NATIONAL OFFICE SAY "NO"

Yesterday branch officers met with national officers regarding the single status proposals. They have concluded that;

"the package as it stands is not recommendable" and that it had failed "to pass equality tests".

as such UNISON will not ballot on the proposals. UNISON made the employers aware of this yesterday and we will be meeting with them on monday.

The 'statement from the leader' issued today implies that UNISON is responsible for delays in the process.
Firstly lets remind ourselves that the single status agreement was signed in 1997
TEN YEARS AGO! and none of the delay can be placed at the door of the trade unions.
we make no apologies for wanting to make sure any deal is equal pay proof before it is put to members, that is why the proposals are in the hands of our national office, as the authority well knows , the leaders advice for union members " lobby their trade unions to clear the way for a ballot is therefore somewhat disingenuous.
we are however meeting national officials on Thursday to discuss the proposals and hope to have an announcement on friday.
The leaders statement that 'honouring increments....will inevitably lead to a reduction in services" appears to ignore the fact that these increments are not new and would have always ( in the absence of the employers deadline) been honoured

NO SUBSTITUTE FOR DIRECT ACTION!

whilst we wait for our national office to decide whether we can ballot on the councils proposals , it is worth pondering on a few things;

staffordshire- following a 86% vote in favour of their new pay-scale they drew the following conclusion:

"as a result of this collective action (strikes held in 2006) , the authority withdrew their proposal, and committed themselves to meaningful and transparent negotiations with the trade unions, including an increase in the funding for the new pay structure."

Argyle and Bute branch , where a series of strikes led to the Council making new proposals.

Birmingham branch where UNISON members who are not losing continue to support those members who will lose and a further strike on the 26th February has been announced.

Hopefully we as union members in Wolverhampton will stick by the basic tenets of trade unionism and remember the 20% of losers in Wolverhampton when the time comes?

light at the end of the tunnel?

The branch is still waiting for the national office to assess the wolverhampton single status proposals. They are only assessing the proposals in terms of whether it is equal pay proof ( in other words that it has addressed the legal equal pay issues.
Staffordshires proposals have now been assessed by the national office and Staffordshire branch are in the process of balloting its members .
If press reports are to believed however, the Staffordshire proposals are being presented has having been 'formally backed' by UNISON. This as indicated above is not the role of the National Office.
If the National office do not find a proposal equal pay proof this branch has to reject it out of hand. It does not mean that if the National office do pass it that we have to recommend it to members.
it is still our belief that this proposal involves too many red circled posts (losers) and that it should be rejected.
Birmingham strike success
The wolverhampton branch banner was in Birmingham at what was a very successful rally celebrating the succssful strike by Birmingham UNISON members.
We have no doubt , that should it prove necessary our branch will be just as succesful.
It is interesting that the Leader of the Labour group on Birmingham Council
Albert Bore expressed full labour support for the strike and that "negotiating changes to the structure was not an option, it has to be abandonded and started again".
Maybe they just talk differently in opposition?

BRANCH AGM TUESDAY 19TH FEBRUARY
7PM IN COUNCIL CHAMBER