UNISON's response to SCVO chief executive on 'cuts'

Below we reprint a letter from Ian Williamson, Chair of UNISON Scotland's Community sector committee and an employee of SPPA. Ian has mailed this letter to 'Third Force News' following comments made by the SCVO Chief Executive, Martin Sime.

Dear Sir

At a time when a broad, cross sector campaign against the coalition’s ideologically inspired spending cuts is required, it is disappointing to hear the Chief Executive of SCVO, Martin Sime, call for the Scottish Government to ‘stop protecting’ the jobs of public sector workers delivering vital public services (‘Battle Begins for a Fair Future’, TFN 4 February).

His assertion that the third sector also provides public services is one that UNISON is in complete agreement with. It is for this reason that UNISON has over the years worked with third sector employers to push for funding arrangements which factor in full cost recovery and parity (with the wider public sector) of pay and conditions for employees in the sector.

Our 6,000 members working in the sector in Scotland are among those facing redundancy or an uncertain future as a result of the cuts. We are determined to fight for each and every one of our members’ jobs in the third sector as well as the public sector.

Instead of evoking the legacy of Thatcherism with his attack on the ‘bloated’ public sector, Martin Sime should be standing alongside his partners in the trade unions to defend all public services, whether they are delivered by the public sector or by voluntary and community organisations. Instead of engaging in a divisive “don’t sack us, sack them” exercise, he should be directing his fire at the Government in London, whose programme of savage cuts will throw hundreds of thousands on the dole and do untold damage to public services and to the wider economy.

Ian Williamson

Chair

UNISON Scottish Community Service Group Committee

Default retirement age comes to an end

The Coalition Government has announced that the default retirement age will be abolished from 1st October 2011. The phasing out will begin in April 2011. The last day workers can be forced to retire using the Default Retirement Age (DRA) is 30 September 2011. As a result, the final day that an employer can provide six months’ notice using the DRA is 30 March 2011.


In general terms, under the new system the dismissal or retirement of older workers is intended to be dealt with either by an objective company policy, individual negotiation or by formal performance management procedures. The recently published ACAS guidance on this subject summarises the issue with the following statement: “Removing the DRA does not mean that employees will never be able to retire. It just means that employers cannot force employees to retire at a set age unless the age can be objectively justified”

UNISON advice to workplace reps is to monitor closely all retirement and dismissal procedures during the transitional period described above. Branches should seek to negotiate a workplace retirement policy which incorporates these changes and creates a level playing field for all employees regarding retirement.

Austerity and UNISON members: a survey

UNISON and PCS are launching a joint survey to measure the impact of the austerity measures on our members’ finances. We know that members and their families are struggling to make ends meet. The recent rise in VAT has come on top of price rises on household essentials, cuts in benefits and proposals to increase pension contributions - all at a time when members are being hit by pay freezes, pay cuts and redundancies.


In this survey we hope to obtain clear evidence to show the hardship these austerity measures are causing our members.

The survey is available by clicking on the link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/J69PSTK or there will be a hardcopy available for those members that do not have online access. The survey should take no longer than 15 minutes to complete and we would urge as many members as possible to take part in the survey by Sunday 20 February 2011. You will be making an important contribution to your union’s campaign against the cuts.

The survey asks members some quite sensitive financial questions, but it is information that is necessary for us to calculate the true impact of the cuts on our members’ finances. The information will be treated as completely confidential. The results will provide the UNISON with hard evidence that will help us make our case in negotiations on pay and pensions and our campaigning and media work.

If you have any questions about the survey, please contact Deborah Littman .

For any technical problems accessing the survey contact Louisa Withers.

The top ten tax shirkers – vote now

The government talks tough about clamping down on benefit ‘cheats’. Yet when faced with tax avoidance by the very wealthy, which sucks far more out of our economy than benefit fraud, ministers go quiet.

To help throw some light on this murky world, the Tax Justice Network has nominated its top ten tax shirkers and we’d like you to choose the worst offender. The winner will receive a small token of our esteem.

We're not suggesting anyone is breaking the law. But that's the problem: we need action to make sure those involved in the multi-billion pound tax avoidance industry, who act legally but use loopholes and tax havens to pay less tax, are stopped in their tracks.

You can vote here http://falseeconomy.org.uk/tax

VOTING ENDS ON MIDNIGHT 30th JANURY 2011

The benefits of UNISON membership......UNISON secures £27,398,985 compensation for personal injuries

Assaults, car crashes, back injuries and slips at work are among the cases UNISON has won £27,398,985 worth of compensation for in 2010.

The UK's largest public sector union has handled 3,893 cases to help members receive justice for the pain and suffering caused by personal injuries.

UNISON's General Secretary, Dave Prentis, said:

"A lot of these injuries could and should have been prevented. These jobs are not dangerous - nursery workers, dental technicians and dinner ladies - but, because employers have been negligent, some UNISON members have lost their health, families, confidence and careers.

"Employers have a duty of care and where they fail, workers and their families deserve compensation for the pain and suffering caused by personal injuries.

"Last year UNISON secured £28million for workplace injuries but, one year on, and it's clear some employers have still not learnt their lesson and introduced safer working practices".

In Scotland, UNISON handled 224 cases and members received £1,602,762.20 compensation.

Remember if you are not a member you can join by clicking the link on the front page.

Protection of Workers (Scotland) Bill

You may be aware, UNISON was instrumental in pursuing legislation through the Scottish Parliament to protect Emergency Workers. The Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act, 2006 made it a specific offence to attack or hinder an emergency worker in performance of their duties. At the time UNISON argued that the Act should not just cover the traditional “Blue Light” services of Police, Fire-fighters and Ambulance personnel and we were successful in having all workers in acute hospitals included in the list of those to whom the Act would apply. To date over 800 members of the public have been successfully prosecuted under the Act.
However, this still leaves many thousands of our members who are not protected, such as social workers, parking attendants, environmental workers, health service staff working in the community, classroom assistants and many others. It is for this reason that UNISON supports a private members bill in the Scottish Parliament proposed by Hugh Henry, MSP. The private members bill gained sufficient support to proceed and is at the first stage in the Scottish Parliament as the Protection of Workers (Scotland) Bill. If successful the Bill will make it an offence for a member of the public to assault a public sector worker carrying out their job or because of the job they do.

However a majority of MSPs on the Committee considering the Bill (SNP, Liberal Democrats and Conservatives) voted against it proceeding. We will therefore need to persuade all MSPs to support it when it is debated in the chamber early next year.

UNISON, in conjunction with the STUC, is launching a campaign in support of the Bill. To assist with this, please email your MSP seeking their support for the bill. Further information on the campaign can be found here.

This will be a very important piece of legislation for our members and will give another layer of protection in our fight against violence.

Please do all you can to publicise the Bill and take part in our campaign.

Using a variety of methods: publicity, advice, legislation we can tackle this unnecessary burden on our members. Please make every effort to take up the recommendations contained in this letter and assist the campaign.

Living Wage letter to Glasgow City Council

UNISON Regional Organiser, Simon MacFarlane has written to the Chief Executive of Glasgow City Council, George Black, leader of the Council, George Matheson and the Principal Officer of the Council, Kevin Rush to request a meeting to discuss the council's support for a Glasgow Living Wage.


Below we reproduce the text of the letter:

I am writing to ask to meet with you to discuss the Living Wage and its applicability to the voluntary sector. The Living Wage will only be of genuine benefit if it provides a floor across as much of the economy in Glasgow and beyond as possible. It is my view that the Council must use it social, economic and moral leavers to help deliver this.

Being the first Council in Scotland to sign up to the Living Wage is to be commended, however it is time for the Authority to act. Words and a website have their part to play but the Authority needs to put its money where its mouth is.

My job in UNISON is supporting our members who work in the community and voluntary sector. Many or our members work for charities involved in the provision of social care. These organisations have seen their funding to service provision ratio squeezed year on year and as the bulk of the costs in this area are staff this directly impacts on our members.

To give just one example, the Council is the major funder of The Mungo Foundation, many staff here earn below the Living Wage of £7.15, some are only a few pence above the National Minimum Wage, yet instead of wages rising they have been frozen for two years.

As the major funder of The Mungo Foundation you should be calling on them to implement the Living Wage, and crucially you should be funding them to do so.

I would like to meet with you along with some of our members who are affected by these issues to discuss this matter.

I look forward to hearing from you.