BRANCH SECRETARY ANNUAL REPORT
The controlling Conservative group on Wolverhampton City Council supported by the Liberal Democrats are determined to introduce a 0% increase in Council Tax in April 2010 in order to help buy the local elections in May!
This has resulted in the whole of 2009 being spent under the cosh of the £40 million Savings Programme and the delayering (DelMa) process, our employer forcing through cuts in services and redundancies during the worst economic recession in living memory.
A recession caused by the greed of global banking but being paid for with the jobs and terms and conditions of local public sector workers.
Well over 200 redundancy payments have been made by the City Council in the last 12 months but UNISON estimates over 500 posts have been deleted during the same period taking £millions of pounds out of the local economy, while the council reserves now stand at £60 million!
The Branch was originally issued with a Section 188 notice in September 2008 for 300 redundancies around the Axon deal (now defunct at a cost to the local tax payers of £7.5 million), then in January a second Section 188 notice calling for 95 volunteers, then later in the same year a third for 173 compulsories, a fourth for Sweetman Street bungalows staff, a fifth for day centre staff, sixth for staff of The West Midlands Travelling Children's Consortium, these have been followed by various schools in the City and Wolverhampton Homes and finally a further voluntary redundancy scheme on the City Council..
During this time our UNISON branch lobbied numerous scrutiny and full council meetings, and had some success in stopping some of the redundancies in Leisure Centres and Cemeteries, but the decisions taken in 2009 have saw the demise of some establishments, notably Underhill House, and the Visitor Centre. UNISON supported campaigns, postcards and petitions including, Stop the Ekta Day Centre closure with the Asian community which won a reprieve and Meals on Wheels where the threat of a frozen meal service was withdrawn but a phased increase of £2 per meal will go ahead this is despite a 7,500 name UNISON petition being raised in Wednesfield, Bilston and Wolverhampton centres. The opposition to the savings programme must continue the threat of externalisation of Blakenhall Resource Centre and the setting up of a wholly owned company is privatisation by the back door which will affect thousands of our members and is in direct conflict of UNISON's nationally agreed policies.
Adrian Turner
adrianturner@wolverhamptonunison.org.uk
