PAY CUTS...PENSION CUTS...WORK LONGER.O

UNEMPLOYMENT...SPENDING CUTS...TAX CRE

ATTACKS ON CONDITIONS......SCHOOL CLOSU

CUTS...PENSION CUTS...PRIVATISATION...PAY

MPLOYMENT...SPENDING CUTS...PRICE RISES

ACKS ON CONDITIONS...PRICE RISES....BENEF

ReviewCity and County of Swansea

Inside

Public Service Not Private Profit September 2012

➥back page

News of gold medals have filled the headlinesrecently but they will soon return to a bitter reality.

Plectrumstweets &action A festival of campaigning

and skill sharing

The Bank of England recently sharplydowngraded its forecast for economicgrowth - to 0 percent. Industrial output isfalling, and over a million young people areon the dole. In other words, austerity isn’tworking.The Tories have cut, cut and cut again, andthe economy is showing the strain. The only“boost” for the economy has come from the£9 billion paid back to customers mis-soldpayment protection insurance (PPI) bydodgy bankers.While praising the Paralympics athletes thegovernment is targeting disabled peoplewith more attacks on benefits as they shutthe Remploy factories, including the one inSwansea.Meanwhile the coalition is under real strainwith Cameron and Clegg split over Lordsreform. The Lib- Dems will now vote againstthe electoral boundary changes that the

Plectrums, tweets& action:Plectrums, tweets& action:

Packing us in likesardines:

'agile working' and the'accommodation strategy'

explained

Packing us in likesardines:

'agile working' and the'accommodation strategy'

explained

TUC March: All outfor 20th OctoberTUC March: All outfor 20th October

Why you should be demonstrating on Oct 20thWorkers are poorer today thantheywere adecadeago. That’s theshocking finding fromanoffice forNational Statistics (ONS) reportrecently.

It found that people in Britain had, onaverage, a disposable income of£3,640 for the first quarter of thisyear. Disposable income is theamount of money people have leftafter paying their personal taxes.

In 2003 the equivalent figure was£3,645. So people today have less tospend than they did during anyquarter since2003.The figures showhow the recession has hammeredordinary people. Wage cuts andfreezes make it increasingly hard forpeople to make ends meet.

Meanwhile prices have shot up— by3.7 percent in 2010 and by 4.5 per-cent in 2011. This has pushed up thecost of living, which hits the poorestthe hardest. Household expenditureroseby4.6percent in2010andagainby a further 3.2 percent in 2011.

So it’s little wonder that more andmore people can’t survive on theirwages alone. The Unite union hasfound that some 67 percent ofworkers are borrowing money to payfor necessities suchas foodand rent.Its research found that wages tend torun out after 21 days of the month—

and that workers borrow to get totheir next pay day. Some 30 percenthave cut back on spending on food topay for other essentials. People arecutting back on minor expenses too.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundationhas found that people have reducedthe amounts they spend onChristmasandbirthday presents.Onaverage they now spend £15 on apresent for their partner today,compared to £50 in 2008.

An increasing number of parentstake their children swimming once amonth instead of once a week. Theyalso use cheaper “stay and play”sessions instead of paying foraccess to soft play centres.Pensioners look for “early bird” and“two for one” deals to spend less oneating out.

Families allocated £20 a month foreating out or takeaway meals in2008. Today they will spend £30around three times a year—a drop ofnearly two thirds. “The gap betweenthe incomes and needs of the worst-off households is widening,especially for families with children,”the Rowntree report says.

It warns that the incomes of thepoorest aresostretched that theyareincreasingly vulnerable toevensmallcuts in benefits or services.

Five years of economic crisis have pushed manyordinary people into poverty and despair.

But bankers have seen their wealth soar. Governmentshave stolen trillions of pounds from us to throw at thebanks. They say this is to keep “the system” going but weare not getting any benefits from this. What’s reallyhappened is a massive transfer of wealth from the poor tothe rich. The amount of money going towards ordinarypeople in Britain, for example, has plummeted.

It wasbankers building upunsustainable debt bubbles andtrading indebt that sparked thecrisis in the first place.Evenbefore the recession less money was going to workers.Britain’sgrossdomesticproduct (GDP), the total economicoutput of the country, rose by 11 percent between 2003and 2008. Yet average wages stayed the same.

And disposable income, the money left after tax, fell. Just12p out of every £1 created in Britain's economy goes tothe wages of the poorest half of workers. This figure hasfallen by a quarter over the past 30 years. Wages havestagnated since 2003—before the current recessionbegan.

This explains why many people turned to debt in the run-up to the crisis to try and maintain their standard of living.

The TUC says that the total wage bill represented 58percent of GDP in 1978. by 2011 it had dropped to 54percent. Had the percentage stayed the same, workerswould have taken home £60 billion more last year.

But, this isn’t just about the banks.We live in aworldwherethe top priority is for the rich to get richer— whatever thecost.The Tories, like governments across the world, aredetermined tomakeordinarypeoplepay for them.Theonlyway out for ordinary people is to build the biggestresistance possible—starting with October 20th.

The European Health & Safety Week 2012starts on the 22nd October. The aim is to raise awarenessand promote activities to make work safer and healthier.This year's European theme is "Working Together for RiskPrevention".The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and councils aresuffering severe cut backs. Employers are being advisedto make good use of their own internal experts - the localunion safety reps and the workers themselves Workersand safety reps may identify hazards, risks, and potentialsolutions, or failings in current safety measures; that haveotherwise gone unnoticed.Workplaces with genuine joint working on health andsafety are better at identifying, managing, and findingsolutions to workplace hazards. We are organising in theworkplace around Health and Safety and our branchSafety reps are performing workplace inspections. To datemany reps have completed their inspections , and areinvolved in their department’s safety committees.UNISON members are safer and healthier in workplaceswith active safety reps. If you would like to discuss asafety issue please contact me directly or your workplacesafety rep.

Keep SafeChris Cooze

UNISON Health & Safety OfficerTel: 01792 635271Mob: 07825 287218

A festival of campaigning and sPlectrums, twPlectrums, twA festival of campaigning and s

WEEKEND WILL INCLUDEInternet campaigning for beginncreative campaigning, campaigphotographic exhibition, fair tra

Plus...An evening of music, story telli

WEEKEND WILL INCLUDEInternet campaigning for beginncreative campaigning, campaigphotographic exhibition, fair tra

Plus...An evening of music, story tellinEvent hosted by Cymru Wales UNISOEVENT FREE TO ALL UNISON MEMBEvent hosted by Cymru Wales UNISOEVENT FREE TO ALL UNISON MEMB

UNISONHOUSE

14th/15th/UNISONHOUSE

14th/15th/For info: contact the branch office <> httpFor info: contact the branch office <> http

Unison members may be forgivenfor missing a recent email,excitingly entitled ‘staffaccommodation update’. Thisdescribed the council’s plans toconcentrate more staff in the CivicCentre and Guildhall and reducethe number of floors the councilrents in the Oldway Centre.

As the email admits, the reasonfor this is to ‘save money’ and‘maximise efficiencies’, obviouslyin the wider context of theausterity cuts being implementedby the government and localcouncils. This will also mean theclosure of many satellite offices,in some cases decreasing publicaccess to front-line staff whoprovide services. Packing staffinto the major buildings likesardines and reducing publicaccess is bad enough. Howeverthe email also revealed that the‘fundamental change...will be agreater focus on desk sharing.The strategy will concentrate onmaximum occupation...byimplementing a desk ratio of fourdesks to every five members ofstaff.’

The details of this ‘shared deskworking policy’ - otherwise known

as ‘hot-desking’ - have yet to be finalised and has notbeen agreed with the trade unions. And yet, in practice,whenever there are changes to staff workingarrangements it is already being robotically applied. Thisinvolves no consultation with staff, scant regard for, orunderstanding of, the different nature of work in differentareas, and apparently no risk-assessments for the staffinvolved.

Hot-desking might be spun positively to staff as part of‘flexible working’ or ‘agile working’. Not all of these widerchanges are necessarily negative, for example if staffchoose to work from home. However many of us spend ahuge proportion of our waking time, if not the majority, inwork. Having a desk to work at is not an unnecessaryluxury and is a simple requirement to do our jobs.

As the majority of us work in open-plan offices your deskis part of our personal workspace, usually the only part,and the lack of this can add considerably to workplacestress and increase the likelihood of sickness-absence.Coming into work in the morning not knowing where youare going to sit, having to move reference books,workplace materials and equipment around, and adjustingthe work-station to your requirements when - and if - youhave a desk will decrease productivity and morale, andincrease stress and staff conflict.

Inevitably it will also have an impact on when memberschoose to come into work and choose to leave, in practicehaving to juggle work, health and caring responsibilitieswith a calculation of whether you have a desk or not towork at. It might seem simple but in fact is very valuable tobeing able to work in a reasonable environment.

The council may maintain any changes may not be thatnegative in its impact on staff. Some members havealready asked whether such a policy will be implementedfor senior managers, who will probably retain their ownoffices, as well as their own desks.

Workplace space is an important health and safety issue(http://www.unison.org.uk/safety/index.asp) and there arelegal minimum requirements that employers have to abideby. However the legislation is old and does not takeaccount that many modern workers need more space dueto us each having a pc in our workstations. Mostimportantly simply not breaking the law on workplace-space does not mean that workers are in a comfortableand appropriate working environment.

Similarly stress is also an important health and safetyissue (http://www.tuc.org.uk/workplace/index.cfm?mins=173&minors=124&majorsubjectID=2 and http://www.thompsonstradeunionlaw.co.uk/information-and-resources/stress-at-work.htm#stress_at_work) andemployers are legally required to risk assess for this.

Until a time that such a policy is agreed with the trade-unions members are advised not to cooperate with anychanges around accommodation and hot-desking. Staffand trade unions should be consulted about any changes,the workplace and staff-needs risk-assessed andworkplace-reps involved in the process. If staff are facedwith such changes they should place all of their objectionsin writing to management, contact Unison for our healthand safety representatives to assess the workplace and tobe involved in negotiations.

Hot-desking increases stress atwork, leading to more sickness.

Hot-desking was anightmare and added to thestress of an alreadystressful job. There weremany practical issues aboutfinding your stuff, constantlychanging location wasdifficult for staff withdisabilities and not knowingif you even had a desk towork at definitely affectedthe well-being of staff andincreased staff conflict. Nowonder our team ended it.Ruth Hession,Social Inclusion Unit

“ “

'Hot desking','agile working'...and stress

skill sharingweets & actionweets & actionskill sharing

ners, protest song writing,gn video screenings,ade stall

ng, comedy and fun.

ners, protest song writing,n video screenings,ade stall

ng, comedy and fun.ONBERSONBERS

E,CUSTOMHOUSESTREET,CARDIFF

/16th SEPTEMBER 2012E,CUSTOMHOUSESTREET,CARDIFF

/16th SEPTEMBER 2012p://plectrumstweetsaction.wordpress.com/p://plectrumstweetsaction.wordpress.com/

This newsletter is produced by the City and County of Swansea Unison Branch. Any letters, comments or suggestions for articles should be posted to the branch addressor emailed to Unison@swansea.gov.uk. Correspondence is not guaranteed to be published and contents may not necessarily reflect Unison policy.

Spor ts & Socia l websi te : www.suss.me.uk www.unison.co.uk

Contact us: Unison Office The Guildhall Swansea SA1 4PE01792 635271 unison@swansea.gov.uk

Unison has over 100 trained union reps throughout the council, schools andFEcolleges.Wewill advise,support and represent you collectively and individually on issues from sickness, disciplinaries to legalmatters insideandoutside theworkplace. If youneedadviceor representationpleasecontact theSeniorSteward(s) for your department below or go to your workplace steward. Alternatively please contact thebranch office.

Branch Secretary: Mike Davies / Asst. Secretary: Ian Alexander

EnvironmentIan Alexander - 07584 505793Tony Dearden - 07971 121533Pat Lopez - 07584 505792Social ServicesAlison Bell - 07941 757853Bill Williams - 07557 560092ResourcesGareth Parry - 07584 341240

EducationChris Bell - 07967 551025Karen Verallo - 07771 922985Regeneration/HousingJohn Llewellyn - 07557 560093Roger Owen - 07941819229Gower CollegeRon Job - 07963 454041

Tories need to help themwina majority at the nextelection.TheCon-Demsmaybenastybut they are weak. Adetermined fight could breakthe government’s austeritydrive. That’s what we need.There is a way forward. On20 October the TUC hascalled for a mass protestagainst austerity. Everyone -union reps and lay members- have to go all out to buildthat demo and to be on thecoaches on Oct 20th. Up to amillion people could marchagainst the cuts.The demonstration canprovide a focus for everyonewho wants to fight low pay,privatisation and all servicecuts. It could be the start of a“hot autumn” that canscupper this rottengovernment who only lookafter themselves.Cameron and Co are bulliesand as we all know there’sonly one thing to do withbullies - and that’s standup tothem.For details of the coaches forOct 20th please contact thebranch office

continued fromfront pageYOURUNION

YOURUNION

If we take 2001 as the startingpoint for negotiations on jobevaluation there have been 5Chief Executives (including 2Acting Chief Executives), 3general and local elections, 3Olympic Games.......you get thedrift. We are now , withoutquestion, entering into the finalphase (discounting appeals ofcourse) of this laboriousprocess.

You will be aware that as wellas the pay and grading exercise(job evaluation) the Authorityhas proposed changes to ourterms and conditions and haveamended or introduced over 50HR policies in conjunction withtrade unions. In terms of jobevaluation the Authority has aproposed pay model and tradeunions have a differentproposed pay model. There is a

difference in the cost betweenthe 2 models with the tradeunion model being moreexpensive but not massively so.Much work has been done viaa software company and furtherwork is scheduled for the 31stAugust 2012 with a view toreducing the cost differencesbetween the 2 models.

In any job evaluation exercisethere will be groups of workerswho receive an increase in pay,some who remain on the samepay and, unfortunately, somewho suffer a reduction in pay.One of the ways of mitigatinglosses is by "enriching" jobsacross the Authority viaagreement of a new jobdescription which, along withincreased duties andresponsibilities, will improveservice levels for the citizens of

Swansea and will allow ourmembers a reasonable wage.

There are still some discussionsto take place on pay protection,the job family appeal process,Christmas shutdown (thoughthis may not be possible thisyear owing to the logistics oforganising the shutdown,particularly in those workplaceswhich would need to stay open)and some other areas such asshift allowances and registrationfees.

Finally, when the proposedoutcome is known, the packagewill be examined by nationalofficers of the respective tradeunions to ensure the laws onequality are adhered to. TheEquality Impact Assessment,which is nearly complete, willclearly aid this process.

What's happening on Job Evaluation?

UNISON members across England and Waleshave voted 90.2% in favour of accepting theproposed changes to the Local GovernmentPension Scheme (LGPS). The union led thenegotiations, which resulted in proposals tomaintain the current contribution levels for 90%of LGPS members, introduce a 50/50 ‘low cost’scheme for the low paid, and move from a finalsalary to a career average scheme.

Commenting on the ballot result, UNISONHead of Local Government Heather Wakefieldsaid:

‘These were tough negotiations, but with afocus on the majority of members who earnless than £21,000 a year, we have ensured thatcurrent LGPS members can afford to remain inthe scheme and those who could not afford todo so to date can now join via the 50/50 option.

This is vital for many of our members who havesuffered a decline in earnings as a result of theCoalition’s pay freeze policies. Contributionsare now on a fairer ‘progressive’ basis. We willcontinue to campaign with all of the union,through the TUC, against the proposals toincrease the state retirement age.

Changes to Local Government Pension Scheme accepted