Dear Colleagues

24 hour strike begins on Wednesday 8 July

Picket line information

1. North London Business Park—From 7 am

Picket Line Coordinator Helen Davies 07432733168

2. Mill Hill Depot—From 6 am

Picket Line Coordinator: John Burgess 07738389569

3. East Finchley Library—From 9 am

Picket Line Coordinator: Hugh Jordan 07983391740

Join the Lobby of Parliament

Joint Trade Union lobby of Parliament in defence of Public Services and Trade Union rights on 8th July, assemble at 1 pm in Parliament Square (opposite Westminster Abbey)

Barnet UNISON meeting place is at Westminster Tube station at 12.30pm.

What has commissioning meant for workers?

If you want to have a look at what commissioning has meant for workers you don’t have far to look. Just take a look at social care services.

Where did it all start?

The advent of the NHS & Community Care Act 1990 brought the introduction of the purchaser/provider split. In Commissioning Council speak it means commissioning (purchaser) and service deliver unit (provider). Our Council now promotes itself as a Commissioning Council and our internal structures provide an example of in house and outsourced service delivery units.

Workforce issues.

The introduction of the purchase/provider split brought the market into social services. The Trade Unions quick saw that this was an attack on the workforce and that it would lead to a race to the bottom. The union also predicted it would have an impact on service quality and how right we were. It sounds difficult to believe but there are still people (paid extraordinary amounts of public money) who still try to argue there is no link between deteriorating terms & conditions and pay and service quality.

Zero hours contract & no pension not paying for travel time.

Everyone now knows about the ‘zero hour’ exploitation of care workers. In Barnet our care workers were on permanent contracts, and were members of our pension scheme and were paid for travel time. They were outsourced and outsourced again. Their terms & conditions have been destroyed by private contractors. UNISON tried to get Barnet Council to sign up to the UNISON ethical care charter . They refused and officers convinced it was too expensive.

Thanks to commissioning, care workers are on inferior terms & conditions and will not be in our Council Pension scheme.

It not our fault, blame the commissioners.

This is what our branch has faced when presented with the implications of the two tier workforce. When we start negotiations the contractor replies by saying it is not their fault and that we should go back to the commissioners. When the unions go back to the commissioners they say they don’t get involved in internal matters of the contractor.

Commissioning is all about outsourcing.

The Council are quick to say that commissioning is not all about outsourcing. But the facts tell a different story. Over the last three years there have been 12 outsourcing project decisions and not one of them has recommended in-house services.

Outsourcing list January 2012 – June 2015

1. YCB

2. Housing options

3. NSL

4. CSG

5. Re

6. Music Trust

7. Registrars service

8. Legal services

9. Public Health

10. Mortuary

11. CCTV

12. Recycling depot (1 October 2015)

 

In all the above cases workers were transferred out of Barnet to a new employer. 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: OVER ONE MILLION PEOPLE TO BE CONTACTED ABOUT BARNET STRIKE

On Friday Barnet UNISON informed our members that we were using an online social media tool called Thunderclap.

Over the weekend the results have been incredible, with the latest figures showing 1,041,021 are about to read the reasons we are taking strike action on Wednesday 8 July.

You can read the update here.

Barnet UNISON members who still work for Barnet Council (excluding community schools) begin a 24 hour strike action on Wednesday 8 July

The dispute involves coach escorts, drivers, social workers, occupational therapists, schools catering staff, education welfare officers, library workers, children centre workers, street cleaning & refuse workers, all of whom have made it clear they want to remain employees of the Barnet Council.

UNISON Picket Lines will be at the following workplaces:

· North London Business Park—Start 7 am onwards.

· Mill Hill Depot—Starts 6 am onwards.

· East Finchley Library—Start 9 am onwards.

On Wednesday 8 July the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, is expected to announce further devastating cuts to local authority budgets during the emergency budget. The Local Government Association (LGA) has warned that councils in England could face a £3.3 billion reduction in central government funding for local services in 2016/17. This will mean councils will need to make big savings next year, equivalent to 12 per cent of their total budgets.

· “The LGA also predicted that the upcoming Spending Review would see Whitehall funding reduced by a further 11% in 2017/18 and 4% in 2018/19, before increasing by 7% the following year.

· This means councils face a funding gap of £9.5bn by the end of the decade, the outlook claims.”

http://www.publicfinance.co.uk/news/2015/06/councils-face-%C2%A333bn-funding-cut-lga-warns

UNISON Branch Secretary John Burgess said: “Our members want to work for the Council, they want to be directly accountable to the residents of Barnet. They can see for themselves that cuts to local government are being driven by an ideological obsession with outsourcing services. Our members can see that the outsourcing of council services does lead to an attack on members’ Pay,Terms & Conditions and the establishment of a divisive and unfair two tier workforce. I am pleased to see that despite all the odds the Greek people have rejected the politics of Austerity and provided a message of hope for all of us facing the Austerity endgame. I am therefore pleased to report that Jeremy Corbyn (Labour Leadership candidate) will be standing shoulder to shoulder with UNISON members on our picket lines this week. Barnet UNISON will be later joining other trade unions and disability rights campaigners on a lobby of Parliament in defence of Public Services and Trade Union rights on 8 July, at 1 pm in Parliament Square, (opposite Westminster Abbey).”

End.

Notes to Editors.

Contact details: John Burgess Barnet UNISON on 07738389569 or 0208 359 2088 or email: john.burgess@barnetunison.org.uk

Background:

1. Six years ago Barnet Council introduced a policy known as Future Shape which morphed into ‘easyCouncil’*.This imposed a series of tariffs on residents wishing to access a range of services. A basic service would be offered to residents at a fixed price, but ‘fast track’ services might be available if you paid extra.

This approach was quickly abandoned by the consultant driven One Barnet Programme, which led to the following Council Services being outsourced/privatised in the space of three years:

1. Social Care for Adults with disabilities to Your Choice Barnet

2. Housing Options to Barnet Homes

3. Parking Services to NSL

4. Revenues & Benefits, IT, HR & Payroll, Pensions, Health & Safety, Finance, Estates, Property Services, Procurement, Projects all now part of Capita CSG

5. Environmental Health, Planning, Building Control, Hendon Cemetery & Crematorium, Highways, Trading Standards & Licensing all now Capita RE

6. Legal Services

7. Registrars & Nationality Services

8. CCTV

9. Music Trust

10. Public Health

11. Mortuary Services.

Over the past three years our members have seen hundreds of colleagues transferred to other employers. This has often meant redundancy as the new employer has moved jobs out of the borough and Greater London to places as far afield as Belfast, Carlisle, Coventry, Southampton and Darlington.

Barnet has branded this final phase as the ‘Commissioning Council’.

On 3 March 2015 Barnet Council agreed its next Five Commissioning Plans all of which are looking at ‘Alternative Delivery Models’, jargon for working for a different employer.

The Council Services now at risk of outsourcing are:

1. Early Years – 13 Children’s Centres

2. Library Services

3. Adults & Communities services

4. Street Scene Services e.g. Waste & Recycling, Street Cleansing, Parks and Transport

5. Education & Skills and School Meals services.

2. Disappearing Council – short animation https://youtu.be/YQ5t63fSu-s

 

3. “The easyCouncil Loco-motion” https://youtu.be/Wi0bdgofsmM

That is right over 1 million people are about to hear all about what is happening to Barnet Council workers.

On Friday the branch advertised that we were using an online social media tool called Thunderclap & over the weekend the results have been incredible.

The latest figures are standing at 1,036,409 people all of whom are about to read about the reasons we are taking strike action on Wednesday 8 July.

You can read the update here.

https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/28471-support-the-barnetstrikers

So, make sure you joining one of the following picket lines to make sure you are included in one of the most important SELFIES in out union’s history.

Join Helen from 7 am outside NLBP

Join Hugh from 9 am outside East Finchley Library

Join John from 5 am outside Mill Hill depot (I’m guessing Mill Hill may not be top of your list).

To all Barnet UNISON members you can still show solidarity in many ways click here to find out more

Catering staff know what’s cooking. They don’t like privatisation and they will be on strike 8^th July

Children’s centre staff know it’s child’s play – of course they don’t like privatisation and they will be on strike 8^th July

Refuse workers know rubbish when they see it. They don’t like privatisation and they will be taking strike action 8^th July

Social Workers know about safeguarding services. They don’t like privatisation and they will be taking strike action 8^th July

OT’s have assessed the situation. They don’t like privatisation and they will be taking strike action 8^th July

Assessment and Enablement Officers have reviewed the situation. They don’t like privatisation and they will be taking strike action 8^th July

Hospital social workers have arranged support but not for privatisation. They will be taking strike action 8^th July

Mental Health workers know what makes them crazy. They don’t like privatisation and they will be taking strike action 8^th July

Coach drivers and passenger escorts know something about the direction of travel. They don’t like privatisation and they will be taking strike action 8^th July

Library workers have read all about it. They don’t like privatisation and they will be taking strike action 8^th July

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Barnet UNISON confirms 24 hour strike on 8 July

Barnet UNISON members who still work for Barnet Council (excluding community schools) will begin  a 24 hour strike action on Wednesday 8 July

The dispute involves coach escorts, drivers, social workers, occupational therapists, schools catering staff, education welfare officers, library workers, children centre workers, street cleaning & refuse workers, all of whom have made it clear they want to remain employees of the Barnet Council.

Picket Lines will be:

· North London Business Park—Start 7 am onwards.

· Mill Hill Depot—Starts 6 am onwards.

· East Finchley Library—Start 9 am onwards.

Lobby of Parliament

Barnet UNISON will be joining other trade unions and disability rights campaigners on a lobby of Parliament in defence of Public Services and Trade Union rights on 8 July, assemble at 1 pm in Parliament Square, (opposite Westminster Abbey).

UNISON Branch Secretary John Burgess said: “Our members want to work for the Council, they want to be directly accountable to the residents of Barnet. Our members don’t want to work for an employer which will have to place the shareholders’ legal demands before local residents’ needs. Our members don’t want to work for an employer which  uses zero hours contracts. Our members don’t want to work for an employer which will not pay the London Living Wage as a basic minimum. Our members don’t want to work for an employer which won’t allow their colleagues to belong to their Pension Scheme, and our members don’t want to work for an employer which will take jobs out of the borough. That’s why 87% of our members working for the Council voted ‘Yes’ to taking strike action. So far the Council has failed to come close to agreeing to any one of these demands. One of our members has written and produced a music campaign video called “The easyCouncil Loco-motion” which pretty much sums up the mood of our members take a look here https://youtu.be/Wi0bdgofsmM”

End.

Notes to Editors.

Contact details: John Burgess Barnet UNISON on 07738389569 or 0208 359 2088 or email: john.burgess@barnetunison.org.uk

Background:

1. Six years ago Barnet Council introduced a policy known as Future Shape which morphed into ‘easyCouncil’*.This imposed a series of tariffs on residents wishing to access a range of services. A basic service would be offered to residents at a fixed price, but ‘fast track’ services might be available if you paid extra.

This approach was quickly abandoned by the consultant driven One Barnet Programme, which led to the following Council Services being outsourced/privatised in the space of three years:

1. Social Care for Adults with disabilities to Your Choice Barnet

2. Housing Options to Barnet Homes

3. Parking Services to NSL

4. Revenues & Benefits, IT, HR & Payroll, Pensions, Health & Safety, Finance, Estates, Property Services, Procurement, Projects all now part of Capita CSG

5. Environmental Health, Planning, Building Control, Hendon Cemetery & Crematorium, Highways, Trading Standards & Licensing all now Capita RE

6. Legal Services

7. Registrars & Nationality Services

8. CCTV

9. Music Trust

10. Public Health

11. Mortuary Services.

Over the past three years our members have seen hundreds of colleagues transferred to other employers. This has often meant redundancy as the new employer has moved jobs out of the borough and Greater London to places as far afield as Belfast, Carlisle, Coventry, Southampton and Darlington.

Barnet has branded this final phase as the ‘Commissioning Council’.

On 3 March 2015 Barnet Council agreed its next Five Commissioning Plans all of which are looking at ‘Alternative Delivery Models’, jargon for working for a different employer.

The Council Services now at risk of outsourcing are:

1. Early Years – 13 Children’s Centres

2. Library Services

3. Adults & Communities services

4. Street Scene Services e.g. Waste & Recycling, Street Cleansing, Parks and Transport

5. Education & Skills and School Meals services.

2. Disappearing Council – short animation https://youtu.be/YQ5t63fSu-s

 

3. “The easyCouncil Loco-motion” https://youtu.be/Wi0bdgofsmM

Barnet UNISON Press Release: 1 July 2015 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: “3 wheels on my wagon and I’m still rolling along”

UNISON calls on councillors to stop Education privatisation project :

First there were three contractors, then there were two and now there is only one and as the song goes the commissioning juggernaut “keeps rolling along”

The fate of almost 400 Council workers hangs in the balance as two out of the three private contractors ‘bail out’ of the bidding process.

It is clear that the market has spoken and the message is loud and clear. The market is not interested in what has been offered up for sale which is why UNISON has written to Barnet Council asking to postpone the procurement process and exclude the Catering Service from the Joint Venture Company option and retain the service in-house.

Barnet Council actively promotes itself with the support of Capita as a “Commissioning Council.” Throughout this period of change the Council claims to be open to all options as to who delivers the service. However the reality paints a different picture as the outsoucing of over a thousand staff can confirm.

UNISON Branch Secretary, John Burgess, said: “The fact that Capita has pulled out of contract talks should be ringing alarm bells for councillors. The decision of officers to go ahead simply reinforces the feelings of the workforce that the Council is wedded to outsourcing even when the market is clearly saying that there is very little interest. Only outsourcing fundamentalists would argue that Best Value can be achieved under these circumstances. The common sense postion would be to postpone the process and look to develop an improved in-house service. Our members will be taking strike action on 8 July as they want to remain Council employees.”

Notes to Editors.

Contact details: John Burgess Barnet UNISON on 07738389569 or 0208 359 2088 or email: john.burgess@barnetunison.org.uk

Background:

On 31 January 2015 Barnet Council put out an invitation to tender for Education & Skills and School Meals services which you can view here

http://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:36188-2015:TEXT:EN:HTML

The contract was advertised & valued from £89 million up to £986 million.

The tender received only three bids from:

1. Capita Business Services Ltd

2. EC Harris LLP

3. Mott MacDonald Ltd, trading as Cambridge Education

However, just before the contract talks began EC Harris LLP mysteriously dropped out and this is what the Council had to say:

“As you are aware, we commenced dialogue with our bidders last week.  One of our bidders (EC Harris) withdrew from the process shortly before dialogue commenced.  Whilst this is obviously disappointing, it is not unusual in this sort of procurement and I’m pleased to report that discussions with the remaining two bidders have been very positive and interesting so far.”

On Wednesday 24 June staff working for Education & Skills received an email from the Council explaining that:

“Capita Business Services Ltd submitted a letter withdrawing from the procurement process, as they had concluded that this particular opportunity did not provide the right fit with their Entrust business model.”

They went on to add:

“It is recognised that this may raise questions about the lack of competitive tension in the process and the subsequent ability of the Council to test best value from the final tender.  However, it is not unusual for competitive dialogue procurements to end up with a single bidder and there are various robust means through which we can test best value.”

On 8 June UNISON submitted a report asking the Council to postpone the project after news that the third bidder had droped out before the contract talks began. http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/sites/default/files/Barnet%20Education%20&%20Skills%20subcontracting_0.pdf

On Monday 29 June UNISON submitted statement to Barnet Councllors asking them to call off the project http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1596

Key Links:

Barnet Council – Commissioning Council At Any Price

http://reasonablenewbarnet.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/barnet-council-commission-council-at.html

Competitive tension, or: providing the right fit – another outsourcing farce in Broken Barnet

http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/competitive-tension-or-providing-right.html

The Council are considering options for the future of the Library Service. £2.8 million is to be cut from the Library budget with up to 68% of this coming from staffing.  There is no option for the Service to remain in-house.

As part of this review process the long awaited (threatened?)  Open+ Pilot started at Edgware Library this week.  This allow members of the public to enter the Library before and after staffed opening hours. If the Council deem the pilot a success it will be extended to all of Barnet Library Service.

Extending access appears to be a good development, but it will result in fewer Library staff and less staffed opening hours. The Council has stated:

“The use of technology can now allow the Council to open and close a library without the need for any staff to be on site – the ‘open’ library” (Libraries Strategy: 1.15)

&

“To achieve the level of savings required from the service will require a reduction in staffed opening hours.” (Libraries Strategy: 1.16)

The Council are considering having staff present for only 50% of current Library opening hours.

But the drive to remove experienced, qualified and dedicated Library worker from our Libraries does not stop there. The Council are contemplating a:

“Move to an entirely unstaffed opening model. The third approach would still require staffing to maintain effective running of the library (for example in re-stocking) but these would not be offering information and advice to visitors. Some of this work could be done by volunteers.” 

(Libraries Strategy: Appendix A Library Options Paper October 2014 6.8)

The Open+ Library Project will lead to posts being cut, and a decline in the quality of Barnet Libraries.  UNISON have opposed this since the Council’s intentions were announced last autumn. The next step in this struggle and the fight to save all Council Services is the industrial action on July 8^th.  

 

Strike. Picket. Lobby details here & how you can help here