Glasgow brings them back in house In a series of moves that maybe emphasise different priorities in Scotland, private contractors have been shown the door in a number of Glasgow Health Trusts.

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Glasgow brings them back in house

by Chris Bartter

In a series of moves that maybe emphasise different priorities in Scotland, private contractors have been shown the door in a number of Glasgow Health Trusts.

Following on the decision in principle by the South Glasgow Trust to end outsourcing and bring domestic and portering services back in house, (after a very successful campaign fought by the UNISON Branch, see SiU 29) the Greater Glasgow Primary Care Trust has now also agreed to end three private sector contracts.

At the end of September, over 130 domestic and portering staff at Gartnavel Royal and portering at Leverndale Hospital will rejoin the NHS team. Improve services Joe Lynch, UNISON Regional Officer was delighted.

"UNISON has been campaigning publicly to promote public services delivered by properly trained in-house staff." He said, "This shows that managers are increasingly convinced of the potential to improve services contained in bringing staff back in-house."

To complete the Glasgow hat-trick, the third major trust in Glasgow - Glasgow North - has also agreed to give contractor Medirest six months notice that they plan to bring domestic staff at Stobhill Hospital in-house.

Ballot brings benefit

And there's more - Medirest staff - 87% of whom voted to take industrial action - have won themselves immediate benefits including:

• Sick pay for the first time
• Overtime and weekend/holiday payments l A pension scheme
• Harmonised minimum pay - meaning an increase to £4.26 per hour.

Caroline Leckie, North Glasgow Hospitals Branch Secretary said, "This represents a significant achievement for industrial muscle, courage in the face of adversity, and trade union organisation."

Perhaps the move back to in-house employment does show a different attitude prevailing in Scotland's public services - especially where people have seen the inefficiencies and unfairness of private contracting at first hand.

"These examples must be used to publicise what we should be aiming for", says Matt Smith, Scottish Secretary . "Not only are we warning the Government that private finance spells trouble - we are also arguing to bring back to the public service team workers who have been hived off in previous privatisations."

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Medical Secretaries' pay offer recommended

by Chris Bartter

Medical Secretaries across Scotland are to be balloted on the the acceptance of a Scottish Executive pay offer that will mean up to a 22% pay increase, on top of national salary awards, over four years for many.

A consultative ballot was about to be issued as we went to press, to be due back later in August. UNISON's Scottish Healthcare Group is recommending acceptance of the Scottish Executive's pay offer.

"This is a very good offer for Medical Secretaries" said Jim Devine, Scottish Organiser (Health). "It recognises their value, not just in financial terms but also the skills that they bring to the National Health Service."

More than eight in 10 Medical Secretaries in Scotland are at the top of their present grade and in cash terms this offer will mean the following increases over the next three years, for these staff.

Present Salary £12,815

"We believe that this is the best offer that can be achieved by negotiations." said Jim. "It will standardise the grade throughout Scotland and properly reward these staff for the skills that they have. That is why we are recommending acceptance of the offer."

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NORTH Glasgow Med Secs vote for strike

In a separate but related development, Medical Secretaries in North Glasgow Hospitals Branch have voted by 91.3% for Industrial action.

This action is directed at the lack of movement by the Trust management over their long-running claim for Medical Secretaries grading.

The action will start with three days of consecutive action beginning on the 8 August. This will be followed by action such as a work to contract, and a boycott of waiting list initiatives.

Details of the full strategy will be available soon, and the branch is looking for messages of support to be sent to their office at: 2nd floor, Cuthbertson Building, Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Castle Street, Glasgow G4 tel/fax 0141 211 4984.

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Campaign begins to bite

UNISON's Positively Public Campaign has taken a firm stance against what Dave Prentis has called "The new government's romance with the private sector".

In the media and at meetings with the Prime Minister and the Labour Party, Dave has lost no opportunity to make clear UNISON's view opposing the increasing involvement of the private sector in delivering our public service.

Immediately after the General Election result UNISON released the results of a poll showing that 78% of people in the UK felt that the private sector should not provide public services.

UNISON has recognised the need to reform public services, but has gone on record to attack the government's 'clouded' judgement about what gives the best value for money.

In an ironic twist, shortly after Dave Prentis criticised PFI for leading to less beds and increased costs in our hospitals, news broke that the new PFI hospital in Durham was short of beds.

In Scotland too, the PFI-built Hairmyres Hospital in East Kilbride has had a number of serious problems, including sewage leaks and departments that are too small for their purpose.

This led Jim Devine, Scottish Organiser (Health), to call for Lanarkshire Acute Trust to 'open the books' and tell the public the impact of PFI on patients. Bill Speirs, (General Secretary STUC) too, has raised the issue in the media and taken a strong pro-public service line.

Following Dave Prentis' correspondence with Tony Blair, Scottish Secretary, Matt Smith has written to the First Minister and to the Secretary of State for Scotland, highlighting UNISON's campaign and emphasising that it applied at least equally in Scotland.

"In Scotland," Matt says, "The percentage of people who think that public services should be provided by the public sector rises to 91%.

"I have pointed this out to Scottish Ministers and the Scottish Government and demanded that they reflect that viewpoint when they are renewing Scotland's public services."

The campaign still needs to be pursued by all branches facing PFI/PPP and similar projects, and new postcards are available from the Communications unit for branches to use. It is now going to be a major debate at the Labour Party and TUC conferences - raised again by UNISON.

Dave Prentis puts it succinctly, "It is a simple challenge", he said. "We asked that they put public services on the agenda, listen to the evidence and have a full and frank debate about the best way to deliver quality public services. "This has been done, and we should now be intensifying our Positively Public campaign".

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Glasgow Housing Stock Transfer

Campaign reaches Sweden

by Chris Bartter

The campaign against the flawed whole stock transfer in Glasgow City has not only been reaching out into the communities of Glasgow, it has even reached as far as Sweden!

A feature in the prominent Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter followed a day of work with the journalist by John Wright and Jim Anderson - UNISON activists from Glasgow's Housing Service.

"We are told it's a sympathetic piece!", laughs John Wright, "but we are looking around for someone with enough Swedish to do us a translation."

Jim Anderson is quoted as saying: "Jag bedriver faktiskt en kamanj direkt mot mitt eget parti". And who are we to disagree.

Closer to home the campaign has run adverts opposing the transfer in the local freesheet The Glaswegian and - as a summary of the Glasgow Housing Association's (GHA) business plan is finally presented to the Council - the union is looking to step the campaign up a gear.

"We need to work with the other unions in the City and the STUC to run a campaign up till the tenants' ballot", says John Wright.

Despite bullish claims by the Chief Executive of the GHA that this will be in November (it has been postponed at least twice before) - that is far from certain.

"Our information is that there are still major problems with the business plan, that councillors are now more, rather than less, uncertain of the arguments for transfer and that more than half of the local housing organisations that are supposed to manage the houses are nowhere near organised", says Craig Binns, Glasgow Branch Magazine Editor and long term campaigner against the transfer.

The campaign, fronted by the STUC, now needs to target Glasgow's tenants - the people who have the vote. UNISON is going to be in the forefront of ensuring that the resources are there to allow that to happen.

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Crisis in Social Work childrens services

by John Stevenson

Over 98% of Edinburgh Social Work children services members have voted to lodge a formal grievance against a 'crisis in resources'.

"In a 75% ballot return this is a clear message that action is needed to address the crisis", said branch chairperson Dougie Black.

Social Work members say that up to 80 children and young people assessed to be needing 'care' are waiting for places. "The stress falls on families, children themselves and the social workers who will carry the blame if anything goes wrong", added Dougie.

The lack of residential places and staff shortages means that the Council cannot meet its commitment to the first four recommendations of the Edinburgh Inquiry into abuse in childrens homes.

This called for:

- Children in care are the corporate responsibility of the whole council, not just the Social Work Department.

- Residential care being a 'positive choice' matched to the individual.

- And to achieve 'genuine choice', the Council would have to accept that units may have to operate with vacancies.

Since then the number of available beds has been cut and staff say resources are at an all time low.

Initiatives welcomed The Branch stresses that this is not an issue for the Department, but for the whole Council and for the Scottish Executive.

"Very often Social Work management are being asked to manage the unmanageable", said Social Work Stewards Convenor Lyn Williams.

The Branch has welcomed recruitment initiatives announced by Councillor Kingsley Thomas and his CoSLA initiative for a Social Work review along the lines of the Teachers' 'McCrone Report'.

"We welcome these genuine attempts to address the problem. There needs to be a strategy to respond to changes in demand and to redress the low status and pay problems in Social Work", said Lyn.

"But alongside that, emergency measures are needed now to address the immediate crisis".

Around Scotland there is a similar picture with recurring themes:-

• shortage of residential places l difficulty in recruiting and retaining staff
• a resident group that units were not designed or staffed for.
• low staff morale.

In Aberdeen there are recruitment problems in residential care and home closures create the vicious circle of staff becoming more demoralised, thereby making is harder to recruit and compounding the problem. A new working hours flexibility package to ease the problem is failing.

"Staff are being treated like bendy toys", said Branch Secretary Gill Thackray, "They feel that flexibility is only one way". Some staff have raised a grievance about rotas and Senior Social Workers say they feel pressurised into inappropriately using foster care.

Dundee has a similar picture with understaffing, physical attacks and high stress levels. "Recently there has been a significant increase in stress related illness among staff", said Branch Secretary Mary Crichton. "We have warned for years that if you treat residential staff as a Cinderella service, a crisis was bound to happen".

Glasgow too faces similar problems. There are major staffing issues, incidents of violence, rock bottom morale and concerns about lone working. Andy Quinn, Social Work steward, said, "Residential care is in a crisis and politicians need to wake up to it before it's too late". On the positive side, £800,000 is being put into one unit with a commitment to look at gradings, staffing levels and training.

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Big Win - Big Fee? Not in UNISON

by Chris Bartter

Warnings about the rash of personal injury claims firms currently advertising on our screens have been aired in the media recently.

Whilst these firms claim to be "no win, no fee" they have apparently been charging those who do win, big fees. Successful clients have had to pay the big insurance premiums demanded by the company to cover costs.

The only one of these companies to be listed as a public company (and therefore obliged to announce its profits), Claims Direct, has had to post two profit warnings since it went public last July.

Although some attempts has been made to redress the problem, it is still the case that in the UK legal system, losers can be liable for the winners costs. This means that premiums will still be high.

Frank Maguire of Thompsons, who have recently negotiated an extension of the service to UNISON members, points out that UNISON members don't have this dilemma.

"Not only does our agreement with UNISON provide for legal support on a no win - no fee basis", he said, "but we also provide free insurance to protect members against paying the costs if you lose, and do not deduct a percentage from any successful damages."

£240,000 win

A recent successful case has meant a residential worker who was injured breaking up a fight and thereby became unfit for work, was awarded nearly £240,000 by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board.

"Whilst this money will never compensate her for her injury," said John Lambie, Assistant Scottish Secretary, "at least UNISON's support and partnership with Thompsons has meant she can have some financial backing to compensate for her loss of wages and increased care costs".

For initial advice on Family Consumer, Criminal or other matters of Scots Law, use the UNISON Law Line on 0800 80 12 99. There are also a range of of full services like free wills, representation in road traffic injuries, and 'no win no fee' for accidents outwith employment. Look out for new services from September. Important: For any Employment related matter, you must contact your branch.

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UNISON success leads to new learning projects

UNISON is the only Scottish union to have won funding for two union learning projects from the Scottish Executive. The money is from the Scottish Union Learning Fund (SULF).

£36,000 has been allocated to train lifelong learning advisers across the Scottish public services, and £47,950 will go to train 100 workers in basic IT skills.

Anne Cascarino, Scotland's Regional Officer (Education) said: "This is a real feather in our cap. We bid for three projects, and were successful in two. We and our partner organisation, the Workers Educational Association (WEA) are now in the process of implementing both successful bids."

UNISON - with the support of various employers - will pilot the two projects side-by-side. The first project will provide training for a group of 30 Lifelong Learning Advisors (LLA's) in the workplace.

Their job will be to link employer, union and learning providers through initial contact in the workplace. Key skills will include; accessing information on learning opportunities; assisting new learners into 'Return To Learn' (R2L) and other programmes, and promoting Individual Learning Accounts (ILA) as a source of further funding and progression for learners.

LLA's will be a first point of contact and will be skilled in providing sign posting and referrals for learners in the workplace. UNISON will establish networks for the Lifelong Learning Advisors during and after their training to ensure that support remains available and that new information and best practices are shared.

Contacts

It is planned to roll out training for LLA's throughout Scotland and any branches interested in becoming involved should initially contact:-

Ann Cascarino, Regional Officer at UNISON House, 14 West Campbell Street, Glasgow, G2 6RX. Telephone 0141-332-0006. Fax 0141-331-1203. e-mail a.cascarino@unison.co.uk

The second project will provide training for 100 workers in basic Information Technology (IT) skills. The preferred target group will have little or no experience of IT and during the course careers and learning guidance will be provided to enable progression to further training.

Once again, UNISON and their partners are uniquely placed to ensure the take-up of learning within the workplace. Further information on either project is available by contacting Stan Morris at UNISON House, 14 West Campbell Street, Glasgow, G2 6RX. Telephone 0141-332-0006. Fax 0141-331-1203. e-mail s.morris@unison.co.uk

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Northern Ireland colleagues
WE STAND WITH YOU IN SPIRIT

Following the recent violence in North Belfast especially, UNISONScotland Convenor Mike Kirby has written a letter of support to our Northern Ireland UNISON colleagues.

UNISON members are employed in a range of community and public services that have seen attacks.

"These services are vital to the quality of life of the whole community", wrote Mike. Indeed UNISON directly supports many projects.

"The particular role of the union in Northern Ireland in organising members in delivering these services, and in promoting diversity and equality of access to work and the services provided, reflects the core aims and values of UNISON.

"UNISON Scotland condemns the use of violence for whatever declared ends, which threatens the cross-community work of our colleagues in Northern Ireland. We commend the work and endeavours of our members in such difficult circumstances".

"We stand with you today in spirit", added Mike.

UNISON Scotland is calling on all politicians and community leaders to take immediate action to prevent further threats to the lives of citizens and workers in North Belfast in particular.

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East Dunbartonshire wins double with best website award

By John Stevenson

East Dunbartonshire matched their special award in the Scottish Communications Awards with the 'Best Website' prize in the UK competition in June.

In a unique double, they also won best newcomer in the magazine competition. Jim Burnett and Robert McComb work together on the projects and are a s pleased as punch - and rightly so. See the website at: www.zyworld.com/jimunison/page1.htm

The latest issues of branch magazines include a bumper edition of South Glasgow Hospitals' Southside UNISON which was the Scottish prizewinner. The victory in bringing staff back in house dominates (see this issue front page) but there is a pile of news and information in a packed issue. You can pick this up online at www.unison-sgh.org.uk/

West Dunbartonshire's The UNISON View Announces its new website (www.unison-westdunbarton.org.uk) and reports on the ET victory in the depute chief executive case (see this page). It also runs a major story on the nursery nurses claim.

UNISON Feedback from Renfrewshire Branch is a glossy 16 page edition featuring the fight against PFI in schools and celebrating their 'best campaign' award in the Scottish Communications awards. Good round up of news department by department.

Blue Light from Strathclyde Police & Fire reports on the new Police Service Group and runs a contact list for stewards. Grampian Primary Care features the range of benefits for members and a £22,500 compensation win for a member.

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Drugs raid focuses attention on UNISON call

by Chris Bartter

The call by UNISON for clear guidelines from the Scottish Executive on the nursing of patients who are using or dealing in drugs has been thrown into sharp focus by a drugs raid on Inverclyde Royal Hospital in Greenock recently.

The dilemma for nursing staff is the threat of prosecution if illegal drug use is not reported, weighed against the professional regulations for nursing, which stress the need to work in the best interests of the patient.

ridget Hunter, UNISONScotland's lead officer for nursing, addressed two seminars on this very topic at the NTLive! Exhibition in Glasgow in July. She said: "This latest raid makes it very clear that people who care for drug users are at risk of prosecution, and yet no-one appears to be discussing this issue.

"We want the Scottish Executive to grasp this nettle, start the discussions with all sides and get Trusts to issue protocols that will protect nursing staff caught in the dilemma between the law and the best interests of the patient"

UNISON thinks that its members are more and more faced with this dilemma, from the health visitor visiting premises where drugs may be being used, to mental health wards where patients could be using drugs as a result of their illness.

In Inverclyde Royal, drugs worth £1400 were seized, including ecstasy and heroin. "Despite the pressing need and the potential clash between the law and the professional regulations governing nursing, even our professional body has ducked the issue."

Bridget Hunter said. "The police are clear that they will prosecute nurses who fail to report illegal drug use. "We need clear guidelines from our employers on how we should respond when faced with these issues in our jobs."

Index

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Car Allowance anger

Proposed new car allowances for Local Government staff have provoked anger around the country.

Branches are consulting and the feedback so far is to say the least negative.

UNISONScotland has sent information out to branches confirming that this is a consultation to see what members make of the proposals, not an agreement.

The issue will be discussed by the next Forum of all Local Government branches at the end of this month.

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'Expensive history' for council as UNISON wins tribunal

UNISON West Dunbartonshire has won an unfair dismissal case for the Council's ex Depute Chief Executive, bringing further proof that UNISON is the public service union for all staff in the public sector.

"The tribunal's unanimous verdict was that the principal reason behind a management review was a desire to dispense with the services of the former Depute Chief Executive. This is what many of us suspected at the time" said Tom Rainey West Dunbartonshire Branch Secretary.

But Tom was also keen to point to the side effects of the discredited review. "Other colleagues have become victims of the review and lost their means of making a living", said Tom.

As well as this high profile case, the union has supported another four members to employment tribunal on the basis of unfair dismissal, with some settled prior to a formal hearing.

"All of this could have been avoided," said Tom. "UNISON did not dispute the Council's right to carry out a review. The difference here was that we suspected from day one that there was a more sinister reason behind the review".

UNISON had called for a tripartite review body to include elected members, management and UNISON. The union had also questionned the rationale behind the projected £300,000 savings.

"We believed a plan could have been worked out to protect the interests of all concerned", added Tom. "Unfortunately our letter did not receive the courtesy of a reply. The rest, they say, is history - expensive history".

As well as the financial costs (the tribunal awarded the maximum in this case of £54,070), the Council must be regretting the huge political fall-out that followed.

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Access All Areas

Freedom of Information Conference
Saturday 27th October
Renfield St Stephen's Church, Glasgow

The Access All Areas Conference is the culmination of Friends of Earth Scotland's Freedom of Information campaign.

Established to test the current information provisions and feed into the current formulation of Freedom of Information legislation, this campaign currently involves 400 members of the public seeking information from various public bodies and authorities throughout Scotland.

The results of this campaign will be presented on the 27th October to campaign participants and representatives of the bodies tested.

The day conference is designed not only to conclude the campaign but also to facilitate discussion between different parties on the new legislation, the international dimension of Freedom of Information and what a Freedom of Information Act will mean for Scotland.

Speakers will include representatives from public bodies, NGOs and Freedom of Information officials. There will also be a range of workshops for delegates to attend highlighting the impact of Freedom of Information on different sections of society, including on the workforce - which will be lead by Chris Bartter, UNISON's Communications Officer (Scotland) - and in different areas of the world.

For more information, or to find out how to attend, contact Kirstie at Friends of the Earth Scotland's Edinburgh office on 0131 554 9977 or by e-mail at foi@foe-scotland.org.uk.

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What your NEC members are up to

Scotland's National Executive members are making their mark on the national union after this year's round of elections and appointments.

Nancy Coull is one of this year's vice presidents of the union.

New NEC member Angela Lynes is chair of the National Industrial Action Committee and Jane Carolan is vice chair of the influential Policy Development and Campaigns Committee.

Ex president John McFadden is concentrating on the International Committee this year and is joined by Sofi Taylor.

Chrissie Carmouche is on the Development and Organisation Committee.

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One of the international guests at UNISON Conference, Mohammad Aruri from Palestine, visited Scotland last month as a guest of the STUC.

Mohammad took time to visit the Edinburgh Branch Committee and spoke of being held for three days on the Jordanian border in his attempt to get to Britain.

Because of the current crisis, 120,000 Palestinians legally working in Israel are now without work. This is compounded by thousands of others who work unofficially in Israel also being jobless.

2,000 cases being taken by the unions in Israeli courts are frozen.

Because of the lack of rights and services for Palestinians, the unions provide free health care and are trying to provide emergency grants for members affected by the crisis.

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We want to hear your news

Won any deals or cases for members? Any 'people' stories we could use? SiU is your paper, we want to hear your stories.

Your SiU contacts are:

John Stevenson (Editor)

0131 343 1991

 

Chris Bartter

0141 332 0006,

chris.bartter@unison.org.uk

FAX PRESS RELEASES to 0141-331-1203