Unison Scotland's priorities?

[johnfricker]

UNISON Scotland is extremely concerned about the slow rate of progress towards reaching agreements on Single Status.

Not: "UNISON Scotland is extremely concerned about how members, even those who are already low paid, are suffering huge pay cuts as a result of Single Status pay and grading reviews?"

It still seems to be a case of "Equal pay (?) at any cost".





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[bill]

Does anyone know if the Single Status Agreements have review dates on them? We cannot go on accepting these appalling travesties forever. At some stage we are going to have to renegotiate what are obviously bad deals for our members ... Whilst we still have any members.

[sapper71]

Unison Officials do not seem to care about the membership in Scotland or anywhere else,
The membership in Dumfries and Galloway are fed up with this ongoing saga of single status it should have been settled years ago.
Now that the Council have threatened staff with dismisal if they do not accept the offer on the table Union bosses are once again reccomending acceptance of the new conditions and are more or less giving in to the employers.

[johnfricker]

Unite seems to be doing a better job of trying to protect members' pay, in Edinburgh for instance:

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scott ... -21506342/

[sapper71]

Unite does not seem to have a very big foothold in Dumfries ans Galloway.

[Jim]

Unite does not seem to have a very big foothold in Dumfries ans Galloway.

Perhaps it's time for Unison members to change their allegiance to Unite, branches and unions who fight to protect members terms and conditions seem to be a dying breed

[sapper71]

Unite tried a while ago as far as i can find out dis not have much sucess most of the staff are fed up of this ongoing saga and are ready to sign.mot unions in this country now apear to be as corrupt as this non labour goeverment we now have in power. Blair only used his position to Feather his own nest . Brown is an incompetent numbskull he unions run with big busines interests. tell workers to strike while the union leaders sit on their backsides raking it in. My wife who is a non union member lost money the last time unison called a strike she was afraid to go to work because of the threats from union members.it is all just rubbish to be honest union and labour party all cut from the same cloth line their pockets and run.

[Badger]

I don't believe anyone on this site would condone threatening behaviour from unions members Sapper, although neither would we condone non-union members benefiting from the the work of unions and strike action, without having made a contribution to them.

I would certainly agree with you that the British Labour Movement has pretty lamentable leadership at the moment - but let's not ever give up the fight. These people should and need to be brought to account and replaced with men and women cut from better cloth.

[sapper71]

She was told by the few union members in her place of work not to turn up as they could make her life miserable after the strike was over. Her bosses told her to go in or lose wages due to our situation 3 days pay is a lot of money. Why shoulds unions expect my wife to bow to this type of pressure. the union as usual gave way to the employers. They are just a bunch of money men now and as i said as long as they have their perks they just dont care, One shop steward who encouraged the stike did not even stand on the picket line he has another job and went into it and got paid overtime. So much for workers solidarity. I was a union man all my life ranging from tailors and garment workers through to tgwu agricultural based I even lost a job some years ago as i was tring to get a union representation into the job. Then i wa working for a local road making firm when we got a mulri million pound deal at a big chemical firm. After a number of years strugling our jobs were save. Until you have guesed it a union official now an mp but shall remain nameless strutted over to our boss and demanded that we all join his union or we would not be allowed to work inside the factory grounds. Our bos paid the union fee for us by adding it to our wage. I was with this firm for 21 years went to tgwu office for help when made redundant all they did was tell me to come into town to pay my fee while i was out of work. it amounted to coppers but the return bus fare was about at that time £2 50 far more than the fee. I told them this and was told it ha to be paid weekly or i wold lose any union benefit.They were no help at all . So maybe you can see why i no longer trust the Labour movment in the UK,
What we have for a government amounts to an elected dictatorship. I nor nobody else voted for these scallys to be in power brown mandellson for god sake even allen sugar. made his money selling crap electrical goods and not hounering garuantees.I am sorry that i can no longer support the Party but unfortunatly they like most politicians from all parties have proved to be untrustworthy. As for single status it would have been implemented years ago if the unions were not using it t cause trouble in the public services to their own end.

[thewelshman]

Unite does not seem to have a very big foothold in Dumfries ans Galloway.

You undoubtedly don't know much about Trade Union organisation in Dumfries and Gallwoay. UNITE has 3,500 members in Dumfries and Galloway, including 1200 to 1300 members with Dumfries and Galloway Council. Alongside East Dumbarton Councilw e were the only council in Scotland to have a Trade Union activist on the Job Analyst team. That knowledge has gone into ensuring that local members and Stewards are well aware of what the scheme actually means, and how best to use it to our advantage. There are full time for facilities for 2 UNITE members to deal specifically with Single Status issues, as there has been for the last 4 years - far more than anywhere else in Scotland. UNITE Stewards and activist members have had training to deal with Single Status appeals, and are probably better equipped than other stewards thorughout Scotland to do so.
The negotiations have been protracted, but that has been as a result of tribunals in England finding new ways of determining what exactly "work of equal pay for work of equal value" actually means. There won't be litter on the streets of D&G because a reasonable deal has been done, and it's one, if not the only authority in Scotland where the male manual workers aren't losing money. That ahsn't been done by capitulating to the Council. Still, don't let it get in the way of expressing unfounded views, eh?

[johnfricker]

Alongside East Dumbarton Council we were the only council in Scotland to have a Trade Union activist on the Job Analyst team.

That should be the case at every council thewelshman. There must be doubt about the value of a pay review as a defence against equal pay claims when, contrary to all the guidance on good job evaluation practice, it doesn't involve the unions at every stage.

[sapper71]

Settled in Dumfries and Galloway your union budies sold out as usual.

[thewelshman]

I really don't understand what you're on about? You showed a lack of knowledge about the structure of TGWU / UNITE in Dumfries and Galloway, and similarly you say the Trade Unions have sold out their members. On what basis do you come to this conclusion? Your feelings do not match what was acheived via very extensive negotiations over a very long period of time. The membership, and I realise a lot of them were battle weary when it came to the vote, voted over 90% for cceptance in each of the three constituent Trade Unions.
You must remember that Unions are nothing without their membership. Are you seriously suggesting that all 3 Unions should have rejected the ballot result? As I said earlier, it would be hugely beneficial if you were to summarise your views as to why you think the Unions sold out, rather than just an ill informed, meaningless staement.

[sapper71]

My partner works for this bunch of incompetent arseholes.
The staff were told if they did not accept what was on the table they would be fired.
I have the letter. Stating this.
The union stood by whilst staff were beaten down. The reveiws of the jobs were laughable.
As for lack of understanding the TGWU sold me down the river some years ago when was made redundant. Thet efused tyo help me while Bill Morris and his family lined their nests with the money i paid in.
Unions are crap a bunch of malcontents feathering their own nests.
In fact my partner does not belong to a union on priciple but when she went to sign the agreement and gey her paltry payment a union official stood ver the staff to get them to sign of course i dont understand the union position all i know is the staff signed under protest.

[johnfricker]

I have some sympathy with your views, sapper71. The local government unions, with their 'equal pay at any cost' policy for pay reviews, have certainly sold out by conspiring with the employers to impose life-altering pay cuts on thousands of their members. Members whose pay was often already relatively low compared with the private sector and the rest of the public sector because of years of poorly run pay campaigns. They have also conspired with the employers to impose inferior allowances and overtime rates. When local branches claim they have done the best they could, I suspect this is actually true in the context of both both their councils and national/regional unions having been against them.

I also know of several individuals who have paid union subscriptions for years, only to be let down when they really needed their union's support. For instance, one former colleague had to pay for the services of a solicitor and doctor to successfully secure early retirement on medical grounds when the council had refused because his Unison FTO wouldn't support his case. I finally left Unison because the same FTO was effectively another member of the management team.

The union principle of 'not a penny off the pay' seems to have been well and truly abandoned in local government.