Why Your Choice Barnet (YCB) Care workers are taking strike action

In the local press the YCB chief executive said “The rates of pay for Adult Social Care are a national issue”,  Yes we agree There is a national social care crisis AND Doncaster Care UK dispute is evidence of this BUT there is a local crisis in relation to how care workers are treated.

To those who want to know what has driven care workers to take strike action it is important you understand the perverse relationship with Barnet “Commissioning” Council and Your Choice Barnet (YCB). The current funding arrangements between Barnet Council and Your Choice Barnet are the cause of this dispute and that is why we are requesting Barnet Council to come to the table in order to try and find a resolution to this dispute.

It is important to note Barnet Council own Your Choice Barnet yet at the same time they are the architects of its current critical financial crisis facing YCB. If Barnet Homes had not provided Your Choice Barnet a £1 million loan (last year) then the service would have folded. On top of securing a £1 million loan, YCB cut our members terms & conditions and almost a third of the workforce were made redundant. However the ongoing financial crisis meant that six months later YCB came back for more.

Breaking News: Last week Barnet UNISON made a request to talk to Barnet Council about the current YCB dispute, unfortunately we were informed they would not speak with UNISON because the Chief Executive had told staff in a meeting last week the dispute had nothing to do with Barnet Council.

Barnet UNISON begs to differ. Over the last six months we have had detailed discussions with YCB in order to try and find a resolution. Having seen the financial accounts and understood the financial arrangements with Barnet Council we made the following proposals which we believe would give YCB a fighting chance to survive:

1. Barnet Homes writes off the £1 million loan.

2. Barnet Council stop penalising YCB for ‘no shows’.

3. Barnet Council pays up front to YCB in order to help the cash flow situation.

4. Barnet Council pays the going rate for the services being offered.

5. Barnet Council conducts an immediate investigation as to why Adult Social care services have referred only a handful of referrals in the last 2 and half years.

6. Senior management and other Service Level Agreement costs imposed on YCB are reduced.

7. YCB & Barnet Council find a more efficient way to invoice for services. The current arrangement is that Barnet Group invoice Barnet Council then YCB invoice Barnet Group.

8. YCB is allowed to independently procure its own support services and not be forced to use Capita CSG services.

 

To end this dispute and to support services for adults with disabilities Barnet Council must and should come to the table.

The only way for YCB to be financially viable would be if: 

1. Barnet Homes writes off the £1 million loan.

2. Barnet Council stop penalising YCB for ‘no shows’.

3. Barnet Council pays up front to YCB in order to help the cash flow situation.

4. Barnet Council pays the going rate for the services being offered.

5. Barnet Council conducts an immediate investigation as to why Adult Social care services have referred only a handful of referrals in the last 2 and half years.

6. Senior management and other Service Level Agreement costs imposed on YCB are reduced.

7. YCB & Barnet Council find a more efficient way to invoice for services. The current arrangement is that Barnet Group invoice Barnet Council then YCB invoice Barnet Group.

8. YCB is allowed to independently procure its own support services and not be forced to use Capita CSG services.

See background to the dispute below:

Background

YCB imposed a 9.5% cut in pay to all their staff starting from 1 April 2014. Barnet UNISON carried out an indicative ballot to ascertain if members wanted to accept the 9.5% cut or if they wanted to be formally balloted. UNISON members overwhelming voted to be balloted for strike action.

UNISON organised a legal strike ballot and members voted 100% for strike action this was an amazing result.

ACAS became involved and UNISON agreed to attend a meeting together with ACAS and YCB. At this meeting an agreement was reached that staff would have their pay reinstated for just one month, whilst further negotiations took place.

These further discussions elicited more financial information in an attempt to ascertain the financial viability of YCB and to see if savings could be made from ‘expenditure/overheads’.

We asked them to look at savings across the following headings:

· Senior management costs

· Financial services

· Accommodation costs

· IT services

· Business Improvement costs

· Renegotiate the terms of the £1 million loan from Barnet Homes.

YCB then made a revised offer of a 8.31% pay cut for our members, further reductions were offered if staff wanted to lose some of their annual leave. Our members were given a detailed chart showing the further reductions of the 9.5% depending on how much annual leave they lost.

On a 73% turnout 90% voted in favour of taking action to reinstate their pay. Actually more members took part in this third ballot in three months and more voted for strike action.

For more details read Your Choice Barnet (YCB) “The real deal” here

Barnet UNISON issued the following letter today 21 August 2014 to all of our members working for Your Choice Barnet (YCB) in response to the YCB letter sent 19 August 2014 here

“Dear Colleague

You will have received a letter from Julie Riley on 19^th August regarding the decision to take strike action which is clearly designed to frighten you into not taking strike action. We want to set the record straight on some of the arguments presented in that letter.

It is true YCB was very open to UNISON about its accounts and this enabled UNISON to fully understand the dire financial state of YCB. As YCB have referred to their budget we believe that in the interests of transparency we strongly recommend that all of our members write back to Julie Riley and request a copy of the financial information shared with UNISON. It is important that staff, who are key stakeholders in YCB, can see the facts for themselves.

Contrary to what is contained within the letter UNISON made a number of suggestions, most of which were not accepted:

· Barnet Homes (BH) writes off the £1 million loan

· Barnet Council stop penalising YCB for ‘no shows’

· Barnet Council pays up front to YCB in order to help the cash flow situation

· Barnet Council pays the going rate for the services being offered.

· Barnet Council conducts an immediate investigation as to why Adult Social care services have referred only a handful of referrals in two and half years.

· Senior management and other Service Level Agreement costs imposed on YCB are reduced.

· YCB & Barnet Council find a more efficient way to invoice for services. The current arrangement is that Barnet Group invoices Barnet Council then YCB invoices Barnet Group.

· YCB is allowed to independently procure its own support services and not be forced to use Capita CSG services.

It is important to note that the accounts showed that YCB will balance its books only if you accept a 9.5% pay cut and YCB pays nothing back on its loan to BH. However, YCB were adamant they must pay back the £1 million. YCB were unable to tell us how they would find the money to pay off £1,000,000 over the next three years.

Our fear was that YCB would have to come back to our members for more money, which is why we asked in the meeting if they could give an assurance that this would not happen. As you know YCB were unable to give such an assurance.

We are concerned that our members cannot keep on ‘bailing out’ YCB every year.

YCB makes the point about still paying the London Living Wage for the assistant support workers (£8.80 per hour) but that is for this year only. The London Living Wage rises annually at the rate of the ‘cost of living’ (unlike your wage). This will mean those at YCB on £8.80 per hour should get a pay rise of around 3% next year for YCB to stick to this commitment. However, this increase was not contained within their budget.

We note in the letter which states “It is not the Council’s intention to take the services back in-house, however if there is no other option but to step in they would be likely to find other providers”. Our reps and members have reported back that they perceive this message as a direct threat that they should ‘shut up and accept the 9.5% cut’ and be grateful that they don’t get handed over to a private company.

I would like to remind members of the following statement made at Cabinet Resources Committee 24 May 2011 “Commercial risk ultimately remains with the Council and in the unlikely event of failure, the services will need to be brought back in-house.” (p.57 of the Business Case)

We are very clear that if UNISON’s recommendations made to YCB are not accepted then the future viability of YCB is at serious risk and Barnet Council should honour their statement on 24 May 2011.

UNISON members have taken part in three ballots over the last six months and on each occasion more UNISON members have voted ‘yes’ to reject the 9.5% pay cut. On Wednesday 20 August 2014 we had a meeting with reps and members and have agreed a programme of strike action and some demonstrations, details of which will follow shortly.

Please note the first demonstration will be outside Hendon Town Hall on Monday September 1^st at 6 pm.

Yours sincerely,

Helen Davies                                    John Burgess

Branch Chair                                    Branch Secretary

Your Choice Barnet (YCB) “The real deal”

Background

YCB imposed a 9.5% cut in pay to all their staff starting from 1 April 2014. Barnet UNISON carried out an indicative ballot to ascertain if members wanted to accept the 9.5% cut or if they wanted to be formally balloted. UNISON members overwhelming voted to be balloted for strike action.

UNISON organised a legal strike ballot and members voted 100% for strike action this was an amazing result.

ACAS became involved and UNISON agreed to attend a meeting together with ACAS and YCB. At this meeting an agreement was reached that staff would have their pay reinstated for just one month, whilst further negotiations took place.

These further discussions elicited more financial information in an attempt to ascertain the financial viability of YCB and to see if savings could be made from ‘expenditure/overheads’.

We asked them to look at savings across the following headings:

· Senior management costs

· Financial services

· Accommodation costs

· IT services

· Business Improvement costs

· Renegotiate the terms of the £1 million loan from Barnet Homes

YCB then made a revised offer of a 8.31% pay cut for our members, further reductions were offered if staff wanted to lose some of their annual leave. Our members were given a detailed chart showing the further reductions of the 9.5% depending on how much annual leave they lost.

On a 73% turnout 90% voted in favour of taking action to reinstate their pay. Actually more members took part in this third ballot in three months and more voted for strike action.

Key ongoing issues throughout the negotiations so far

· Was YCB able to generate enough new income to reduce the need for cuts to staff?

·Was YCB able to generate enough new income to pay off the £1million loan to Barnet Homes?

·Over the last 18 months there has been a 30% reduction in staff as staff have been made redundant in order to save money for YCB.

· Staff working in Supported Living & Valley Way have had their ‘out-of-hours’ payments slashed in order to save money for YCB

· YCB have increased the numbers of assistant support workers and reduced the numbers of support workers in order to save money for YCB

· YCB is wholly owned subsidiary of The Barnet Group which is wholly owned London Borough of Barnet, YCB had to take a loan of £1 million from Barnet Homes (another company which is wholly owned by the London Borough of Barnet through The Barnet Group)

· YCB said they had not been made aware of the cash flow problems as a result of moving from block contract payments.

· YCB were not resourced for the level of invoicing necessary when the payment moved from block payments.

· YCB were unprepared to cope with no payments for ‘no shows’.

“What is a ‘no show?”

This is where the service user does not attend a service, this could be for planned reasons such as holidays or hospital appointments or through sickness. It is has been shocking to hear that the impact of this critical factor had not been identified as a serious risk to the financial viability of YCB. We have learnt that although discussions have been had with LBB over ‘no shows’ the financial losses are a significant factor in the future viability of YCB. We estimate about 50% of the 9.5 % cut to our members is as a result of the financial penalty imposed by Barnet Council on YCB.

· It has become clear over the last 18 months that the financial viability of YCB rests solely with Barnet Council.

· Barnet Council is penalising YCB by not paying for ‘no shows’

· Barnet Council is hardly making new referrals to YCB

· Barnet Council is not paying YCB the going rate for the service provided “Prior to the salary reductions changes we were being paid a market rate of £18.43 per hour and it was costing us £21.81 per hour and this was not sustainable” (source: Hendon Times 3 June 2014)

· In response to the cuts to our members there has been some commentary (inside YCB and in the public domain) that if only YCB could grow new business the profits would negate the need to make pay cuts to the staff.

· Barnet UNISON decided it was critical to our negotiations that we look into the possibility of generating new income in order to see if this was an area which if successful would enable the cuts to be withdrawn or reduced. In our negotiations with YCB we asked for details for each service in order to see if they could deliver new business and if so what any new income would mean to staff in terms of their 9.5% pay cut.

· For Supported Living we learnt that any new business would not deliver a financial benefit to the business so no point in looking to grow this service.

· The two of the three day services are intensive support for service users so even some marginal increases in numbers of service users mean that there is not enough marginal profit to generate meaningful income either to mitigate the cuts to our members pay or support the future viability of YCB.

· Barnet UNISON felt there was too much money spent on back office services for an organisation which employees only 105 fte staff. YCB responded by offering a marginal 1.19 % saving from their ‘expenditure/overheads’which meant the 9.5% cut would reduce to an 8.31% cut for our members.

· Because our members rejected the revised offer YCB have said they will not make the identified 1.19 % back office saving.

· Our members reported ongoing threats that they should “forget about returning to Barnet Council and be more worried about being privatised” needless to say this did not go down well with members!

· YCB were unable to give any assurances to staff that if they accepted the 8.31% cut this year, YCB would not come back for further staff savings next year.

· YCB were unable to explain how they were going to find the money to make the first repayment due in 2014/15 of the £1million loan over three years to Barnet Homes.

It was clear that the only way for YCB to be financially viable would be if:

· Barnet Homes writes off the £1 million loan.

· Barnet Council stop penalising YCB for ‘no shows’.

· Barnet Council pays up front to YCB in order to help the cash flow situation

· Barnet Council pays the going rate for the services being offered.

· Barnet Council conducts an immediate investigation as to why Adult Social care services have referred only a handful of referrals in the last 2 and half years.

· Senior management and other Service Level Agreement costs imposed on YCB are reduced.

· YCB & Barnet Council find a more efficient way to invoice for services. The current arrangement is that Barnet Group invoice Barnet Council then YCB invoice Barnet Group.

· YCB is allowed to independently procure its own support services and not be forced to use Capita CSG services.

Please reply to Glyn Jenkins g.jenkins@unison.co.uk

The Regulations changing the LGPS will come into force with effect from 1 April 2014 .

1.Below is an important  update (that was on the UNISON website News section), covering where we are on the Transitional Regulations that will set out the protections on benefits earned before April.

2. Last chance reminder that anyone who has currently opted out of the LGPS MUST rejoin immediately if they want to ensure the earnings link protection on any final salary benefits they have earned up to April 2014 ( there may be some protection for those who opt back in within 5 years of opting out). If the cost of the contributions is  the problem then they should be reminded that from April there is an option to pay half their normal contribution rate for half the pension. They should approach their employer pension department and ensure that the forms to rejoin has been returned and received before the end of this month.  If they are not actively contributing to the scheme then any  benefits they earned before they opted out that fall outside the proposed  five year window protection to opt back in, will go up in line with prices (currently Consumer Prices Index) not earnings

3. Anyone thinking of paying Additional Voluntary Contributions to maximise tax free lump sum payment when they retire so they don’t have to exchange so much of their pension for cash at the relatively poor exchange rate of only £12 cash £1 pension  should elect to start  paying the contributions BEFORE April 2014. If members elect to pay AVC’s after  April then when they retire they are likely only to be able to take part of their AVC fund as a cash sum ( currently 25% of the value) and the remainder they will have to buy extra pension at whatever the annuity rates will be in the future from a pension provider like an insurance company. Members ,especially those near retirement , should consider paying AVC’s if they can afford it and approach their employer pensions department for details of the AVC arrangement operated by their employer/LGPS fund. They can as an alternative buy extra pension in the LGPS.

1. LGPS transitional regulations update

The government regulations covering transitional arrangements for the Local Government Pension Scheme are still delayed, because the government has yet to decide whether councillors should continue to be allowed to join the LGPS, following its consultation last year.

UNISON head of pensions Glyn Jenkins, who sits on the group that is checking the draft regulations, commented: “There are no plans to reduce the protections that have been agreed, which are in the current draft.”

As drafted, this would mean the ‘rule of 85’ protection will go over into LGPS 2014 unchanged from what it is now. So any part of a person’s service that is currently covered by the rule of 85 would not be reduced for early payment if she or he decides to retire at 60, unless they have not completed enough service by that time to satisfy the rule.

Those who voluntarily decide to retire between the age of 55 and 60 with full or part protection for the rule of 85, would have an early retirement reduction unless the employer agreed to pay to remove it.

There is still fine tuning to be done about the level of the reduction in such cases.

UNISON believes it has succeeded in arguing that the reduction will only count back from age 60, not 65, but this will be confirmed when the regulations are laid.

Also as drafted, the current definition of final pay and the protections on pay will remain the same for all service up to April 2014. The underpinning protection for those who were within 10 years of their normal retirement age at April 2012 is also in the current draft.

“UNISON is pushing for the transitional regulations as drafted to be laid as soon as possible, to remove uncertainty,” said Mr Jenkins.

“We are concerned that, because of the delay in bringing the transitional regulations into law, some members are considering leaving the scheme or even resigning their jobs – under the false impression that the protections will not be implemented and the equally false impression that leaving the scheme would somehow protect their past service rights in the LGPS.

“In fact, all those who want the final earnings protection on their LGPS service to April 2014, must make sure they are contributing to the LGPS when the regulations change in April.”

The Scottish LGPS and Northern Ireland LGPS are separate.

Colin Meech, National Officer

Capital Stewardship Programme

UNISON Centre

130 Euston Road

NW1 2AY

Direct: 0207 121 5595

Mobile: 0798 512 0003

UNISON Direct: 0845 355 0845

Web site: www.capitalstewards.org

Twitter: UNISON Capital @workercapital

Your Choice Barnet (YCB) Propose a10% Wage Cut For All!

In a meeting today this is what the unions were told was the leading suggestion for YCB to remain financially viable.

We were told that the restructuring and docking of enhancements for YCB staff had already provided YCB with approx £1million savings last year. Some staff have already seen their pay reduce by around 20% already.

However, in spite of being told last year that a cut to the costs of YCB of £1million was needed and has been achieved, we are now informed YCB have proposed another cut in order to save another £400K.

YCB say this can be done by everyone (except senior managers) taking a 10% wage cut.

YCB propose to take care workers out of National Pay Bargaining and so any future Local Government pay increases will not be passed on to YCB staff. Even Capita and NSL (two private contractors) have not announced they will be coming out of National Pay Bargaining. However we were informed Capita was one of the consultancy companies used to carry out the benchmarking exercise with YCB.

YCB though is wholly owned by London Borough of Barnet.

This is yet another example of how One Barnet or a Commissioning Council outsources “difficult” decisions” to private contractors.

The obvious 10% cut is bad enough but there are other factors which make this greater than 10%.

Barnet UNISON have sent an email to YCB requesting further details as there is a lot they have not explained. Our fears are the cut could be as high as 19%.

Even without a cut UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis said this about the ‘cost of living crisis’ last week:

“For the majority prices are rising faster than wages and that is bad news for the low paid, who spend a greater proportion of their cash on the basics. Our members, who are keeping public services going through difficult times, have seen the value of their pay drop by between 14% and 18%. Where’s the incentive for them?”

Barnet UNISON has checked the Your Choice Barnet (YCB) web site http://www.yourchoicebarnet.org/about-us/our-board/board-meetings/ and noticed that YCB are no longer advertising Board meetings or printing agenda or minutes.

The Board meeting which made this decision to cut the pay did so in secret.

Barnet UNISON asked if they would be consulting parents/carers/services users.

YCB said no, but added they would inform them.

YCB have published the consultation on their website here http://www.thebarnetgroup.org/news/2014/01/your-choice-barnet-salary-restructure-consultation/

Barnet UNISON have organised an evening meeting with Your Choice & Fremantle care workers on Tuesday 4 Feb in Greek Cypriot centre, North Finchley from 6pm.

 

For the past nine months all the trade unions have had meetings with senior officers to try and avoid this attack on our right to organise and represent members. In these meetings we have been informed that senior managers have agreed to this proposal. This decision takes place before the Council begins to consult on ripping up staff terms & conditions, allowances, and take workers out of National Pay bargaining. Last week UNISON along with the other Council trade unions attended a last ditch meeting with the Leader of Barnet Council to try and avert this attack. Unfortunately our discussions were unsuccessful.

Stop gagging local unions in Barnet Council. Petition

 

Dear Mr Cornelius

It is clear from your own website that Barnet Council has already embarked on a radical outsourcing policy which has had a significant impact on former and current Council workers. Surely you must recognise the importance for staff to be represented and supported by a trade union?

Facility Time is good practice and is a means by which trade unions can carry out what are often demanding and complex roles which includes provision of advice to members, formal representation of members in grievance and disciplinary hearings and negotiating with managers over terms and conditions, outsourcing, restructures, cuts to services.

In 2007, the then Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR, now BIS – Department for Business Innovation and Skills) conducted a review of facilities and facility time available to workplace representatives. The review found the following in unionised workplaces:

· Dismissal rates were lower

· Voluntary exit rates were lower

· Employment tribunal cases are lower

· Workplace-related injuries were lower

· All of the above generated savings up to £977m for the employer.

As Leader of Barnet Council I am asking that you cease your proposal to reduce the facility time pot to zero for the two local trade unions.

Why is it important?

The two local trade unions, UNISON & GMB, have been subject to both personal and political attacks by Conservative controlled Barnet Council in relation to facility time. On 1 April 2014 the Council are ceasing all of the facility time for both trade unions. The facility time pot has already been cut by 66% to date. This is the final act of what has been a sustained attack on the local trade unions for daring to question the wisdom of the One Barnet mass outsourcing of Council services. Barnet Council has been promoting the ideology ‘Public Bad Private Good’ as the solution to ‘Austerity’ with the help of expensive consultants (Consultancy Agilisys estimated costs to date close to £8million this does not include £millions spent on legal advice). First it was Future Shape then EasyCouncil, then One Barnet and now it is being promoted as the Commissioning Council. Whatever the name of this policy the human cost has meant redundancies and significant attacks on terms & conditions for those staff outsourced to contractors such as Your Choice Barnet, NSL, Capita and Barnet Homes.

Here is an animation explaining what is happening in Barnet http://youtu.be/o6I9kP6nCMg

The Trade Unions view this attempt to gag the unions as a form of de-recognition as it is clearly designed to undermine our ability to represent and organise across a number of employers all of whom currently contribute to a facility time pot of money. Once again Barnet Council in its drive to outsource all of its remaining council services also wants to be first to smash the ability of trade unions to be able to support, represent and defend hard working staff.

To Sign Petition click on link below 

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/stop-gagging-local-unions-in-barnet-council

Why is Barnet Homes not helping keep jobs in Barnet?

When the contract was awarded to Capita back in November 2012 and the details of the Capita proposals were made public, UNISON recognised all efforts must be made to reduce the number of redundancies as the jobs were exported to Belfast, Carlisle, Blackburn, and Southampton among some of the various Capita locations.

When Capita opened formal consultation on Monday 7 October 2013 outlining their proposals UNISON wrote to the Council. UNISON asked for all vacant jobs across Barnet Council, Barnet Homes and Your Choice be made available to any former Council Capita staff at risk of redundancy in order to try and reduce the numbers of redundancies. This would also keep the redundancy costs down and future benefit costs as a result of being made redundant.

Capita thought it was a sensible proposal but it was clearly not within their power to grant this request.

I am both angry and disappointed to report that whilst the Council have made posts available, Barnet Homes are currently refusing to make any vacant posts available to staff at risk of redundancy.

“What have UNISON done?”

When the position of Barnet Homes was revealed UNISON attempted to resolve this quickly both with Barnet Homes and later with Barnet Council.

UNISON again noting the large numbers of staff due to start receiving redundancy letters straight after Christmas, requested that this matter be expedited and commonsense applied.

I have report that we are still waiting for a decision.

It is both shocking and disappointing that Barnet Council does not have any power over organisations in which they own 100%. How can it be right that public body owned by the council would not want to work with the council to avoid making staff and their families redundant?

UNISON will be writing again to the Leader of Barnet Council.

Why is Barnet Council not helping keep jobs in Barnet?

UNISON has had further discussions with Capita about a proposal which could mean keeping jobs in Barnet; which would mean less staff being made redundant.

BUT and there is a big but.

For this project to get off the ground Barnet Council need to agree to Capita being able to hold on to the redundancy payments already provided by the Council.

“Why do we need Barnet Council to agree to this?”

The simple answer is that it is all in the Capita contract. As part of the Capita bid for the contract; the Council agreed to give Capita the redundancy money for any staff made redundant as a result of Capita winning the contract. I imagine that Barnet Council would have known the number of job losses in order to agree how much they would have to give Capita. We have been told it is approximately £5million which is quite a sum of money and a lot of staff losing their jobs.

However as a result of the delay in the transfer to Capita a large number of staff have already left which means there is going to be a substantial pot of money left over.

“What happens to the money?”

In the Capita contract it states Capita have to give Barnet Council a rebate on any unspent money after 5 years.

“So what is stopping the proposal to keep jobs in Barnet?”

For Capita to agree to the job creation proposal they need Barnet Council to allow Capita to hold onto some of the ‘redundancy money’ in case the new service is unsuccessful and the staff are made redundant. Unless Barnet Council agree it is highly unlikely Capita will proceed with this proposal.

“What have UNISON done?”

We wrote to senior officers of the council on several occasions pointing out the implications for staff and their families and requesting a speedy response preferably before Christmas (staff are due to be issued redundancy letters in the first week of January 2014 hence our urgency). Unfortunately the response was slow but a promise of a response on 20 December was made.

Unfortunately this deadline has been and gone. It does feel like the senior officers have not recognised the urgency and importance of this simple decision.

UNISON will press again for a response.

UNISON wrote the Leader of the Council on two occasions pointing out the promises made by fellow councillors that the utmost would be done to help loyal staff in these difficult times.

Unfortunately UNISON did not receive an acknowledgment or a reply to these requests.

UNISON will send another reminder to the Leader of Barnet Council asking for a response.

Our branch is now under serious threat by the actions of our council who are targeting key UNISON reps in our branch in order to try and silence what is going on. It is our view the proposed removal of facility time is in effect a form of de-recognition of the trade unions. It is an attack on our democratic right to organise and represent our members.

Our branch is at the centre of a battle of political ideology & dogma where Public = Bad and Private = Good.

££££Millions of public money has been spent on consultants and lawyers to implement the now infamous One Barnet mass outsourcing programme.

We will continue to do our utmost to robustly support and defend our members in the workplace.

Our branch we will not be bullied into submission.

 

2013 was a significant year for our members and our branch and below are some highlights of the issues faced by our members.

January

Capita update to Council staff working in NSCSO & DRS services http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1137

Feedback from Tripartite meeting on Monday 28 January

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1164

February

Barnet UNISON Press Release: STOP the Privatisation of our Regulatory Services

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1179

March

Beware the “Ides of March” One Barnet Social Care Experiment is not working

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1181

Why Barnet UNISON is supporting BarnetSpring March

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1170

URGENT UPDATE Your Choice Care Workers

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1183

UNISON ‘Your Choice’ up date report

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1182

One Barnet “My worst fears” – by John Burgess UNSON Branch Secretary

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1185

Your Choice Care Workers Campaign update 17 March 2013

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1188

Barnet Spring or was it Winter march?

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1192

Barnet Spring video http://youtu.be/TnJXFLULrU8

397 jobs “The true cost of One Barnet outsourcing”

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1196

April

“Your Choice was never Our Choice!” – A New Campaign is Launched”

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1199

“Victory, Victory how does 400 redundancies equal victory?”

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1210

May

UNISON write to Leader of Barnet Council about Judicial Review

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/sites/default/files/Letter%20to%20Leader%201%20May%202013.pdf

UNISON write to Chief Executive about Judicial Review

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/sites/default/files/Letter%20to%20Chief%20Executive%201%20May%202013.pdf

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: ‘Capitaville’- Capita to takeover more Barnet Council services.

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1224

10 steps to learn more about One Barnet

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1222

Update list of Barnet Council services down for outsourcing

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1084

“We didn’t have a Crystal Ball but we did have Dexter!” – Your Choice Care Workers

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1226

Your Choice Care Workers Campaign – The Facts

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1227

June

Barnet residents and Barnet Labour Party submit 133 questions on the DRS Capita takeover proposal

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/sites/default/files/Barnet%20residents%20Capita%20takeover%20questions.pdf

“All that glitters is not gold” – One Barnet Capita Symonds contract under scrutiny.

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1229

Stan Davison a Barnet Legend ‘Rest In Peace’

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1230

UNISON responds to Capita proposal to move jobs out of the community

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/sites/default/files/2013%2006%2025%20UNISON%20response%20to%20Capita%20final%20measures%20letter.pdf

Top Ten stories in London Borough of Capita (formerly known as Barnet).

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1238

July

The fate of Barnet Council 600 jobs in the balance

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1243

Top Ten Commissioning failures

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1244

The Privatisation juggernaut – Five Public services targeted by privatisation lobbyists

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1250

Campaign Against the Destruction of Disability Support Services (CADDSS) produce response to Your Choice proposals http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/sites/default/files/CADDSS%20analysis%20.pdf

August

“A day in the life of a coach escort in the London Borough of Barnet”

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1253

Consultation with Capita Symonds begins

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1254

“Why are the government attacking the workers and their union?

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1255

September

Barnet residents organise funeral procession for Barnet Public Services

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1258

Austerity launches another vicious attack on low paid female workers in Barnet Council

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1252

“I Found Myself Just Crying” – Your Choice Barnet

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1263

London Living Wage for Barnet Council staff.

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1264

Barnet Council publish Capita contract

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1268

October

“From hard working families to ‘scroungers’ – Capita redundancies

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1272

UNISON respond to Council may be forced to outsource additional services, warns leader”

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1274

CAPITA – KEEP OUR JOBS IN BARNET – Community Petition

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1282

UNISON call on Capita to reverse mass redundancies in Barnet

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1273

November

Public meeting “BONFIRE AGAINST AUSTERITY AND PRIVATISATION”

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1283

£20.5 million lost to frontline services and jobs!

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1295

UNISON response to Your Choice Task & Finish report

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/sites/default/files/UNISON%20response%20to%20Task%20and%20Finish%20Report.pdf

“Outsourcing services for adults with disabilities is not working in Barnet”

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1303

December

Speech of the Year: “Living with a disability in the London Borough of Barnet”

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1311

Latest attack on UNISON by a Conservative councillor

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1310

Barnet Council proposal to remove all facility time for trade unions

http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/1307