A copy of correspondence sent to all UNISON members within Enable Scotland is detailed below:
Pay 2010/11
You will be aware that members overwhelmingly supported a pay claim of 2.5% and the adoption of the Scottish Living Wage (£7.15 per hour) as a minimum for settlement on 1 October 2010. It has taken until well in to this year to get a response from management and which is on the blog below this post which we received from Peter Scott. Although dated 31 March it was only received on 7th April, the delay in writing to you has been due to other developments in Enable and elsewhere which I will touch on below.
As you will see the response to our claim by Enable is to offer no pay increase at all. This is the second year running Enable propose to freeze your pay and as things stand there is little prospect of them making any offer on 1 October 2011. In October 2010 RPI inflation was 4.5%, it is currently sitting at 5.3% (March 2011). Inflation measures are based on averages, in many cases as our members are low paid and more of your money goes on fuel and food inflation for you and your family is likely higher than this.
There is no doubt the times are tough and organisations like Enable are having their funding slashed, ultimately at the behest of the ConDem government. That said it is the lowest paid that pay freezes impact on the most and there is a sense that the burden is not being shared fairly. Enable has said little about the cuts and in Glasgow rather than challenging the swingeing cuts coming in under personalisation have taken to advertising on Smooth Radio.
UNISON is spearheading opposition to the cuts in all their guises in all sorts of ways, and day by day it is becoming clearer more and more people are opposing the government. To find out more on all this please do visit our websites http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/ ; www.unison.org.uk/million ; http://www.thereisabetterway.org/ and most importantly for Enable UNISON news follow us at http://unison-enablescotland.blogspot.com/ . Everyday more and more people are joining UNISON, including in Enable.
There is a tension though between peoples’ anger at the pay freezes and widespread concern over job security. There are no easy answers and that is why we need to take a snap shot of your views now. Enclosed with this form is a consultation exercise that allows you the chance to speak your mind on the pay situation, please take a minute or two to let us know your views.
We will take up Enable’s offer of further talks on the Living Wage but won’t rob Peter to pay Paul.
Please remember if you haven’t already done so to sign our online pay petition at: www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/unisoninenable !
Glasgow Personalisation
UNISON supports personalisation; letting people have more say over the services they need. We oppose the term being abused to mask massive cuts. On 28th April hundreds of workers, service users and carers including many from Enable rallied in Glasgow’s George Square to oppose Glasgow City Council’s cuts which have seen some care packages cut by over 70%. The links that have been made between workers, carers and service users will help us take this campaign forward and help us build similar alliances elsewhere in Scotland.
We are waiting to hear from Enable how they respond to the cuts, they hope to pick up new business and say that due to the number of vacancies they are running with they hope to avoid redundancies. We will be in touch with Glasgow members as soon as we hear from them.
We have raised our concerns about the inadequate training available to staff and the suspension of supervision. We have been given assurances this will be addressed and will be watching this space.
Enable have also advised us that they intend to close their Kinning Park offices and intend to move the services in to the Head Office building, which is not wheel chair accessible. We have raised concerns about this and parking etc (not everyone has dedicated parking spaces!) and will ensure consultation takes places before any move is finalised.
Argyll & Bute
Management have indicated that that due to losses in this contract they intend to make some swingeing cuts to some staff’s pay, especially those who transferred in from Richmond Fellowship Scotland. We have indicated that we believe this will be a breach of TUPE. Once Enable publish their proposals we will arrange consultation with members affected.
Employment Services
We are representing members faced with redundancy in Employment Services and have expressed concern about a proposal to reintroduce a bonus system for a small number of staff. Performance related pay has been proven to fail and doesn’t work in the voluntary sector, what little money there is for pay should be used for the benefit of all.
Scottish Community Conference – Glasgow, Saturday 14th May
It’s is not too late to get registered for our conference for community and voluntary sector workers. Please contact your branch if you are interested in coming.
It’s not all doom and gloom …
Our membership is growing and more people are expressing an interest in becoming active in UNISON. Opposition to the cuts is growing and alliances are being built on a daily basis. It doesn’t have to be like this and people from Venezuela to Egypt are showing this. Keep in touch with your stewards, get involved and use the blog: unison-enablescotland.blogspot.com . Together we can make things better!
Wednesday 11 May 2011
Wednesday 4 May 2011
Enable Scotland response to UNISON's pay claim
Below we reprint the letter received from Peter Scott, Cheif Executive of Enable Scotland in response to UNISON's pay claim for your information. UNISON members will also receive postal communication about this issue shortly.
Thank you very much for submitting your pay claim on behalf of your members. Unfortunately ENABLE Scotland is not in a position to make a pay award at this time. I would like to assure you that we have carefully considered your claim, but the financial position of the organisation leaves us with no choice. As I outlined at the last JNC meeting ENABLE Scotland is committed to increasing the level of pay for direct support staff, and in particular to working towards meeting the demands set out in the STUC campaign for a ‘living wage for Scotland’. Although we are not in a position to make a pay award at this time (for reasons I will detail below), I would like to reassure you and your members that we are genuinely committed to finding a way of achieving the ‘living wage’ as soon as we responsibly can. We would like to work closely with UNISON to achieve this commitment.
In order for your members to understand why ENABLE Scotland is unable to offer a pay award at this time, it is important that they understand the financial reality the charity is facing. As outlined in a letter written by our independent auditors to our Finance Committee in September of last year, our charity has found it necessary to release considerable sums from our central funds to reach a break even position, and these releases “mask the overall loss of the charity”.
Clearly, and as indicated starkly by our auditors, this position is not sustainable, and action is necessary to ensure the charity operates within its means to ensure its long term sustainability.
We have taken a number of steps over the course of the last year to address these problems, and your members will be well aware of many of these measures. However, despite these efforts, we find ourselves in a position where we expect to achieve only a breakeven result in the current financial year, and so any pay award at this time would put the organisation into deficit, a position it simply cannot afford to find itself in.
We continue to make structural and other changes to our charity in order to ensure we are able to operate within our means, and to help us reach a position where we can achieve the ‘living wage’ for our lower paid members of staff. You will understand, however, that this is challenging for us in the current public sector financial environment. We no longer receive, for example, the annual funding uplifts from Local Authorities that previously we could pass on to our employees. Indeed our funders are now demanding substantial reductions in our levels of funding.
The Board and Executive Directors of ENABLE Scotland are committed to working with our staff and UNISON to find ways to achieve the ‘living wage’ target as soon as we can. Therefore, we would like to invite you to join us in a working group to explore how we can effectively work together to meet this aim. If you are in agreement, we will convene the group at the earliest opportunity.
Many thanks,
Peter Scott
Chief Executive
****************************
Thank you very much for submitting your pay claim on behalf of your members. Unfortunately ENABLE Scotland is not in a position to make a pay award at this time. I would like to assure you that we have carefully considered your claim, but the financial position of the organisation leaves us with no choice. As I outlined at the last JNC meeting ENABLE Scotland is committed to increasing the level of pay for direct support staff, and in particular to working towards meeting the demands set out in the STUC campaign for a ‘living wage for Scotland’. Although we are not in a position to make a pay award at this time (for reasons I will detail below), I would like to reassure you and your members that we are genuinely committed to finding a way of achieving the ‘living wage’ as soon as we responsibly can. We would like to work closely with UNISON to achieve this commitment.
In order for your members to understand why ENABLE Scotland is unable to offer a pay award at this time, it is important that they understand the financial reality the charity is facing. As outlined in a letter written by our independent auditors to our Finance Committee in September of last year, our charity has found it necessary to release considerable sums from our central funds to reach a break even position, and these releases “mask the overall loss of the charity”.
Clearly, and as indicated starkly by our auditors, this position is not sustainable, and action is necessary to ensure the charity operates within its means to ensure its long term sustainability.
We have taken a number of steps over the course of the last year to address these problems, and your members will be well aware of many of these measures. However, despite these efforts, we find ourselves in a position where we expect to achieve only a breakeven result in the current financial year, and so any pay award at this time would put the organisation into deficit, a position it simply cannot afford to find itself in.
We continue to make structural and other changes to our charity in order to ensure we are able to operate within our means, and to help us reach a position where we can achieve the ‘living wage’ for our lower paid members of staff. You will understand, however, that this is challenging for us in the current public sector financial environment. We no longer receive, for example, the annual funding uplifts from Local Authorities that previously we could pass on to our employees. Indeed our funders are now demanding substantial reductions in our levels of funding.
The Board and Executive Directors of ENABLE Scotland are committed to working with our staff and UNISON to find ways to achieve the ‘living wage’ target as soon as we can. Therefore, we would like to invite you to join us in a working group to explore how we can effectively work together to meet this aim. If you are in agreement, we will convene the group at the earliest opportunity.
Many thanks,
Peter Scott
Chief Executive
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