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

http://www.staffordshirenewsletter.co.uk/Union-officer-flabbergasted-3-000-jobs-transfer/story-26303114-detail/story.html

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

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

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/11879187._The_revival_of_easyCouncil___Barnet_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

http://www.theguardian.com/society/patrick-butler-cuts-blog/2011/jun/17/barnet-easy-council-scandal-puts-reforms-in-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

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/oct/26/barnet-no-frills-council-overspends?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

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

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

https://youtu.be/YQ5t63fSu-s

2. Welcome to the Disappearing Council

https://youtu.be/XMSjyr5OL64

3. Save Barnet Libraries campaign gets a Bollywood makeover

https://youtu.be/Xt1RzsOerMo

4. Barneto : The Emperors New Clothes

https://youtu.be/hFK07Vu-Ti4

5. Disappearing Council the movie

https://youtu.be/P8sT5JVNWwE

To view complete list click here

“Save Barnet Libraries goes all Bollywood”

“Save Barnet Libraries goes all Bollywood”

Save Barnet Libraries campaign gets a Bollywood makeover https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt1RzsOerMo&feature=youtu.be

Saturday 28 March saw the beginning of the Grand Tour of Barnet Libraries.

Nicole Burstein, author of Othergirl (young adult novel) and lifelong member of Edgware Library spoke of her love and inspiration of her local Library.

The march then took off to Burnt Oak and Mill Hill Library.

11 March meet outside Hendon Library for 11 am.

Details of speakers at the next three gigs are below.

11 April: Caroline Green, Dark Ride, Cracks, Hold Your Breath, Fragments (young adult novels)

25 April: Alec Worley, sci-fi comics, graphic novel Age of the Wolf, Mike Carey, sci-fi comics and novels

9 May: Children’s book authors: Linda Nissen Samuels, Alan Gibbons, Angela Kanter

· Flyer for the march here

· Watch short animation here

Save Barnet Libraries Tour kicks off tomorrow

Save Barnet Libraries Tour kicks off tomorrow

Cartoon by Ros Asquith

The grand tour of Barnet Libraries kicks off in Edgware tomorrow morning.

There is an impressive line-up of speakers for the Tour

Speakers

28 March: Nicole Burstein, author of Othergirl (young adult novel)

11 April: Caroline Green, Dark Ride, Cracks, Hold Your Breath, Fragments (young adult novels)

25 April: Alec Worley, sci-fi comics, graphic novel Age of the Wolf, Mike Carey, sci-fi comics and novels

9 May: Children’s book authors: Linda Nissen Samuels, Alan Gibbons, Angela Kanter

Messages of support so far from:

Cartoonist Ros Asquith, Claudia Roden, and Nicola Solomon (Chief Executive of the Society of Authors).

Flyer for the march here

Route of the first march from Edgware here

Watch short animation about Barnet here

1 78 79 80 81 82 119