Monday 10 March 2014

Unison Carmarthenshire petition against Trade Union cuts


I have been asked , by Unison Carmarthenshire to link to a petition calling for the reinstatement of all Trade Union secondments at Carmarthenshire County Council, which I am happy to do. These cuts were proposed and implemented by this Labour run administration at the budget meeting on the 19th February.

The secondment agreements have been torn up and the Unison branch secretary has been told that there will be no allowances made to allow him to get cover from his duties to continue to play a role in defending members.

At the budget meeting, Plaid Cymru Councillor Alun Lenny spoke in opposition to the cuts;

"According to Unison Carmarthenshire this proposal to take away Trades Union secondment is an attack on Unions and their ability to represent and defend members' interests.

Indeed, it flies in the face of Welsh Government promotion of partnership working as a model for industrial relations. 

Unison further claims that representatives have encountered hostility and intimidation when requesting time off in the past, and if we remove the secondments, that is likely to increase.

Now, I can understand some members of the independent group being prepared to indulge in a spot of union bashing but it is truly sad..that the Labour group, with committed Socialists amongst you, union members amongst you, are willing to go along with this.

It's bad enough that this council is prepared to implement a raft of cuts...which may well include compulsory redundancies...and at a time when around 3000 of our staff still earn less than the Living Wage.
That's bad enough but at a time like this staff need Trade Union support more than ever.

Cutting union secondments may cause added misery to some of our most vulnerable staff, after all, they can't afford to employ an expensive London QC..."

..And indeed we now know that the council has spent somewhere in the region of £50,000 on legal advice defending the Chief Executive since the Auditor's findings of unlawful expenditure first emerged.

Please click on the logo below which will take you to the Change.org petition site to call on Carmarthenshire Council leader, Kevin Madge to reinstate Trade Union secondments;

Click on logo to access petition

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Dear readers,

Please protect employees at CCC by supporting this petition to reinstate trade union secondments.

As you have seen for yourself the top brass protect their own by using extortionate amounts of taxpayers money to pay for their club colleagues time and QC's to defend the inexcusable.

With a culture of fear permeating CCC, employees badly need their trade union support. Readers would be shocked and horrified at the way some exemplary employees have been treated. No doubt all will be revealed soon!!! It could well be that the judgement in this case is the reason why CCC are intent on attacking Unison and their ability to represent and defend members' interests. In the meantime, you have the power to reduce the risk of this happening again by supporting this petition. Please remember unlike the CE, employees pay for their own defence through trade union subscriptions.

Thank you readers and to you Caebrwyn for this blog and link to the petition.