Secretary's Corner
June 2010
So now we all know, we have all been CONDEMned to a coalition Government. It would appear that all those that voted Conservative got the Liberals, the Liberals got Conservative and Labour got very little at all – isn’t British politics a wonderful thing?
One thing that we can all be sure of though is that we must be prepared to defend ourselves against the inevitable public spending cuts that are sure to come. We must be prepared to defend our jobs, our services and our pensions, not just in our area of work but in all areas of the public sector. I have no doubt that our union, our reps and our members are up for that challenge.
As many of you will be aware by now a situation arose recently affecting the latest SAPs course. Unfortunately the Branch only became aware of the problem after the event had occurred and decisions had already been made. We immediately contacted senior management to express our dissatisfaction and to insist that we enter into meaningful dialogue in an attempt to resolve the issue.
An update on the position at the time of going to print can be found in this Newsletter. I would like to offer assurances that we expect to be fully involved with management in dealing with this situation in a fair and timely manner and that appropriate support is given to those members that have been affected in what has clearly been a very difficult and stressful time for them.
Following on from the update in last month’s newsletter on the NSC Technician Job Evaluation, I can report that the process of consistency and quality checking has taken place. It would appear that as a result of that process a number of consistency and quality issues have arisen, this is not wholly unusual and forms part of the safety net that is written into the nationally agreed JE process. This is not to say that the JE panel got things wrong, but rather that the evidence produced was insufficient. Following a meeting of the Branch Committee on the 19th May where discussion was had as to the how we take this forward, it was agreed unanimously that the national process should be adhered to and the original panel are asked to revisit and review certain areas. I will be making every effort to ensure that happens as soon as possible.
Over the last 6 Months or so staffside have been in intense negotiations with Management in harmonising the outstanding policies of the 3 former Trusts, these include annual leave, mealbreaks, relief working and preceptorship, along with changes to Terms and Conditions following the release of the latest national T&Cs handbook. As you can imagine these talks have been protracted and at times extremely difficult. We have reached a point now whereby a pack of draft policies and conditions have been produced and whilst there are several areas that both sides fundamentally still disagree on, it is recognised that little more can be achieved through any further negotiation. Therefore we will shortly be entering into a period a staff consultation. Draft policies and associated paperwork will be produced and passed to all Branch Committee members and UNISON staff reps, all members of staff will be made aware of where this information can be accessed and details of how to feedback comments. Please look out for this information as this is your chance to have an input and as a member led union we will be listening to and be guided by our member’s views. 
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