UNISON membership in Housing begins to grow

Last week I attended a meeting with UNISON and non UNISON members to talk about the latest One Barnet project for Housing workers as earlier this month Cabinet has agreed to ‘fast track’ proposals to transfer Housing staff into Barnet Homes.

Ok, ok, Cabinet asked the One Barnet project to carry out an options appraisal and business case at the same time and come back early 2012 in order the transfer can take place by March 2012. Whilst One Barnet apologists will insist no decisions have been made, the staff are not convinced. They are understandably angry that their service is being given special treatment to transfer them out of the council. I was surprised about how strongly staff felt about not working for Barnet Homes. Many of those I have spoken to are convinced that there will be redundancies soon after transfer.

For those who still remain unconvinced that the decision has not already been made, I need to explain that the proposal which went to Cabinet last week was meant to go to an earlier Cabinet Committee. UNISON was given an embargoed copy of a report months ago, however a decision was made to withhold the report until a later Cabinet committee

Maybe I am an old cynic, but could the reason for the delay have something to do with giving staff and UNISON less time to respond to the proposal?

UNISON members in Housing want to remain council employees and those non union members expressed the same view. In the last few days I have been impressed as to the speed at which our new reps have started to recruit new members. We have a target and we are working towards it.

If you work in Housing and want to remain a Council employee then make contact with the local rep or contact the branch for advice on what you can do for the campaign.