ReviewCity and County of Swansea

Inside

Public Service Not Private Profit November 2011

Children inNeed 2011JE Job Evaluation

not hereyet but full

steam-ahead

your guideto ournationalstrikeaction

N30:STRIKE& PICKETTOSAVEOUR PENSIONS

76% vote YES for strike action

Picture: Unison members in Sheffield had a 'practise picket' when the ballot result was announced. On November 30th don't bepassive and unseen and unheard at home: get active and be part of history - join the picket lines, march and rally on the day.

Millions of public servantswill be on strike onNovember 30th after asuccession of successfulballots for industrial actionover pensions. UNISONmembers have voted Yesacross the board: in localgovernment the votes were76% in favour; in health,82% in favour and the civilservice scheme ballot sawan 87% Yes vote. This hasbeen followed by the NAHT(Head-teachers) voting

75.8% in favour of action,the EIS (Scottish teachersunion) voting 82.2% infavour andNIPSA (NorthernIreland Civil Servants)voting 67% in favour ofaction. Other major unions -the NUT, PCS, UCAC, UCUand ATL - are either alreadycommitted to action on N30or - with the GMB, Unite,NASUWT and others - areballoting as this newslettergoes to press.

Everyone knows that thegovernment wants us to paymore into the LGPS andother pension schemes. Butit is not to give us a betterretirement. They aredetermined to make us payfor the crisis caused by thebankers and employers.The pension changes takentogether are designed to robsome £10 billion from usevery year. This is notbecause the pensionschemes are somehow

'unsustainable' - they are inorder to reduce the deficitcaused by bailing out thebankers.

It's not complicated: worklonger, pay more and getless is the government'sproposal. The stakes areextremely high and willinfluence our and ourfamilies lives for decades tocome. This is not just aboutanother small piece-mealattack but a full frontal

assault on all publicservants that will severelydamage our future on apermanent basis unless westand and fight.

The ballot result did producesome sign of movementfrom the government -whichshows in one way even thethreat of action can forcechange. However the muchreported 'offer' left all thefundamental attacks in

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place. The only movement was over theproportion of salary added each year todetermine the size of the final salarypension. And even here all thegovernment isdoing is towithdrawoneofthe new attacks it unveiled recently.

It is therefore a lie for the government tosuggest that the pensions of low paidworkers would be as good as they wouldhave been before. They will work longerto get them, and they will be smallerwhen (or if) they live long enough tocollect them.

All members had an opportunity to voteand a huge majority of those that didvotedyes. It is hypocritical rubbish for thegovernment and the Tory press to bleaton about mandates. Just 21% of eligiblevoters cast their votes for the Tories inthe election last year. And they have nomandate for their war on our pensionsand public services.

We know that going out on strike is noteasy - but if you care about your futureyou cannot afford not to. If the attacks gothrough it will be the same as losing six-days pay a year, for life. This is far morethan the loss for being on strike.

There is awider issue aswell - if we allowourselves to be walked over then thegovernment will come back formore andmore, year after year. The government isstuffed with millionaires and theprivilegedwhowill not be suffering as thefinancial crisis hits even harder. Theycalculate that they can rely on our fear oflosing money and jobs to push theirmeasures through.

If any member is in particular hardshipthen they can apply to the union'shardship fund for financial assistance.However all members are expected tobe on strike on November 30th. If youare not in a union you should join as youcan still take part in the strike, rather thanwatch your colleagues fight on yourbehalf.

As the ballot results come in from unionafter union it is clear that November 30thwill be a historic day. Even the NationalAssociation of Head Teachers (NAHT),which hasnever beenon strike in its 114-

Timetable for action:Saturday 19th November: TUC Day of Action to build and support the strikes, 12 - 2pWednesday 23rd November: Public Rally to support the Great Pension Strike, 7.30Wednesday 30thNovember:The biggest strike since 1926 -Strike, Picket your workpla

to Rally in Castle Square at 1pm (rally at Unitarian Church

JOIN UNISON AND BE PART OF THE STRIKE - DON'T SIT-BY AND LET Y

Strike, Picket, March, Rally: Millicontinued from front page

year history, gave a thumping majority.This will be the biggest strike since theGeneral Strike of 1926; it will also be anevent to be proud of taking part in.Whataccounts for the results is that theissues are wider than pensions .

Firstly, pay-freezes, privatisation, cuts,rising inflation and other attacks arealsobiting.Theyadd to themixofanger,bitterness and a new desire to resistthat produced the ballot results. Theseare the not-so-thin end of the wedge fora range of austerity measures to makeus pay for the economic crisis.

The attack on our pensions are alsoabout longer-term plans to smashpublic services in local government, thecivil service and the NHS. They wantour pensions, and terms andconditions, to be pushed down to theappalling levels of many parts of theprivate sector. T

his makes it more attractive for us tosold-off to private companies, who onlywant to take over public services tomake a profit for their bosses, privateshare-holders and the bankers. Thisfight is not one of public-against-privateas highly-paid newspaper editorsportray it. Insteadof a race to thebottomfor the worse conditions, we need unitybetween public and private sectorworkers tobuildunions,buildactionandimprove the lives of all.

Secondly, the results are connected toa climate of wider resistance . This yearand last has seen studentdemonstrations, the TUC mass march,the June 30th strikes and other actionssuch as the popular Occupymovementat St Paul's and other places. Manypeople are involved inmore than one ofthese events. It reflects a rising tide ofconfidence and action against agovernment that insulates itself withluxury and greed while most people'slives gets harder.

Thirdly, this is wider than the UK. Theserious news is full of economic crisisacross Europe and heads ofgovernment falling. Much under-reported are strikes anddemonstrations inGreece,Spain, Italy -other countries and a Europe-wideausterity is imposed by Europeanleaders.

We have the power to change our livesfor the better and to stop the cuts. Thegovernment is vicious and will destroylives to preserve their wealth - but it isalso weak and divided. A rare andhistoric day is approaching of a levelworking class unity unknown for acentury. If you want a better future getout on strike and unite together foraction on November 30th and beyond.

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Attack Number 1: The Change From RPI toCPIIn June last year an Emergency Budget outlined thechange from the RPI (Retail Price Index) to the CPI(Consumer Price Index)

What does this mean? It means your pension willincrease at a lower level. CPI is typically on average0.7% lower than RPI - this might not sound a lot but is0.7% every year, year on year until you retire. It adds upto a huge cut. LPGS members are likely to lose at least25% of the value of their pension in the next 25 years.

Attack Number 2: Contribution IncreasesThe government has announced a cut in funding to ourpension scheme of £3.8 billion a year a year.

What does this mean? It means paying just over a 3.2%contribution increase into your pension - 50%more thanyou currently pay. And none of our increasedcontributions will actually benefit us - it will be takenstraight out of our pension fund again to pay thegovernment debt. It is a tax on our pension fund.

Attack Number 3: Move Away From Final-Salary Pension SchemeThe Hutton Report has recommended changing to a'career average' scheme by the end of the nextParliament. This is instead of a pension based on yourfinal salary, which formanywill be higher thanwhen theystarted work.

Attack Number 4: Raising State PensionRetirement Age (SPA)FromNovember2018 theSPAwill be65; fromApril 2020it will be 66; it will be 67 between 2034 - 36 and 68between 2044 - 46.

This means that those 34 or younger now SPA will be68; for those between 34 and 42 it is 67 and those 42to 57 it will be 66.

Attack Number 5: Lose Pension Rights onTransferThe government wants us to lose our right to stay in theLGPS if we are forcibly transferred to another employer.This is to make privatisation more attractive to privatecompanies who would not have to contribute to ourpension scheme out of the profits we make for them.

pm, Castle Square0pm, Railwaymen's Club, Wind Street.ace, Assemble for aMarch from theGuildhall at middayh, High St - next to Argos - in the event of bad weather

YOUR WORKMATES FIGHT FOR YOU

lions vote for action Job Evaluation Update

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w that our pensions are notks' or 'gold-plated'. We alsow that it is the start - not thesh - of a serious fight for ourture. November 30th has tobe the day that we show thement we are in a fight to windemonstrate our strength tohe country to a halt. It is notay to sit passively at home,and unheard, in isolation. Ita 'day-off' or a chance to domas shopping. All membersd be actively involved in therike by organising picketing,g and attending the rally onay. If you cannot picket fromrt, come later(with food andrink for your workmates!) orend the march and rally with

friends and family.

n a few rare cases there areexemptions agreed by the

nions for 'life and limb' covero protect vulnerable service

users, like older people.All union members who

are exempt are expectedto donate a days pay tothe strike fund - contact

the branch officefor details.

nvolved on the day!

By now many people haveattended the Authority’sRoadshow on JobEvaluation/SingleStatus. It isworth noting and setting therecord straight as to whyexactly we are going throughthis exercise. Fourteen yearsago, both councils and tradeunions realised the paystructures in councils all overthe country werediscriminating againstwomen and could not bedefended. The new nationalterms and conditions whichreplaced the old manual andAPT&C ones were issued ontheunderstandingall councilswould undertake a JobEvaluation exercise andintroduce new unified termsfor all employees. Afterworkingon the recommendedNJC Job Evaluation schemethe council unilaterallydropped it, then they triedwhat is called the GreaterLondon scheme and yetagain abandoned it. Now,years later, they announcedtoyour tradeunions theyweregoing to use a scheme calledWAYS.

UNISON has doubts over thisscheme and in some parts ofthe country we have madelegal challenges to the waythat some authorities aretrying to implement it on thebasis we do not believe it isrobust enough on Equalities.We believe also that thescheme is not as transparentas the others. This will meanthat it will be difficult when yousee your new grade to workout if you have been treatedfairly and all your skills andresponsibilities have beentaken into account. In somecouncils who have used itthere have been so manyappeals that they took yearsto hear them all! However,despite these reservations,the trade unions haveworkedwith themanagement team totry to make it work. TheCouncil has positivelychanged the way the jobworkingconditionshavebeenscored in the scheme but thefundamental issues stillremain. Together with JobEvaluation, last Christmasthe Council released its list of'savings' it wanted to make.Thesewerecuts in your termsand conditions including twothat were national terms andconditions – a worse sick payschemeanda reduction in thenumber of annual leave days.Despite what you have heard

from the Council on theroadshows, the trade unionshave not negotiated on thesenational terms, and we willnot. We have pointed out thatsick levels throughout theAuthority are low in certainareas and suggested that itwas an inconsistency bywhich managers were usingthe existing policy which hascaused the problem, not theterms and conditions.Consequently we haveagreed to a new policy onsickness absencemanagement which isconsistent with the nationalterms and conditions. TheCouncil itself has done abasic Equality ImpactAssessment and has nowrealised its proposal to slashthe number of holidaysemployees get has anunequal and adverse effecton women workers and ispotentially discriminatory.

Many other of the cutsproposals still have to bediscussed – overtime,unsocial hours workingincluding weekend working,and callout and standbypayments to name but a few.This is a very complicated setof negotiations because it isbeing done alongside the JobEvaluationandPayModellingprocess and UNISON needsto see the total effect on itsmembers before agreeing apackage of new terms andpay rates. UNISON, if such apackage is developed, willhave to have it examined byour national legal team toensure that it is notdiscriminatory. If it passesthis test, then you as aUNISON member will have achance to vote on it.

During the Pay Modelling,management has stated thatany new structure must beaffordable and free fromdiscrimination. UNISONaccepts this but also has athird test before we find anypackage acceptable and thatis the package has to be fair!Some of our members standto lose bonus paymentsearned through theirproductivity and unless thenew package increases theirbasic rate of pay tocompensate at least by areasonable amount thenthese members stand to loseunacceptably high amountsof take home pay which wecannot allow to happen.A group who stand to gain,

This newsletter is produced by the City and County of Swansea Unison Branch. Any letters, comments or suggestions for articles should be posted to the branch addressor emailed to Unison@swansea.gov.uk. Correspondence is not guaranteed to be published and contents may not necessarily reflect Unison policy.

YOURUNION

Spor ts & Socia l websi te : www.suss.me.uk www.unison.co.uk

Contact us: Unison Office The Guildhall Swansea SA1 4PE01792 635271 unison@swansea.gov.uk

Unison has over 100 trained union reps throughout the council, schools andFEcolleges.Wewill advise,support and represent you collectively and individually on issues from sickness, discipliners to legalmatters insideandoutside theworkplace. If youneedadviceor representationpleasecontact theSeniorSteward(s) for your department below or go to your workplace steward. Alternatively please contact thebranch office.

Joint Branch Secretaries: Nicky Symons & Mike Davies

EnvironmentIan Alexander - 07584 505793Tony Dearden - 07971 121533Pat Lopez - 07584 505792Social ServicesAlison Bell - 07941 757853Bill Williams - 07557 560092ResourcesGareth Parry - 07584 341240

EducationChris Bell - 07967 551025Karen Verallo - 07771 922985Regeneration/HousingJohn Llewellyn - 07557 560093Roger Owen - 07941819229Gower CollegeRon Job - 07963 454041

There will be a full updateon terms and conditions innext months newsletter

Social Services Childrenin Need Party 2011

Friday 19th November7pm till late

Sherwoods Club, Morriston

Tickets £5 per adult or pay on thedoor - free entry for childrenCome in fancy dress and win a prizefor adults and children!

Live Band

Male, female vocalists

Dance troop, raffle, and

auction

Children’s face painting and

free lucky dip

Magic show and lots more!

Contact Patrick Dunbaron 01792 533200for more info

continued from centre pages

social care workers, work unsocial hours andweekends, so if the council proposals to cutthese conditions is implemented then thisgroup stand to lose all they gained in Jobevaluation – which isn’t fair. Unison haswaited a long time to ensure our memberswho do vital and often difficult, dangerous ordirty work have the recognition and reward forit. Pay Remodelling/Job Evaluation andSingle Status is that opportunity. We knowthe Government in Westminster hasclobbered the council’s budgets but webelieve council workers deservebetter, as thecouncil and the ratepayer have been gettingour services on the cheap for a long time. It istime the council and the wider communityrespect and value the work we do.

Talks have been taking place regularly overthe year and there is still a lot of work to do.The management team seems to befrustrated by the amount of time it is taking –maybe they should have restarted thisprocess years ago - so to rush it now isunreasonable. As part of the pay remodellingprocess a number of variants were looked at.In the end, management developed one andthe trade unions developed it further.However, both are not complete and both areover budget at the moment. In our lastmeeting we were now informed the report isgoing to Cabinet suggesting that anothervariant could beused. Thismovedefies logic,and negates all the hard work all parties haveput into this process. This process issomething that cannot be rushed but we fearthe Council might endorse a non-negotiatedpackage and put it directly to you over theheads of your negotiators and trade unionrepresentatives to try to secure anendorsement from the workforce. This wouldbe dangerous in the extreme and we must

reject this approach. In Carmarthen, theCouncil bribed employees with £1,000 backhander for all those staff who voted “yes”,leaving those who lost out and obviouslyvoted to reject with even less money.

Finally, the Council could simply impose apackage on a take it or leave it basis and allthose who did not take it would effectively beout of a job. Therefore, the stakes are high.We urge the Cabinet to insist that itsmanagement teamcontinue the negotiations.We at UNISON have entered it with othertrade unions in good faith. We believe thatsitting down with the Council and hammeringout a package which is affordable and fair isthe best way to represent our members andthe best way forward for the Council as awhole. However, if imposition or bribery isused to get an agreement on the Council’sown agenda we will fight it all the way. We ascouncil workers cannot and will not have theCouncil play fast and loose with our pay,terms or conditions. Whilst we are allcommitted to the work we do, when all is saidand done we also work to put a roof over ourand our families heads and food on the table.This issue is of fundamental importance to usin the City &County of Swansea, and it is onlyby us working together as a workforce withyour trade unions that we can ensure that ourjobs with the local authority are not onlyvaluable and important to our communitieswhich we serve, but also valuable andimportant to us as employees.