Smash The Public Sector Pay Cap! Union Anger At Privatisation Plans Vote Of No Confidence In Council Leader Victory For Harvey Nursery

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1 Autumn 2017 Free The magazine for UNISON members Smash The Public Sector Pay Cap! Union Anger At Privatisation Plans Vote Of No Confidence In Council Leader Victory For Harvey Nursery

2 Victory For Harvey Nursery As Council Does U-Turn!!! Bolton Council was consulting on the closure of the Harvey Nursery but the backlash from workers and the public forced a u-turn before the consultation was even over... People are sick of listening to This is how we have to do things and there was a clear message... No you don t!... In September, without any prior warning, Bolton Council began a consultation on shutting its Harvey Nursery, which looks after the children of many vulnerable families. Furious workers at the nursery, who are 100% unionised, voted unanimously to be balloted for strike action, while an immediate and very public campaign against the closure swung into action. Indeed by the time a proposed march and demonstration was due to take place, the Council had already done a u-turn, with Councillor Linda Thomas, Deputy Leader of Bolton Labour Group and Bolton Council, stating that the decision to save the nursery was made as a result of savings made from increased rates of recycling. Bolton UNISON believes it was the strength of feeling of both the nursery workers and the public that forced the u-turn. And it s inspirational for the whole workforce... It s upsetting for anyone to hear that their job is going and these workers were devastated because they felt passionate about the job they do says Andrea Egan, Assistant Branch Secretary But what they decided very quickly was that their backs were up against the wall, so they came out fighting. What was there to lose? What was inspiring for me as an activist was how quickly they banded together, it was all for one and one for all she adds There was that collective anger that things are hard enough out there and the last thing they needed was to lose their job. It was amazing watching those workers come together, as they did under that common attack. They also recognised that the parents were upset about losing their services and that drove them even more she explains It was clear was that the public was on their side. I think people are fed up; they keep being told there s no money Andrea concludes Those workers and parents said We understand austerity, we live with it, but Bolton Council has got choices, and we want them to make a better choice...and we don t want them to take the money from this nursery...people are sick of listening to This is how we have to do things and there was a clear message: No you don t!... You ve made enough bad choices, and we re not being another one of those bad choices.

3 Smash The Public Sector Pay Cap! After nearly a decade of public sector pay cuts, now is the time to push for a 5% pay rise...and there s growing support for coordinated strike action across public services to get it... Public sector pay has risen by just 4.4% since 2010, while the cost of living rose by 22%. If your salary is 20,000, over the last seven years you will be 3,210 worse off in real terms than in Meanwhile, top bosses pay increased by over 32% in that time. Now UNISON wants to see an end to the public sector pay cap, with fully-funded, aboveinflation pay rises for all those working in public services. The local government workers pay claim is 5%, from April And the Government must provide additional funding so that employers are not forced to make further cuts to afford rises. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has estimated the cost to central and local government of increasing public sector pay at the same rate as the private sector to be 6.3billion in To put this cost into context, the IFS has calculated that alreadyimplemented and planned corporation tax cuts cost 16.5 billion each year in terms. Public sector pay increases generate tax revenues, reduce social security expenditure, inject extra value into the economy, and create jobs. Aside from economic arguments, it s about time the employers started to value public sector workers. Theresa May spoke of the value of public sector workers after the Manchester Arena and Grenfell Tower tragedies but those workers cannot live off weasel words. Public sector workers keep us safe, healthy, educated and cared for in the face of prolonged real terms pay cuts that have strained working and family lives. Now it s time to pay up. There is growing support for coordinated strike action across public services if necessary to ensure there is a meaningful rise for all public sector workers. Parliament is due to debate the future of public sector pay on 4th December, so we need to act fast...they won t pay up if we don t all speak up Scrap The Pay Cap - What You Can Do *Sign and spread the online petition Pay Up Now! Scrap the pay cap and give public servants a meaningful pay rise... petitions/ * your councillor and MP and ask them to raise the issue of NJC pay at every opportunity. You can contact them via *Take a look at the UNISON pay calculator to see how much money you have lost in real terms through the pay cap pay-up-now/ *Support any publicity pay action called by the Branch

4 Union Anger At Privatisation Plans Bolton UNISON Passes Vote Of No Confidence In Council Leader And Exec Outsourcing to blacklisters? Surely not! Bolton Council has announced proposals to outsource the town s Corporate Property Services, including the transfer of staff and assets to a private company, that trade unions argue has a long history of blacklisting workers and victimising trade union members. A Bolton Council report refers to a potential transfer of council staff and services to private construction firm, Carillion. Carillion is one a number of construction companies exposed as having operated secret blacklists as part of illegal efforts to exclude active trade union members from the workforce on numerous building sites in the North West and the UK. Trade unions including UCATT, UNITE and GMB have successfully pursued a series of legal cases against Carillion and other companies in recent years after information about the use of secret blacklists in the construction industry was made public. Bolton s Corporate Property service was restructured in Trade unions expressed concern that only a year ago, senior managers and councillors had made assurances that the changes made had helped to safeguard the future of Corporate Property Services in-house. It is totally unacceptable that a Labour Council would outsource services to companies with such a track record says Matt Kilsby, UNISON Branch Chair In 2014 the full Council agreed a motion against blacklisting practices, the Council also has an ethical procurement policy. It seems incredible that this could even be considered as an option. Alan Flatley, GMB Branch Secretary, added: As joint trade unions we have met with our members. They feel passionately that the services they provide should remain in-house for the good of the town and people that use our buildings and assets. Both UNISON and GMB have refused to rule out an industrial action ballot of their members should the Council not withdraw these proposals and commit to retaining the service in-house. Whilst we acknowledge that the huge cuts to the public sector have been driven by successive Tory governments, there are clear political choices that the Labour Council has made that have attacked the branch, our members, our public services and democratic accountability... This month, the Branch has issued a vote of no confidence in Cliff Morris, the Leader of Bolton Council and the Labour Executive surrounding the political choices they keep making, including attacks on trade unions, attacks on consultation conditions and attacks on services. While the use of emergency powers to force through a 300,000 grant to local law firm, Asons, has severely damaged the Council s reputation, behind the scenes, 24 trade unionists have been disciplined, undermining national industrial action over public sector pay; trade union facility time has been attacked; there s been the imposition of reduced consultation periods on all service reviews to the statutory minimum; and there s been the outsourcing and privatisation of the Albert Halls, with no consultation or negotiations with the Trade Unions. There was also the use of around 10million reserves to facilitate the creation of a company to run adult social care, now branded Bolton Cares. This was a direct attack on predominantly low-paid women workers and was designed to avoid potential Equal Pay claims against the Council. Public money has also been used to pay off chief officers and senior managers, including 90,000 to Paul Najsarek just five months after being appointed to the post of Chief Executive by Cliff Morris. Given all the above, the branch has no trust or confidence in the Leader of the Council, who is ultimately responsible for these decisions and attacks on the branch, our members and public services in the town. The branch plans to ballot all members on the issue of no confidence in the local council leadership very soon...

5 BOLTON COUNCIL CUTS CONSULTATIONS Bolton Council s race to the bottom continues with a new attack on current redundancy and restructure policy Bolton Council has unilaterally changed the current redundancy and restructure policy which sets out minimum consultation periods. The current 90 days consultation period for redundancies over 100 workers has been reduced to the statutory minimum of 45 days. Reviews and restructures affecting less than 100 workers will be just 30 days consultation. Management has stated that where there is a request to extend the deadline this will be looked at. In the first test after the new policy was imposed the trades unions requested an extension to the 30 days at Harvey Nursery. This was declined. Therefore we have no confidence that management will honour their words. Printed and published by: Bolton UNISON, Second Floor, The Bolton HUB, Bold Street Bolton BL1 1LS Phone: admin@unisonbolton.org Facebook: Unison Bolton Branch