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Service
Conditions Single Status dominates
2001 The implementation of Single Status has dominated discussions at both local and national level. This has been as a result of the cost implications to Authorities of implementing the final phase of the reduction in the working week for manual staff which has an estimated cost to City of Edinburgh Council of £1.5 million. As a consequence the branch has been involved in discussions on a number of issues which are now taking the shape of final proposals from Council on the following : * Car Allowances
At the time of writing the branch is balloting the relevant members on the final offer from Council on a new car allowance scheme and ballots on the other issues will take place over the next few months. Elsewhere Edinburgh Leisure has proposed it's own version of Single Status which has resulted in a single union deal with Unison and they have invited us to enter into negotiations on their proposed Single Status package. The Single Status Job Evaluation exercise which was due to be completed by 01 April 2002 has also been the subject of discussion at local and national level with the Employer's Side seeking agreement to a two year delay with the completion date being postponed to 01 April 2004. To date no agreement has been reached on this. Whatever the implementation date the exercise, which requires every job to be evaluated will require comprehensive work and is likely to be the major issue in the future, particularly when it is considered that this will require to encompass the thorny issue of bonus schemes. PFI/PPP The Council's decision last year to use the PFI/PPP option for new builds in Education & Social Work has resulted in confusion regarding the transfer of support staff to the new provider. It had been proposed to transfer these staff on 01 July 2001 but this has now been abandoned and it is now proposed to transfer the staff once the new build or refurbishment has been completed. New Agreements Last year saw the introduction of new and amended agreements with the Council and a number of Associated Bodies covering the following areas * Recruitment &
Selection In relation to the last one, which is a Council policy and not a local agreement, all members who have access to either e mail or the Internet during their working time should ensure they are aware of the contents of this code of conduct and the consequences of breaching it. Copies should be available from Personnel Sections. In addition to the above discussions with Council have either started, or will commence shortly, on * Profit Sharing
(Ending) Reports from around the Sectors The branch has been involved in a number of major issues throughout the sectors and some of these are reported below. Corporate Services was the Council Department whose turn it was to be the subject of a reorganisation this year (I'm sure members feel this occurs every year) and as a consequence Architectural Services are being dispersed and Facilities Management has been reorganised once more. Education saw our only dispute which resulted in strike action when talks finally broke down regarding Janitors' conditions of service. This resulted in six days strike action in December. As a consequence Council finally agreed to go to arbitration which will determine the outcome without the need for further strike action. A great pity that the Council had refused the Branch request to go there prior to strike action becoming the only option. It is our strong view that the party responsible for the disruption to primary children education was the Council. Nursery Nurses lodged a National Claim regarding pay and conditions which did not reach agreement and consequently the Branch and all other Scottish Branches will lodge a local claim at the start of February . Members will be kept advised of developments. Elsewhere has seen a number of organisations being the subject of Scottish Parliament decisions. On 1 April this year the Careers Service will transfer to Careers Scotland (Scottish Enterprise). Registration & Inspection will transfer to the Scottish Commission for Regulating Care and Community Learning Scotland will transfer to both YouthLink and Communities Scotland. Members will be able to stay with UNISON once they have transferred to the new bodies. Lothian Valuation Joint Board saw the conclusion of its Best Value review which resulted in a cut in staffing of almost 25%. Fortunately due to the branch and Management working together on this matter and agreeing a mechanism to manage this process the new staffing levels will be achieved without any compulsory redundancies. An example of Partnership Working which other employers could learn from. And Finally..... The Team would like to thank fellow officers and all stewards for their support and assistance with the everyday issues of discipline and grievance and, of course our thanks to the Branch Office Staff: Eileen, Julie, Monica, and Nicky, without whom little would be possible |
 John Mulgrew Coordinator |
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Also
on the Service Conditions Team: Secretary, Equalities Officers | |
