Category: Uncategorised

So far workers in Barnet Homes on legacy LBB contracts have received the annual uplift in pay in line with NJC.

Those paid the London Living Wage had an increase in their wages from £11.95 – £13.85 (a 5.3% increase).

At the end of Summer this year all other TBG workers saw their pay increase by 3.2%.

This all falls far short of the pay claim UNISON submitted to The Barnet Group in March this year. We wanted to see:

• Sick pay raised to Council standard
• Shift allowances restored to Council standard
• Pay rates for working weekends and bank holidays restored to Council standard

…amongst other demands (see here for full list Barnet Voice – The Barnet Group – Barnet UNISON)

We did not expect everything to be welcomed or agreed in one go but expected there to be a process of negotiation. It is worth noting that restoring sick pay to Council standards for everyone would cost an estimated £40,000 only!

The Barnet Group has told us they will not negotiate this year as they are awaiting the outcome of the review of the YCB contract. They also say they have no money.

However, whilst we recognise times are tight, we believe there are possibilities for achieving some progress on our demands by looking at other areas for savings. For example:

• Senior pay transparency: Our members note large salaries at senior levels (TBG CEO: £218,643; Council CEO: £212,685; The Barnet Group Ltd Executive Officers cost £1, 093, 000/ year – from accounts to year end 2025).
• Agency use: £7,879,000.

We do not believe a blanket “no” is the right response in these times of extreme difficulty for our members.

Look out for our pay survey coming to you shortly. We recommend you vote YES in our survey to indicate you are serious about achieving positive change in your working conditions.

Barnet UNISON shares the horror and despair many of our members will be feeling following news of recent racist attacks:

• the deadly antisemitic attack in Manchester;
• the arson attacks on the Mosque in Sussex and the Britannia Hotel housing refugees (both of which took place with people present in the buildings);
• a Summer of Hate directed against refugees with racists feeling emboldened to attack anyone who does not fit into the tight category of being a hetero white British Christian who is not disabled. Predominantly Muslims and Black people have been targeted;
• the largest mobilisation ever seen in the UK of the Far Right which degenerated into a series of attacks on Black people and an attempted attack on St Thomas Hospital;

None of this is inevitable. If you are appalled by these events and want this all to stop, then please do come to Barnet UNISON’s meeting on Anti Racism and Stopping the Far Right.

Next Tuesday 14^th October 6.30pm

 https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81332224493?pwd=qRwETOrnan8CgXWEB6cLr1TibozkrI.1

 

Meeting ID: 813 3222 4493

Passcode: 645821

 

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If you have been involved in an accident or an incident (such as verbal or physical abuse) at work, your employer has a legal obligation to record this.

Trade Unions have the right to see these reports when they involve their members.

If you are reporting an accident or an incident on the Barnet Council online reporting system, make sure you tick the option for UNISON to see the report. If your manager or supervisor is filling the form, they should ask if you give permission for your Union to see the report.

Please give permission for UNISON to see accident and incident reports, this will help protect you and your colleagues.

It is very important that UNISON Health and Safety Reps can see the reports.  Having access to the reports means:

• We are aware of the accident or incident
• We can follow up on what is being done by the employer in response
• We can see if there are areas where our members are working in unsafe workplaces
• We can use the reports as evidence in sickness, disciplinary or other procedures and help to make sure you are being treated fairly
• UNISON can use the reports to pursue Personal Injury Claims, or other legal proceedings.

If you are having any problems reporting accidents or incidents at work, contact me, your workplace UNISON representative, or the Barnet UNISON Office.

 

Hugh Jordan

Branch Health & Safety Officer/Libraries Convenor

Barnet UNISON

Tel: 0208 359 2088

Email: contactus@barnetunison.org.uk

Last Friday Barnet UNISON submitted its annual pay claim to The Barnet Group for all workers on the TBGflex contract and those on the legacy YCB contracts. In essence, we’re asking for the same uplift in pay which is being asked by UNISON nationally for Council staff (£3,000 on all pay points). The exception to this would be those on the London Living Wage as they would be receiving their uplift in pay in April this year.

In addition we’re asking for NJC terms and conditions for weekend working, bank holidays, night shift working and overtime. For full details please see here our claim in full.

Can The Barnet Group afford this?

Barnet UNISON has proposed savings which could be made by a review of the arrangements between The Barnet Group and the Council. These have been rejected. The real question is whether our members can afford one pay cut after another. With retail such as Lidl now paying higher wages (£14/hr LIDL ANNOUNCES PAY INCREASE FOR 28,000 HOURLY-PAID COLLEAGUES NATIONWIDE – Lidl Great Britain) than careworkers receive and housing workers working for other local authorities being paid considerably higher wages and with better terms and conditions, workers are already making clear choices about not wanting to work for The Barnet Group.

Fingers crossed colleagues are able to access their payslips today and everyone has been paid correctly.

We had been promised that some of our reps in The Barnet Group or who work irregular hours would be consulted with in respect of the new payslip to help make sure it meets the needs of all workers. This did not happen. We can only hope that all colleagues can now access a payslip which shows them more detail about how their pay is made up. This was the opportunity presented when The Barnet Group decided to have a different payroll provider from the Council.

If you are experiencing difficulties accessing or understanding your payslip please follow the instructions on the FAQ sheet below.

If you are unable to resolve these issues, your manager should assist you. If none of this is working, please contact your union rep or contactus@barnetunison.org.uk or 020 8359 2088.

Barnet UNISON has been trying to find out whether The Barnet Group is being compliant with Pensions Regulations around the retention of records. To date we have had no response despite 3 emails over a period of a number of weeks. We may now need to take independent legal advice. In the meantime we can only encourage all workers to ensure you have every payslip downloaded, saved or printed off for your own records. We have had instances of people being told they have payments missing in their pension records and losing out on pensions when they need them so please DO keep records. Do this BEFORE the end of April.