Category: Local
Branch campaigns
Chipping Barnet Library – Save Barnet Libraries march 25 April
Barnet UNISON Strike Picket Line details
To view flyer click here
Barnet UNISON members who still work for Barnet Council (excluding schools staff) will be taking strike action (view flyer here) on the following days:
Thursday 30 April & Friday 1 May 2015
Please note the following Picket line information
1. North London Business Park—Start 7 am onwards.
Picket Line Coordinator Helen Davies 07432733168
2. Mill Hill Depot—Starts 6 am onwards.
Picket Line Coordinator: John Burgess 07738389569
3. Chipping Barnet Library—Start 9 am onwards.
Picket Line Coordinator: Liz McKeon 07927683232
4. North Finchley Library—Start 8:45 am onwards.
Picket Line Coordinator: Cathy Yilmaz 07729723967
Barnet UNISON confirm two day strike begins next week 30 April and 1 May 2015.
Barnet UNISON Press Release: 23 April 2015
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Barnet UNISON confirm two day strike begins next week 30 April and 1 May 2015.
Barnet UNISON members who still work for Barnet Council (excluding community schools) will begin two days of strike action on Thursday 30 April and Friday 1 May.
The dispute will involves coach escorts, drivers, social workers, occupational therapists, lschools 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 Commissioning Council.
UNISON Branch Secretary John Burgess said: The Council are about to start confidential negotiations with Capita, Cambridge Education and EC Harris which are bidding to win a contract valued at almost £1bn. Whist we are still waiting for the Council to return to the negotiating table time is marching on. 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. 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
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: 17 April 2015
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Barnet UNISON confirm dates of first wave of strike action
Following the announcement last week that 87% of UNISON members working for Barnet “easyCouncil” voted YES to strike action a consultation with our reps and members has produced a timetable for strike action starting with two days of strike action on:
Thursday 30 April and Friday 1 May.
The Trades Dispute with London Borough of Barnet is over staff remaining in employment with Barnet Council. The dispute will involve a range of of workers for example coach escorts, drivers, social workers, occucpational therpaists, Library workers, children & family centre workers, street cleaning & refuse workers, all of whom have made it clear they want to remain employees of the Council.
UNISON Branch Secretary John Burgess said: This dispute is all about how strongly our members feel about wanting to remain Council employees. They don’t want to work for big multi nationals who will quickly dump the staff to another contractor if they are not making enough profit which appears to be happening to 3,000 workers in Staffordshire. They don’t want to work for a company that won’t pay the London Living Wage. They don’t want to work for a company that uses zero hours contracts. They don’t want to work for a company that will take jobs out of the community they serve. They want to to work for Barnet Council and remain directly accountable to the residents of Barnet. 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
Notes to Editors.
Contact details: John Burgess Barnet UNISON on 07738389569 or 0208 359 2088 or email: john.burgess@barnetunison.org.uk
Background:
1. Union officer ‘flabbergasted’ by 3,000 jobs transfer
2. Disappearing Council – short animation https://youtu.be/YQ5t63fSu-s
3. “The easyCouncil Loco-motion” https://youtu.be/Wi0bdgofsmM
Third Leg of ‘Grand Tour of Barnet Libraries’ kicks off Saturday 25 April 11 am Chipping Barnet Library
Third Leg of ‘Grand Tour of Barnet Libraries’ kicks off Saturday 25 April 11 am Chipping Barnet Library
London Metropolitan Brass Band will be providing entertainment between 11- 11.30 am then marching part of the route.
The march is from Chipping Barnet to Osidge Library via East Barnet Library.
To view route click here
To view poster click here
To view flyer click here
“The easyCouncil Loco-motion” campaign video
87% of UNISON members working for Barnet “easyCouncil” vote YES to strike action.
Barnet UNISON Press Release: 8 April 2015
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 87% of UNISON members working for Barnet “easyCouncil” vote YES to strike action.
The Trades Dispute with London Borough of Barnet is over staff remaining in employment with Barnet Council. The strike ballot is a direct response to the five commissioning projects agreed at the 3 March 2015 Full Council meeting which would mean outsourcing the majority of the workforce into a variety of alternative delivery models.
1. Education & Skills and School Meals services
2. Library Service
3. Early Years: Children’s Centres
4. Adult Social Care
5. Street Scene Services
The Education & Skills and School Meals services is already in Competitive Dialogue discussions with the following contractors:
· Capita Business Services Ltd
· EC Harris LLP
· Mott MacDonald Ltd, trading as Cambridge Education
Looking at Capita’s track record http://www.capita.co.uk/who-we-are/our-history.aspx in bidding and winning contracts it is highly likely they will win this contract making it the third big contract they will have won with Barnet Council.
UNISON Branch Secretary John Burgess said: The vote was never in doubt. The workforce in Barnet is amazing and resilient. The vote confirms that that our members have had enough of the ideological obsession with outsourcing. The Council does not value the workforce which can be seen when unpaid overtime and long hours are never recognised when putting together bids for outsourcing projects. The fact that the Council refuses to run in-house comparators has made it clear to our members that their future employment with the Council is threatened.
Notes to Editors.
Contact details: John Burgess Barnet UNISON on 07738389569 or 0208 359 2088 or email: john.burgess@barnetunison.org.uk
Background:
1. ‘The revival of easyCouncil’: Barnet Borough Council to roll out premium planning service
2. Barnet’s ‘easyCouncil’ to part privatise planning service
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/feb/18/barnet-easycouncil-privatise-planning
3. “Easy council” scandal puts Town Hall outsourcing reforms in the spotlight
4. Mr easyCouncil defends his local government model
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/feb/03/mike-freer-easycouncil-interview
5. Barnet ‘easyCouncil’ privatisation challenged in high court
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/mar/19/barnet-council-high-court-budget-cuts
6. Barnet’s ‘easyCouncil’ plan unravels as more Tories oppose cuts and privatising
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/nov/15/barnet-services-outsourcing-tories-row
7. From Easycouncil to Capitaville: Mike Freer and the One Barnet story
http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/from-easycouncil-to-capitaville-mike.html
8. Barnet’s ‘easyCouncil’ finds it hard to cut with £1.5m spent, £1.4m saved
9. Barnet ‘easyCouncil’ project lacks proper business plan, audit finds
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/sep/23/barnet-easycouncil-costcutting-plan-criticised
10. Barnet’s ‘easyCouncil’ faces judicial review over outsourcing
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/jan/22/tory-council-challenge-high-court
Second Leg of ‘Grand Tour of Barnet Libraries’ kicks off Saturday 11 April 11 am Hendon Library
100 reasons to check out Barnet.
In Barnet over the past 6 years there has been some major changes to Council services. Here are 100 links to a variety of video clips, short films, songs and animations.
1. Barnet: The Disappearing Council – full version
2. Welcome to the Disappearing Council
3. Save Barnet Libraries campaign gets a Bollywood makeover
4. Barneto : The Emperors New Clothes
5. Disappearing Council the movie
To view complete list click here