‘Funeral’ for lost jobs and services in Scotland’s voluntary sector

Date 16 March 2009
Embargo: Not for Release before 00.01am 17 Mar 2009

Members of UNISON who work in Scotland’s voluntary sector will gather outside the Scottish Parliament at 11.00 am today (Tuesday 17th March) to mourn the loss of jobs and services, and to warn that if funding is not improved more will follow. UNISON members will be wearing mourning black and will have a horse drawn hearse and coffin to drive home the message to MSPs. This action will be held jointly with Unite the other leading union in Scotland’s voluntary sector.

UNISON’s lobby comes before a delegation comprising UNISON along with the STUC, Unite, the SCVO, and Community Care Providers Scotland, will appear before the Scottish Parliament’s Petitions Committee in support of Petition PE1231. The 4,000 signature petition calls on the Government to ensure that frontline voluntary sector members receive the same pay and conditions as public sector workers through adequate public funding.

Simon Macfarlane, UNISON Scotland’s Regional Organiser for the Community & Voluntary Sector said: “This lobby is to highlight to politicians what is happening on the ground. Vital projects providing lifeline services are being shut and increasing numbers of jobs are being lost. We are mourning what we have already lost and say to the government now’s the time to act. We need fair funding for the voluntary sector and pay and conditions equity for our members.”

Simon Macfarlane continued: “In the current economic crisis Scotland needs a vibrant voluntary sector but that can’t be funded on the cheap. Members currently work in a climate of fear. Funding is more and more precarious and employers are cutting pay and conditions in response to this. This is not only bad news for our members but for those who the voluntary sector supports. In the care sector staff are stressed through threats to their jobs and demoralised by low pay and poor conditions while looking after some of the most vulnerable people in our communities. Our members deliver first rate services but they really feel at breaking point. Increasing responsibilities are loaded onto frontline carers with no increased resources. If things don’t change, even in this tough economic climate, dedicated staff will vote with their feet and leave.”

Ends

Note for Editors:
Petition PE1231 calls on the Parliament and Government to implement the principles of the Fair Funding Statement the petitioning bodies signed up to in November 2007. This calls for voluntary sector workers to receive the same pay and conditions as public sector workers, an improved contracting environment and for contracts to be for a minimum of five years.

For Further Information Please Contact:
Simon Macfarlane (Regional Organiser) 07703 194 132 (m)
Chris Bartter (Communications Officer) 0771 558 3729(m)

G20 demo London Saturday 28 March

Jobs, Justice, Climate - Put People First!

UNISON is supporting the March for Jobs, Justice, Climate on Saturday 28 March in London, and is urging every member who can attend to do so.

Details of times etc:

11am Assemble Victoria Embankment London

12 noon March off to Rally at Hyde Park

2pm Carnival, speakers and entertainment at Hyde Park

4pm expected end of Rally

Check out more details on the G20 demo website:

http://www.putpeoplefirst.org.uk/

The aim of the demonstration is to put pressure on the leaders of the G20 group of rich nations meeting in London at the beginning of April, so that in their discussion and decisions they will Put People First!

The Google map below shows the assembly point at Victoria Embankment and where the rally will take place Hyde Park.



View Larger Map

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Economic crisis is no time to cut local services

Sunday 8 March 2009


The SNP's concordat with councils has now become a straitjacket which is causing cuts in local services to those who need them most, UNISON's Scottish Secretary Matt Smith told the Labour Conference in Dundee.

The UNISON motion on local government cuts states that the financial settlement for Scotland's local councils will lead to real cuts in public services this year with even more damaging threats for next year.

Speaking in support of the motion, Matt said:
"Today in the midst of this financial crisis many are looking to local government to make a difference: to be an economic generator; to look after those who are suffering; and to be the voice of local communities. Yet at this time we find that local authorities are themselves facing crisis. At a time when its services are more than ever required, it is starved of funds and opportunities to increase its income because of the council tax freeze and cuts in business rates."

Matt said:
"Of course we welcome the SNP's abandonment of the absurd local income tax, which was never going to be local anyway. But in seeking to pave the way for that policy the Scottish Government set unwelcome and unworkable financial parameters.

"The concordat has become a straitjacket. Every day we see the pressure piling up in local government, with jobs cut, redundancies proposed, hours of work reduced and services threatened. Year on year we experience not only underfunding but backtracking on policies from classroom sizes to town centre regeneration. We experience the uncertainty it provides to those employed in the services. And we see the impact on the most vulnerable."

Matt called on the Scottish Labour Party to restate the value of local government and campaign to improve local services, to recognise and fairly reward local government workers, and to recognise that "a financial crisis is no time to reduce services to those who need them most."



ENDS



Notes for editors:
UNISON Scotland's resolutions to Scottish Labour Party Conference 2009 can be found at the UNISON Scottish Labour Link pages on our website
www.unison-scotland.org.uk/labourlink/


Details of the UNISON Scotland campaign Public Works: a programme to beat the recession is also available on the UNISON Scotland website
www.unison-scotland.org.uk/

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PFI car parking contractors in line for £170,000 windfall - UNISON

Date: 6 March 2009

The parking contractors that run the car parking at Edinburgh’s Royal Infirmary, are set to make around an extra £170,000 profit because of government actions to tackle the credit crunch, according to Scotland’s healthcare union, UNISON today.



Speaking at the Scottish Labour Party Conference in Dundee this morning, UNISON delegate, Morag Houston said:

“Our Lothian Health Branch has just found out that the private contractors who run the car parking at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary are cashing it in on the back of the government’s decision to reduce VAT by 2.5% this year. Because this has not been included in the contractual details – either with the parking sub-contractors Meteor, or with the main contractor, Consort – they are charging £70,000 to recalibrate their parking machines to take off that 2.5%, and will charge a further £70K to change them back when the VAT reverts to 17.5%! And that is after they have already made an extra £29,000 because they haven’t already changed the machines to reduce the extra 2.5%.”

UNISON, was backing a motion giving support to the private member’s bill proposed by Paul Martin MSP, which, if successful, would make charging for car parking illegal throughout Scotland’s NHS, including in PFI funded facilities.

Tam Waterson, Chair of UNISON’s Lothian Health Branch said:

“It is exactly this kind of contractual inflexibility and profiteering at the expense of our NHS, which UNISON has campaigned against from the first days of PFI. We need to get behind Paul Martin’s bill to deal with the scandal of car parking charges imposed on those who are sick, their families and friends and the staff who care for them, but more than that – we need to continue to fight to get rid of this expensive, inflexible and inefficient way of funding our vital public works – whether it is called, PFI, PPP or SFT.”

The motion was passed.

ENDS

Note for editors:
You can see video footage of Paul Martin MSP launching his bill in January with the support of UNISON members at http://www.youtube.com/user/UNISONScotland.


For Further Information Please Contact:
Malcolm Burns (Information Dev Officer) 07876 566 978(m)
Chris Bartter (Communications Officer) 0771 558 3729(m)
Morag Houston (UNISON Delegate – LP Conference)- please contact Chris Bartter
Tom Waterston (UNISON Lothian Health Branch Chair) 07753 627 575(m)

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Councils key to solving housing crisis - UNISON

Date: 4 March 2009


UNISON – Scotland’s housing union – today urged the Scottish Government to allow councils to bid for housing grant on an equal basis with Registered Social Landlords (RSL) in order to increase the amount of affordable housing in Scotland and create a more stable housing market. The union, which has over 10,000 members in Scotland’s housing services, has released a briefing to all its branches in Scotland calling for extended protection for mortgages, a moratorium on repossessions, and to develop new types of housing associations that don’t rely on subsidies from house sales.

Dave Watson, UNISON’s Scottish Organiser said: “The main problem for Scotland’s housing is a lack of affordable houses for rent. We welcomed the increased funding for new housing released in 2007, but it must be realised that this only led to a start in new council housing (432 homes started in 2007).

“We need to re-balance Scotland’s housing so that there are more and better affordable options, and we don’t rely on home ownership as the only game in town. To do this we need to ensure that there is a level playing field - making funding available for council house building on the same basis as other RSL’s, so they can add to the affordable housing options available to people.”

UNISON is also concerned that the increase in repossessions and defaults on mortgages in the owned sector will need further government action. The union is looking for a short-term moratorium on repossessions like that suggested by Barak Obama, and for the government to extend the Mortgage Rescue Package.

Dave Watson said: “Our members are no different from the population as a whole. They are threatened with job losses, mortgage defaults and repossessions. If predictions are correct they could lead to one family having their home repossessed every seven minutes next year. Both the UK and Scottish Governments need to raise their game to provide further protection urgently.”


ENDS



For Further Information Please Contact:
Dave Watson (Scottish Organiser) 07958 122 409(m)
Chris Bartter (Communications Officer) 0771 558 3729(m)

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Stop privatising the Royal Mail - sign the petition

UNISON Scotland says: "Stop privatising the Royal Mail."
Click here to sign the petition

STV coverage of social worker role was excellent

Colleagues may have already seen tonights STV news where SWIG colleagues were interviewed following the Brandon Muir murder trial.

You can find the news piece here and follow other links to interviews
http://news.stv.tv/home/80041-man-found-guilty-of-culpable-homicide-of-dundee-toddler/

A further interview was done by ITN and will be broadcast on tonights 10pm news, we are advised.

http://www.itv.com/News/Ten/default.html

The STV coverage was excellent and we are hopeful that ITN will be as balanced in terms of the role of the social worker.

Regards,
Mandy McDowall
Regional Organiser, UNISON

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Enable staff in pay action ballot

Date: Friday 27 February 2009


UNISON members working for Enable, the charity that works with people with learning disabilities, are to be balloted on strike action over pay, their union UNISON today.

The ballot follows a 2 to 1 rejection of the employer’s offer of a £300 rise for the lowest paid, plus a £100 non-consolidated payment; 2% for the second lowest grade of staff with £50 non consolidated payment and only 1.5% for the remaining staff. Staff in Enable were due a pay rise from 1st October 2008, when inflation was running at 5%.

Last year UNISON lodged a claim for an increase of 5% or £1000 whichever is the greater, an extra day’s holiday and an end to a system that pays people differently for doing the same job. In December 2008 Enable finally made their offer.

Simon Macfarlane, Regional Organiser said:
"Our members are sick of receiving below inflation pay settlements from Enable and have clearly voted to reject this poor offer. These staff cannot continue to subsidise vital care and support to some of the most vulnerable in our community by poverty wages.

"This offer is simply unacceptable. It is clear from its overwhelming rejection that there is a level of anger and frustration amongst our members, even at a time of economic uncertainty. We are recommending they vote ‘Yes’ in this ballot. Our members don’t want to take action that will impact on people with learning disabilities, but they will if Enable force them in to it. Enable must get back round the table and make a more serious offer."

The union says there are other issues at stake too. Members are annoyed that if you look after someone in Glasgow you get paid £6.67 an hour but if you look after someone in Bearsden you get paid £7.24, and urges an end to this geographical discrimination.

Simon MacFarlane said:
"UNISON knows the funding pressures there are on the voluntary sector, and we are calling on employers to join with us when we lobby the Scottish Parliament for fair funding for the sector on 17th March."

Ends

For Further Information Please Contact:
Simon Macfarlane (Regional Organiser) 0870 7777 006 (w) 07703 194 132 (m)
Chris Bartter (Communications Officer) 0870 7777 006(w) 0771 558 3729(m)

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Real pension divide is between bosses and staff - UNISON

Date: Friday 27 February 2009

In the wake of the news that Fred Goodwin has already started drawing a pension of £650k per year, UNISON - Scotland's public service union - says that this highlights the real pensions divide in the UK economy.

A briefing by the union issued today (27 February), summarises information from the Pensions Policy Institute, the National Association for Pensions Funds and the TUC to point out that the majority of company directors can retire at 60, with a final salary pension 25 times higher than the national average which they accrue twice as fast as both their workforce and the public sector workforce.

Dave Watson, UNISON's Scottish Organiser, said:
"This information from independent sources, shows that those with the real gold-plated pensions are private sector directors. The very people who are leading the clamour to attack the pensions of low-paid, hard working public service staff. Fred Goodwin's pension is simply one example - the top directors in FTSE 100 companies averaged a pension of £333,664 p.a. in 2008 - and this figure has gone up by 4% since the previous year."

In addition - despite the manipulated statistics put out by organisations like the Taxpayers Alliance - public sector workers tend to pay more into their pension than private sector staff, and accrue their pension at the same rate as staff in the private sector. However the pension for new entrants to public sector pensions is only similar to a medium private sector final salary scheme.

Dave Watson said:
"The Taxpayers Alliance, and other private sector-sponsored campaign groups again spit their vitriol against public service workers. For example, local government workers like classroom assistants, home carers, social workers, refuse collectors, and dinner ladies, contribute all their working lives to gain a pension that averages just £3,800 pa, yet the Taxpayer's Alliance, would apparently prefer them to have that pension cut and force them to rely on state benefits."

"They would be better employed directing their firepower at the real gold-plated pensioners. Big business bosses who award themselves generous pensions while closing decent schemes for their staff. But they won't of course, because this would be biting the hand that feeds them."

ENDS

Note for editors:
The briefing from UNISONScotland is available from either contact below, or on the Scottish website - http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/briefings/198pensionsupdate.pdf

For Further Information Please Contact:
Dave Watson (Scottish Organiser) 07958 122 409(m)
Chris Bartter (Communications Officer) 0771 558 3729(m)

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Accounts Commission misses the point on local government

Thursday 26 February 2009


UNISON – the union representing staff delivering local services - has slammed today’s Accounts Commission annual overview report on local government, as piecemeal and inaccurate.

Matt Smith, UNISON’s Scottish Secretary, said:

“Unfortunately the Accounts Commission’s report skips over the significant cost implications of local councils complying with the law and delivering equal pay which could run into millions of pounds; mistakenly advocates the use of shared service to achieve ‘urgent savings’ when all the evidence shows that shared services based on cost savings don’t work*; advocates an increased concentration on the failed mantra of ‘competitive’ services; and recommends increasing the bureaucracy to collect more accounts information rather than addressing the increased need for public services in a recession.”

The union also points to the irony that an earlier report by the Accounts Commission slated the public services for unplanned and unmonitored overuse of consultants, whereas this one advocates concentration on shared services – where consultants are increasingly used as a prop to make the case.

Matt Smith said:

“We have tried to get information from both central government and the local government Improvement Service on the use of consultants. Both have refused our Freedom of Information requests – central government because they didn’t keep a record of the work companies do, and the Improvement Service because they were not covered by the FOI(S) Act. We do know that consultants are strongly involved in promoting shared services, including some prominent failures, and wonder that this contradiction hasn’t occurred to the Accounts Commission.”

“It is a pity that at a time when local councils face significant challenges from the current economic crisis and underfunding from central government, they are not being better served by the body set up to overview their performance. The Accounts Commission can surely do better than advocating local government being sidetracked into expensive reorganisation of services, risking increased waste of money on failed shared service development, and ignoring a huge cost implication for local government.”



ENDS


Note for editors:
*As an example of the problems with Shared Services, the shared IT services project between the Department for Transport and its seven agencies was supposed to be up and running last year and save £57m. By this year only two agencies and the DfT were using it and the costs have risen by £81m.

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50 frontline jobs at risk in Stirling as budget overspend looms

Date: Wednesday 18 February 2009

Plans to close residential homes in Stirling as a result of a budget overspend could result in the loss of 50 frontline jobs, the council's UNISON branch has warned.

At a meeting with Stirling Council management on the 22nd January 2009 UNISON were issued with an HR1 possible compulsory redundancy notice for 170 jobs. After UNISON challenged the redundancies the SNP council leader, Graham Houston, made the following statement:

“There will be no cuts to frontline services but making savings on this scale does mean a reduction in the number of posts by simplifying, streamlining and standardising management structures.”

The Depute council leader, SNP councillor Scott Farmer, challenged UNISON’s position by stating that the SNP administration is committed to frontline services and these changes will enable us to deliver more effective and efficient services.

James Douglas, UNISON Stirling Branch Secretary, said:

“If this is the case, why are the council proposing to close both Wellgreen and Beech Residential Homes which could make 50 frontline care staff redundant.

A decision will be taken on Thursday, 19th February, 2009, at the Council’s budget meeting with little or no consideration given to residents, their families or the staff affected. I would ask that the general public assist UNISON in protecting public services by contacting their local councillor, MSP and MP in supporting care for the elderly members of our community.”

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UNISON welcomes decision on Local Income Tax but warns of imminent cuts in local services

Date: Wed 11 February 2009
For immediate release


UNISON, Scotland’s local government union, has welcomed the decision to drop the Local Income Tax by the Scottish Government today - but issued a warning that the actual financial settlement for Scotland’s local councils announced in the same speech by Finance Secretary John Swinney will lead to real cuts in public services this year, with even more damaging threats for next year.

The union says that despite claims by the Government of increasing cash for local government, this budget will inevitably mean staffing cuts and services to the public will be lost. Council budgets are under pressure from the settlement for three reasons:

1. A large chunk of the money from the Scottish Government has been ring-fenced to pay for the council tax freeze, and can’t be used to deliver services.
2. The budget deal with the Tories to cut business rates will mean less money.
3. Income to councils from sales and service charges is dropping due to the recession.

At the same time demand for public services from local councils is increasing due to that same recession.

Dave Watson, UNISON’s Scottish Organiser said:

"We welcome John Swinney's acceptance of reality - that there was neither Parliamentary support nor a viable financial basis for the SNP's Local Income Tax plan. It would have resulted in hundreds of millions of pounds lost to local councils with a disastrous effect on jobs and services.

"Unfortunately, the local government settlement which John Swinney did announce today will still have the effect of budget cuts for Scotland's councils. UNISON is opposed to the continued Council Tax freeze which will increasingly cause jobs and services to be cut back.

"A recession is the time to invest more money in local services, not cut them back. In addition to increasing demand as people turn to public services to help them cope with the recession, properly funded public services actually boost the economy."

UNISON is planning a campaign to promote local services and to ensure they are available for the increasing number of people who were likely to depend on them.

ends

For further information please contact:
Matt Smith, Scottish Secretary 07771 548997 (m)
Dave Watson, Scottish Organiser 07958 122 409 (m)

Deadline TV: Glasgow Community service strikers take further action

Donald McNaughton, Unison member and community services supervisor at Glasgow City Council, speaks to Deadline News TV press agency about the strike...



"WORKERS at Scotland’s biggest council who have been on strike for five weeks have taken their protest to MSPs at the Scottish Parliament.

"Community service supervisors at Glasgow City Council travelled to Edinburgh as part of their on-going dispute over pay and hours.

"The employees – who look after people carrying out non-custodial sentences in the community – handed a letter of protest over to justice secretary Kenny MacAskill.

"The 21 workers started the industrial action on January 6 after talks broke down between the union Unison and the council over a re-grading of their posts."

More here...

http://deadlinescotland.wordpress.com/2009/02/05/community-service-strikers-take-further-action/

Other news stories at Deadline News TV

http://www.youtube.com/user/DeadlinenewsTV

Parents eleventh hour bid to save uni nursery

Parents eleventh hour bid to save uni nursery

Feb 4 2009 by Lynn Jolly
Paisley Daily Express


TODDLERS took to the streets with their mums yesterday in a last-ditch protest aimed at keeping their university nursery open.



Plans are in the pipeline to shut the nursery at the University of the West of Scotland’s Paisley campus.

And, just an hour before members of the governing university court met to make a final decision, parents appealed to them to show some compassion.

...

John Gallacher, regional organiser for the staff’s UNISON union, said: “There are 30 staff across both campuses. And if the decision to close the facilities is confirmed these people will be made redundant, and it will be compulsory.

“If this happens these will be the first compulsory redundancies in the history of the UWS – and it would be a dark day.”



Click here for full story in Paisley Daily Express
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Community Service strikers to lobby Parliament

Wed 4 February 2009



Glasgow Council's 21 Community Service Supervisors, on strike for five weeks over proposals by Glasgow Council to cut their pay, are to lobby the Scottish Parliament tomorrow (Thursday 5th February).

The supervisors remain on indefinite strike action, but the Council remain intransigent and are still refusing to withdraw the pay cuts the strikers face under "service reform" proposals.

The members will be lobbying parliament from 10.30 onwards and will be handing in a letter of protest to the Justice Minister, Kenny MacAskill MSP, highlighting their dispute.

There will also be a rally outside the Glasgow City Chambers on Friday 6th Feb at 12.30pm
Brian Smith, Secretary of UNISON's Social Work Stewards said: "The failure of Glasgow City Council to address the causes of this dispute has driven the members to approach politicians in the Scottish Parliament.

Already Sandra White MSP and Robert Brown MSP have agreed to meet the members to seriously discuss the problem - which is more than their employer has agreed to do in the five weeks they have been out. They will be pointing out to politicians that plans to increase the amount of Community Service handed out are being stymied by this dispute in Scotland's largest authority."


ENDS


Note for Editors:
Community Service Supervisors supervise serious, violent and repeat offenders who have been given community service as an alternative to prison. They work on their own every day with five offenders undertaking gardening, home decoration, joinery or environmental projects. The Council want to give them additional duties - assessing work requests from the public, developing new placements, training offenders, placing offenders in appropriate squads and assessing offenders "attitude, development and employability" and bring compulsory increase in hours and days worked.

The Council want to pay them Grade 4 for this new job. The job should be Grade 5 under the Council's grading system, and workers doing the same job with offenders in individual work placements will be on Grade 5. The new grade also still leaves many of our members facing pay cuts of over £2,000 caused by the Council's 2007 equal pay review.

The cuts in pay affect all those who currently drive (the majority) and weekend working staff. For example a Supervisor who drives and works every Saturday and Sunday currently earns around £21,000 pa. Council pay offered is £18,500. A wage cut of £2,500 The basic core pay proposed is £16,000, (without the driving monies or weekend enhancements). This is too low and does not reflect the value of the new job under the Council's own job evaluation scheme.


For Further Information Please Contact:
Brian Smith (Secretary - Glasgow SW Stewards) 07870 914 361 (m)
Donald McNaughton (Steward - CS Supervisors) 07988 038 805(m)
Mandy McDowall (Regional Officer) 07903 846 427(m)
Chris Bartter (Communications Officer) 0771 558 3729 (m)
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Tories could deal with social worker crisis themselves

Wednesday 4 February 2009


UNISON, the UK's largest public service union, representing 300,000 social care workers including 40,000 social workers, today (4 February) called on the Tories to stop whingeing about social work shortages when they could take action to deal with the problem in many cases.

Dave Prentis, UNISON General Secretary said:

"Last week UNISON described the shortage of social workers as a 'ticking time bomb' and called on councils to take urgent action.

"It's a bit rich for the Tories to start whingeing about the crisis in recruiting and retaining social workers when they run most councils in England and some in Scotland.

"The answer to the problem lies in their hands. They could start by paying more to recruit and retain social workers and other key council staff if they had the political will to do so.

"Why don't they just get on with the job and stop wasting public funds asking their friends in local government for answers to questions they should already know?"

In England and Wales the Tories run 216 councils, 104 are No Overall Control, 48 Labour, 27 Lib Dem and 8 Independent. That means the Tories run 54% and are often the largest group on the NOC ones. They also Chair the Local Government Association.

In Scotland the Tories run 2 councils, are partners in 6 more and give support to the administration in a further 5.

Stephen Smellie, Chair of UNISON's Scottish Social Work Issues group will tell the Scottish parliament's Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture committee today that the pressures in Scotland are also high.

"Councils in Scotland are the bodies responsible for recruiting and retaining social workers. Parties in control of those councils need to take action to deal with the problems of social work staffing and resources - especially in the children and families service."


UNISON has produced an eight-point plan aimed at tacking the crisis in child protection in Scotland.

UNISON’s eight-point plan: (reflecting the position in Scotland)


Co-working on all child protection investigation visits: child protection investigation visits to be done by two practitioners.

More social workers and support staff: an urgent action plan to fill vacancies and to review staffing levels across all social work teams.

National caseload management standards: enforced through the inspection process and regularly audited by the council leadership, with sanctions against employers who breach the Scottish Social Services Council’s Code of Practice for Social Care Employers.

More resources: a planned programme of investment in children and families’ social work.

Cull of bureaucracy: a root and branch zero-based review of all bureaucracy.

To increase the responsiveness of and resources to the widely respected Children’s Panel system: creating a system which ensures that social workers can service it properly and that the resources are in place to allow its decisions to be implemented.

Better support and more reflective practice: Social workers should have at least two years post-qualifying experience before being allocated child protection cases. There should be consistent, high quality supervision that is both supportive and challenging.

Measures to rebuild morale, confidence and status of social workers: redress the devastating impact on morale through re-instigating the campaign run by the previous Scottish Executive to promote positive public awareness about what social work achieves.


ENDS


For Further Information Please Contact:
Mandy McDowall (Regional Officer) 07903 846 427(m)
Chris Bartter (Communications Officer) 0771 558 3729(m)

For information on the position across the UK contact:
Mary Maguire – Head of Press and Broadcasting - 07771 548 957
Anne Mitchell – Press Officer – 07887 945 307

www.unison-scotland.org.uk/socialwork
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Scottish Climate Change Bill: Dave Watson on BBC Good Morning Scotland

BBC Good Morning Scotland
Tuesday 3 February 2009

06:55am Dave Watson of UNISON Scotland interviewed by Gary Robertson on the Climate Change Bill.

Stop Climate Chaos Scotland calls on Parliament to deliver strong climate legislation

Tuesday 3 February 2009: For Release 00.01

COALITION CALLING ON PARLIAMENT TO DELIVER STRONG CLIMATE LEGISLATION

Key members from across the Stop Climate Chaos Scotland coalition will today (Tuesday 3 February) present their evidence on the Scottish Climate Change Bill to the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee (TICC).

2009 is a critical year for action on climate change with global deal negotiations in Copenhagen in December.

The Scottish Climate Change Bill has the potential to be the most important piece of legislation for a generation. However if it is to become world leading and set Scotland on the path of a green economic revival it needs to be sharpened.

SCCS, the leading coalition of environment, faith and development organisations, is calling on the Scottish Government to act now to cut dangerous carbon emissions and not delay serious reductions until 2020.

Key asks include:

1. Set out a framework that will achieve at least an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

2. Establish in statute annual emission reductions of at least 3% year-on-year from the start, not just from 2020.

3. Include all emissions in the targets in the Bill, including those from international aviation and shipping, from the very start.

4. Establish a Scottish advisory body, a Scottish Climate Change Commission in the primary legislation, which should be established when the Bill is enacted.

5. Set in place a statutory limit of 20% on the proportion of emissions reduction effort that can be met through the purchase of international credits. At least 80% of the effort to cut emissions should take place in Scotland.

Judith Robertson, Head of Oxfam Scotland said:

“This is not just an issue for future generations but for vulnerable people across the world today who are suffering the negative effects of climate change. Government commitments for domestic action on climate change have the potential to make a real difference and show leadership to the rest of the world but annual emission reductions of at least 3% year-on-year need to kick in right from the start.”

Dave Watson, Scottish Organiser, UNISON, said:

"The fact that UNISONScotland is represented in this discussion shows the breadth of support for strong action by the Scottish Government on climate change. In particular, the public sector must be given a key leadership role and made accountable for it.

"Also, there are so many crucial differences between the Scottish and UK contexts that an independent Scottish Climate Change Commission is essential."

Dr Richard Dixon, Director of WWF Scotland said:

“2009 is a make or break year for agreeing a new international deal on climate change. Scotland could have a huge influence on the rest of the world by setting really tough targets and including all international aviation and shipping emissions from the start.”


ENDS

Notes to editors


1. Stop Climate Chaos Scotland (SCCS) is a diverse, growing coalition of organisations campaigning on climate change. The SCCS Coalition has 30 Scottish members, representing more than 1.5 million supporters, ranging from environment and development groups to faith organisations, trade unions, student societies, care providers and many more. For full details visit www.stopclimatechaos.org/scotland

2. SCCS will be holding a Climate Change Rally in April 2009. All coalition members and their supporters are being encouraged to spring into action for a strong Scottish Climate Change Bill. We will be gathering to lobby MSPs outside the Scottish Parliament, from 11am – 2pm, on Wednesday 22nd April 2009. For further details of the rally see SCCS website.
3. The Stop Climate Chaos Coalition Scotland priorities for the Climate Change (Scotland) Bill are that it must:

• Set out a framework that will achieve at least an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

• Establish in statute annual emission reductions of at least 3% year-on-year from the start, not just from 2020.

• Include all emissions in the targets in the Bill, including those from international aviation and shipping, from the very start.

• Establish a Scottish advisory body, a Scottish Climate Change Commission in the primary legislation, which should be established when the Bill is enacted.

• Set in place a statutory limit of 20% on the proportion of emissions reduction effort that can be met through the purchase of international credits. At least 80% of the effort to cut emissions should take place in Scotland.

• Establish duties on all public bodies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in line with the national target.

• Set in place robust, transparent reporting measures so the Scottish Parliament is well informed on progress in meeting targets and Government is held to account.

• Ensure that strong enforcement measures are set in place in statute.

• Scotland counts all its emissions, including those produced by products and services we consume.

• Be explicit that sustainable development is key to the intention and delivery of the statute.

Public money should not subsidise private education - UNISON

Date: 30 January 2009


Scotland's education union - UNISON - today condemned the right-wing campaign body ReformScotland for proposing more public subsidy for the private sector, and threatening the quality of Scotland's education.

Dave Watson, UNISON's Scottish Organiser said "Once again failed Tory candidates and private business people try and convince us that their prejudices are to be taken seriously as they propose yet more public subsidy to set up private schools.

"It defies belief that the private sector - having come crying for public moneys to bail out their chaotic handling of the finance sector, now want more public cash to fund private schools. Private involvement in education has led to events like the emergency intervention of Ofsted in the Richard Rose Academy in Carlisle, and the collapse of Ballast Wilshire in the middle of building East Lothian's PFI schools.

"Proposals, like handing over education to business and to religious fundamentalism indicates the true nature of Reform Scotland, and belies its claim to be taken seriously as an 'independent' think tank."

ENDS

Note for Editors:
Reform Scotland is run by Geoff Mawdsley, ex-Tory Candidate for Stirling and former senior adviser to the Party in Scotland. Its Chair is Ben Thomson, Chair of investment banking and PFI Group, the Noble group.

For Further Information Please Contact:
Dave Watson (Scottish Organiser - Policy) 07958 122 409(m)
Chris Bartter (Communications Officer) 0771 558 3729(m)
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Glasgow Community Service staff action to escalate

Date: Wed 28 January 2009

Glasgow Council's 21 Community Service Supervisors, on strike for three weeks over proposals by Glasgow Council to cut their pay, are planning to take their case to the public with demonstrations and to escalate their action. The supervisors remain on indefinite strike action, but the Council remain intransigent and are still refusing to withdraw the pay cuts the strikers face under "service reform" proposals.

The strikers will be staging a demonstration outside the Sheriff Court from 8.00am tomorrow - Thursday 29 January, and a further lobby of Glasgow Council’s Executive Committee meeting on Friday 6 Feb at 12.30pm at in the City Chambers

Brian Smith, Secretary of UNISON’s Social Work Stewards said:

"At a time when the eyes of the public and the Parliament are on improving alternatives to prison, you would think that the largest provider of those services in Scotland would be making serious efforts to resolve an indefinite strike. But no, Glasgow Council is sitting on its hands hoping our members will just go away. UNISON is stepping up its support for these strikers and is now considering how to escalate the action into other areas of Glasgow's criminal justice services."

“Our members are in favour of improving the service and have even suggested ways in which the service could be improved further. However the Council must recognise what the job is worth. Some of the workers face pay cuts of over £2,000 under the management's proposals.”

ENDS



Note for Editors

Community Service Supervisors supervise serious, violent and repeat offenders who have been given community service as an alternative to prison. They work on their own every day with five offenders undertaking gardening, home decoration, joinery or environmental projects. The Council want to give them additional duties - assessing work requests from the public, developing new placements, training offenders, placing offenders in appropriate squads and assessing offenders “attitude, development and employability” and bring compulsory increase in hours and days worked. The Council want to pay them Grade 4 for this new job. The job should be Grade 5 under the Council's grading system, and workers doing the same job with offenders in individual work placements will be on Grade 5. The new grade also still leaves many of our members facing pay cuts of over £2,000 caused by the Council's 2007 equal pay review.

The cuts in pay affect all those who currently drive (the majority) and weekend working staff. For example a Supervisor who drives and works every Saturday and Sunday currently earns around £21,000 pa. Council pay offered is £18,500. A wage cut of £2,500

The basic core pay proposed is £16,000, (without the driving monies or weekend enhancements). This is too low and does not reflect the value of the new job under the Council's own job evaluation scheme.



For further information please contact:

Brian Smith (Secretary – Glasgow SW Stewards) 07870 914 361 (m)
Mandy McDowall (Regional Officer) 07903 846 427(m)
Chris Bartter (Communications Officer) 0771 558 3729(m)

Shocking social work survey shows child protection is 'ticking time bomb"

Date: Mon 26 January 2009


Findings released by UNISON today (26 January), show that without decisive action, it is only a matter of time before there is another Baby P tragedy.

The UK’s largest public service union, which represents 300,000 social care workers including 40,000 social workers, has released a damning report (Still Slipping through the net? - Front-line staff assess children’s safeguarding process) showing that social workers are struggling to cope due to vacant posts, increased caseloads and inexperienced staff thrown in at the deep end.

Dave Prentis, UNISON General Secretary, said: “Our survey shows that Child Protection Services are a ticking time bomb that could explode at any minute. There are not enough staff, caseloads are too big and social workers are spending 80% of their time on paperwork. That is a lethal combination that will leave children exposed.

“Six years after the Laming enquiry into the tragic death of Victoria Climbie, child protection workers are still struggling to cope with heavy caseloads. Social workers are not being given the time, training or resources to do their jobs effectively.

“Thanks to social workers many thousands of children have been saved from abuse and neglect, but it is a daily battle. They come under constant fire during high profile child abuse cases and many have seen an increase in threats of violence against them since the baby P case. There are already problems recruiting and retaining social workers, we cannot afford to lose any more.

“Without decisive action it is only a matter of time before there is another tragedy. We owe it to baby P and all those other children at risk to re-think the way that child protection is organised. That is why UNISON is calling for our eight-point plan to be put into place in Scotland immediately.”

Report findings include:

• Six out of ten respondents work in teams where over 20% of posts are vacant. More than a fifth have a vacancy rate of over 30%.
• Three quarters report that average caseloads for social workers have increased since 2003.
• Nearly 60% say that staff who do not have a social work qualification, or are newly qualified, are more likely to be doing child protection work for which they are insufficiently trained or experienced than in 2003.
• Twenty eight% believe that there is less access to adequate supervision; with 52 per cent saying it has simply remained the same.
• Half of all respondents believe that social work services are now worse resourced than in 2003, with only nine per cent believing it is better.
• A third believe that the system has not improved over nearly six years.

Issues include remote leadership and inexperienced management, lack of focus on the rights of the child, problems with agencies passing the buck on assessments and a need for more accountability from outside agencies.

A separate survey which looked at violence against social workers in general found that 65% had encountered verbal abuse, 26% physical threat, 9% violence and 31% bullying in the last two years.

A social worker from the North, who wishes to remain anonymous, said: “I have worked for six years in two local authorities in child protection/court and children in care.

“I get threatened with violence over the phone by parents and young people at least once a fortnight.

“I have also had threats made about myself and towards my family and children, had my car vandalised on several occasions and have even been locked in a house and threatened with needles.”

She added: “More recently, following the Baby P and all the negative publicity surrounding social workers in the media, parents refer to the case when they are unhappy with social work involvement.”

Another worker from Scotland said: “I have been threatened by a client over the phone who left several messages stating that I should die a horrible death and that they are going to kill me.

“Our professionalism is constantly attacked.”

UNISON’s eight-point plan (this reflects the different position in Scotland)

Co-working on all child protection investigation visits: child protection investigation visits to be done by two practitioners.

More social workers and support staff: an urgent action plan to fill vacancies and to review staffing levels across all social work teams.

National caseload management standards: enforced through the inspection process and regularly audited by the council leadership, with sanctions against employers who breach the Scottish Social Services Council’s Code of Practice for Social Care Employers.

More resources: a planned programme of investment in children and families’ social work.

Cull of bureaucracy: a root and branch zero-based review of all bureaucracy.

To increase the responsiveness of and resources to the widely respected Children’s Panel system: creating a system which ensures that social workers can service it properly and that the resources are in place to allow its decisions to be implemented.

Better support and more reflective practice: Social workers should have at least two years post-qualifying experience before being allocated child protection cases. There should be consistent, high quality supervision that is both supportive and challenging.

Measures to rebuild morale, confidence and status of social workers: redress the devastating impact on morale through re-instigating the campaign run by the previous Scottish Executive to promote positive public awareness about what social work achieves.

ENDS

For Further Information Please Contact:
Mandy McDowall (Regional Officer) 07903 846 427(m)
Chris Bartter (Communications Officer) 0771 558 3729(m)

For information on the report and position across the UK contact:
Mary Maguire – Head of Press and Broadcasting -07771 548 957
Anne Mitchell – Press Officer – 07887 945 307

www.unison-scotland.org.uk/socialwork

170 jobs to go in Stirling as budget overspend looms

Date: 23 January 2009

UNISON, the union representing Stirling's council workers today condemned Stirling Council for issuing a notice that they intend to make 170 council workers redundant in order to avoid a threatened overspend.

James Douglas, UNISON Stirling Branch Secretary said: "Without any consultation and without any attempt to discuss alternative methods of saving money, the council has sent us notification that up to 170 jobs are to be made redundant. This is the first real information that we have had and has come as a huge shock.

"This will spark anger amongst the workforce, particularly as the SNP administration previously said that they wanted to work with the Unions to make efficiency savings. Obviously this promise has been torn up very quickly.

"These redundancies will impact on a wide range of staff including low paid clerical staff. While we only have the basic figures, and have no idea yet where these jobs are to be cut, it is clear that this number of jobs will not be lost without the loss of services."

UNISON are also angry that the council has been using a firm of consultants - KPMG - to come up with these redundancies at a cost of up to £1m.

Mr Douglas said "The contract that KPMG are working under, means that the more savings they make the more money they make. It is also interesting that - though their own company is in trouble - they aren't making their own staff redundant , recognising that redundancy can be seen as a quick fix, but can lead to problems in the long term."

UNISON will be seeking an early meeting with the Council to put its view on the proposed job losses. Once they have more detailed information on the redundancies they will be consulting with the workforce.
"Industrial action cannot be ruled out." Said Mr Douglas.

ENDS

For Further Information Please Contact: James Douglas - Stirling Branch Secretary - 01786 44 3440(t) 07826903559(m) John Fair - Regional Organiser - 07958 122 409 (m)

Hospital parking fines put patients lives at risk - UNISON

Thursday 22 Jan 2009
For release 00.01am


Scottish healthcare union, UNISON, today wrote to NHS GG&C Chief Executive, Tom Divers, pointing out that the 4 hour maximum parking period imposed upon staff on hospital sites across NHS Glasgow and Clyde is putting vulnerable patients at risk.


It has come to light that the crash teams – the staff whose job it is to respond to emergency cardiac problems anywhere on the hospital site - at the Southern General Hospital and Stobhill Hospital use their own cars as the fastest way to dash across their respective sites to attend patients suffering a heart attack or other similar cardiac problems. Since the introduction of the unpopular 4 hour maximum for parking, these life-saving staff now run the risk of a £40 fine for parking outside their work place for more than 4 hours.

In the letter, UNISON Regional Organiser Matt McLaughlin says,

“I would question the safety of staff using a private car to travel across the site to attend a medical emergency in any case. But I do have to question the reasonableness of parking restrictions which, if followed by emergency staff, would mean that they do not park their cars on site and would then presumably need to run from one end of the Southern General (or indeed Stobhill – which is uphill) to the other.

“This example provides clear evidence that NHS GG&C’s Parking Scheme puts staff and patients at risk.”

UNISON comment on CBI 's 'double whammy' for the Scottish taxpayer

For immediate release Date: 19 January 2009

UNISON, the largest union representing Scotland’s water and sewage workers, today accused the CBI Scotland of wanting to hit Scots with a ‘double whammy’, by advocating a PFI solution for the new Forth Bridge, and/or selling off Scottish Water to pay for it. These are both ‘solutions’ advocated by Iain McMillan of CBI Scotland at a conference this morning.

UNISON’s Scottish Organiser Dave Watson said:

“Not content with championing PFI to build the new Forth Road bridge, which will effectively cost the price of two bridges to fund one, so that their members can make a nice profit, Mr McMillan wants to cost Scotland’s taxpayers the extra water charges that will be needed to fund the fat cats to take over Scottish Water – a real double whammy for the Scottish Taxpayer.

“What is disappointing in this, is not that the spokesperson for the private sector wants more profits for his members, but that there are two political parties in Holyrood who seem to want to go along with this. Both the Tories and the Liberals seem to have swallowed the myths about private sector efficiencies. You would think that recent experiences would have changed that view.

“UNISON, along with the STUC and the other unions involved in the water industry have been engaged in the debate about the future of Scottish Water, and we all believe that there should be greater democratisation of the service, but it must remain in public hands.”

ENDS

Note for Editors: The unions have produced a discussion paper It’s Scotland’s Water that outlines some ways to allow greater accountability for Scottish Water, and how important the service is for public health and socio-economic development. It is available on the UNISON website at http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/water/scotland's_water.pdf

For Further Information Please Contact:
Dave Watson (Scottish Organiser) 07958 122 409 (m)
Chris Bartter (Communications Officer) 0771 558 3729(m)

UNISON urges backing for Health Board bill

For Immediate Release Date: 14 January 2009


UNISON, Scotland’s largest health care trade union representing over 50,000 members working in health related services, is urging the Scottish Parliament to back direct elections to health boards, when they consider the Health Boards (Membership and Elections) (Scotland) Bill at Stage one on Thursday 15 January 2009.

UNISON Scotland fully supports the principles of this Bill, which was a commitment in both the Scottish Labour and SNP manifestos for the 2007 election.

Dave Watson, UNISON’s Scottish Organiser said:

"We call on MSPs to support this Bill in principle – so we can move to a long overdue change of culture in health boards, from an attitude of' we know best' to one of openness and consultation.

"The proposed mix of elections and appointment of members will provide greater democratic accountability, while retaining staff and specialist expertise.

“Members of the public have consistently indicated, via public campaigns and by voting for health campaigners in local and Scottish elections, that they want to be part of the process of planning local health care. It is time that real democratic engagement allowed that to happen."

UNISON believes that there are some failings in the current Bill, but that it should be supported in principle so that issues can be addressed in further discussion.

Dave added: "Direct elections won’t on their own improve public confidence in the NHS, but along with health board moves to properly engage with the public at all levels, they should produce a step change in culture.

"We hope MSPs will give the Bill their full support."



ENDS


For Further Information Please Contact:
Dave Watson (Scottish Organiser) 07958 122 409(m)
Chris Bartter (Communications Officer) 07715 583 729 (m)

Lobby MSPs on Climate Change and See a Film to Change the World!

Trailer for The Age of Stupid (see below)

Lobby MSPs on Climate Change

Scotland’s Climate Change Bill was published in December and was welcomed by green activists as a good start for world-leading legislation. However, it is vital that UNISON branches and members take action urgently to lobby MSPs to strengthen the Bill in key ways. The better we can make the Bill, the greater influence it might have on other countries in a crucial year for action on global warming.

United Nations talks take place in December 2009 in Copenhagen to determine the successor to the Kyoto Treaty. Scottish Organiser Dave Watson urged UNISON members to email and visit their MSPs. He said: “Climate change already affects the lives of millions of people and if the world doesn’t act this year on strong, international legally binding emissions cuts, we risk dangerous runaway climate change.
“Please take the time to contact your MSPs.”

Full details and an easy ‘click to email your MSPs’ link is at www.unison-scotland.org.uk/greenworkplace/respondmsp.html

The information there includes four ways to push for the UNISON four main ‘asks’. The Bill is being scrutinised by the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee, so we are especially keen for members whose MSPs are on that Committee to take part in lobbying. Contact details for the eight Committee members are on that page.

The Stop Climate Chaos Scotland coalition, of which UNISON is a member, is organising a Climate Change Rally and lobby of MSPs. Meet outside the Scottish Parliament, 11am to 2pm Wed, 22 April. Watch SCCS and UNISON websites for updates and full details once available.

UNISON’s four main ‘asks’ are that the Bill:
• reduces greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by 2050.
• sets statutory targets of at least 3% year on year emission reductions.
• includes emissions from international aviation and shipping in the reduction targets.
• sets strong targets for the public sector to lead by example, with negotiated green workplace agreements.

Our Briefing on the Bill is on the UNISON-Scotland website at: http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/briefings/194scottishclimatechangebilldec08.pdf



Going to the cinema in March can help save the planet - how you and your branch can campaign about The Age of Stupid. Join Not Stupid!

Influencing Copenhagen is also the aim of The Age of Stupid – a ‘documentary-drama-animation’ starring Pete Postlethwaite and directed by Franny Armstrong, who made McLibel. Franny said that Al Gore’s film An Inconvenient Truth "did a fantastic job at bringing the public up-to-speed on the science of climate. The Age of Stupid takes the baton from Gore and examines the moral, psychological and human consequences of our current way of life." A parallel campaign called Not Stupid aims to inspire 250 million viewers to become virtual or physical climate activists, focused on the UN talks in Copenhagen in December.

The film has six interwoven human stories filmed in America, the UK, India, Nigeria, Iraq, Jordan and the Alps. Pete said: “The opening sequence is phenomenal. It’s Spielberg, eat your heart out.” He plays an old man in a devastated 2055 world, asking, “Why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance?” The stories highlight oil, war, exploitation, inequalities, and ‘human stupidity’ in ignoring facts.

Franny wants the film to “be part of the sea change in awareness which leads to the greatest ever public uprising which in turn forces the world's Governments to make a binding international agreement to cut global emissions so as to stabilise global temperatures below two degrees and keep the planet habitable for humans and other species.”

She says we can all play our part, starting with going to see the film in its first week from 20 March, following a ‘People’s Premiere’ advance one night only screening around the UK, including Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness on March 15. First week figures determine how widely and for how long the film is shown and if it does well here, that will help it snowball to success and influence internationally. ‘Indie’ screenings can be organised from May 1st and a DVD will be on sale in June/July.



Information taken from UNISON Scotland's Green Network News - Environment Issue 2 Jan 2009

UNISON pledges support for Paul Martin's bill to abolish hospital parking charges

Monday 12 January 2009
For immediate release

Labour MSP Paul Martin has launched a members' bill to scrap all charges in NHS car parks. His bill would apply across the Scottish NHS estate, including hospitals such as Ninewells and Glasgow & Edinburgh Royal Infirmaries, which continue to levy charges.

Paul Martin's bill was officially launched at a photocall with NHS staff unions at Glasgow Royal Infirmary this morning (Monday 12 January). See video of the event on our YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/UNISONScotland or pictures at the UNISON Scotland Picasa gallery

Paul Martin said:

"My bill will make it illegal for a health board to levy parking charges on patients, visitors or staff – or anyone who has to visit a site for whatever reason.

"If commercial sites like Braehead and the Fort can provide free parking, it is a sad reflection that people who are being cared for in hospital and their families have to pay to park.

"It is an extra hassle that patients and their families do not need at what is already a stressful enough time."

UNISON Regional Organiser Matt McLaughlin said:

"We need a comprehensive solution to car parking across the NHS in Scotland. UNISON is backing this bill to ensure that the needs of patients, visitors and staff are met, in Glasgow and across Scotland."


Ends


For further information please contact:
Andrew McFadyen on 07824 694 677 (for Paul Martin MSP)
Matt McLaughlin on 0790 434 1979 (for UNISON Scotland)


UNISON Scotland news releases:
Stay in touch with UNISON Scotland's latest news releases on our website http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/news/index.html

Get frequent updates on this blog http://unison-scotland.blogspot.com/ and our UNISON Scotland YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/UNISONScotland

Glasgow Community Service Workers Strike

Date: Saturday 10 January 2009

Glasgow Council’s 21 Community Service Supervisors have been on indefinite strike action since 6 January. The workers supervise offenders who have been given community service as an alternative to prison.
They work on their own every day with five offenders undertaking gardening, home decoration, joinery or environmental projects.

The Council want to give them additional duties including assessing work requests from the public (often from those who cannot afford to pay for gardening or decoration services), developing new placements, training offenders, driving council vehicles, placing offenders in appropriate squads, assessing offenders “attitude, development and employability” and a compulsory increase in hours and days worked.

The Council want to pay them Grade 4 for this new job. The job should be Grade 5 under the Council’s grading system. Those workers who will do the same job with offenders who are in individual work placements will be on Grade 5.

The new grade also still leaves many of the 21 workers facing pay cuts of over £1,000 caused by the Council’s 2007 Single Status equal pay review. The workers are being asked to do a more responsible job for less money!

Please highlight this dispute in your workplace and trade union. If you live in Glasgow then please contact your local councillor and ask them to settle this dispute by offering the correct pay grade.

Messages of support and donations to
Glasgow City UNISON,
4 Floor, 18 Albion Street,
Glasgow, G1 1LH
or unisonenquiries@glasgowcityunison.org.uk

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Scotland's public sector key to reversing economic downturn - UNISON

Date: Monday 5 January 2009



Scotland's largest public service union, UNISON, today issued a challenge to private sector critics of the public sector, accusing them of trying to blame the public sector for their own failings and highlighting the key role the public sector plays in boosting the economy.

In his New Year message to UNISONScotland Activists and staff, Scottish Secretary Matt Smith says, “Some people, who have demanded that the public sector bail them out, have now been queuing up to try and ensure that Scotland's public services are penalised for the failures of the private sector. Their attack on the minimum wage, and the constant demand to privatise our public water supply are particularly despicable."

Contrary to the attacks of business critics who accuse the public sector of being a drain on the private sector, Mr Smith points to the key role of the public sector in providing the infrastructure that the private sector uses to produce and deliver goods.

He also points out: "Public services are very often crucial in ordering goods and services to stimulate demand- especially in parts of the country that have been forsaken by the private sector. Indeed when private financiers refuse to invest it is the public sector that provides that essential capital."

Public services also provide essential public services - emergency cover over public holidays and care for those who cannot care for themselves. And Mr Smith goes on to announce a commitment for UNISON to provide the leadership in defending and advancing the case for public services in the coming year.

A warning from Jane Carolan as politicians and press attack our pensions

Press release: 4 January 2009

As the politicians and the press gang up on the attack, who will defend our public service pensions? We will! says UNISON Scotland NEC member JANE CAROLAN.

Jane Carolan is one of Scotland's members on the union's National Executive and has the key role of chairing the UNISON's UK Policy Committee

Over the past few years, there has been nothing that has agitated UNISON members more that the fight to protect their pensions, a fight that has seen members prepared to take to the streets in strike action.

Just as negotiations on the Scottish Local Government pensions draw to a close, and after NHS colleagues have settled on their scheme, the threat to a decent standard of living in old age is again under threat.

It started when “the pensions crisis” in the public sector was at it’s height in 2006 and it has never let up since then, but since the start of the current financial crisis in September of this year, the media critics of public sector pensions have been having a field day, demanding that “the pensions apartheid “ is ended.

Headlines on a daily basis refer to “Pensions Haves and Have-Nots” or are issuing “Warnings over Public Sector Pensions”. We in the trade union movement have never known the Daily Express or Daily Mail to be our friends but the vitriol heaped on on public sector workers has rarely reached such heights and is repeated on a regular daily basis.

Millions of readers are drip fed continually that our pensions are “cushy” , “gold plated” and “A luxury that the country can’t afford”.

Have they ever quoted the figure that the average local government pensioner receives? Just for the record, that’s £3800 per year or £74 per week. What is usually quoted is the figure for a high flying, highly paid civil servant, and while we would all like that level of pension, for our members such a pension is a dream.

Unfortunately, the media loves a stereotype and the gold plated pensioner is now accepted. This isn’t restricted to the tabloid press. Recently the Independent has railed about the fact that there is “no class divide any more, just the difference between the fat cat, featherbedded public sector pensioners and the rest”.

Politicians take up cause

Where the media in this country lead, there are always politicians willing to follow. First out of the stalls was Eric Pickles, the current Tory Shadow Secretary of State for communities and Local Government. Eric has fallen for the hype and believes the myths and is quite clear that the time has come for “reform” in his words, destruction of public sector pensions to the rest of us.

Tory intentions were made clear by the intervention of their leader, David Cameron. Cameron has been very, very clear about his plans for the future. Cameron wants an end to pensions “apartheid”.

Even his choice of language here is offensive. But his intentions could not be clearer. Cameron goes for the jugular vowing to end the final salary schemes that we currently have, replacing them with stock market linked plans. The results of the plan will be simple - pension poverty for millions of public sector workers.

He’s been backed by the Liberal Democrats, who also see our pensions as “unsustainable and unaffordable”

Who will defend us?

As UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis has pointed out, if any political party wants to improve pensions they should start by urging the private sector in this country to face up to their responsibilities by setting up decent pensions schemes.

Any solution should be based on levelling up, not by cutting the public sector pensions that we are all going to rely on. Highly profitable private sector companies are pulling out of the provision of pension schemes but their actions don’t make the headlines in the same way.

We have been prepared to take strike action on our pensions in the past. We need to scrutinise the plans of those who would seek to govern us, and be aware of they in which their programmes are likely to affect us.
At the end of the day, defending our pensions will come down to us.


Article first published in Scotland in UNISON Magazine December 2008
Click here for headlines from the latest issue

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Glasgow Community Service Supervisors to strike from 6 January 2009

Tuesday 23 December 2008


Community Service Supervisors within Glasgow City Council’s Social Work Department are set to strike from Tuesday 6 January 2009.

UNISON members employed as Community Service Supervisors voted overwhelmingly in favour of continuous strike action following the refusal of Glasgow City Council to pay them the right rate for the job.

UNISON members have been telling the Council for some time now that their pay is incorrect. Members had been told by the Council that the new pay and grading system would resolve their issues, but it has not.

Brian Smith, UNISON Glasgow City Branch said “Members are angry that despite promises the employers continue to fail to recognise the job they do and pay them a fair rate for the job. Members don’t want to take action and cause problems but they have been left with no other option”.

Community Service Supervisors in Glasgow oversee Community Service Offenders working in the Community. This strike will mean that this alternative to Prison Service in Glasgow will stop as of 6 January 2009.

UNISON member wins case against lawyer

Date: 19 December 2008



Thousands of council and NHS workers in Scotland who signed up with an English lawyer to fight their equal pay claims are in line for windfall payments after a home help took him to court and won.

The Court of Session ruled yesterday that Newcastle-based Stefan Cross’s contract with Edinburgh council worker Jacqueline Quinn is unlawful and unenforceable in Scotland, and banned him for pursuing her for his bill of £500.

But the real winners could be low-paid health and local authority workers all over Scotland who can now reclaim the 10% plus VAT that Mr Cross routinely deducted from their equal pay settlements – some of which were in excess of £10,000.

UNISON’s Scottish secretary Matt Smith said: "Having your own contract with your clients declared unlawful by the Courts must be the ultimate humiliation for a lawyer.

"The unions have always warned against the false allure of commercial solicitors who claim that they can deliver compensation more effectively or quickly than a trade union.

"We urge all our members to claim back the thousands of pounds Mr Cross has unlawfully deducted from their settlements.

"We all owe a huge debt of gratitude to Mrs Quinn for exposing the flaws in these contracts.”

Home help Jacqueline Quinn, from Edinburgh, said:"I thought Mr Cross would get me a quick settlement of my equal pay claim, but I didn't realise there was a horrific penalty clause in his contract.

"When I got fed up waiting for him to do something and went back to the union lawyers, he started demanding £500 and that made me really angry – especially since he had done nothing.

"I am delighted to have won my case and will be even more pleased if it means colleagues can keep all of their hard-earned equal pay settlements."

Syd Smith of Thompsons Solicitors, who fought the case on the union’s behalf, explained: "The Court of Session ruled against Mr Cross because his contract gives him a financial interest in the outcome of the case, but the Scottish Courts have held that, for the protection of clients, such contracts are unlawful and therefore unenforceable.

"Nor can solicitors in Scotland charge blanket fees regardless of the work involved as Mr Cross tried to do in Mrs Quinn's case.

"Mr Cross chose not to defend Mrs Quinn's action."



See: Home help takes equal pay lawyer to court
Also: UNISON UK News

Glasgow NHS ‘twists the knife’ over car parking charges - UNISON

Date: Friday 19 December 2008



NHS union UNISON today accused Glasgow’s health chiefs, and NHSGGC of ‘twisting the knife’ after they announced that car parking on Board NHS sites would be limited to 4 hours, with fines of up to £40 for drivers who go over the 4 hour period.

This will impact primarily on staff, who are the main group who need to park vehicles for longer periods of time.

UNISON Branch Secretary Cathy Miller said, “UNISON appreciates that we can’t go back to the free-for-all parking systems that applied historically on some sites, but this latest dictate from Dalian House shows just how out of touch with staff these people really are.”

The proposal, announced yesterday, comes into force on 1 January and is supposed to comply with previous Scottish Government decisions that car parking charges should be abolished in the NHS.

UNISON Regional Organiser Matt McLaughlin said, “Glasgow and Clyde’s track record on this issue is not very impressive. Consistently they have taken an over-aggressive approach and punished the workforce and genuine users of car parking facilities on NHS sites, because there is a limited problem on a limited number of sites.

“It’s clear that they simply do not care or comprehend that staff - many of whom are specialists - live some distance from their place of work. They need to travel to work, but will now be fined if they can’t find a designated parking space. It’s no wonder that morale across this board is at an all time low.”

UNISON welcomes Committee backing for Health Board Elections

Date: 15 Dec 2008


UNISONScotland today welcomed the report of the Scottish Parliament's Health and Sport committee, which gives conditional backing to the Government Bill introducing directly elected members to Scottish Health Boards.

The union, which is the largest in the Health Service, backed a previous private members bill on the topic.

Dave Watson, UNISON's Scottish Organiser said: "Although the committee's support is conditional, their backing for the pilot projects proposed in the bill, is positive. Since it was created in 1948, the NHS has not been directly accountable to or engaged with the public. It has been a top-down organisation, a 'we-know-best' organisation that thinks that all the issues are far too complicated for mere mortals to understand and that democracy is therefore not appropriate. We have to change that culture, and that is why we need direct elections."

Government should accept public view and extend FoI to private contractors - UNISON

Date: Wed 10 December 2008


UNISONScotland today, welcomed new research that shows the Scottish public backs extending Freedom of Information to cover private companies building schools and hospitals under PPP/PFI contracts, and other non-public bodies delivering public services.

Research for the Scottish Information Commissioner published today, shows 75%-79% support for making private companies subject to FOI legislation. UNISON is pleased that there is also very strong public support for including other organisations such as private prisons, housing associations and trusts providing local authority health and leisure services.

UNISON's Scottish Communications Officer, Chris Bartter said: "The public rightly thinks that all bodies delivering public services should be subject to the same accountability as the public sector.

"Such high levels of support will hopefully make the Scottish Government think again about its disappointing approach in the discussion paper, where, for example, Ministers have argued that hospital cleaning services may not be a public function!

"UNISON believes that changes to the legislation should be based on the principle that any organisation which provides a public service should be accountable to the public.

"It is unacceptable that information that is open to people where a service - such as social housing - is provided by a public authority, could be hidden from them where private or other non-public bodies deliver it.

"In the case of PPP/PFI contracts, the scandalous waste of public funds on these could have been greatly reduced if full information about the projects had been open to scrutiny, letting the public see the credit card levels of charges being run up for the next generation to pay."

Stop Climate Chaos Scotland welcomes Scottish Climate Change Bill

For immediate release 05/12/08

Stop Climate Chaos Scotland – the leading coalition of environment, faith and development organisations – welcomes the Climate Change Bill introduced to the Scottish Parliament and calls on all MSPs to ensure it becomes a genuinely world leading piece of legislation.

Stop Climate Chaos includes UNISON Scotland amongst its main supporters.

Mike Robinson, Chair of Stop Climate Chaos Scotland said,

‘The Scottish Government had more than 21,000 people respond to its consultation process, and Stop Climate Chaos Scotland welcomes this strong Scottish Climate Change Bill with enthusiasm. This Bill could be the most significant for a generation and is warmly welcomed by the members of more than 30 of Scotland’s most respected organisations campaigning on climate change.

‘But, as Lord Turner’s report for the UK Climate Committee showed on Monday, there is no reason to back down, and every reason to be even more ambitious in investing for a green economy.

‘We call upon MSPs from all parties to back strong measures already in the bill, and to work constructively to improve it further so it becomes genuinely world leading legislation.

‘Poor people around the world are already feeling the real impacts of climate change – changing weather patterns undermine their ways of life while increased disasters threaten their lives. Our natural environment is already showing changes and heralding the devastating problems ahead if we don't cut greenhouse gas emissions. Scotland has had huge benefit from fossil-fuel based energy; we can and should be leading efforts to shift to a more efficient and sustainable low-carbon economy.’

ENDS

For more press information please contact:

Claire Aston, Christian Aid on 0131 240 1523; 07961 303481 or caston@christian-aid.org or Mandy Carter, WWF Scotland on 01350 728200; 07771 818677 or mcarter@wwfscotland.org.uk

For more information about Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, please contact:

Ruth Dawkins, SCCS on 0131 311 6512, 07790 386 329 or ruth@stopclimatechaosscotland.org


Notes to editors

1. Stop Climate Chaos Scotland (SCCS) is a diverse, growing coalition of organisations campaigning on climate change. The SCCS Coalition has 40 Scottish members, representing more than 1.5 million supporters, ranging from environment and development groups to faith organisations, trade unions, student societies, care providers and many more. For full details visit www.stopclimatechaosscotland.org

2. SCCS will be holding a Climate Change Rally in April 2009. All coalition members and their supporters are being encouraged to spring into action for a strong Scottish Climate Change Bill. We will be gathering to lobby MSPs outside the Scottish Parliament, from 11am – 2pm, on Wednesday 22nd April 2009. For further details of the rally contact SCCS Co-ordinator Ruth Dawkins (contact details above)

3. SCCS is calling for the Scottish Climate Change Bill to:

* Set a target to cut all greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by 2050
* Establish statutory annual targets to reduce emissions by at least 3% year on year
* Include all emissions from international aviation and shipping in the targets.