UNISON Norfolk County Blog

The Equalities Deficit

2011-12-23T08:27:00.000Z

Recently, in my role of Equalities Officer I attended a conference entitled 'The Equalities Deficit: Defending opportunity and fairness against the cuts'. Organised by the TUC, the one day conference was aimed at everybody 'who cares about the future of equality'. It was opened by Brendan Barber, General Secretary of the TUC, who spoke of the 'cultural, aspirational and social deficits' being left by the cuts. He spoke of the threats to quality of life now facing many groups at a disproportionate level to others and the widening gaps that were opening up between different sectors of society. What was clear was that nobody would be unaffected by the scale of the actions being taken by the government but that some would be more heavily affected than others and that these people were largely those who were already the most vulnerable in our society.

On the day of the conference new figures had just been released showing that unemployment had risen to 2.28 million and that women’s unemployment levels were at a twenty three year high. It seemed timely then that the TUC used the day to launch a new publication entitled the 'TUC Women and the Cuts Toolkit: How to carry out a human rights assessment of the spending cuts on women'. Women will be one of the groups most heavily hit by the consequences of both past and future cuts as the majority of public sector workers are women, women will lose more in cuts to benefits and are the majority of those providing unpaid care so are likely to be the ones having to shoulder the consequences of cuts to social care provision.

Mary Bousted, General Secretary of the education Union ATL, spoke of the impact of the cuts on children and families, teachers and plummeting levels of optimism within the education sector at a time when youth unemployment was reaching unprecedented levels. She spoke of the 'loss of hope' and the 'dignity of good work' being denied to the young along with the loss of financial support in education caused by the removal of the Education Maintenance Allowance. All this would lead to a generation of young people who feel that they hold no input into society and if you were unlucky enough to fall into more than one of the categories in which people are being disproportionately affected you could watch your chances be even further reduced. Young and Black? Young and a Woman? A woman from an ethnic minority group? Heaven forbid that you should then express a different sexual orientation or religious view. The picture painted was exceptionally bleak.

Rob Berkeley, Director of the Runnymede Trust, an independent policy-research organisation focusing on race and social policy then took up the platform to talk about the impact of the cuts on those from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups. His message was one of the impacts of cuts to legal aid with minority groups being the first to experience the impact of the cuts. People from these groups were three times as likely to be unemployed and there already exists a 16% employment gap between black/Caribbean men and white men. Again the picture was one of growing inequality between different sectors of society.

The last speaker of the morning’s plenary session was Maria Exall, chair of the TUC LGBT committee and a member of the Communication Workers Union. She spoke of the shrinking of the state that was happening under the present government and the way the government are using the media to demonise those they are attacking to justify their programme of cuts. Budget cuts to youth support services and support for homeless people has led to young people facing an even tougher situation than previously. All this at a time when they may be coming to terms with a different sexual orientation and the consequences thereof. There have been cuts to services which offer advice and support and who promote education around issues such as sexuality. A lot of these support services available to young people have been taken over by faith-based groups from whom young people find that they can face even further discrimination around certain issues.

Following the bleak messages of the mornings speakers the question on conference attendees' minds was, 'how do we challenge the cuts from the position we now find ourselves in?' The morning workshop I attended was on Organising and Campaigning for Equality. Again the message from speakers was that things would not be easy to challenge and that a lot of campaigns had already been lost. However, there were also messages of hope and inspiration, positive campaigns which had been won and the repetition of the message that we need to stand together in challenging the future cuts that are being proposed.

Jane Holgate, senior lecturer and worker in work and employment relations at the University of Leeds, spoke about the idea of ‘community unionism’, where community-based organising and trade union organising worked more closely together to support each other's campaigns. She put it that if trade unions are to remain relevant in coming years they need to move from a more adversarial form of organising which leads to power issues, groups becoming divisory and self-interested, to a more cohesive stance, supporting solidarity not just across a trade-focused group but organising across workplace issues which affect the whole community. Unions will need to be more inclusive and work alongside organisations such as the Occupy movement, UK Uncut, BARAC and local groups such as Norfolk Coalition against the Cuts to achieve the best outcomes for their members. The future will be about building relationships and alliances, fostering non-conflictive ways of working and making democracy within the unions more inclusive to attract the widest possible member base and build the strength of union organisation.

The afternoon workshop I attended was titled 'Using the Public Sector Equality Duty' and covered issues around using the 2010 legislation as a campaign tool. Questions arose about how we could challenge the impact of the cuts on issues of equality within the framework of the 2010 Equalities Act, an act which many feel has reduced the power of equalities legislation by employers only having to show 'due regard' to equalities issues. Various views were held on this point but there was also mention of a few cases where the new legislation has been used effectively to challenge proposed cuts. When trying to look for the best way to challenge a series of cuts, the Equalities angle is still one which can be successfully used if a proposed measure is likely to disproportionately affect a particular group in society. Equality Impact Assessments will still remain a key part of an employer showing they have shown 'due regard' to equalities issues.

The afternoon workshops were followed by speeches and a question and answer session on areas that had been covered by the conference. There were some powerful speakers including Diana Holland, Assistant General Secretary for Equalities and an elected member of the TUC Women’s committee, Kate Pickett, co-author of ‘The spirit level: Why equality is better for everyone’ and Michael Rubenstein, writer and commentator on discrimination and employment law and General Editor of Equality Law Reports. Again there were a host of different issues raised which were all adding to the overall growing equalities deficit.

The conclusions I reached after listening to the various speakers at the conference were that the cuts are already affecting the most vulnerable in society disproportionately. I think there is little room to argue that they are not. They will continue to divide sectors of society further from each other, worsening equality amongst the population rather than improving it. This will lead to even greater social problems and a far less cohesive society. The thing that really struck me, however, was that at this time groups cannot afford to focus solely on the area that will be affecting them the most. We cannot fight back coherently if everyone is trying to shout the loudest to champion their own views to the detriment of other groups. What we need now is to be united and support each other’s struggles; to stand up and work together in solidarity.

If you find yourself thinking 'Why should I support that, it doesn’t affect me,' then don’t. The cuts are affecting and will continue to affect us all, anyone who works in public services, uses public services, the private sector, those from ethnically diverse groups and from a plethora of different backgrounds. If a cut is affecting women it is also affecting men in that they will see their wives, mothers and families being hit by the impact and they in turn will struggle more. The cuts are affecting young people and older people, those who are working and those who are not. The government and media would like us to believe that we are all separate groups and not interdependent. It makes it easier to break down support for campaigns which are challenging the nature of the way in which the cuts are being imposed. We must challenge these ideas and stand up for each other and the trade union movement has a continued role to play in this.

Following N30 I feel even more strongly that now is the time to stand together in challenging the pain the government's cuts are inflicting on our society. As we have recently seen in the media with the build-up to the strike, the media likes conflict. It makes for a better story and grips people more than hearing that largely there was a lot of support for something. The Equalities Deficit Conference and N30 have shown me one thing; that if we say ‘that’s their problem’ and ignore how cuts will affect a particular group, we can only lose those battles and also our own as others will not support us when we ourselves may need it most. On N30 people from all different backgrounds stood together to challenge the government; trade unions, students, the Occupy movement, workers from across the public and private sectors, pensioners and those unable to work all expressed support for dignity in retirement and challenged the government on proposed cuts to public sector pension schemes. Equality will only stand a chance if we now support each other in working for a fairer society and fighting back together against the deeper inequalities these cuts are causing.

Katherine Osborne is an Equalities Officer in the Norfolk County Branch of UNISON.

Pensions Strike, November 30th

2011-12-05T17:01:00.000Z

The pensions strike was an unprecedented coming together of public sector unions that delivered a timely reminder as to how effective collective solidarity and collective action can be. Not surprisingly, the media and the government have downplayed its effectiveness but what would Cabinet members know of the impact of the strike? I bet most of them don’t send their kids to state schools, use the NHS or rely on the other public services that ground to a halt on 30 November. Maybe that is unfair, one or two of them have probably had a chauffeur who was a member of the PCS union...

I think it would be a mistake to see the day’s action as the peak of our campaign. It is inevitable that Cameron and Clegg will try to be the new Thatcher, thinking they will get votes and save their political careers by taking on the unions. They are too distant from reality to know that times have changed and that, generally speaking, the public are supporting the unions in this dispute. We have to be ready to take further action in the New Year, probably smart action like that which occurred in the Southampton dispute. The Southampton UNISON Branch website is worth a look! We need to make sure any action is even more effective by recruiting non-union members to join UNISON and convincing union members who attended work to join us next time. When people cross a picket line it is sometimes hard to stay reasonable but I think that is what we must do if we want to get them on board.

We also need to remember the power that comes to us from industrial action as other disputes loom. After two years of a pay freeze, local government workers face a maximum increase of 1% for the next two years, at a time when inflation has been over 4%. That means four years of pay cuts imposed on us by a Government who has let the bankers who caused the economic mess get away scot free and return to their lifestyle of excessive bonuses. Locally there are bound to be disputes as our various local employers feel compelled to squeeze our pay and conditions, cut our jobs and privatise services.

UNISON representatives will do all they can to safeguard our members wherever they work but there comes a time when we can only achieve so much by negotiation. To get a better deal, we may call on our members to take industrial action again. We need to have established a culture where union membership is high and where people are prepared to take action to make a real difference. This in itself empowers UNISON negotiators. All union members have a part to play in establishing that culture; recruiting non-members, making sure that their workplace has a steward and having regular workplace meetings are the foundations that we must start to build.

Jonathan Dunning is the Branch Secretary of the Norfolk County Branch of UNISON.

Dave Prentis' Speech to Labour Conference

2011-10-02T21:29:00.000+01:00

“Conference, today we face a coalition with no democratic mandate - taking a chainsaw to our public services. Public service workers, our members, keeping families and communities together, keeping our children learning, keeping the vulnerable safe. And in our most damaged communities, standing between us and another lost generation. Picking up the pieces, giving rays of hope when it looks so bleak. Putting people on a path to a better future.

“But the services people rely on most, are now targets for swingeing cuts and privatisations. Redundancy notices scattered like confetti. At the time that we need them most, we’re adding public service workers to the dole queue.

“And for those that are left, their living standards squeezed between rising prices and frozen pay. Ordinary people, our people, paying the price for the reckless greed of the rich, and now the Coalition coming for their pensions.

“Pensions that are affordable, worth less than £100 a week. Pensions that they’ve saved for the dignity of an old age free of means-tested benefits. And now they face a punitive hike in contributions. Not a single penny to go into any pension fund, but siphoned off by the Treasury to pay off the deficit, the biggest con trick of our time.

“Expected to work longer for worse benefits. Members who are privatised, cut off from their pension and that is why we have said: “enough is enough”. We’ve spent 8 months in negotiations - searching for solutions. We will continue to negotiate – that’s what we do. But we are now balloting millions of workers for action on 30 November.

“Conference, my members are no militants. But they will stand up for what’s fair, what’s right, and to those who say we shouldn’t strike, who say striking doesn’t work, that we’ll only harm the economy, make things worse, put jobs at risk. Just remember, that’s exactly what they told the matchgirls who shut London’s sweatshops. The gasworkers who won the eight hour day. The builders who fought for health and safety legislation. Our women who won the right to equal pay. Sometimes you have to remind people what you are worth.

“You have to show people what they’d miss if you weren’t there. Sometimes you have to let people know that you cannot be taken for granted. And I want to make it very clear today, if we vote to strike, a hard decision, always a last resort.

“Millions of public service workers and our union will expect the support of their party and its leadership. The campaigns we are fighting are not just about jobs, or pensions, they are about creating the type of society we leave for our children. They are about preserving and defending all our grandparents fought for; a welfare state, universal public services, they’re about saving the gains we made together, while we were in government. Our members have not given up the fight, and nor must our party.

“So conference, it’s no time to sit on the sidelines, while this Government tears down all that we built. It’s no time to sit on the fence when this country faces a stark choice between taking on the powerful and privileged, or letting the price be paid by the poor and the powerless.

“And this - there’s so much talk about reaching out and reconnecting, but now really is the time to reach out to millions of public service workers, to show we are on the same side of the street as them. To those nursery workers fighting for their jobs, to those care workers fighting to protect their services. And yes, yes to the millions fighting to protect their pensions, they look to Labour now more than ever to support them, to speak up for them. They will never forgive us if we let them down and neither will their union.”

Dave Prentis is the National General Secretary of UNISON.

Youth Anger in the UK

2011-08-10T00:39:00.007+01:00

In no way do I support or condone the actions of rioters around the UK this week. However, neither am I angry at their actions. I am sure this would be different if I or my loved ones had been directly affected – having lived in both Liverpool and Bristol close to some of the flash-points, my first thought was for the welfare of those I know who live nearby. But I repeat, I am not angry at the rioters: instead, I feel a deep sadness for them. The fact from BBC News that surprised me and now sticks in my mind is that the average age of those involved is 14-20 years.

As David Cameron’s government trip over their Louis Vuitton travel solutions in their rush back to Downing Street, I would like to ask our Prime Minister, "how did you fail to anticipate this?" If we refer to history, he seems to have conveniently forgotten the Toxteth and Brixton riots of the 1980s, which followed recession and austerity measures under Margaret Thatcher’s administration. Under the same government, peaceful protests against the Poll Tax escalated into rioting in 1990 – a pattern echoed, though far less drastically, after the anti-cuts protest in March of this year. And while this week’s events have certainly not been organised by politically motivated left-wing groups, I do not believe that it is a coincidence that we have seen attacks on high street businesses (like the Bristol Stokes Croft Tesco), representing the minority who have much, by those multitudes who have little.

But history, as well as a basic appreciation of psychology, can teach us something else which is equally relevant to this situation: people with no hope feel frustrated, become angry and may react violently. This government is taking the hope offered by state-provided support and education away from those who need it most. How many of the rioters, aged 14-20, were receiving the Education Maintenance Allowance before it closed to new applicants on the 1st January 2011?

How many were receiving help from Education Welfare Services before public sector cuts began impacting on staffing levels and service delivery? How many were involved with Social Services, with their health and well-being directly at risk without the intervention which may no longer be deliverable following cuts to services and staff, and how many were being supported by youth services like Connexions that have been decimated or are simply not there any more? How many had hoped to work hard and gain a place at a good university – before the fees went up to £9,000 per year, meaning an average of £27000 debt, without any guarantee of a job at the end of it?

It is no longer enough to condemn violent disorder as despicable behaviour from a senseless criminal underclass we can lock away and forget about. These people are not all gang members, stupid, on benefits or drugs. Many of those who are old enough will also be voters and tax-payers. Nor are they all anarchists or left-wing militant groups; they have been brought up in a capitalist society, where expensive possessions are deemed to represent success – that’s what the TV, advertising and tabloid press all seem to say. When they are faced with severely limited access to education, no hope for the future and an upper-class, deaf government that has no concern for their welfare, they get angry and try to take what they think they are owed.

We should certainly condemn their actions and their violence, but we mustn’t dismiss them. They are frustrated and angry for a multitude of reasons: it’s time somebody listened to the millions of voices that are being ignored.

Emma Whitcombe is a steward in the Norfolk County Branch of UNISON.

Keep Great Britain Rolling!

2011-07-18T22:07:00.009+01:00

Great Britain – the country that brought you the industrial revolution and Fred Dibnah's lovely obsession with steam trains faces the closure of the last factory where workers have the skills to manufacture locomotive rolling stock.

This goes to the heart of the question of what makes a nation state viable and what the impact of allowing essential industry being manufactured at a distance: will we always be able to afford the energy to import these goods? Is this reliance on trading with companies who are at significant geographical distance not an unnecessary exploitation of a limited energy resource? Could we, inadvertently, be putting our own neighbourhoods at risk?

Sustainability is commonly thought of as being an issue relating to the provision of a continuing and generous supply of energy in a way that does not loot the natural resources nor pollute and cause global warming or other environmental damage. Part of the way sustainability can be enhanced is by limiting the length of manufacturing supply chains.

Back on 30 October 2006, journalist John Vidal wrote this in The Guardian:

'The biggest ship afloat is due to arrive in Felixstowe, Suffolk, this week on its maiden voyage from China with nearly 45,000 tonnes of Christmas presents and fare for the holiday season.

'The Emma Maersk, which is 400 metres long (1,300 ft), 56 metres wide and 60 metres tall, and dubbed the SS Santa, will unload more than 3,000 containers for supermarkets and stores before heading to mainland Europe.

'...the ship...[had a] cargo of crackers, DVD players, toys, puzzles and clothes....”

I well remember the reporters on Look East salivating with glee over the cocktail shakers that that famous Christmas-loving nation, China, sent to us in the spirit of the season. Had Great Britain lost the technical ability to manufacture Christmas tat?

Of course not! It was simply that the monetary cost of a British-based labour was much higher than that of Chinese-based labour. However the actual cost of the full productive and delivery cycle of this merchandise was not reflected in the price of the goods we purchased from that charitable enterprise, the “SS Santa.” The market didn't factor in the cost of the ecosystem damage that is caused by such a long supply chain. It also misses the fact that greenhouse gases produced in China damage the ecosystem just as surely as those pumped out by Manchester industries; both the manufacturing and shipping costs of environmental damage were missing from the price tag attached to the cocktail shakers. Economists call such hidden costs 'externalities.'

Extending this principle to the matter of Bombardier and the construction of rolling stock, it is therefore advantageous to manufacture essential goods as close as possible to home. If GB PLC (as it could be described in a capitalist context) is to remain viable, it is imperative that the supply chain either be as short as possible or are kept at home for crucial industries. The capacity to build infrastructural technology is a matter of profound national, regional, and local interest. The real argument is – yes – Bombardier should be cranking out rolling stock as quickly as its assembly lines possibly can; AND so should Siemens. There is a desperate world wide need for green-friendly mass transport and the improvement and extension of the rail stock and lines is one rational way to begin answering that requirement. The competition between these two manufacturers is an illusory necessity created by an absurd system of capitalisation that bases all decisions on how much paper (money) is created by a series of transactions and manufacturing rather than the usable values of those products.

In addition to the ecological and viability issues, the labourers of Bombardier are victims of the same capitalist system that is currently creating economic mayhem in Greece, Ireland, and Portugal: the credit rating industries. Siemens, German-based, has a triple-A credit rating; Canadian-based Bombardier has a B+ credit rating. Therefore when Bombardier borrows money, it pays a higher interest rate than its competition. Without regard to quality of product, the workers at Bombardier are disadvantaged in this ridiculous marketplace because of the shenanigans of their capitalist masters and their competitors, and of course, the ridiculous zero-sum environment in which the current regime forces them to operate.

Bombardier, the only UK-based manufacturer of locomotive rolling stock is facing the real possibility of closing because the UK government has found a 'better value' (for that, read 'cheaper') provider in the corporate person of German-based Siemens. The externalities (remember that word for the uncounted costs) in this case includes the costs of transporting the new stock to Great Britain; it also doesn't factor in the domestic externalities: unemployment (1,400 job losses – enjoy your new customers, Ian Duncan Smith!) and, as significantly, the potential loss of an entire and critical industry.

Bombardier is a Canadian-owned company located in Derbyshire. However, labour gives value to the product, not some multi-story office building in Montreal. Workers living in Britain must be allowed to retain the skills needed to keep the British region of Europe as economically independent as possible; it is a logical and necessary part of the road to sustainability and sensible stewardship of our planet's endangered resources. Saving Bombardier is a beginning of a potential strategy to ensure both the longer term survival of Great Britain and our larger human family. This is not protectionism or xenophobia: rather, it is common sense.

Messrs. Cameron & Clegg say they want GB to be a country that 'makes things'. Perhaps the first thing they should attempt to do is make sense of their own policies.

Karen Michael is a steward in the Norfolk County Branch of UNISON.

Conference Friday

2011-06-27T15:52:00.002+01:00

The final day of LG Conference in Manchester began with motion 41, which concerned policeman being taken off the street to cover for redundant civilian workers despite the policeman being on a much higher wage. A police administrator earns £16,000 but a former police officer doing the same job gets £32,000. There have been articles written in Norfolk papers suggesting that our own local force will be pushing ahead with this policy and this will have an impact on the safety of our streets.

This led onto motion 53 which spoke of the loss of skills and experience due to the closure of the Connexions service and staff being made redundant. In Norfolk our Connexions Rep, Ruth Thacker, worked hard to organise the young people to campaign to save their service, but there was still a loss of staff. The mover of the motion made mention of a friend in Suffolk whose a leading light in Suffolk Against the Cuts, a likely reference to Ruth! The loss of Connexions staff will prohibit the social mobility of our children because those who currently give the advice are trained professionals in that specific area, while teachers are usually only qualified in the area that they teach.

A lengthy debate ensued about supporting members in the private and community sectors. Our members in the private sector pay the same rates as everyone, but frequently don't have access to the same resources. It is harder to support those in the voluntary sector despite our best efforts, though in Norfolk the presence of Julie Heywood in that sector (who provides fantastic support for her members) makes a real difference. Her role is made harder as it is more difficult to get recognition agreements in the private and voluntary sector.

We must make sure we represent members before and after transfers and outsourcing, providing a tailored approach to suit the circumstances. We need joint local bargaining committees to be strong and fight the reductions of terms and conditions. The community and voluntary sector is the third biggest service group in UNISON and the organisation needs to reflect this.

Motion 65 was called 'Campaigning with the community and voluntary sector to fight the cuts'. This motion demanded an audit of members so we can learn where our members are, build better links with them and help support their local communities. We noticed that there were lots of empty seats through this motion and thought it might be because delegates didn't think it applied to them, but by this time next year they could be working in these areas after being transferred over.

NEC Spokesman Clytus lightened the mood in the break by singing! Amongst certain other numbers was the classic 'There may be trouble ahead...'

Motion 101 concerned equality in marriage and civil partnerships. The only reason that same-sex marriages aren't allowed is because it's believed by some to be a threat to the institution of marriage and to the fabric of society. Philip O'Shea spoke about his desire to get married like Kate did to William, he too wants to marry his prince. He wants to get married in church and he wants to be able to leave his pension to his partner. A civil partnership lacks the love and romance associated with marriage. While the Labour Party made huge inroads into equality with transgender and civil partnerships, we know that we still have a way to go.

Motion 76 sought to actively oppose cuts in the welfare state and highlight the devastating impact theses cuts can have on the most vulnerable in our society. Disability Living Allowance is not a benefit in the truest sense but an allowance that takes into consideration the increased living costs that those with a disability face in order to live an ordinary life.

We finished with an agreement to protect our right to take industrial action, as this government plans to weaken our rights. One amendment asked us to continue to work with the United Campaign to Repeal the Anti-Trade union Laws and the Institute of Employment Rights to promote trade union rights.

Conference Thursday

2011-06-24T16:56:00.005+01:00

Composite D was called 'Our NHS, our Future.' In King's Lynn the Queen Elizabeth Hospital has gone to a foundation trust status and the impact of changes is already being felt with sections being hived off and private providers being bought into run them. Terms and conditions are already being ratcheted down and it will only get worse if we don't take steps to stop it now.

Motions 1 and 2 referred to organising and we felt that we need to start being better at organising rather than servicing. It is through organising that we'll strengthen our membership. We found ourselves questioning whether we use the skills of our Retired Members sufficiently. There are 160,000 retired members in UNISON so we must use them. They are willing hands that are prepared to help.

Much was made of the Three Companies Project and the organizing focus it had.

We have looked into the use of social media to recruit and organise. Online campaigning is the way forward but we mustn't do it isolation but rather as a complement to the face-to-face element. As well as a website, our branch has a Facebook page administered by delegate Melissa Brown.

As Senior Steward for libraries, Melissa has worked hard to establish a dedicated Library Facebook page as well as the main one and has also been blogging regular updates from conference. Members in their 50s are less likely to use the internet, so is this an area our branch could specifically target? One branch has themed meet-and-greet days, going out in pairs and speaking to people, both members and non members. The themes focus on a particular area of campaigning, such as pensions.

The Tower Hamlets branch shared a chant they shouted on their recent rally - 1,2,3,4 tax the rich and not the poor, 5,6,7,8 help us save the welfare state.

There was a video by Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese democracy leader and honorary UNISON member.

Jo Spears from the Southampton branch spoke at a fringe meeting looking at organising and inspired many with her story of how her branch's organising approach saw a huge increase in membership and an improvement to their terms and conditions. Jo had previously calculated that she would have to work for 244 years to earn the amount her chief executive earns in a year. Our delegation considered trying an area-based support system rather than service-based. An idea was suggested: reps could carry business cards with the rep's name and details as well as the addresses of the Facebook page and the UNISON local and national websites.

There was much discussion of proposed changes to Branch finance rules, with the suggestion that funds surplus to the day-to-day needs of branches invested in the national branch investment scheme as approved by the National Executive Council. Assurances over ethical investing were raised and the national auditors were demanding we put in safety mechanisms. Tax considerations were also discussed at length.

Amendments were proposed to Rule I: Disciplinary Action. This rule seeks to expel those in the BNP and "whose objectives are contrary to the objectives of UNISON". However, with the wording proposed, this potentially would not just apply to membership of racist parties, but other membership of other organisations such as Greenpeace and the Socialist Workers Party. There was a passionate speech against the motion due to the ambiguous nature of the wording. The NEC member who had proposed the amendments used his right to reply and gave a guarantee that the changed rule wouldn't be used against left wing parties. He claimed that by not adopting the language used, the union would leave itself open to legal challenge. However, the amendment was soundly rejected when put to the vote.

Conference Wednesday

2011-06-23T17:07:00.008+01:00

Wednesday is an international day of action in support of the Robin Hood Tax, a suggested way to address the financial crisis within our country. Before we went into a debate about pensions, there was an update on the situation as a lot has happened this week. Misinformation and propaganda by right wing press has impacted on public opinion. Figures quoted by Treasury Spokesman Danny Alexander were based on the top civil servants' pay, not that of typical workers. This led nicely onto Composite B, which is about pensions.

Danny Alexander earns £134,000 a year, yet he wants to steal the pensions from cleaners, dinner ladies and nurses. Our response is outright rejection of government policy which expects us to "pay more, work longer and get less". No less a figure than Mervyn King, head of the Bank of England, said the price of this financial crisis is being borne by those whom did not cause it and he's surprised that public anger is not greater. In Norfolk, we have higher numbers of elderly people as a percentage of the population and so the pensions issue is one that will impact greatly upon us. Already we are seeing the impact as older people can no longer afford to leave work and make way for younger workers, which is increasing the numbers of young people out of work.

There was much mention of Dave Prentis' references to strike action, but Dave also said he'd negotiate 'any time, any place and for as long as it takes' to get a positive outcome. It is felt that these aren't the words of someone who is rushing towards a ballot.

Motion 24 continued the debate on pensions, but from the perspective of black members. Black members face great hardships because they are three times more likely to suffer poverty than white people. In Norfolk, our black community is not represented proportionately within NCC. We know that there are not many black people working in the public sector and so they will be primarily suffering the effects of the cuts in private sector roles.

Motion 39 demanded that public sector services should stay public and explored the challenges presented by mutual and social social enterprise organizations. NCC leader, Derrick Murphy, suggested that the youths who used Providence Street services should set up a scheme and run it themselves. However, without adequate and secured funding and business advice and support from properly trained staff, it would be very difficult for these young people, however enthusiastic and motivated they were, to run the scheme to a professional standard.

There were a couple of motions that spoke about the need for joint action between trade unions and communities needing to come together to oppose cuts. Our delegation spoke about working with our trades councils and external groups such and the Norfolk Coalition Against the Cuts (NCAC).

After lunch, we had an international speaker from Ireland - Shay Cody, General Secretary of IMPACT. Shay told the story of neoliberalism in Ireland and how the light-touch approach led to the failure of the Celtic Tiger economy and the well-documented devastating impact on Irish society.

Shay spoke passionately and movingly of what has happened in Ireland and how some are calling for the nation to default on their loans. This would see the deficit cut immediately but would also see public spending decimated and jobs lost while those private firms who contributed to the situation would be left practically unscathed.

Motion 87 took the campaign against public service cuts to an international audience. We are working with those in other countries who are suffering cuts like us. We should work with our sister unions in Europe and build real international solidarity in Europe. Collective action is not just possible, but can bring about change.

We had a further guest speaker, Phumzile Nxumalo, Deputy President of NAPSAWU in Swaziland. Swaziland are the only remaining country that has an absolute monarch. The king banned all political parties and trade union activities and this state of affairs has existed since 1973. He recently told his parliament what they could and could not discuss. There is no right of redress if the king does not agree with your opinion and unemployment in the country is over 45%. The International Monetary Fund have opposed structural adjustments and cut budgets but these have had little effect as they have no impact upon the king himself. Phumzile thanked our union for it's continued support.

Motion 89 concerned Palestine and the reality of the occupation was felt by our President, Angela Lynes. It was as a result of a visit she made to Palestine that this motion was proposed. We asked that our union review it's relationship with Histadrut and it was decided that we will continue to engage with it because that is what those people our representatives met in Palestine wanted.

Our policy will be one of critical engagement. We will challenge them to go beyond a paper policy. Histadrut is the leading trade union organization in Israel and has a key influence over labour law. There was opposition to this motion, which said that nothing would change and if there was another attack on a peace flotilla, they still wouldn't condemn it. There was a feeling that if nothing has changed, then we should insist on severing our ties with Histadrut.

There were many speakers against the motion. The Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) had said that it wanted other unions to sever all ties with Histadrut at an international labour conference held on 4th May 2011. However, other speakers said that the PGFTU had been clear when asked that they wanted our union to retain a relationship with Histadrut. Many speakers set out valid arguments both for and against the motion. This was a difficult motion to vote on, however, after discussion it was suggested that as we wouldn't share a platform with the BNP because it legitimises their politics of hate, so a continued relationship with Histadrut legitimises a union which has failed to condemn attacks, occupation and discrimination. We therefore voted against the Motion and it was lost.

The final motion of the day was Motion 79 - Rights at Work. This government wants to make it even harder to claim unfair dismissal and are set on changing our laws so they are even more stacked against the worker. Countries with the fairest societies have the best collective bargaining. Workers rights are fundamental human rights and we are keen to see the Labour Party ready to support our call for the relaxation of anti-union laws.

Conference Tuesday

2011-06-22T17:22:00.007+01:00

Angela Lynes, UNISON president, welcomed everyone to conference and introduced international guest speakers. She gave a moving address, providing the background to her trade unions activities and a narrative about how she came to take on the presidency of Unison. Angela spoke of a White Line picket, where people line up, without stopping traffic, on the white markings in the middle of the road.

Mike Hayes explained about the challenges that the union was facing due to increased activity and campaigns that we have run. Our biggest challenge is maintaining momentum against the negative actions of the ConDem government. Our new headquarters was opened in April 2011 and we retain ownership of the former HQ at Mabledon Place. We will work with a developer and receive a lump sum of millions of pounds while maintaining the lease of the building for the future.

The real business got underway with Motion 33 - The Big Society, Nothing About Us, Without Us, Is For Us. The Big Society is a cynical programme designed to remove state accountability and sell off our services. Southern Cross was used as a typical example of how this government sees the future of our service delivery responsibilities. It was suggested that David Cameron should also offer us control of banks and big businesses if he wants us to have control as he claims. Margaret Thatcher said there was no such thing as society, only individuals, but now Cameron claims he wants a Big Society when a society made up on UNISON members was delivering on the premise all along. The cradle-to-grave welfare state is the great creation of the Labour Party and we are proud to state that we want a society run for human need, not corporate greed.

Motion 28 referred to the abolition of the Two Tier Code. This refers to the government attempts to remove TUPE tranfer protection from law. The attempted removal of this protection will increase the pace of the race to the bottom. There will be almost no protection for staff transferred and the private sector takes all the profit while the public sector shoulders the risk. It's really hard for us as activists to support staff in workplaces who are on different terms and conditions. The new concept of an 'Easy Council' was discussed - this being a council where all services were put out to tender and seen as easy pickings for private firms eager to cherry-pick profit-making roles.

Motion 70 dealt with campaigning Against the Tory-led Government. There is no strategy for growth in this Con/Dem plan to cut the deficit, merely the dismantling of our welfare state. We need to highlight the lies in government arguments about a 'bloated' public sector and show the real reason for the deficit. There is a movement of national industrial action growing and we want our union to be at the forefront of it. This neoliberal government believes in a small state where philanthropy and business deliver services. Cameron has no plans to reinstate services when the fortunes of our country change, proving that this is an ideological plan rather than an economic plan. The Labour rehetoric emerging from Milliband and Balls that the cuts run "too deep and too fast" is simply not good enough.

Motion 85 called for improvements to the current State Pension. The level recognized as being needed to move out of poverty is £178.00 per week and the state pension is currently £102.15, a £75+ difference. Pensioners are willing to take action over this, they want dignity, equality and no means testing. Pension credit is not claimed by many of those who are eligible and as trade unionists, we need to fight for an old age pension that promotes the things that pensioners want.

Motion 44 called for the support of Sure Start centres. There are about 55 Sure Start Children's Centres in Norfolk and these have now been structured into "lots". Those not currently under the control of a school (10 of them) are going to be put out to tender to external, probably private, providers and this is viewed as an undesirable outcome.

General Secretary Dave Prentis addressed conference after a video of the mass public protest in London on March 26 2011. Eric Pickles and Ed Balls were among the political figures discussed in Dave's address and he urged Cameron and Nick Clegg to go back to the bankers and tell them to clear up their own mess. He also stated that in future we will only support those MPs who support our values, our aims and our goals.

Dave also mentioned the tissue of lies spread by Treasury Spokesman Danny Alexander which failed to engage our membership. He rebutted the government claim that our pensions are unaffordable, stating that we have the fight of our lives ahead to protect our rights but that it is nonetheless one that we can win.

Comp E, named 'Cuts are not the Cure', looked at the government's attempts to remove the structural deficit within four years and doing so by cutting services rather than intelligently applying tax increases. This is a strategy that will hit our communities hard. It is the poor rather than the rich that will face the worst blows and those who played no part in creating the problem are being expected to pay for it. In Norfolk we saw this most clearly with the cuts to all Youth Services, including the Connexions. These young people had nothing to do with the banking crisis yet their future is being thrown on to the scrapheap without a second thought. We need a fair system that offers young people from disadvantaged backgrounds the same opportunities as those with privileged upbringing.

Motion 34 considered how women are hit more by the cuts than men. They are likely to receive lower income, are more likely to be reliant on benefits and are more dependent on the services being cut. Significantly, they are also more likely to be employed in the public sector and be UNISON members. At Norfolk County Council, women members with childcare needs have said that they were told that it's not fair that they should be able to have flexible working, a statement which fails to appreciate their legal right to request it.

Conference Monday

2011-06-21T10:31:00.004+01:00

The day began with a guest speaker, Domingo Perez, General Secretary of South American public sector union UNE. Perez spoke of a world where economic imperialism is the only thing which seems to matter. This policy seems to be driven by the economic interests of the USA. Slashing public sector budgets in the name of efficiency savings will lead to health and welfare being neglected. Workers and trade unions must aim to build a world society formed on the basic principle of social justice.

Motion 28 defended the rights of 12,000 UNISON workers in the meat hygeine industry. New proposals would see food factories employ their own inspectors, which could be a disaster for food hygiene. UNISON feel that we need high quality state inspection of all meat plants where the inspectors are trained, qualified and independent professionals.

There was a group debate on Composite C, which is about attacks on terms and conditions. Across the country, terms are being cut and disciplinary and sickness policies are being used to dismiss staff. Workers need to use Equality Impact Assessments (EqIAs) to save our terms and conditions. This is not about the deficit, it's about creating a conveniently-flexible workforce with only very basic terms and conditions. These cuts will hit women worse than men and despite government claims to the contrary, there is no evidence that agreeing cuts to terms and conditions saves jobs.

Motion 27 dealt with the notion of the living wage. The London living wage is £8.30 per hour, but outsourced workers are being warned that they might not be able to have a living wage despite companies making huge profits. A living wage is designed for a minimum acceptable standard of living and is the minimum required level to raise people out of poverty. It is shameful that in 2011 we are having to force employers to pay a decent living wage and this should be a key part of trade union agendas.

Composite D regarded Car Allowances and rising fuel costs. Our members who use their vehicle for business should not have to subsidise the employers. We need a travel scheme which fairly remunerates workers for their travel costs, especially as fuel costs take up a large part of the wage of the low paid. It was felt that Britain needed a fair fuel regulator. A speaker against the motion said leading by example doesn't help and we need more progressive action and better green policies. It was pointed out that the employers often try and use the climate change agenda as a reason for cutting travel costs.

Motion 29 concerned the Green Book and sickness arrangements that offer some form of protection to those with a disability. In addition, the annual leave entitlement provides respite from illness. However, the government wishes to move away from Green Book conditions and is seeking to erode nationally agreed terms and conditions, by taking such measures as forcing workers to visit their doctor in their own time.

Motion 19 was about the Localism bill and the community right to challenge, which is meant to allow the involvement of charities and social enterprises but also opens the door for free-market tendering of public services which will lead to privatisation.

Guest Speaker Clifford Singer talked about campaigns and social media. Spoof posters such as the famous "Vote Conservative or I'll kill this kitten" were popular prior to the last general election and were circulated widely on Facebook and Twitter. The 'False Economy' website saw the coming together of various campaigns and was valued by people looking for arguments to support the stance that there are alternatives and cuts are not the cure.

Humour and satire is a good way to respond to ridiculous pieces of information. Crowd sourcing is a new idea whereby the public are able to send in info to generate news pieces for websites, and organisations such as UK UnCut and 38 Degrees have taken protests off the internet and onto the streets through actions such as candlelit vigils and lobbying MPs. Social media has the ability to neutralise the dominant ideology put out by the right-wing press. YouTube footage also has the power to shift false messages put out by mainstream media.

Motion 42 campaigned against college cuts. Colleges have a key role in economic recovery, directly increasing the knowledge of our members and helping them progress their careers and increase their earning potential. Cuts will see our members miss out on adult and further education, as well as denying our members in colleges proper terms and conditions.

Motion 43 related to colleges and the green agenda. It was felt that the green agenda could be one of the first to be dropped in the race to make cuts. Home working was raised as an area of concern, one which our delegation agreed needed to be kept under observation because we know that many of our members subsidise the council with their work at home.

Composite F referred to School Support Staff. The government wants to have greater deregulation of pay and T&Cs. An increase in need requires an increase in funding, but instead staff are being slashed. Learning support staff are stretched and subject to the expectation that they will take on extra duties for no extra pay. Local Authorities act as a safety net for schools, but allowing Academy Status would remove this safety net. This government sees the role of support staff as being better suited to voluntary workers as per their Big Society ideals.

Motion 15 was named 'No more Free schools or Gove-style academies'. This refers to the marketisation and privatisation of education. Schools can go over to academy status very quickly and communities should be involved in consultation, but it very rarely happens in the way it should. Winners and losers are present when you introduce competition to education and our children shouldn't be the victim of an ideology that wants to see profit at the heart of everything. As these academies are essentially private schools funded by the state, it allows companies to come in and make profit from the state when that money would be better spent on improving standards.

Motion 45 related to social care integration with health services. A single point of access for elderly people sounds like a good idea but would not put an end to the postcode lottery nor negate the need for efficiency savings. The merging of social care and NHS could see the blurring of roles without any integrated organisation. It was recognised that the goals of integrating services were generally positive ones but the main driver was not care standards, but instead saving money.

The pressures in social work are growing and our members are being placed under greater force to list children as being in need rather than at risk. Cuts might see a reduction in admin support, a typical cut claiming that back office staff are not front line and therefore not a necessary part of the service. However, social workers now have to perform roles that should be undertaken by paid admin staff and can't concentrate their time and attention to the protection work.

Motion 22 identified that cuts in housing are across the board. Benefits, numbers working in the sector, resources for supporting homeless people, legislation and security of tenure have all reduced in the last two years. Guaranteed housing contributes towards social cohesion and feelings of security. There is some history of services being brought back in house where private companies have failed.

Conference Sunday 2011

2011-06-20T09:50:00.006+01:00

In the first of a number of daily blog updates, Jo Rust updates us daily from National Conference 2011, currently being held in Manchester. These updates have been edited by Kris Holt.

UNISON's National Conference began in earnest on Sunday with the annual report. A tsunami of cuts are hitting all areas of public life, with the country's most vulnerable being victimised by these savage cuts. Cameron's oft repeated mantra that these cuts are inevitable because the last government maxed out the credit card is a lie - if there is money to pay for wars, there's money to pay for public services.

Dave Prentis is leading negotiations on pensions and we are still in negotiation but if we don't get what we want, we have to be prepared to strike. It is important to win that ballot and win with a majority. We will do it together with our sister unions all over the country and with our private sector colleagues whose pensions have been hit too. The government claim is that the cuts are necessary because we're living longer and things as they stand are not sustainable. However, there is a strong feeling that these attacks are about making it cheaper so we can be taken over by private companies. The message to Cameron, we're the ones who are in this together.

A composite is a type of special conference motion created by merging multiple proposed motions with the same goal. As you might expect, there were a number of motions defending the pension scheme (LGPS) and Composite E defended this. It is time to tackle the notion that our pension scheme is gold-plated - women workers only get an average of £55 a week. The LGPS is healthy, with more money going in than being paid out. It was stated that we need a strong voice from the Labour leader, Ed Milliband.

30th June 2011 is beginning to look more and more like the first general strike as more and more areas are coming out in support. The RMT union are striking on the day over the reinstatement of a member and the prison officers are having a two hour walk out on the day. While our members were speaking in support of Composite E, our General Secretary Dave Prentis was live on Sky News refuting the claims of Treasury Spokesman Danny Alexander.

By making the LGPS more expensive and less profitable fewer people will join it and it'll become weaker for our future beneficiaries. The mantra "pay more, work longer and get less" was repeated by nearly every speaker. Employers have been allowed pension holidays while our members have never been able to take one. Once members are transferred over to the new scheme, they could lose their pension protection. It's down to us to make people understand and become aware because the right wing press are never going to put across our side of the story.

Motion 36 concerned black workers and the LGPS. Pension cuts hit us all but hits black people even worse as they're three times more likely to live in poverty in old age. Black workers are more likely to suffer redundancies. Black women are often the main breadwinners in their households and frequently have two jobs. Conference identified the link between low pay and low pensions and it was claimed that the wealth of the rich has doubled since the 1970s.

Motion 6 dealt with the effect of the cuts on rural communities. These communitites are reliant on private transport but having to cut it back because of rising fuel prices and lower wages. Ironically, those factors mean that public transport becomes increasingly vital. Services have to be delivered differently in rural areas because people can't just walk into the town and get a service in the way that those living in urban areas can. However, the nature of rural communities means that they are often not seen as a priority.

Motion 9 speaking up for Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender (LGBT) equality in a time of cuts in Local Government. LGBT workers have been among then last to gain the protection of the law and they have been disproportionately hit by the cuts. In addition to this, they face being bullied at work but fear to complain while their jobs are under threat.

Motion 16 referred to youth services in crisis. Cuts to youth services are a false economy, reducing access to work and the chance to empower younger people to achieve in future. Youth work enlightens young people, raises self-esteem and aspirations. Attacking the young people of today was described as 'an attack on the future'.

Composite B investigated ways to use equality to fight the cuts agenda. The motion believes that Equality Impact Assessments (EqIA) are the best way for councils to demonstrate that they have placed due regard to their equality duties. The flawed notion of 'Big Society' cannot replace properly funded public services. Some branches play a very active part in the formation of their EqIA and then meet up to discuss lessons learned. A high court judge recently ruled that the changes to equality legislation made no difference to the need for councils to do EqIA fully and properly with consultation, and this made Birmingham City Council change their plans to cut children's services.

Finally, Composite A campaigned against Local Government cuts and for a fairer deal for all. Local authorities are shedding jobs, services and people at an unprecedented level. We cannot support councils who set illegal or irresponsible budgets, instead working with them to set parallel budgets and ensure that they are accountable. Nearly four million children in modern day Britain are living in poverty and some of those live in homes where there is a working adult.

We know that this government is influenced by public opinion and so we have to make sure the public fully understand why we are taking this stance. We need coordinated action between all service sectors and other unions. The Southampton strike is now entering a sixth week of action and we need to support it. Local support remains high despite media lies. Meanwhile, Crawley Council have lent Southampton Council £5 million to help them combat the impact of the strike action but a UNISON speaker from Southampton made it clear that they will never give up the fight. Within UNISON, an injury to one is an injury to all. We must stand together, unite and fight, make the public understand, then we can win this fight.

Action on Pensions

2011-06-17T09:49:00.003+01:00

The best public sector pension scheme in the whole country is the one enjoyed by our MP’s, yet they have the audacity to claim that other public sector pension schemes are too generous and need to change. The proposals that we are facing will mean we pay more, get less and have to work longer before we receive our pensions. At a time when we are facing mass redundancies, pay freezes and attempts to worsen our conditions of service, it must be time for ordinary union members to say 'enough is enough'.

That is most certainly the case for a number of teaching unions and the civil service union who are to take industrial action on 30 June 2011 to protect their own pension schemes. We need to show our support for them by attending the lunchtime rallies that are taking place across the county. At the time of writing there are 12.00 demos in both Norwich and King’s Lynn outside the Forum and Top Shop respectively. Speak to your steward for news of the latest events. Please do all you can to attend.

In UNISON we look as if the strikes will be in autumn. It is unfortunate that the strikes cannot be all on the same day but it is possible that the unions striking on 30 June 2011 may need further days of action that will be the same day as our own.

Striking for unions is always a last resort and not something we take lightly. However there comes a time when we have to take a stand. The previous Government tried to attack our pensions and industrial action by UNISON members put a stop to that. We have proved industrial action can make a difference so we should feel empowered by that.

For the latest news on the pension campaign check the UNISON national website.

If you work with colleagues who are not members of a trade union please encourage them to join. We are fighting for their pensions and if they join a union they will be able to strengthen our action and improve our chances of success.

- Jonathan Dunning is the Branch Secretary of the Norfolk County Branch of UNISON.

Co-ordinated Action on June 30th

2011-04-28T14:14:00.007+01:00

Our UNISON branch already has agreed on the principle of a 24 hour general strike against the cuts. The following Unions are all preparing for coordinated industrial action on June 30th around anti-cuts issues: UCU (University and College Lecturers), FBU (Fire Brigades Union), PCS (Public and commercial Services), NUT (National Union of Teachers).

This report shows the head of steam building up with other unions like the RMT (Rail, Maritime and Transport) ready to join. The NUJ (National Union of Journalists) conference recently called for a general strike.

Click here for an article on this subject.

Unfortunately, I have to say that the leadership of UNISON, despite a lot of anti-cuts speeches, do not seem to be preparing to translate words into action.

I have suggested that our branch should send a message to the UNISON leadership saying we stand for strike action on 30th June against the cuts.

This is an opportunity for us to show what we feel. It is time to strike over all the issues we are angry about. Each year our pay award is below inflation. We have also been robbed of redundancy enhancement. We face compulsory redundancies and there are changes to our pensions that force younger colleagues to work longer. Many members are angry but have expressed reservations about taking industrial action alone.

This is our opportunity to show what the trade union movement can do together.

Ed Bober is a steward in the Norfolk County Branch of UNISON.

International Workers Memorial Day - 28 April 2011

2011-04-21T13:29:00.005+01:00

28 April 2011 is the first anniversary of the UK government officially recognising International Worker’s Memorial Day (IWMD).

IWMD has long been recognised by the international community as a day of reflection and commemoration for those who have either lost their lives, or who have become seriously ill or been injured as a direct result of their jobs.

The International Federation of Trade Unions suggests a theme for each IWMD; this year the focus is on ‘highlighting the crucial role played by trade unions, strong regulation and effective enforcement in securing workplaces.’

You may see colleagues wearing a purple ribbon on and around 28 April in recognition of IWMD. Please ask your local steward/rep or contact the branch office if you would wish to express your support for the day by wearing a ribbon.

Your UNISON branch have worked with the NCC Chaplain, Chris Copsey, and with NCC to arrange a service of remembrance to be held at 12.30pm on Thursday 28 April 2011. The service will take place at County Hall, and will include a dedication of the Memorial Tree planted by UNISON to commemorate the official recognition of IWMD last year.

The service will include a chance for individuals to light a candle in remembrance of those dear to them who may have suffered injury in the workplace, and will also observe a minute’s silence. In the event of poor weather, the service will take place in the Marble Hall.

If you would like to attend, or would like a dedication made on your behalf, please contact either the UNISON Office 222384 or email gspringett@hotmail.co.uk for further info.

If you can’t make it to County Hall on the day, please consider taking local action such as observing a minute’s silence in your workplace. You may wish to take a moment to consider those who have lost their lives, or been made ill as a result of their work, and think about what actions you can take to protect yourself and your colleagues in the future.

You can click here to link to a UNISON poster that can be printed and displayed in your workplace to show your solidarity.

International Worker's Memorial Day - remember the dead and fight for the living!

Glenn Springett is the Health and Safety Officer for the Norfolk County Branch of UNISON.

Campaign Against The Cuts - Progress

2011-04-11T07:52:00.004+01:00

The campaign against public sector cuts is making progress. The Liberal Democrat element of the Coalition Government have wobbled over the Thatcherite plans to 'reform' (aka brutalise) the NHS and the weakness of the Tories has been exposed by their inability to force these cuts through. Andrew Lansley has called a temporary halt to the legislation for further consultation on the proposals. A fig leaf if ever there was one for an admission that right-wing Tories knew they couldn’t get their plans approved by Parliament.

We have to keep the pressure up both nationally and locally. Norfolk MPs need to hear from their voters that pursuing such cuts will lose them votes. Norwich South Liberal MP Simon Wright wobbled over whether to keep his promise on student tuition fees. It appears only when he did the maths and worked out his parliamentary majority hung on the large student vote in his constituency did he agree to his pre election promise. This was probably with Nick Clegg’s agreement as the behaviour of the Liberal Democrats MPs shows they are more interested in maintaining political power than sticking by their political principles. Their behaviour in Government does nothing to wipe away the memories of the MPs expenses scandal which cast a shadow over all three of the main political parties.

Locally we are keeping up the pressure as part of the TUC 'There is an alternative' campaign. On 2 May Bank Holiday the May Day celebration in Norwich will be relaunched. Between 12.00 and 3.00 pm there will be an event in Chapelfield Gardens, Norwich. There will be live music and speakers with the theme being the campaign against NHS 'reform'. I hope to see as many UNISON members there as possible. The NHS is built on the principles that should underpin all public services. If Andrew Lansley’s plans come to fruition it will inevitably have a considerable impact on the rest of the public sector. It will also be bad news for us as individuals who benefit from our NHS service. We need to keep up the pressure as a union and as union members.

Jonathan Dunning is the Branch Secretary of the Norfolk County Branch of UNISON.

March for the Alternative

2011-04-01T15:30:00.003+01:00

The TUC demonstration on March 26th 2011 was a brilliant show of strength. The Norfolk County UNISON branch were well represented and all those who came on the march have good impressions to share. Media estimates grossly understated the size of the demo and also focused on completely peripheral issues. I think this shows how much the establishment fear the potential power of the trade union movement.

This society has the potential wealth to support a growing public sector. Tax evasion and avoidance cost the UK £120 billion a year. Trident would cost £1.8 billion. Government investment in a million green jobs would save on unemployment benefit and bring in extra tax revenues.

In my view the TUC should now call a 24-hour general strike to defend jobs and services. However, the leaders will not do this without pressure from below. Together with service users we need to take direct action to defend jobs and services.

- Ed Bober, Norfolk County UNISON Branch steward

March for the Alternative, March 26th 2011

2011-03-22T08:39:00.004Z

The cuts being perpetrated by this government threaten millions of people with the risk of unemployment and millions more with the loss of vital services, such as schools, health care, fire brigade and libraries. Furthermore they threaten the entire country with the risk of a double dip recession which will destroy the chance of alternative employment. Bankers will take our homes away.

If the Trades Union Congress demo on March 26th has over a million people in attendance, the political climate in this country will be fundamentally changed. Those who support cuts will have far less credibility. Those who oppose them could be greatly emboldened.

If you and your colleagues participate in this huge show of strength, it will give you a sense of pride in the enormous power of the trades unions. It will change you forever. We are the only economic power significant enough to challenge the rule of the bankers. Don't let us leave a world of poverty, unemployment and pollution for our children to inherit. Be part of the fight for a civilised future.

Join the TUC demonstration. Bring your friends and family.

As far as I know places on official trade union coaches are rapidly filling up. I would still encourage you to get yourself to this event. Assemble Victoria Embankment at 11 am for the march to Hyde Park.

Vote to Make a Difference on 5th May

2011-03-18T09:55:00.006Z

Political decisions can and will change our lives. We have seen our pay cut in real terms, our jobs extinguished, our pension changed with further radical changes just announced by the Government, our services reduced or externalised (TUPE).

There are approximately 21,000 local authority workers, most of whom will be eligible to vote, along with many other public service workers, e.g. Police, Fire, NHS, Teachers, BBC, Environment Agencies, Armed forces, Charity Groups etc. If we all vote this May we can and will make a difference.

Many countries still do not have political systems that even give their citizens the right to vote. While they continue to fight for this right, we should consider it our responsibility to vote.

Find out who represents you and discuss your concerns. Many of us have the chance to make a difference this May so please take this opportunity, where the right to vote is a privilege won after hundreds of years and many battles, to use your vote in May - as your choice can make a difference to the society we live in.

Broadland District Council
http://www.broadland.gov.uk/council_and_democracy/councillorslist.aspx?view=party

Breckland Council
http://democracy.breckland.gov.uk/mgMemberIndex.aspx?FN=PARTY&VW=LIST&PIC=0

Great Yarmouth Borough Council
http://www.great-yarmouth.gov.uk/council-democracy/councillors-democracy/who-are-my-councillors?s=party

King's Lynn & West Norfolk Council
http://www.west-norfolk.gov.uk/Default.aspx?page=21545

North Norfolk District & Parish Council
http://www.northnorfolk.org/council/5008.asp

Norwich City Council
http://www.norwich.gov.uk/site_files/pages/City_Council__Councillors_democracy_and_elections__Councillors.html

South Norfolk District & Parish Council
http://www.south-norfolk.gov.uk/democracy/4785.asp

Many local elections are taking place for Councillors in Norfolk on 5th May 2011: please take the opportunity to vote.

Colin MacPhail is a senior steward within the Norfolk County Branch of UNISON.

The New UN Women’s Agency

2011-03-10T17:44:00.002Z

This Tuesday was International Women’s Day. Join me in calling on the Government to answer the question they failed to answer last week when they published their review of the UK’s international aid programme - how much will they commit to spending on the new UN women’s agency?

This new UN agency has the potential to make a real difference to the lives of women in both the developed and the developing world but it needs resources.

The Government say they are putting women and girls at the heart of their development work. Sign up and ask the Government to put their money where their mouth is and show the world that the UK is still a leader for women.

The Labour Government played a key role in establishing 'UN Women'. The new Government must continue that support. Empowering women is not only right in principle but essential for fighting poverty and achieving all of the Millennium Development Goals, such as reducing the number of women who die in childbirth, and increasing the number of girls who go to school.

It is women in developing countries who are best placed to fight for maternal health care, and for their daughters to go to school. UN Women must help them in that fight. Support UN Women by signing up to ask the Tory-led Government for a real commitment to back up women throughout the world

Decisions are being made on this now and women the world over need the UK to play its part. The women of the world shouldn’t have to wait any longer for this Government to make up its mind.

Best,

Adapted from an email sent to the branch on behalf of Harriet Harman,
Shadow Secretary of State for International Development.

LSE Students Occupy Buildings Against the University’s Ties To the Libyan Regime

2011-03-01T16:29:00.004Z

Students at the London School of Economics have succeeded in changing policy at their educational establishment through a militant approach. Following the announcement below, they began an occupation of LSE buildings designed to force their establishment to change its position with regard to Libya.

"At 7pm on February 22nd, we began an occupation of the Senior Common Room in the Old Building (Houghton St.) against the LSE regarding their association with the Libyan regime. In light of recent events the LSE administration announced that they would no longer be accepting the money ...from the Gaddafi family. The school has already accepted £300,000 and was scheduled to receive and additional £1.2 million. We as students of the LSE are demanding:

a) A public statement by the LSE administration denouncing the recent gross violations of human rights by the Gaddafi regime and Saif Gaddafi’s violent threats against the protesters in Libya

b) A formal commitment by the LSE refraining from cooperating with the Libyan regime and any other dictatorial regimes that are known to be implicated in gross violations of human rights.

c) Rejecting the rest of the yearly installments that are being received from the £1.5 Million donation of the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation (GICDF) and work towards creating a scholarship fund for underprivileged Libyan students using the £300k that LSE has already accepted and not spent yet.

d) Revoking Saif Gaddafi's LSE alumni status, as his public statement on Sunday 20th of February and the various reports issued by International Human Rights Organisations clearly demonstrate that he is implicated in the killing of innocent civilians as well as other human rights violations. His association with the LSE community and particularly its student body is a disgrace that is not tolerated by the LSE staff, students and alumni.

e) Publicly committing that no grants from officials of such oppressive regimes will be accepted in the future by establishing a set of standards and a process of democratic decision-making with student representation that determines whether or not the School should accept money coming from controversial donors.

Failing to do these would not only betray the LSE's ethical values, it would also tarnish the School's reputation in a region whose people are currently fighting to reclaim their freedom from corrupt dictatorships--and are winning the fight so far.

Following the publication of these demands we will occupy a space on LSE campus."

Following the occupation, the LSE Director made the following update on the School's official website:

'The Director will recommend to the LSE Council on 1 March that the School set aside £300,000 – equivalent to the entire sum received from the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation - for purposes agreed with the wider School community. In particular, the School is looking into establishing a scholarship fund for Libyan students.'

UNISON Norfolk County Branch is preparing an official statement of support to the student effort which will be sent in the next few days.

SERTUC Day of Action

2011-01-12T22:25:00.002Z

The South and Eastern Region Trades Union Congress Executive Committee is calling for your active support for street level action in every community on Saturday 15 January – organised by you!

The challenge is to counter the government’s lies about the economy, spending on public services, the falsehood that deep cuts to public services are essential, and that cuts are somehow fair.

Millions of media pounds and constant political repetition has given the public a diet of lies and half truths – so the Executive Committee believes we have to use our considerable human resources (our members and our commitment) to talk to our communities and win an understanding about the depth of the government’s political attack on working people.

The invitation is to all affiliates, trade union branches and trades councils is to make your voice heard locally on Saturday 15 January.

Can you organise a street meeting, workplace activity, a street stall, a demonstration, a media-worthy stunt, community leafleting, press release, street theatre – or any kind of event that will attract people to talk to you, that will attract local media coverage, and that will ensure that our neighbours understand that cuts are not the answer – and we can make a difference.

We are leafleting against the cuts at Norwich City Football Ground this Saturday, 15th January as part of the TUC day of action. Anyone wishing to help should meet outside the Riverside Leisure Centre (opposite Carrow Road football ground), Norwich at 1.45pm – leafleting supporters until 3pm.

There are other events planned in towns and villages all over the Eastern Region - see the SERTUC website for more info.

North Norfolk Against the Cuts call for Lamb to resign

2011-01-12T01:52:00.006Z

'There is a small but significant change of mood. We were out leafleting in December in Cromer.

'We had a petition on our stall calling on Norman Lamb (Lib Dem MP for North Norfolk) to resign. We had a placard advertising this petition. In the first few minutes, before we had even finished setting the stall up, people were queuing up to sign. We collected 82 signatures in about 90 minutes.

'People were more argumentative than in previous weeks. They expressed support or opposition much more vociferously. I think the student protests and the police brutality of the last week have begun to polarise society. There were a lot of words about the local MP that I would not want to repeat in respectable company! There were parents extremely angry and worried that their children would never be able to go to university. There were others denouncing students for being hooligans.

'I remember this happened during the events of France '68 as well. When the movement first started many people did not have a strong opinion. But as the revolution in France began to pose more fundamental questions about how society should be run, then people both supporters and opponents started to argue. This is the way people learn. Opinions change.

'Of course in Britain right now we are still at a very early stage. The youth are on the streets but the workers, held back by the union leadership, are still watching. Many are inspired by the students. But many don’t dare step over the Rubicon into industrial action. Not yet anyway...'

- Ed Bober, UNISON and Norfolk Coalition Against the Cuts activist

The Unthank Centre

2011-01-10T12:23:00.005Z

Family Support is due to lose 50% of its budget starting in April this year. This is the stream of funding which pays for the Unthank Family Centre amongst other services. The precise proposals for what is cut are not published, but I would like to share the following thoughts regarding the Unthank Family Centre as they are clearly vulnerable.

This is a frontline service in safeguarding the well-being of the most vulnerable children in Norfolk, in line with current child protection procedures and legislative responsibilities. They work with families with the most complex needs, with work commissioned from child protection conferences, the looked-after children processes or as part of court proceedings. The referral route is via frontline social workers, the Centre is central to forwarding child protection plans and informing decisions in care proceedings. It is a unique and essential service for which there is an enormous demand - the requirement for this work is unquestionable, and the current potential for it to be replicated by the voluntary or private sector is non-existent.

Children are not protected by the fact that risk has been identified and a child protection conference has been convened. Children are not protected by a meeting. Protection rests in the subsequent plan around the child, in which family support services are crucial. The absence of skilled direct work with children and their carers would have enormous implications for the potential for children to remain in or return to their families (thus increasing the legal requirement to provide accommodation, and the consequent expense.) The therapeutic intervention provided for children who have experienced unimaginable levels of abuse (sexual, emotional and physical) mitigates against future pressure on adult mental health services and the consequences of anti-social behaviour.

David White, Norfolk’s Chief Executive, recently noted "the 12% increase in the safeguarding referrals of children over the last year (more than 6,800) resulting in a staggering 60% increase - now up to 500 children and young people subject to formal child protection plans." It is hard to comprehend a suggestion to reduce family support services in the light of these statistics.

County Councillors need to be fully informed regarding the nature of the cuts they are being asked to sanction, something UNISON is not convinced is happening. A sophisticated understanding of the nature of child protection is required. Do not be misled into thinking that ‘frontline services’ are purely embodied in the investigating social workers identifying a problem.

There is a substantial risk that the vital, frontline nature of this work is misunderstood by assumptions about what family centres in general offer. They offer direct work to children who would not receive a service elsewhere, advice and support to our colleagues in frontline services, sophisticated parenting assessments to inform decision making in care proceedings and have been required to comment on expensive local authority commissioned reports in the court arena. Intervention has frequently been directed by the Judiciary, and sought by legal representation. In addition to this, the Centre has provided training and staff development, with regard to recent developments in understanding about infant mental health and the cost-saving necessity of early intervention.

The people of Norfolk have a highly skilled and committed workforce, who have evolved throughout multiple restructurings and have been informed by recent research and enquiries into child deaths. It would be irresponsible to disregard this source of expertise - valuable time and resources will inevitably be spent in trying to recoup it. This is not a random projection of future outcomes, but an informed professional certainty should current proposals to reduce family support be sanctioned. The potential future impact on looked-after children, adult mental health and prison services far outweighs any immediate short-term saving.

Michael Gove expresses a desire to "strengthen the profession so social workers are in a better position to make well-informed judgements, based on up to date evidence, in the best interests of children...I want social workers to be clear about their responsibilities and to be accountable in the way they protect children." The above responses are based on many years of experience in child protection, and upon an understanding of the most recent research including infant mental health and serious case reviews. It would be professionally irresponsible to support the removal of vital support services which are the very foundation of the child protection system.

UNISON fear the lack of debate on vital services such as this demonstrate a 'head in the sand' approach adopted by County Councillors who would prefer not to know the real implications of the decisions they are about to be asked to make.

David Lambert
Senior UNISON Steward – Children`s Services

An Open Letter

2010-12-23T15:53:00.002Z

The Editor
Eastern Daily Press

Dear Editor

The article “Charities concerned at how cuts could affect the elderly” which appeared in the Eastern Daily Press on Wednesday 17 November is timely and hopefully will remind your readers of actions they can take to oppose such drastic cuts. The proposal by Norfolk County Council is billed as the “Big Conversation”, but UNISON believes the genie is out of the bottle and despite Leader of the Council Derrick Murphy’s assertion that “no one wants cuts – I don’t want cuts” in a meeting with trade unions on 8 November, it is apparent that the scale and potential impact will be much greater than in the past and for a longer period, prolonging the agony for staff who are already facing pay cuts and proposed cuts to any redundancy packages. It is almost unbelievable that senior staff, MPs and Councillors can take part in a campaign (Make it Marham, to rightfully save jobs and services at RAF Marham) against the Conservative Government cuts whilst ignoring the pleas of staff, service users and the unions of the impact the cuts will have on the people of Norfolk, both as service users and economically throughout the county.

Despite the fact that Paul Burstow, Care Services Minister, has said that Councils have no excuse to cut adult care and that £2m had been provided to maintain care services at current levels, the £2m is not ring fenced and half has been given to the NHS. There are no indications that the NHS Commissioners will be required to spend this money on preventative services or that the funding will keep up with demographic changes.

Take just one service mentioned in the report– the Sensory Support Service provides a statutory service. There are no other staff groups with the skills and experience of Sensory Support, so it is unknown who could step in to provide this service – for example, they issue BD8 Certificates for those registered blind and partially sighted. The staff are devastated that they will be unable to provide such a service that is universally thought to be useful and preventative, £1m spent here means £1.5 m saved down the line, as with most of the proposals for Adult Care.

The impact on staff should not be ignored either. UNISON have been very concerned about staff in all departments, who have already seen their pay frozen, in effect for the past 2 years, with more to come. Also the proposed changes to the Staffing Adjustment Policy where any Redundancy payments are to be reduced will affect staff and the wider economy too.

We urge everyone who feels these cuts are a step too far to respond the County Council by January 8 2011, join the trade unions and others at Chapelfield in Norwich City Centre on Saturday 4 December and fight for these services. Once gone, it will be impossible to replace them.

Yours sincerely

Alison Birmingham
UNISON Senior Steward
Adult Social Care

MRS and Redundancy Pay

2010-08-26T16:08:00.002+01:00

Some colleagues are coming under pressure to process appeal information in their own time. It is company policy that all work relating to MRS is conducted in work time. Claim it as flex or time off in lieu. UNISON will support you in this. Contact us if you are having problems in this regard.

Our branch has sent out ballot papers about action to oppose the cut in our redundancy pay. I strongly recommend that you vote yes to industrial action, including strike action, because the alternative is that the employer walks all over us. They have told the union that this is not negotiable. There is clearly a massive wave of cuts coming. Connexions is only the start. The fight over redundancy pay is part of the fight to defend jobs and services. The pay we lose going on strike will be small compared to the loss of our jobs. Big cuts are central to the policies of this government, they go far beyond the '1% efficiency savings' which they spoke of in their election campaign.

Now is the time to ask colleagues to join UNISON. Many new members have joined up in the last few weeks because of the threat we are under. You may wish to consider becoming a steward for your own section. If you would like a workplace meeting to discuss the proposed changes to redundancy pay more fully, please contact the UNISON office or the senior steward in your area.

Don't forget UNISON and the PCS (Public and Commercial Services Union) have called a public meeting to oppose cuts. This meeting will be held at Norwich City Hall, Wednesday September 8th at 7pm.

I always value your feedback.

- Ed Bober, UNISON Steward

Young Members Meeting and the Norwich Beer Festival

2010-08-26T09:28:00.002+01:00

The next meeting of the Regional Young Members Group will take place in Norwich, followed by a social at the Norwich Beer Festival. The meeting will start at 2pm on Saturday 30 October with the venue yet to be confirmed. A ticket to the Festival and accommodation at Premier Inn Nelson (near train station) is provided for those who attend the meeting.

This will be a good event with lots of opportunity for socialising and finding out more about UNISON, what membership means for young people and how to get more involved. Please contact the branch office for further information on how to get involved.

- Kristen Jones, Young Members Officer.

Cuts, cuts, cuts

2010-08-13T15:30:00.001+01:00

Cuts, cuts, cuts – it is just like the last Tory Government. Many UNISON members were not too impressed with the previous Labour Government but there is no way they would have cut local government funding part way through the financial year causing mayhem in the process. There is no way they would have axed 16 to 19 education, the time students are being prepared for the real world. 65 people in Norfolk Connexions Service providing a front line service to young people now face redundancy. There is no way they would have axed the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) project. The axing of BSF sums up what we face.

Many of us were educated in tatty Victorian schools or if we were lucky schools built in the 1930s, 1950s or 1960s when previous Labour Governments improved school buildings as a priority. Many of these buildings are no longer fit for purpose in a computer dominated world and the cost in renovation and maintenance can be colossal. Much better to knock them down and build schools designed to facilitate education in the 21st century. It also provides jobs for the design and building & construction industries.

To me it seems illogical to sacrifice BSF when our very future depends on the quality of education we provide to our young people. We can find money to fund foreign wars that make the cost of BSF insignificant so I really don’t believe this is about being forced to cut the budget deficit. The Conservative and Liberal Government have opted to cut BSF and other public services ordinary people benefit from in preference to cuts in military spending where the UK outspends most of our European partners. The Government claim BSF bureaucratic and costly yet the National Audit Office says it provided value for money!

This may be what people voted for when they voted Conservative at the last election but it flies in the face of everything the Liberal Democrats have stood for over the last decade (they were the only big political party to oppose the Iraqi war remember). I believe what Liberal Democrat MPs who support the Chancellors proposals are doing makes the expenses scandal seem respectable. UNISON members who are seeing their public services cut need to make their views known to their MPs and support the union nationally and locally in opposing what this Government is trying to do to our society. We have to act now before the Tories say once again “there is no such thing as society”.

People in Greece and Spain are showing their Governments they will not accept swingeing cuts to the public services they value. In the UK the campaign against the poll tax showed people power could deliver, we need to be ready to act again.

- Jonathan Dunning, Branch Secretary.

Where’s Willie? Trying his hand at Union busting!

2010-08-13T15:28:00.001+01:00

Our comrades, the striking cabin crews of BA, have turned Heathrow’s terminal 5 into a “ghost town.” BA, an airline that has marketed itself as a premium brand carrier, is cutting cabin crew staff. By doing so they are undermining the very service on which the BA reputation has been built. By defending both their right to maintain a decent standard of living and a larger vision of the airline’s interests, our Unite comrades have been forced into industrial action. Willie Walsh, BA’s Chief Executive, has comprehensively shown that he wants the strike. He made this desire transparent by tabling a deal that was actually worse than an earlier offer that the union had already rejected.

The BA workers stand accused in the right wing media kangaroo court of indifference to the welfare of a potential 2.5 million members of the travelling public. Their earlier strike action in December was nullified by a bizarre judicial ruling. Quite accidentally a small number of votes had been counted that were from recent former BA employees who had already been made redundant and were not eligible to vote. This statistically insignificant miss-poll meant that this industrial action was always going to come just weeks before the general election. Some government ministers are running scared before the media-created image that Unite is run by militant totalitarians whose goals are malevolent and misguided, and have joined the union bashing chorus as a result. They should, instead, be defending the democratic rights of unions to strike.

Is the pre-election timing of this mere coincidence? Or, as seems more likely, to whip up a taste for orchestrated union-bashing in anticipation of a change in governmental colour?

John McDonnell, MP and Labour Resource Council Chair, has said regarding the BA strike, “This dispute is a prime example of the current industrial relations climate, with the employer not only seeking to win but to break the union too.”

On the Unite website BA sources are quoted as stating that "Some media reports on our flight operations during the period of Unite’s strike have appeared to give equal weight to information we have issued as to claims made by Unite." This was followed by a statement that claims BA’s requirement to perform at PLC-expected standards means that their statements had to be truthful because of this legal status. The logical sequel to this argument was – according to BA – that the press should ignore information from Unite! Apparently the honesty of some leaders of private business has apparently never been called into question! Pardon us, Mr. Walsh, if the antics of people like Fred Goodwin, Bernie Madoff, and the management team of Enron have turned us into sceptics regarding the reliability of corporate integrity.

So UNISON, the public service union, stands as one with her sister Unite: in voices a million members strong we stand shoulder to shoulder in solidarity. Our brothers and sisters have the right, indeed the responsibility to defend a decent living standard for themselves and future generations of BA cabin crews. The principles of “negotiation, not imposition” and the right to demand a living wage receives our full support!

- Karen Michael, UNISON steward

MRS Appeal Info

2010-08-13T15:27:00.002+01:00

Now that we have a collective agreement with management, there will be some changes to your pay and conditions. This is universal for all employees of Norfolk County Council and will have been detailed in your MRS letters. If your grade has increased due to MRS , then you may be entitled to back pay, payable from the implementation date of 1/4/07. This will be paid in a lump sum and taxed at a special rate which is less than if the compensation was paid with tax and national insurance at the usual rate.

The arrangements for voluntary retirement have also changed. If an employee has been employed since 31/3/07, are over the age of 60 years, are a member of the Local Government Pension scheme and are due a compensation payment, they can choose to retire between November 09 and 31st March 10 and keep their right to compensation payments. This payment will be subject to tax in the usual way and will be added to their pension contributions. This is an opportunity for anyone who was considering leaving after MRS had been paid to leave now at no loss to themselves. If you choose stay until implementation your compensation will have deductions made at the special rate but will not be reflected in your pension.

At the moment, NCC are asking anyone who thinks that they have an appeal against their grade awarded under MRS to register an appeal. Norfolk County Council have just issued information and advice on how to appeal. It is available through the website (as above) or from your Manager. If you are a Unison member , advice is obtainable from the UNISON office, 01603 222384.

- Alison Birmingham, ASSD Senior Steward

Health and Safety - an Issue for Everyone

2010-08-13T15:25:00.001+01:00

Forget the idea of ‘Can’t do that, its ‘elf and safety innit…’ that’s often represented in newspapers or on television – UNISON believes that keeping people safe and well when at work is a vitally important issue.

Employers have legal duties to provide a safe working environment and working practices, but sadly, there are still too many deaths and injuries occurring in the workplace – official figures show that across the UK last year there were 229 people killed at work, while 2.1 million people suffered from an illness caused or made worse by the workplace or their duties.

UNISON campaigns locally and nationally to improve working conditions, and the role of the safety representative is very important to this continuing success. Research by the Health and Safety Executive has shown that workplaces where safety representatives work in partnership with employers have up to 50% fewer injuries and accidents.

In order to continue our branch’s successes at making the workplace a better and safer place to be, UNISON are currently running a campaign to remind members (or prospective members) of the benefits of a workplace safety rep. Called ‘Safety in Numbers’, there are currently opportunities to become an accredited rep, which can lead to a professional qualification.

Locally, UNISON works hard, in partnership with Norfolk County Council and the HSE, at making the workplace safer. Whether that workplace is an office or at the roadside, you’ll find that as a UNISON rep., you’re well trained and supported, and of course, as you’re working for a safer workplace, time spent training and undertaking your duties is paid as part of your working hours.

If you’re interested in finding out more, contact the Branch Office for a discussion, or speak to your local safety representative or steward. Alternatively, drop by the UNISON stall which will be in the South Foyer of County Hall during European Health and Safety Week (19th -25th October).

- Glenn Springett, Health and Safety Officer (first posted: 19 October 2009.)

MRS Principles

2010-08-13T15:24:00.002+01:00

The Modern Reward Strategy (MRS) has split the workforce into winners and losers. Of course all of us welcome wage rises for those who have been underpaid too long. We also want a united workforce.

In contrast to the official spin of the employer, many colleagues have told me how upset, angry, demoralised and worried they are by MRS. The purpose of a trade union is to protect all its members from any threat of a cut in living standards.

There are women workers earning less than £15,000 a year facing a pay cut in the name of the Equal Pay Act. There are other colleagues who face wage cuts of over £6000 a year, for some this will mean losing their homes. The union branch is at last taking steps to oppose this.

Over two thousand NCC colleagues face a cut in pay through MRS. Others face reduction in Saturday working and loss of car allowance. Others, even if making a small gain now, find themselves at the top of a scale with no prospect of progression in future years. There are many reasons to oppose MRS.

Workers in some other councils, for example Greenwich, have won single status deals which involved no pay cuts. They did this by making a united stand and threatening industrial action. Where unions have not been so bold, single status deals have been a major disaster, leading to over 200,000 local authority workers facing wage cuts all around the country. Unfortunately Unison national office have not publicised the many heroic attempts by workers to resist such humiliation. See http://www.labouruniondigest.org.uk/index.php?page_id=13

It is my belief that the branch should now completely dissociate itself from MRS. Our website still carries material showing MRS as a joint proposal between Unison and NCC. In my opinion it is wrong to continue to display this. We should dispense with any impression that we are party to MRS.

On the matter of imposition, our branch is now preparing to take industrial action in hot spots, with the possibility of a work to rule over wider sections of the workforce should Norfolk County Council attempt to impose MRS on members against their will. I welcome this response from the branch. All members who have expressed their disgust with MRS have played a part in making this happen and there is much more to be done requiring your involvement. We need to reclaim this union for its members. There remains a big risk that some members could be isolated.

NCC are threatening to sidestep collective bargaining, thereby undermining the union. If this happens then in any future scenario needing action or negotiation the unions’ position will be severely weakened. Those individuals who choose to agree to accept individually now may find that when they need a strong union at some future date it will not be there. By so agreeing they will be exchanging short term benefit for long term loss of union strength and reliability. The principle of collective bargaining must be upheld.

- Ed Bober, UNISON steward

Burston Strike Rally

2010-08-13T15:21:00.001+01:00

This year's Burston Strike School Rally will be held on Sunday 6th September at Church Green, Burston near Diss, from 11am to 4;30pm.

Tom and Kitty Higdon moved to Norfolk as teachers in 1902. Their Socialist beliefs brought them into conflict with the powerful in society who claimed that the working class should be 'taught their place'. On arrival in Burston in 1911, they came across the regular exploitation of children by farmers and landowners. They also crossed the path of the Rev Charles Tucker Eland who was defeated by Tom at the parish council elections. This led to charges of discourtesy being made against Kitty and the couple were dismissed. As they handed over control to the authorities, the sound of children marching and singing was heard. The schoolchildren, 66 out of 72, had started a strike, which was to last 25 years. This has become recognised as the longest strike in trade union history.

The pupils continued their education on the village green, attracting leading Labour, Trades' Unions and Women's Suffrage activists to the village to speak. A year went by and a national appeal for money was launched to fund a permanent building for the Strike School, which opened in 1917.

The building is maintained today as a museum, which celebrates the courage of the pupils and their parents and teachers and the annual rally continues to celebrate Trade Union and community solidarity.

This year's guest speakers are Luis Marron, Political Counsellor, Cuban Embassy; Richard Howitt MEP; Tony Benn and Diana Holland, Unite Assistant General Secretary

There will be entertainment from John Hegley and live music from Omar Puente plus The Red Flags plus Paseo Malanga Carnival Band. There will also be campaign stalls, a beer tent and food availale.

A highlight of the annual rally is the march, with trade union banners, around the "Candlestick", the name given to roads circling the village.

Admission is free and all are welcome. There will also be ample parking facilities available.

- Nigel Reigate, UNISON Steward (first posted: 28 August 2009)