Unity Magazine - June 2005

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world. Indeed it's the only thing that ever has."

Margaret Mead, Anthropologist.

 

 

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In this issue ...

• Job Evaluation
• Pensions Update
• Coach Trips
• Adult Learning Week 2005
• Women's Lives Course
• British Sign Language Conference
• Reader's Letters
• Steward Training Programme 2005 for Exeter & Plymouth
• UNISON Welfare
• Successful Re-grading Appeal Claim
• TUC Computer Courses - An Evaluation
• Teaching Assistants
• Hello to our new Branch Secretary
• Save paper - save a forest

Job Evaluation

We have all in recent months seen the news items on the problems arising from job evaluation. In this region the Devon and Cornwall Police authority were the latest to be highlighted.

Come and hear the facts about the status of the scheme in Devon County Council at the Special General Meeting on the 8th June. It's your job, your views matter.

Pensions Update

The problems have not gone away. Although the Government have withdrawn the Regulations the employers are indicating that the shortfall caused by the introduction of the regulations still has to be covered. They have indicated that one way of doing this is the cut jobs and services. Write to your MP indicating your opposition to this idea.

Coach Trips

The Retired Members Section often has some spare seats on its coach trips and can make these available to working members of the branch. So if you want a day off and wish to take advantage of our group rate bookings, please contact Colin Willett on 01392 824073 for booking details.

Our next two all day trips are as follows:

• 23 June. Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire coupled with a visit to the Fox Talbot Photographic Museum. National Trust members get free admission.
  
• 21 July. Shopping and sightseeing in Taunton followed by a visit to Cothay Manor House & Gardens.

For further details of these trips please contact Sue Twyford. Tel: 01392 681682.

Adult Learning Week 2005

Adult Learning Week starts this year with an official opening meeting in London on 21 May. It continues with a series of special Days. These include a Silver Surfers Day and one devoted to Racial Harmony and Cultural Diversity. With the Pension Crisis and the need for all of us, whatever our age, to accept that maybe we will not be able to retire when we planned, Adult Learning takes on a new urgency.

UNISON has taken a front seat, together with the Worker's Education Association, in providing practical help and advice on accessing Lifelong Learning Opportunities for members and non-members alike. Do YOU feel that new skills will help you move forward in your chosen career, help you change career, encourage your employer to keep you in post past 65, or even just make you a more rounded and up-to-date person? Well look no further. During ALW there will be many chances to sample anything from Computers to Crafts to bringing Basic Skills into the 21st Century.

Keep your eyes open for posters and other publicity in your Area or Workplace. Libraries will be obvious venues, as are local Adult Education providers; Connexions and, of course, your UNISON ULR or LLA. You do know who these people are, don't you? No? Then contact the Branch Office on 01392 382530 and find out!

Use Lifelong Learning, and the upcoming ALW, for its own sake. Just think, if you are able to retire, then the newly-acquired skills could help you fill all those extra leisure hours! In the end that is what ALW aims to do - Get you learning, keeping active and enjoying life.

Women's Lives Course

This course is available to UNISON members through our partnership with the WEA. If you would like to find out more about it please contact me or your UNISON Learning Advisor or Rep. or Education Co-ordinator.

This is what one member has to say about her experience on the course and I am grateful to her for allowing us to print it here:

I left school when I was 14, but I knew that I had the ability to achieve more things with my life, but I lacked confidence.

The Women's Lives course gave me an opportunity to put my own personal experiences on paper and with the guidance and support that I was given through good tutoring, my confidence and abilities were boosted. This enabled me to have the confidence to achieve what I wanted from life.

The icing on the cake was that I finished a course with good results and knowing that two pieces of my work will be available for women in the future who may be interested in doing research into women's history.

I would recommend women to take up the opportunity to do this course as it will help to boost their self esteem and confidence.

British Sign Language Conference

Imagine walking into a shop, asking for a pint of milk and being greeted by a bewildered stare on the face of the shop assistant. No matter how you try to explain yourself, the assistant has no idea what you are talking about.

Now imagine you are sitting in a restaurant (or the cinema, the office or the Council Chamber) when everyone around you stands up and starts to leave. You have no idea why they are leaving, but eventually someone speaks to you. When you can't understand, they shout at you. Finally they just grab you by the arm and take you outside. When you look back you realise that there are flames coming from the roof of the building and suddenly in front of you a fire engine appears blue lights flashing.

This is what life can be like if you are Deaf. You speak fluently in British Sign Language, but English speakers don't understand you. You can't hear fire alarms and most premises don't have flashing lights or any other means of warning you if you are in danger.

The County Council has been working closely with the Deaf community for some time and on Saturday 19 March hosted a conference supported by Devon County UNISON to celebrate the second anniversary of the Government's decision formally to recognise British Sign Language. The conference was the first of its kind in the South West and was welcomed by Deaf delegates as an opportunity to come together to discuss issues that concerned them.

There were inspirational presentations from, amongst others, Clark Denmark and Clive Mason, who talked about the history of signing and the rights and expectations of Deaf People in the future. The conference also provided an excellent opportunity for hearing people to meet and talk to members of the Deaf community and to learn and practise signing.

I attended two workshops on the subjects of education and leisure. Sadly during both sessions more time was spent hearing what is currently provided rather than listening to what the Deaf community wanted or needed. However this point was forcibly made by delegates and the statutory authorities took away some very strong messages.

I also took away the message that we, as trade union members, need to consider much more closely what we are doing to meet the needs of our Deaf colleagues and service users, both existing and potential. This is an issue which will be listed for discussion at the Branch Equality Forum and I would welcome input from any member of the Branch for consideration during that discussion.

Yacob Cajee
Branch Equalities Officer
Thanks to Anne Campbell for the illustrations

Reader's Letters

The Director of Personnel and Performance, Heather Barnes, writes in response to the article 'News from the Cook Pot'.

I was very disappointed to see the above article appear in the March edition of Unity and I am pleased to have an opportunity to respond and comment.

The personal inferences in the article were totally unacceptable and wholly unprofessional. Personal attacks of this nature serve only to damage good industrial relations. Management action taken regarding this case had the full support of the organisation. Subsequently the decision of the Appeal Panel has likewise received full management support.

The article incorrectly reported that DCC had been instructed to reinstate the employees concerned, when in fact the decision of the Appeal Panel was to instruct DCC to reconsider mediation and / or redeployment.

I would like to finish by making mention of the good work achieved by the Industrial Relations Partnership along with the high standards that I see from local Union representatives. I hope that in the future the work that we have done via the IRP will extend to and include the Regional Office.

With the many new approaches to Performance and Reward the need to have positive and constructive negotiation and consultation will be at an all time high, and I recognise the vital role that Trade Union representatives, Officers and ultimately Members will play.

The role of the MP in the pension issue: A member responds

Could I take Unity to task about Richard Younger- Ross and the LGPS?.

Richard is my MP and I have written to him several times over the last year re this subject and have found him most helpful. If there is a problem it is with those of his constituents who belong to UNISON.

I could not attend the Lobbying meeting at Westminster due to a prior appointment and, despite being at my most persuasive, none of the members who lived in Teignbridge and worked at my College; were prepared to make the effort themselves to attend.

Richard did, though, and wrote afterwards to tell me how things had gone on the day. None of his answers was a stock reply, except one that came direct from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and they hadn't even bothered to fill in my name on a very tatty, oft-photocopied sheet of woefully poor arguments.

Steward Training Programme 2005 for Exeter & Plymouth

• The Organising Steward - 8, 15 & 22 September
• Handling Grievances & Disciplinaries - 6 & 13 October
• Law for Trade Unionists - 3, 10 & 17 November
• Team Negotiating & Casework - 1 & 8 December

For more info contact David Henley
Branch Education Co-ordinator.

We are also running further training for stewards that have already completed Stage 1 or are experienced stewards that would like further training:

• Dispute Resolution Course - 17 June at Taunton

Advance Notice - Special General Meeting - 8 June 2005 - Job Evaluation - Travel Allowances - Be there!

UNISON Welfare

This is the first welfare article for Unity this year and hopefully not the last. UNISON Welfare is a registered charity organised to provide assistance to UNISON members in times of hardship. Approach to the charity can be direct (see national UNISON web pages) or through this branch's welfare committee.

The branch's welfare committee is your local contact; where we can give you advice in the first instance and if required assist you to apply to the national charity. All contacts are held confidential by the committee.

During the past 12 months the Branch Committee received approaches for assistance from just over 10 members. However, we think that out there in DCC land there are a lot more people that the welfare committee should be providing advice and assistance. Can I ask you to let me now of any Devon County branch UNISON members that are off on long term sick. We would like to contact them to let them know that we are here if they require us.

The national charity supports and promotes various campaigns. Currently the charity has a family holiday campaign called the 'Bucket and Spade Appeal'. This is raising money to provide holidays for UNISON members families that have, due to financial hardship etc, have not had a holiday for 5 years. Additionally UNISON also runs the Croyde Bay holiday village. Croyde Bay is geared to cater for families and also to provide convalescence stays for UNISON members. Again, check out the national UNISON web-site (www.unison.org.uk/welfare).

Unfortunately UNISON Welfare cannot provide financial assistance to its members to alleviate credit debt, i.e. credit cards and loans, etc. However, UNISON Welfare has formed a partnership with Federated Credit Limited (FCL), a company set up to assist people with their debt problems. This debt service is called UNISON Welfare Debtline. FCL provide this service free of charge to UNISON members. FCL earn their commission from the creditors. Should you have worries about debt then give them a ring on Freephone 0800 389 3302 or visit www.debtclinic.co.uk/unison.

So how can you contact the committee? You can contact me, Royston Davis, branch welfare officer, direct by either phone on 01392 688205 (x1905) or by e-mail:

Good health and wealth.

Successful Re-grading Appeal Claim

In February 2003, three members of the Eastern LSG admin team requested a re-grading of their posts, due to the changing role of the post and the customer focus. In March 2003 the claim was refused as it was considered there was no justification for re-grading based on changes of duties, as these were thought to be covered under existing job descriptions.

The administrative staff submitted their G1 forms in June 2003 and on 19 Jan 04 a decision letter was received rejecting the re-grading application but proposing a restructure and a review of job descriptions. An honorarium in respect of additional work was offered, this was for the help in developing the WDM customer services management system during 2003. The admin staff rejected the proposals and advised management of their wishes to pursue their claim for re-grading.

On the 17 Jun 04 two of the appellants together with their witness and myself as their representative from UNISON, attended the appeal. The appellants had prepared such a good case; they represented themselves with me sitting in purely as support. Their claim was upheld and they were re-graded to scale 3 with pay being backdated. The panel congratulated the admin staff for their preparation of such a good case and that anyone considering submitting a re-grading claim should follow their example.

The result of this appeal had a positive knock-on effect for other administrative staff working within the directorate, undertaking similar roles. This meant that anyone undertaking the same role as the appellants may be entitled to the re-grading of their own post.

UNISON together with P&P and the Assistant Director of the Environment Directorate met and revised job titles and job descriptions, together with compiling a competency framework which was agreed and put into a questionnaire format for staff and line managers to complete.

The competency framework was directly based on the items raised at the appeal. It was agreed that new staff may not have the required competencies and would initially be employed on scale 2 with the possibility to progress to scale 3 after gaining relevant experience. Staff appraisals would give further opportunity for the competency levels of staff achieved to be discussed.

There was some concern amongst administrative staff that the re-grading was directly linked to a separate e-Government project which focuses on improved customer service and that they would be automatically placed into the corporate contact centre. UNISON tried to reassure staff that the case had no bearing on the contact centre and that by agreeing to the new job description did not mean this would happen. In fact there has been a clear message from the e-Government project board that although suitable staff are currently being identified, no-one will be forced to take on one of the new posts in the contact centre against their wishes.

Almost a year has passed and through the appraisal system, some staff have met the criteria set out in the competency framework and have been upgraded to scale 3; others are working towards the scale 3. Some administrative staff have decided not to work towards the scale 3 for various reasons.

TUC Computer Courses - An Evaluation

I have just completed two 10 week courses run by the TUC at Plymouth College of Further Education for Union Activists. I started the first Beginner's course as just that. I had absolutely no knowledge whatsoever; I couldn't even switch a computer on! At the age of 58, I had resolutely resisted any attempt to help me become computer-literate. Give me pen and paper anytime.

A change of College Principal and becoming a UNISON Rep. changed all that. I decided to try and catch up with the 21st Century. I started by trying to attend the Exeter course but, after 4 attempts and cancellations as I was the only applicant; I turned my attention to Plymouth.

It was UNISON's Education Co-ordinator, Rose Gander, agreeing to fund my travelling costs which made the whole thing possible.

The course was held on a Friday from 6pm to 9pm and on the first session I went by road to get my bearings, being totally unfamiliar with Plymouth and the PCFE. I can not recommend the venue, the tutor or the course content, highly enough. Shaun Badmin, the tutor, proved to have endless patience and he needed it. As I left at the end of the Intermediate course, some 10 months later, he said he would never forget the look of absolute horror on my face when presented with the Mouse. He was also kind enough to act as a chauffeur and collect me from the railway station and return me there at the end of the session

The number of students was small enough that whenever I had a 'senior moment' (there were many, believe me) Shaun was never too busy or impatient not to talk me through step-by-step. The fact that I was successful was due in no small part to his endless patience. The Computers were up-to-date and the Course books clear and easy to follow. I know that there was a fair deal of travelling involved but I got to enjoy the journey, using it to wind down after a busy working week. I would recommend the TUC courses to any UNISON member. Indeed, from the next session this month, the courses will be open to any Union member, not just Activists.

If you are interested, contact your Union Learning Rep. or Adviser for more details. Alternatively, Sharon Mackay at PCFE is the lady to contact or Branch Office at County Hall. Finally I would say that part of the benefit of the course not mentioned in the Prospectus is the chance to meet people from other unions. A chance to network is always useful. I am hoping, when Shaun has got himself organised in September, to start the 3rd and final course on PowerPoint Presentations and the Internet. I found, much to my surprise that I rather enjoyed adding another skill to my repertoire at my time of life. I would suggest that it is proof, if proof were needed, of the benefits of Lifelong Learning.

Teaching Assistants

All TA's in the Exeter area. Would anyone like to meet together to discuss issues that affect our work? Contact the UNISON Office.

Hello to our new Branch Secretary

By Editor, Andy Bowman

Moira Macdonald was elected last March into the fully seconded post of Branch Secretary. Before taking on her new role she worked in a large secondary school and feels strongly that schools do not pay enough regard to support staff. I asked her how she felt, working for the largest UNISON Branch in the South West.

MM. I certainly don't feel I'm in this alone. UNISON is about members, about us being in an organisation where we look out for each other.

AB. So what are your first thoughts on tackling your new role?

MM. A whole variety of issues, at Branch Regional and National level. Pensions are a huge concern for anyone in Local Government right now. The fact that the strike was called off doesn't mean we've got what we wanted. Unless we stay focussed on what's fair and due to us we could still end up worse off.

AB. And what about Branch issues?

MM. My top concern is the lack of workplace representatives. I can't stress how important it is that members in every workplace elect themselves representatives to work with line managers on their behalf. For instance, it was so frustrating during the build-up to the strike not to have workplace contacts through which we could quickly communicate news to members.

AB. So will we be seeing developments that encourage more members to become stewards?

MM. I think we've got lots of members who would like to be more active. Members already have lots of the skills needed to be a representative because they're the same sort of skills that make them good at their jobs. What UNISON then adds is training and support. That way members can 'grow' into the role.

As regards encouraging more members to become reps I think the essential thing is to make sure there can be a positive, respectful relationship with line managers. If we can be assured of that, then I suspect many more members would come forward.

AB. Surely easier said than done?

MM. Well, there's two aspects to that. Primarily, does Devon County Council want to have our beneficial influence in the workplace?

I put this question to Heather Barnes, the Director of Personnel and Performance. Her response was absolutely positive. She told me that UNISON and Devon County Council have a long record of working consultatively. I was also assured that managers are expected to enable our reps to be active on behalf of members.

The second aspect is the huge effort required to get out there and spread this welcome message. Devon County Council is the biggest employer in the South West, and Devon's got a lot of geography. But we're fortunate to already have a dedicated core of experienced and committed reps. I hope to work closely with them to begin to expand their numbers.

AB. Your goal being?

MM. UNISON stewards in every workplace, a good number of health and safety reps, lots of workplace contacts and Life Long Learning advisers - we spend so much of our lives at work, we need to have decent jobs in good environments where we're treated fairly. And we need to have UNISON reps in every workplace to make sure that that's what happens.

AB. And any personal goals?

MM. Definitely. What got me active was UNISON's absolute commitment to an equality agenda that recognises how diverse our workplaces and communities are. Everyone needs to be treated with respect and to feel they belong. I don't think I will lose touch with the energising feeling of being able to work towards fairer workplaces and inclusive communities, because Local Government is also committed to these values. It's an area where we already work pro-actively with the Employer.

AB. One wish?

MM. That 150 members would ring up tomorrow, from all over Devon, and ask to become reps!

Save paper - save a forest

In a world where the word forest is in danger of becoming obsolete we know we need to do more to reduce our use of paper. And so say many of you.

After the mass mail-out for our Annual General Meeting in March several members got in touch to ask:

• For a switch to emails, so we could cut down on the quantity of paper.

• For faster communication (thinking especially of when possible strike action was looming).

And remember - another excellent way to stay in touch is by regularly visiting our prize-winning Branch website www.devoncountyunison.org.uk (and you're reading it now ...)