Barnet UNISON

1. Watch the film ‘A Tale of Two Barnets’ http://ning.it/PUBMVP   

 

2. Listen to Ken Loach talk about the One Barnet Billion Pound Gamble Film http://ning.it/PIzXpv

 

3. Watch the Billion Pound Gamble Film Trailer http://ning.it/PvZYxF

 

4. Listen to Mr Reasonable explain all about the OneBarnet magical box http://ning.it/P4vPVW

 

5. Watch the Billion Pound Gamble Animation http://ning.it/Qp5Adx

 

6. Watch Barnet Residents occupy Hendon Town Hall http://ning.it/W7a08n

 

7. Listen to a Barnet resident speak at Barnet Full Council meeting http://ning.it/WgcUZ2

 

8. Learn about the Occupation of Friern Library here http://ning.it/W7alIe  

 

9. Save Friern campaign showing how to campaign against the cuts http://ning.it/XhYQ1R

 

10. Watch the excellent short film called ‘A Polite Revolution’  http://ning.it/W7b7Fc  

 

11. Learn about why Barnet’s ‘easyCouncil’ is facing a judicial review http://ning.it/WhYBDt

 

A Polite Revolution from Oonagh Cousins on Vimeo.

Update on Failure to Agree

The big news from the proposed restructures in Children’s Services is not just the redundancies, but the downgradings with increases in responsibility and workloads! Colleagues are not happy about this. Meetings are being set up with the respective senior management groups to try to reach an agreement on a way forward.

View the responses to the proposals here

Update on Failure to Agree

The big news from the proposed restructures in Adults Services is not just the redundancies, but the downgradings with increases in responsibility and workloads! Colleagues are not happy about this. Meetings are being set up with the respective senior management groups to try to reach an agreement on a way forward. View the responses to the proposals here.

For those working in Adults Services, please attend the UNISON meeting 12.30pm Oak Room to discuss latest update and our position.

 

The Trade Union movement is facing its biggest challenge in over 30 years. The Conservative Home blog, think-tank of the Tories, is celebrating the drop in overall union   membership as one of its major achievements.

We are all organising to halt the attacks on our members’ terms and conditions, to resist mass redundancies, and last but not least to oppose the relentless privatisation of public services.

If you want to demonstrate against the Tories, then where better to do it than in Barnet on March 23rd? Barnet has a Tory Council which is using mass privatisation to make hundreds of Council workers redundant and is attacking the Council trade unions for campaigning to defend their members’ jobs. The Council is proposing to delete almost all agreed time off for trade union representatives to carry out their duties.

It is important that the trade union movement organises within its own community to support and build alliances with residents. We have seen that if residents learn about these cuts, they are prepared to act to defend them.

Barnet Trades Council is calling on all trade union branches across our borough to make a pledge to send their banners and members to the Barnet Spring march on Saturday 23 March. We are also extending our invitation to the wider trade union movement across London and  beyond. There is an alternative worth fighting for and the Trade Unions are very much part of it.

You can download flyer here

Barnet UNISON has been involved in a five year campaign to oppose the mass outsourcing of Council services. The Council has refused to engage on alternatives to outsourcing.

Two years ago Barnet Council cut our Facility Time by 65% and added a further cut last year. Our branch has recently been presented with a proposal to cut the remaining facility time to a level by which the branch will be unable to represent our members. This is at a time of massive change for our members. Over 600 hundred workers are facing a transfer to Capita later this year and we have learnt most of the jobs are to be based out of London.

This is a direct attack on our union and the ability of our members to belong to a union.

Why the attack on Barnet UNISON?

● We are guilty of doing our utmost to defend our members’ terms and conditions.

● We are guilty of working with other local trade unions and the community our members serve to defend public services.

We are joining the community and other Trade Unions for the BarnetSpring March at a time of increasing austerity. Residents fear having a multi-national, Capita, take over the lion’s share of the   Council’s services with a 10 year contract and that this will have a detrimental impact on local democracy.

We will not be silenced and our voice will be stronger in the months to come.

If you support public services and oppose the Coalition Government’s Austerity policies, then there is no better place to be than with our  unions and community on the demonstration March 23^rd: now known as the BarnetSpring.

Download our flyer here

 

Saturday, 23 March

meet at 11 am

march starts 12noon

at Finchley Central Station

march to Friern Barnet

Community Library

Download Flyer here

More than 150 Barnet Council workers are set to receive compensation, following a landmark decision, worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, after a decision of the Employment Tribunal announced today (5 February).

The Employment Tribunal in Watford ruled that the council was in breach of changes to s 188 and regulation 13 of TUPE brought in by the Agency Workers’ Regulations by failing to provide UNISON with information on the number of agency workers employed by Barnet Council.

You can read the judgement here

UNISON asked for the information to protect council workers as part of a wider consultation over redundancies and the transfer of staff.

The Tribunal made protective awards of 60 days’ and compensation of 40 and 50 days’ pay in respect of two transfers and a redundancy exercise that took place last year.

The union welcomed today’s decision, as it is one of the first cases, brought under provisions introduced at the same time as the Agency Workers’ Regulations in October 2011. They require employers to provide information on the agency workers engaged during TUPE transfers and collective redundancy consultation.

The Judge in the case described Barnet’s refusal to provide information as “a relatively serious failure”. And UNISON said the decision, upholding the requirement to provide information on agency workers, has important ramifications for other unions, to help them negotiate more effectively and avoid redundancies.

Dave Prentis General Secretary of UNISON, said:

“Today’s landmark decision is an important step forward in protecting workers when they are under threat of redundancy or transfer. It must act as a warning to other councils that they must provide information on agency workers to unions or suffer the consequences.

“Across the country, councils are cutting and outsourcing services. Workers need to be protected from having their rights ridden over roughshod. Today’s decision is recognition of the difficulties that unions face when employers withhold information that could and should be given.”

John Burgess, Barnet UNISON Branch Secretary, said:

“We welcome this decision which recognises the hard work of our local reps who have consistently raised the issue of agency workers data over the last three and half years.”

Our reps repeatedly warned the Council about their responsibilities to provide the agency data at a time when staff are at ‘risk of redundancy’ and outsourcing. Barnet Council have become increasingly reliant on consultants and chose to ignore our attempts to resolve this matter locally.”

The Employment Tribunal found:

1. That the Respondent (Barnet Council) failed to comply with s 188 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 in respect of redundancies that took effect on 31 March 2012 by failing to provide information on agency workers;

2. The Respondent failed to comply with r 13 of TUPE 2006 in respect of transfers on 1 April and 1 May 2012 by failing to provide information on agency workers; and 3. The Tribunal has made protective awards of 60 days and compensation of 40 and 50 days respectively in respect of these breaches.

Ends