At lot of us have had to say farewell to colleagues as consequence of the budget cuts. Some are friends and colleagues, I have picked up that the mood around the work place is low and staff are fearful of what is to come.

I think next week it is really going to hit home when staff see empty chairs where their colleagues used to sit.

BUT what next?

I hope that the ‘more for less’ mantra does not start up again.  It has been apparent to me staff carry out an inordinate amount of overtime and in many cases it is unpaid. Often the reason is because staff place great store in being a public servant and the public sector ethos that goes with that.

In the coming weeks I will be arranging for UNISON meetings for members to provide feedback on their workplaces. E.g. How are they coping with the undoubted extra workload as a result of the loss of staff?

Keep an eye out for these meetings

Farewell Maggi

Maggi Myland has been a friend and union colleague for more than 14 years. Maggi is one of the casualties of the Budget cuts. Barnet UNISON along with other council services has taken a cut, in our case it works out at more than a 50%.

What can I say about Maggi? We are going to miss her terribly, but I think it is our members who will miss her even more. Her caseload is phenomenal and her empathy towards the members who are often in a terrible state of distress is unmatched by any other rep I have met.

The extra hours after work and at the weekend she has put in for members could never be reimbursed, but Maggi would never ask for it, because she belongs to a rare breed. Trade Unionism is in her blood. She is one of those unable to walk away from someone in distress.

Maggi is the worker you need on the team late Friday afternoon when everyone else is winding down and a crisis hits your office. Maggi just gets on with it, she is 100% member led.

Maggi has held a number of roles in her time with the branch Social Services Convenor, Health & Safety officer, Welfare Officer, and unofficially she has been the UNISON transport/taxi service.

We will be posting details of events for members to say farewell to Maggi. Look out for details soon as I am sure there are lots fo members who will want to wish her well.

Farewell to Return2Learn and Susan

It is a sad to report that we have had our support for Return2learn (R2L) has been cut as part of the Budget cuts.

The R2L programme was a fantastic programme which enabled hundreds of staff to have a second opportunity to improve their skills and gain confidence to take further training and other qualifications.

The agreement we made with the Council Leader 6 year ago was ground breaking. A lot of councils talked about doing this but in Barnet we did more than talking.

The programme was started by Carmen Bruno and for the last three years Susan Timthong has been running the R2L programme.

It was an hard act for Susan to follow but she managed it and more.

She is totally committed to learning opportunities and has worked tirelessly for staff to have access to learning.

I may be wrong, but I guess that training opportunities for Barnet staff are going to be harder to access, yet it is in times like this that learning new skills is even more important.

It is strange that in these difficult times that a service that provides FREE training for the Council has been unable to escape the axe!

Susan will still be looking to promote Life Long Learning in some capacity, we will hear from her in due course.

We will also looking to organise an event to mark the end of the R2L programme.