Category: Local Government

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Local Government Conference 2017 Blog – Becky and Julia’s Speech – School Support Staff

Here is the speech Becky one of our School Support Staff delivered at the UNISON Local Government Conference 2017

My name is Becky Everett, First time delegate and first time speaker.  I’m a 42 year old single mum to 2 amazing teenage boys. I’ve been a teaching assistant for over 12 years. Until the 1st of June 2016 I was considered to be a full time employee of Derby city council. I’m now classed as a part time employee doing the same hours for considerable less pay.

I’m not someone who has a busy social life however it is now non-existent. In September 2016 at work, staff were discussing the annual Christmas works do, I already knew I couldn’t afford to attend.

I couldn’t attend a close friends and work colleagues leaving do.

I have had to reduce my sky tv package to the minimum because I am in a contract I am unable to cancel it.

My mobile phone contract has also been greatly reduced again as I’m in a contract I am unable to cancel it.

I’ve cancelled insurances, subscriptions to various clubs and even my youngest son has had to cut his extra-curricular activities.

Why should my children even have to consider leaving their football clubs, rugby clubs and cadets?

All of these in my opinion are considered life skills and set children up for a successful future. I want the best for my children and I work very hard to provide it.

The public are quite right in saying the industrial action has disrupted education and was causing inconvenience to parents and carers. I too am a parent and I was fully aware of this.

I wonder if the people who made all these important decisions to cut our pay by 25% are able to sit back at their desk and carry on if the same was to happen to them. I think not…

My pay has been cut by £264 a month. My rent is £475 a month.

At my appeal hearing against my dismissal and reengagement I proved I would be better off unemployed… That’s not right!!

I enjoy my job and I’m very good at it. This is the only reason I have not sought other full time employment.

Housing benefit is not a quick fix to help as it takes such a long time to process claims. Tax credits are based on the previous year’s income so not a lot of help to my family or many others. In all fairness there is not a lot we can do to ‘top up’ our income.

In October 2016 I had to get a 2nd job at Asda as a checkout operator so my children could have Christmas and I could continue to provide for my family. I now work 7 days a week.

I was lucky enough to secure a few extra hours per week at school; however these ended in March 2017. Living and working with the constant unknown takes its toll on your health.

I’m one of around 2700 school support staff who is fighting to retain the pay and work conditions I once had.

*I’m not asking for a pay raise.

*I’m not asking for anything more than I had before.

*I’m fighting for what is mine.

*I’m fighting to keep a roof above my children’s head.

*I’m fighting to keep my children involved in clubs so they have a sense of belonging and a reason to thrive into healthy well balanced young men.

I’m fighting to stop having to rob Peter to pay Paul.

I have little to no faith left in our Labour run Derby City Council. I believe DCC do not stand for true labour values.

For me the offer we fought for and won means I won’t have to work 7 days a week forever. It also means a return to family life and being able to support my youngest son through his exams without always being at work.

Being involved in this campaign has opened up doors for me I didn’t even realise were there waiting to be opened. I am now an active school steward and the opportunities this has given me are amazing. I’ve become Derby City Branch Equalities officer and I’m on dedicated time off each week as a branch officer. I’m starting to get involved in the day to day activity of the branch.  I’m learning so much and thoroughly enjoying the new challenges.

I have joined the Labour Party to help change Labour in Derby and have actively campaigned in the run up to the General Election, Proud to be part of the team winning back Labour in Derby North with Chris Williamson.

As 1 of 1000s of school support staff, I want to thank everyone in our Branch, as school support staff we have had some crazy ideas, and I mean crazy. Our campaign has been member led from the start but without the backing of our branch I doubt we would have been as successful. I believe I say this for every member of the school support staff team when I thank our amazing negotiating team. Adrian Morgan Regional Organiser, and Nicole Berrisford Branch secretary from Unison Derby City Branch.

We Thank you.

Our motto throughout our campaign has been and will continue to be Together we are stronger. AND we have proved this to be the case.

Again HUGE thanks to all of Unison.  THANK YOU

 

Here is the speech Julia one of our School Support Staff delivered at the UNISON Local Government Conference 2017

Hi, My name is Julia Redfern, also a first time delegate and first time speaker. I’m a Teaching Assistant in a Derby City Special needs school, school Steward and a Branch officer.

I lost around £6000 a year on 1st June 2016, which gave me the fire in my belly to see this through.

I am here today to tell you about the action we took in Derby during our 73 days of strike action.

73 Days of strike action.

Taking action isn’t easy… we felt guilty leaving our classes and our teachers. But in all 73 days only ONE Labour Councillor has spoken to us.

They dodged us, they ran away from us, they have even cancelled surgeries and they swore at us.

For every day a Derby City Teaching assistant wasn’t in school – Children missed a vital part of their education and parents missed out on important respite.

From the beginning of the dispute it was member led with full support from the Unison.

A closed Facebook group was set up, which started on a Friday night with a couple of members by the Sunday we had over 600 members. Members made suggestions of what we should do in our campaign and unison facilitated these. One member suggested we went to Parliament, Unison said yes, so a few weeks later 5 coaches full of school support staff set off. We lobbied on the green outside. Dave Prentis met us, supported us alongside Members of Parliament. Some school support staff met with M.Ps inside Westminster.

Next, was Labour party conference in Liverpool, we handed out leaflets, and spoke to many Labour members though Derby Labour Councillors choose to avoid us.

Another member suggested a 24hr vigil, again Unison said yes. In February on a cold damp night we sat outside the council house for 24 hours. with so much support from the public.

On the evening of a full council meeting, we created a human ring round the council house. This was a silent protest. The same day we had an advan driving round Derby and supporting the silent protest in the evening. Dave Prentis joined us again to show his full support.

We canvassed the public around Derby city, in their homes, communities and all over the city.

The dispute saw us doing many different things including ongoing activist training and personal development training.

On March 17th 2017, after 10 long months of industrial action our employer Derby city council put an offer on the table that school stewards believed was worth offering to our members.

We returned to work after 3 weeks of all out strike action, while the offer was balloted. The offer was accepted by 91% of our members.

We are now in the process of working with the employer to iron out the details and make sure the NEW 52 week flexible contract is ready to implement for the new school year September 2017. And that the offer is the best fit for Unison members.

This really is a huge turnaround from our employer.

We, Derby City school support staff would like to thank ALL Unison branches and Head Office who have donated to our hardship fund. You have helped support over 400 families during our 73 days of industrial action.

Families like mine!

We would also like to thank Dave Prentis for his continued support from the very start.

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Local Government Conference 2017 Blog – Day 2 – Afternoon Session

Carol Sewell Vice President welcomed all back to the UNISON Local Government Conference and introduced the International speaker for this year as Dulce Maria Inglasias Suares, General Secretary of SNTAP the National Union of Public Administration Workers.

The discussions continued from this morning on the motion “Bullying of Black Workers in the Workplace” this motion was carried.

Saving the LGPS and good pension schemes for our members is the next motion on the agenda for discussion. The motion was carried. Tier 3 ill-health pension to be paid for life motion was also carried. Pension funds costs and charges motion is now being discussed, and this was carried

Now we recieve an annual report update around Anti Privatisation and service delivery

The next motion to be discussed is “Defending our Libraries” which looks to provide campaign materials that branches can use against closures of library services, provide guidance for library staff on the issues facing them, setting up social media support networks for library staff, am organise a national demonstration on 5 November 2017. This motion was carried.

the next Motion is around “Privatisation” and the effects this will have to our members and the local government services which can have a detrimental effect on how services are provided, how private organisations can provide these services but will do it by gaining profits that wont be used to improve services but the standards will drop.

“The impact of the policing and Crime Act on the fire and rescue support staff” motion was discussed  and carried. This motion aims to encourage recruitment from the fire and rescue service, working with thew police and justice service and fire and rescue service to develop a joint approach to the policing and crime act at a national level, support branches to campaign, develop bargaining advice for branches on the policing and crime act, and raise concerns with the Labour Party.

Now motions from Day 1 that were not brought to conference are being discussed. These can be found in the following document..,

Firstly the motion for “funding for health and social care integration is being discussed” this motion was carried. Now for “Social Care is now beyond a crisis” this motion was carried, “Crisis sun Social care – call for a special conference”  this motion was carried, “Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs), health and social care integration and the funding crisis in social care” this motion was carried, “The LGBT impact of cuts too local government services is now being discussed this was discussed in length at the LGBT conference in November 2017  you can read the report here…

This motion was carried and aims to include the findings from the LGBT research in campaigning against local government cuts and for pay justice, highlight the LGBT impact, Encourage branches to work with community organisations, and remind local government employers that they are responsible for the welfare of members and service users.

This concludes the Local Government Conference hope you find this blog informative and useful. look out for the National Delegate Conference converage coming up tomorrow.

 

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Local Government Conference 2017 Blog – Day 2 – Morning Session

Day 2 begins with a report from the Standing Orders Committee and an introduction by Heather Wakefield on Section 5 of the Annual Report.

Now discussions are being held on the motion “Closing the gender pay gap in the local government” this motion was passed. This motion asks the Service Group Committee a number of actions. It asks the committee to put pressure on employers to take positive action to close the gap, issue guidelines to branches on how this information gathered in recent activities to make progress on closing the gender pay gap within their local authority, and to continue their work  with the wider union to take more effective measures to close the gap.

“Bullying and harassment of local government workers must stop” is now being discussed this motion was passed. This Motion asks the service group executive to prioritise bullying and harassment policies and practices in negotiations with local government employers. campaign in young workers month (November 2017) on the theme of bullying and harassment in various ways.

A motion covering “Youth Work” and the work that they do has now been discussed and agreed, this motion seeks to ensure that the a service group executive to use various social media channels to ensure retention of young members, campaign against threats to cuts and restructures to youth workers as part of the “Save Our Local Services” campaign. apply pressure to the employers, survey youth support workers, produce recruitment and organising materials focussing on youth work professional issues, and to ask Cymru/Wales region for a report on its initial experiences of registration for youth workers and youth support workers In Wales.

“National Joint Council (NJC) pay claim and campaign 2018 onwards” motion is now being discussed, this motion was passed and seeks to create a union-wide campaign calling for an end to public sector pay restraint, a campaign that demonstrates UNISONs determination to achieve, pay aspirations to the Local Government Association and highlights low pay in local government and schools to the public.

A minutes silence was be held at 11am in light of the Grenfell Tower tragedy and to remember the work of the residents and all this that have been involved in assisting them.

Now a guest speaker from Mo Baines from the Association of Public Service Excellence delivers a speech covering Austerity, the Social Housing Crisis and the experiences she has seen and also where she sees public sector work and funding in the future.

Now for discussions on Composite A (Below) – Workplace mental health in local government, includes motions 14 and 19 and can be read in the document by clicking it here.

this composite seeks to campaign for improved support for workers experiencing mental health issues, review current UNISON guidance on mental health, encourage branches to raise with their employers the need for occupational health services that deal appropriately with mental health issues, promoting UNISONs guidance across the union, and other measure to ensure that workplace Mental Health is at the top of the agenda across all areas of Local Government.

Emotional accounts of support for this composite was given by many members which highlighted how important Mental Health is for our members and aware of the pressures that the cuts to funding for services has and can increase issues surrounding Mental Health for the individuals affected by the cuts.

This Composite has been agreed.

 

 

 

We now move to the the next motion covering “Food Standards Agency – pay, terms, and conditions” this motion has been passed and it seeks to oppose privatisation and deregulation of the FSA, increase campaigning presence in all parts of the UK oppose animal welfare abuses and working with animal welfare groups, making UNISON national media and communication resources avaliable to highlight their campaign, oppose performance related pay reductions, educate the public, and work to highlight the importance of state employed, independent meat inspectors and official vegetarians.

Inclusive equality policies in local government motion is now being discussed this motion seeks too review the NJC and SJC national agreements to urge branches to review local policies for unnecessary gendering, work with women’s and LGBT self-organised groups on guidance ion inclusive language in agreements which raises awareness of non-binary identities, promote the guidance on non gendered dress codes to local government branches when available, encourage the negation of inclusive language in local government policies, practices and procedures across our local government workplaces. This motion was agreed.

Other motions that were discussed include..

National Pay Bargaining for Wales / a Welsh National Joint Council which was approved unanimously

Bullying of Black Workers in the Workplace – with the motion will continue to be discussed at the afternoon session.

This concludes this morning session and check back later for the afternoons coverage.