The Barnet Group Negotiations

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Barnet UNISON and GMB have been in talks with The Barnet Group over the last year to address the issues of unequal pay within The Group (more than 8 different sets of terms and conditions for people doing similar work). Barnet UNISON believes there may be Equal Pay issues when comparing a largely female workforce in The Barnet Group to the Council workforce where there is a largely male manual section of the workforce.

We want all Barnet Group workers to be on the same pay, terms and conditions as the Council workforce. The Barnet Group is wholly owned by the Council and performs as well as the Council and carries out the vast majority of its work on behalf of the Council, yet you are paid second class rates of terms and conditions.

The Barnet Group has reiterated its stance that it could not afford to pay those terms and conditions. Nonetheless both parties have been engaged in a discussion as to what can be done to improve the terms and conditions for the workforce.

A 2-step approach has been agreed. First to improve the offer of the TBG flex contract and then to offer this to TUPE’d staff. No one would be forced onto a TBG flex contract.

The areas The Barnet Group presented for discussion were:

  1. Annual Leave
  2. Sick pay arrangements
  3. Maternity/ Paternity and Adoption leave arrangements
  4. Death in Service benefits

We wanted to discuss:

  1. Annual Leave
  2. Sick pay arrangements
  3. Pension
  4. Overtime payments and shift enhancements
  5. Maternity/ Paternity and Adoption leave arrangements

Throughout the negotiations we requested information. We were particularly interested in the cost of the agency spend as we believe if the offer is attractive enough then there is a potential for the increase in the wage bill to be offset by the decrease in agency spend.

The Barnet Group is keen to implement the proposals if possible on the 1st April 2022. Both parties have committed to further negotiations to address the concerns of the TUPE staff once these proposals have been implemented.

Once we have exhausted this round of negotiations we will consult with all of our members to take the next steps. At this moment we anticipate this will happen late February. Please attend the AGM and all Branch meetings in order to be best informed and to make a decision.