Here are the branch Officer Reports for 2019
As referenced in this years annual report….
Arlette Kelly – Assistant Branch Secretary for People Services
I am just coming up to completing my 3rd year as a Full time officer and wish to continue into a 4th year (pending ratification)
People Services both this year and in 2019, will be experiencing Continual Change in different departments. Some will be Restructures, TUPE transfers within the Care Homes and Regionalisation of the Adoption Services and more. I have continued to visit the work places to listen to members concerns about the future of their jobs and current roles. I endeavour to be their voice of representation in the appropriate meetings with their employer DCC.
I attend a range of meetings from Policy & procedure, Service forum and JCC to continue to represent members.
I have supported many members through various proceedings: sickness, ill health, disciplinaries, grievences and appeals.
I continue to meet and talk to members, face to face and deal with general queries over the phone giving information, advice and guidance to members.
I also continue to do training that helps increase my skills and knowledge when I am representing members in hearings and/or Consultations and Change.
Thank you for allowing me to continue to help you.
Julie Warner – Branch Officer responsible for Communities & Place
I have just completed my 4th year as a full time officer and hopefully I’ll be able to do a fifth assuming the members still want me J
It’s been another busy 12 months with restructures, department moves, changes to management and lots more besides.
I have been attending corporate meetings in which I and other colleagues represent the voice of DCC employees and also look at existing and new policies and procedures.
I have supported many members through various procedures; sickness monitoring, ill-health hearings, grievances, disciplinaries and appeals.
Some have been quite straight forward, some quite stressful for all concerned. I do my very best in supporting members in these situations.
I speak to many members over the phone and face to face and deal with general queries as well as sometimes more complicated situations.
I am pleased and honoured to say that the members of Derby City branch and other East Midlands members have voted me onto the Local Government Service Group Executive. This allows me to voice local concerns at a national level about local government issues.
I’m looking forward to my 2 year term and I thank those who took time to vote in the ballot.
Paul Berrisford -Assistant Branch Secretary Organisation and Governance
It’s been another busy and difficult year in every area across the City Council, with numerous restructures, TUPE Transfers and severe cutbacks I don’t feel this is going to get any better for any of us.
I work hard supporting my members in difficult times, and will continue to help UNISON members get the best outcome of whatever difficulty they are facing.
This year I trained with other branch officers as a Mental Health First Aider, unfortunately all branch officers have found this training to be extremely valuable, more prove of the stresses and strains we are all under. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you need help making the first steps to seek the help you rightly deserve. We are always available to have a chat, offer support, guidance, support in making that first phone call over a cuppa and a biscuit.
I am keen to promote the UNISON charity “there for you” if you find yourself in a unexpected financial crisis, UNISON may be able to help. Please contact us for more information in confidence should you feel this service may benefit you.
Julie Walker – Branch Treasurer
Hi I’m Julie Walker and I have been a Unison Branch Officer for the past 8 years as Branch Treasurer, and I am also a Unison steward and Health and safety officer within Derby Homes.
I represent my members and attend Derby Homes JCC meetings and have regular monthly meeting with Management and other trade unions to discuss employee/employer relations.
I also sit on the Health and Safety Forum and attend when required workplace inspections.
This year so far I have attended Unisons Women’s Conference and am due to attend both Community Conference and Health and Safety Conference over the next few weeks, and I will feed back to the Branch on issues raised there and disseminate to members with issues relating to their workplace.
Last year from Community Conference I brought back a charter which was discussed on
the agenda, and we were urged to take it back to our employers to get them to sign up to the charter. This year I am pleased to say that Derby Homes was added to the list of employers who have adopted the ‘Unisons Violence at Work Charter’ with full support of Unite who have added their name in support. Last year myself and Richard Platt attended a Housing Conference where the Green Paper for housing was debated with various speakers including the Shadow Housing Minister Don Healey.
Louise Wright – Health and Safety
Wow it’s that time of year already to update you on another busy year in health and safety.
This year I attended the Unisons women’s conference in Liverpool, attended unisons regional council agm, also attended the regional health and safety agm where I was elected onto the committee to represent Unison members at a regional level I was also elected as a sub for the national health and safety committee. I’ve attended a few health and safety inspections within the work places where I’ve helped and supported our health and safety reps within those workplaces to carry out the inspections.
This year we have gained 9 new health and safety reps within the work places these are in addition of those health and safety reps we already have in the workplaces. Health and safety within the derby city branch continues to grow, I have also been raising a lot of issues within the workplaces when they have been brought to my attention by you our members, which I do continue to do until the issues have been resolved I also make a point of keeping the member who raised the issue with me informed on the progress.
I also attended the national local government and national delegates conference in Brighton which I was a delegate which was a privilege to attend to represent our members.
I have also attended training at the head office at national level so that I can represent our members better.
I have also been doing health and wellbeing drop in sessions within the workplaces so that members can come and have a chat and raise any issues they have.
I along with 7 other branch officers and one regional area organiser also did a two day mental health first aid training in which we are now adult mental health first aiders.
I also attended the hazards conference this year and we have got the stress network conference coming up….Thank you for taking time to read.
Becky Everett. Branch Convenor / Equalities Officer / Lead on Harmony Schools in the City.
It’s been a busy year, the Closure of libraries and the library restructure has taken up most of my time. As it stands today (5/9/18) we have 3 libraries that have transferred to CMLS (Community Managed Libraries) this is a very difficult time for all our library members who have had to go through interviews for jobs they already do and do very well. Unfortunately this will lead to Compulsory redundancies for some staff. A small number of staff made the decision to take voluntary redundancy. I must admit under the most difficult of times I’ve met some amazing staff across the library service and you should all be very proud of how you have supported each other through the process.
I’ve taken on more training through UNISON; I’m now a Mental Health First Aider and am confident in supporting our members in the right direction for help and support during any episode of mental illness. I have now completed my Equalities officer training and completed a Maternity and Parental rights course. Looking forward to the next training course at the end of September- Unfair Dismissal and Employment Tribunals.
I attended my first women’s conference this year and was shocked my “Period Poverty” which led to me raising awareness through our branch and you our members. If you supported the collection of donations of sanitary products I thank you. It is my intention to do it again in February 2019.
I’ve been very busy with the Equal Pay case forms, some of you will no doubt have heard from me regarding your forms or outstanding documents. If you require an Equal Pay Claim form please don’t hesitate to contact me at the branch. Should you need any support completing the form I can help with that too.
September 1st 2018 saw the school where my substantive post is transfer to Harmony Trust, this in turn has led to me becoming the Lead Officer on all things Harmony that effect our Harmony members. I already know some of you but I look forward to meeting more of you on my visits and hope to have visited all harmony schools before Christmas 2018.
I look forward to working with you in 2019
Richard Platt – Communications Officer and LGBT Officer
Over the past 12 months I have been ensuring that the branch are communicating effectively where possible, using social media and the website as well as traditional communication methods.
Using my Marketing and social media knowledge I have made sure that the branch deliveres consistent and valuable information to our members. I am always keeping myself informed with national changes to Employee rights, National Campaigns, and anything that affects members using this knowledge i share this to all members.
I have attended the Local Government, National and LGBT Conferences and provided in depth live blogs from these events to ensure that all members are aware of what is happening as these conferences are in session, to ensure that members can undertstand what is being discussed and stay informed.
One of the areas that affects my Job role working in Derby Homes is the currrent housing crisis and the affect this has on housing staff, an area which I want to make sure is at the forefront of UNISONs policies over the year ahead.
I along with Julie Walker have been involved in the UK Work Stress Network to help increase their visibility and provide support using my skills to enable them to progress. They held a conference in November last year which I helped raise the profile and run the event. This link is a great benefit to Derby City to provide the best support possible to our members.