On Thursday 9th July management and the trade unions started a 2 day meeting to discuss what we thought would be proposals for new terms and conditions for school support staff to be implemented at the same time as the newly-evaluated pay grades from the lengthy Job Evaluation exercise. However, it became clear that management wanted to re-open discussions on terms and conditions for ALL staff at the Council.
Category: Derby City Council
Further to the job evaluation update on Thursday 31 July regarding the Hay Job Evaluation Scheme, UNISO has sent a letter to the leader of the council, requesting a complete suspension of the appeals process, until such a time that the requested information is provided to our members.
We will update you on any response.
If you are a member and wish to see a copy of this letter then please contact the branch and we will provide you with a copy.
Was your job evaluated under the Hay Scheme?
We realise that there is a lot of stress and tension regarding the lack of information that Derby City Council has sent out in the appeal packs to members on Grade 7 and above. UNISON Derby City has had lots of our members contact us with concerns that they will not be able to submit an adequate appeal due to this. UNISON Derby City is in full agreement with these concerns.
We have raised throughout the Job Evaluation process what we have seen as a lack of transparency in the whole process. We know that other UNISON branches have been routinely given information by their employers carrying out a similar exercise but this has not been shared with Derby City Branch despite requests being made. It would seem to us that the Job Evaluation process followed at Derby City Council has been solely driven by the need to save money rather than an attempt to provide an equality-proofed pay system.
We have held several Appeal Workshops for our members that have been very well attended. We will continue to hold these as necessary to support our members. At these meetings we have met with a lot of our members who appear to have no idea how their new grades have been arrived at and the more we see of the results given to our members, the more and more we are realising that there seems to be a huge element of inconsistency in approach.
Today I have verbally raised with the employer UNISON’s belief that appeals timescales should be extended until such a time that all relevant information is shared. UNISON Derby City will be raising this again formally with the employer at a meeting currently being set for next week to discuss the job evaluation process. We will update our members when we receive a response to this request.
In the meantime it is important that our members complete their appeals to the best of their ability to ensure that they do not go out of current timescales. If you are not able to put as much information as you believe you require due to it not being shared with you, then you need to write this clearly on the appeal form. UNISON does not want to be in a position where our members’ appeals are refused because they are out of timescale. If the employer does agree to UNISON’s proposal of extending the timescales for appeals you will then have the opportunity to add to your appeal when the information is shared and resubmit your appeal.