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