Unison Herts

Due to the announcements over the weekend and the media frenzy we see every day lately, I thought it best to inform you, firstly by our website followed later this month with a news letter.

There have been several "behind the scenes" talks by the Branch Officers on the behalf of the membership and below is a brief summary of these.

As you probably know the Branch went into dispute with Hertfordshire County Council recently over the Redundancy Policy which was unilaterally changed in December 2009. We ended up at stage 4 of the disputes resolution process by bringing in the Regional Secretary's to assist with the negotiations. This 7 hour meeting went back and forth but in the end, we couldn't agree with the offer from Hertfordshire County Council. We postponed the meeting and will be discussing again with Officers of HCC on the 15th July 2010. If we feel there is movement then we will reschedule the postponed meeting with the Joint Secretary's.

As you are aware this government are coming out with all sorts of numbers when it comes to cuts in the public sector. The press say 25% or 40% with schools, councils, and the rest of the public services suffering. The real numbers will not be known until October when the comprehensive spending review is published. HCC have to make estimated savings of £144 Million.

There are 9 streams to the Transformation process, (this being the name the council have used for reviews to find this money) these themselves can hold 6/7 reviews. UNISON will require Stewards and Convenors to help with these reviews and the Branch Officers will be allocated 2 streams each, to lead on. These will also be put on the website when these decisions have been made.

Talks have been going on with HCC regarding savings to just about everything across the council. One of the most important things are negotiations concerning terms and conditions. We have spoken with HCC about some Green Book changes and will be collating the information to send out to you all to be either accepted or rejected by the membership. It is important that members have ownership and empowerment on this issue. There are also rumours, that we have been discussing changes to sick pay and fringe allowances, this is not true. HCC have approached UNISON with a view of a local agreement on part 2 of the green book and where these sit.

After having discussions with Heather Wakefield, UNISON National Secretary for Local Government, her advice to the Branch that there are to be no negotiations on Part 2 of the Green Book, discussed at local level. At this stage there cannot be a local agreement on this.

The UNISON position nationally is very much a joint union fight with all the unions against this government and the cuts they endorse.

I have no information at this time as to how this is going to be worked through, but all the General Secretary’s of all the Trade Unions will hold a joint meeting and as soon as we have some news about the way forward, then I will put it on this website.