shelter attacked over “bullying”

I’ve been contacted by a very sensible UNISON member over the employment dispute at the housing charity Shelter. The dispute is about pay and grading reductions for staff (while the senior management retain their perks and privileges).

While I am appalled at the attack on frankly already relatively low paid employees I am also conscious of the enormous damage that “Shelter” (which does a fantastic job for vulnerable people) is doing to its reputation.

Shelter CEO Adam Sampson please sort this out.

Newham Council sacks UNISON Chair Michael Gavan

Shocking news that Newham Council have sacked UNISON branch Chair Michael Gavan yesterday.

This is unremitting bad news for Newham UNISON, Newham Labour Party, Newham Council and of course Michael.

I expect further strikes and disruption and if the appeal against dismissal fails (before a panel of local Newham councillors) then an absolutely disastrous and hugely damaging employment tribunal will take place.

There is a rally and lobby at the House of Commons at 7.30pm Tuesday 11th December 2007 Committee Room 9.

UPDATE: I have replaced the Newham logo with a photograph of it after Ian Thompkins the Head of Newham Council "Communications" has contacted me and "asked" me to remove it from my blog. Check out this post for further details.

The Fremantle Nightmare continues - March & Rally

There was a noisy and colourful march this afternoon by care home Fremantle UNISON strikers and supporters from Burnt Oak to Edgware. I think there were about 150 people in total. The march received a lot of support from passerbies and “toots” from Car horns.

I had a brief chat with the trade union web site Labourstart editor Eric Lee who was due to speak. Fremantle had threatened to take libel action against Labourstart over their coverage of this dispute.

Local Labour Party MP Andrew Dismore took part in the March with Local Councillors and Party supporters. He spoke at rally (see standing in photo next to Barnet UNISON branch secretary, John Burgess). UNISON Regional Secretary Linda Perks was next then I spoke briefly as well, but I had to leave before the end in order to go to a memorial service.

I pointed out that tens of thousands of public sector workers in London had been transferred into the private sector (myself included!). They had all been promised like Fremantle staff that there terms and conditions would be protected under TUPE. However, TUPE had failed to protect Fremantle staff (ironically due to gross management incompetence and opportunism), so in this dispute we need to defend the principle of TUPE protection. It is also a disgrace that in London, the richest capital in Europe that the workers who carry out hard, difficult manual work looking after the most vulnerable of clients in care homes are paid just over £6.60 per hour, and have had their sickness, overtime and holiday pay slashed.

NEC member Jon Rodgers, Former London Regional secretary Geoff Martin, sacked UNISON NHS activist Karen Reissman were also due to speak. Under threat Newham UNISON LG Chair Michael Gavan was also there.

Fremantle: CEO paid £100k per year Staff £6.66 per hour

On Saturday 10 November there is a 24 hour strike by UNISON members who work for the Fremantle, the “not for profit” third sector nightmare (unless you are on its executive that is) care home company.

Barnet UNISON are campaigning to stop vulnerable ex-local authority care workers having their wages and working conditions slashed by Fremantle. Not only are already lowly paid workers having their basic wages being cut by about 30% but their sickness pay, holidays and overtime rates have also been chopped.

Meet 12:00 on Saturday 10 November 2007 at Watling Park (nearest station Burnt Oak Station – Northern line). Then Rally at St Alphage Church, Playfield Road, Edgware, HA8