(please see today's update further down this post)
Further to my previous post, 'New pay proposals - resistance growing...' I copy below a letter (which I have anonymised) from a member of the support staff at a large comprehensive school in Llanelli sent to all Carmarthenshire County Councillors last week. It concerns the new single status and job evaluation proposals. As I said before I am aware that this is a delicate and difficult issue for all concerned but for such fears to be expressed so late in this process clearly indicates that further negotiations between management and staff are paramount;
Dear Councillor
I am the longest serving member of the support team at *** School and I write to you, as a county councillor in respect of a recent letter the support staff have received from Carmarthenshire County Council regarding Single Status.
The County Council Management are proposing to unilaterally alter wages and terms and conditions of service under the Single Status agreement without full consultation and agreement with unions and employees.
All members of our admin team and many other members of staff at the school have lost a considerable amount of money, some of them, thousands of pounds – these are people who are not highly paid, have worked for the school for years, always gone the extra mile allowing the school to run smoothly. Letters were sent to our homes for us to open when we returned home from work on Friday night 2nd September, many people spent the weekend distraught worrying about how they were going to meet mortgage payments, household bills etc.
At the same time many of the offers have inconsistencies in them such as incorrect job titles, incorrect scorings, incorrect hours - some people have still not received their pack so are unable to even begin assessing their situation.
Yes, there is an option to appeal, but surely the obvious errors should be put right first.
The Council is insisting that we sign the agreement by 30th September or we will forfeit the £1000 plus £250 sweetener awarded to gainers, losers will lose the offer of compensation (they have not been offered the extra £1000 sweetener).
The method of Job Evaluation used is not able to address the functions of staff in schools where it is commonplace for them to take on multiple roles and it would appear that the assessments are only reflecting the lower skills. Also, it varies greatly from school to school as to skill levels required within individual roles.
In short, the loyal, long, serving support staff at the school feel they are being bullied into accepting this agreement.
I hope you find this situation as appalling as I do.
I understand that there is a full council meeting this week and I ask that you and your fellow councillors ask that the matter of Single Status be reviewed, that the Chief Executive reopens negotiations with the unions and most importantly that the 30th September deadline is extended to allow time for all the errors, anomalies and inconsistencies to be rectified so as employees can make a balanced, rational choice.
I trust I may rely on your support in this matter and look forward to your early response.
Thank you for support
There are worries, for example, that even those who stand to gain from the changes will, on close inspection of the small print, realise their terms and conditions have been attacked meaning they will lose out anyway.
The Carmarthenshire branch of Unison issued this message on the 16th September;
"Today, Paul Thomas (Assistant Chief Executive) sent an email to all staff.
It urges you to hurry up and sign.
UNISON’s advice still stands: this scheme may be unlawful.
Don’t rush to sign away your terms and conditions, or
your right to bring an equal pay claim against your employer.
UNISON, Unite and GMB meet the Chief Executive next Wednesday
to discuss Job Evaluation issues, including;
- employees not seeing the job description they have been graded for
- employees not seeing the local conventions used to grade jobs
- not seeing a sample of the COT3 agreement
- a clear explanation of how the COT3 will affect your employment rights
- the short amount of time you have been given to consider your position.
Job Evaluation has been going for over ten years. But the Council gives you
less than a month to decide to sign away your rights.
Many councillors are concerned over these timescales and how cuts
in wages and terms & conditions will affect lives.
The Labour Group has expressed its fears to the Chief Executive.
They have asked for the deadline to be postponed.
And it’s not just councillors. MPs Jonathan Edwards and Nia Griffith and
AM Keith Davies have all made a statement.
To quote Llanelli’s MP, "Staff feel they’re being bullied into signing. They
have had less than a month, which is just not long enough for everyone
to have the chance to take advice and
think about the implications."
UNISON urges you not to rush into signing your rights away.
Support the unions and an increasing number of county councillors,
in calling for the deadline to be postponed for two months and for the
Council to meet with trade unions and councillors to discuss a
more equitable way forward.
UPDATE 19th September;
I have copied below an email sent this morning from senior council officers to all County Councillors urging them to refuse to help any members of staff who may come to them with their concerns over the new proposals - it even includes a draft letter for them to use to refuse any requests. How such advice conflicts with the right of residents to contact their elected representatives I have no idea.
"Dear councillor
You may well receive communication from individual members of staff seeking your assistance with their results under the job evaluation scheme.
We are aware that one of the trade unions at least has prepared standard letters for their members to send to elected Members. I know that some Members are also being asked to attend meetings with groups of staff (for example, in your role as a school Governor). I have provided text for a standard letter of response which you may find useful as a basis for your reply if you so wish, below.
Please be aware that the authority has a duty to treat all of our employees equally. At the moment they have all been assessed in exactly the same way by independent panels of officers who have been trained in how to use the agreed evaluation scheme. The trade unions were involved in these panels also.
If elected Members seek to become involved and to influence the outcome in favour of some staff, when others may not have had this same facility, the independence and fairness of the process will immediately come under challenge. The authority - and individual Members - could be subject to complaints in these circumstances.
This is particularly the case since, as elected Members, you are effectively the ultimate employers of all our staff.
I should point out that we as Chief Officers need to exercise just as much caution. Directors and Heads of Service have not carried out the assessments. They were undertaken by independent panels, including trade union representatives. Chief Officers are not responsible for individual assessments because consistent, fair treatment for everyone requires independence and the certainty that the same approach is taken in every part of the authority. We too have to ensure that we could not be accused of favouring some groups of staff over others.
We have a responsibility to ensure that this fair, equal and consistent treatment for every single employee is maintained.
Please also be advised that there is a danger that if you give advice to an employee and they subsequently feel that this advice was wrong and disadvantaged them that you could well find yourself subject to a complaint.
I hope this information is of assistance and I do appreciate that these contacts from staff may put you in a difficult position. If you need any further information or advice please do not hesitate to ask."
Draft letter:
Dear….
Thank you for your letter regarding your Job Evaluation results.
I am afraid that as individual councillors we are not able to assist individual employees or groups of staff in the process. All jobs must be assessed by an independent panel who have been trained in the assessment scheme. If individual councillors were to start to engage in dialogue with individual employees or groups of employees, or seek to influence the results, then it could call the whole exercise into question. The entire purpose of job evaluation is so that everyone is assessed equally and fairly. Once individual councillors seek to interfere in this process on behalf of some individuals or groups of staff that independence and fairness is lost.
You will be aware that there will be an appeals procedure designed to ensure that if someone feels there has been a mistake that it can be challenged and rectified.
I hope you will appreciate my reasons as to why I am unable to become involved.
Yours Sincerely
Cllr .................."
Further to my previous post, 'New pay proposals - resistance growing...' I copy below a letter (which I have anonymised) from a member of the support staff at a large comprehensive school in Llanelli sent to all Carmarthenshire County Councillors last week. It concerns the new single status and job evaluation proposals. As I said before I am aware that this is a delicate and difficult issue for all concerned but for such fears to be expressed so late in this process clearly indicates that further negotiations between management and staff are paramount;
Dear Councillor
I am the longest serving member of the support team at *** School and I write to you, as a county councillor in respect of a recent letter the support staff have received from Carmarthenshire County Council regarding Single Status.
The County Council Management are proposing to unilaterally alter wages and terms and conditions of service under the Single Status agreement without full consultation and agreement with unions and employees.
All members of our admin team and many other members of staff at the school have lost a considerable amount of money, some of them, thousands of pounds – these are people who are not highly paid, have worked for the school for years, always gone the extra mile allowing the school to run smoothly. Letters were sent to our homes for us to open when we returned home from work on Friday night 2nd September, many people spent the weekend distraught worrying about how they were going to meet mortgage payments, household bills etc.
At the same time many of the offers have inconsistencies in them such as incorrect job titles, incorrect scorings, incorrect hours - some people have still not received their pack so are unable to even begin assessing their situation.
Yes, there is an option to appeal, but surely the obvious errors should be put right first.
The Council is insisting that we sign the agreement by 30th September or we will forfeit the £1000 plus £250 sweetener awarded to gainers, losers will lose the offer of compensation (they have not been offered the extra £1000 sweetener).
The method of Job Evaluation used is not able to address the functions of staff in schools where it is commonplace for them to take on multiple roles and it would appear that the assessments are only reflecting the lower skills. Also, it varies greatly from school to school as to skill levels required within individual roles.
In short, the loyal, long, serving support staff at the school feel they are being bullied into accepting this agreement.
I hope you find this situation as appalling as I do.
I understand that there is a full council meeting this week and I ask that you and your fellow councillors ask that the matter of Single Status be reviewed, that the Chief Executive reopens negotiations with the unions and most importantly that the 30th September deadline is extended to allow time for all the errors, anomalies and inconsistencies to be rectified so as employees can make a balanced, rational choice.
I trust I may rely on your support in this matter and look forward to your early response.
Thank you for support
There are worries, for example, that even those who stand to gain from the changes will, on close inspection of the small print, realise their terms and conditions have been attacked meaning they will lose out anyway.
The Carmarthenshire branch of Unison issued this message on the 16th September;
"Today, Paul Thomas (Assistant Chief Executive) sent an email to all staff.
It urges you to hurry up and sign.
UNISON’s advice still stands: this scheme may be unlawful.
Don’t rush to sign away your terms and conditions, or
your right to bring an equal pay claim against your employer.
UNISON, Unite and GMB meet the Chief Executive next Wednesday
to discuss Job Evaluation issues, including;
- employees not seeing the job description they have been graded for
- employees not seeing the local conventions used to grade jobs
- not seeing a sample of the COT3 agreement
- a clear explanation of how the COT3 will affect your employment rights
- the short amount of time you have been given to consider your position.
Job Evaluation has been going for over ten years. But the Council gives you
less than a month to decide to sign away your rights.
Many councillors are concerned over these timescales and how cuts
in wages and terms & conditions will affect lives.
The Labour Group has expressed its fears to the Chief Executive.
They have asked for the deadline to be postponed.
And it’s not just councillors. MPs Jonathan Edwards and Nia Griffith and
AM Keith Davies have all made a statement.
To quote Llanelli’s MP, "Staff feel they’re being bullied into signing. They
have had less than a month, which is just not long enough for everyone
to have the chance to take advice and
think about the implications."
UNISON urges you not to rush into signing your rights away.
Support the unions and an increasing number of county councillors,
in calling for the deadline to be postponed for two months and for the
Council to meet with trade unions and councillors to discuss a
more equitable way forward.
UPDATE 19th September;
I have copied below an email sent this morning from senior council officers to all County Councillors urging them to refuse to help any members of staff who may come to them with their concerns over the new proposals - it even includes a draft letter for them to use to refuse any requests. How such advice conflicts with the right of residents to contact their elected representatives I have no idea.
"Dear councillor
You may well receive communication from individual members of staff seeking your assistance with their results under the job evaluation scheme.
We are aware that one of the trade unions at least has prepared standard letters for their members to send to elected Members. I know that some Members are also being asked to attend meetings with groups of staff (for example, in your role as a school Governor). I have provided text for a standard letter of response which you may find useful as a basis for your reply if you so wish, below.
Please be aware that the authority has a duty to treat all of our employees equally. At the moment they have all been assessed in exactly the same way by independent panels of officers who have been trained in how to use the agreed evaluation scheme. The trade unions were involved in these panels also.
If elected Members seek to become involved and to influence the outcome in favour of some staff, when others may not have had this same facility, the independence and fairness of the process will immediately come under challenge. The authority - and individual Members - could be subject to complaints in these circumstances.
This is particularly the case since, as elected Members, you are effectively the ultimate employers of all our staff.
I should point out that we as Chief Officers need to exercise just as much caution. Directors and Heads of Service have not carried out the assessments. They were undertaken by independent panels, including trade union representatives. Chief Officers are not responsible for individual assessments because consistent, fair treatment for everyone requires independence and the certainty that the same approach is taken in every part of the authority. We too have to ensure that we could not be accused of favouring some groups of staff over others.
We have a responsibility to ensure that this fair, equal and consistent treatment for every single employee is maintained.
Please also be advised that there is a danger that if you give advice to an employee and they subsequently feel that this advice was wrong and disadvantaged them that you could well find yourself subject to a complaint.
I hope this information is of assistance and I do appreciate that these contacts from staff may put you in a difficult position. If you need any further information or advice please do not hesitate to ask."
Draft letter:
Dear….
Thank you for your letter regarding your Job Evaluation results.
I am afraid that as individual councillors we are not able to assist individual employees or groups of staff in the process. All jobs must be assessed by an independent panel who have been trained in the assessment scheme. If individual councillors were to start to engage in dialogue with individual employees or groups of employees, or seek to influence the results, then it could call the whole exercise into question. The entire purpose of job evaluation is so that everyone is assessed equally and fairly. Once individual councillors seek to interfere in this process on behalf of some individuals or groups of staff that independence and fairness is lost.
You will be aware that there will be an appeals procedure designed to ensure that if someone feels there has been a mistake that it can be challenged and rectified.
I hope you will appreciate my reasons as to why I am unable to become involved.
Yours Sincerely
Cllr .................."
Update 24th Sept; Doesn't look like the meeting on the 21st September between management and Unions went too well, the Council refused to extend the deadline and the unions now considering strike action;
http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/Union-action-threat-council-talks-fail/story-13395730-detail/story.html
4 comments:
Absolutely don't rush to sign. If anyone thinks they have been wrongly scored, or have evidence they are beinf paid below comparable roles, there is, in the end, such as thing as suing under the Equality Act 2010. For those who really will suffer to the point of not being able to meet payments, you're as well to seek your union's advice on ways forward. Don't forget, an employer will often pay handsomly for you to go quietly, which may be acceptable to some.
There is always more than the option the employer gives you. Take it from one who's been through the mill.
The Labour Group may well have expressed concerns, but perhaps they first need to wake up and remind themselves that they are part of the ruling coalition which is pushing these proposals through. Anyone who has seen Kevin Madge ("Mark James is the best chief exec. in Wales") or any of the other Labour members patting both themselves, their Independent mates and the officers on the back for their myriad successes and achievements, may be puzzled as to what the hell they have been doing for the last 10 years.
The rank and file members include many decent, honourable people, but they are lions led by donkeys.
why are we paying for these people who call themselves our elected representative (councillors)when they are no more than lapdogs.Iam disgusted if this is what they do
As interesting as the Template letter is, it is perhaps more important to see the way that the Council Officers are influenced in a threatening way by the Council Officers little short of blackmail.
What the Council Officers are saying to the Councillors is that they cannot represent their constituents or else they could be taken to task.
This really is an Officer Run Council.....
Please see the following instructions from a high ranking Council Officer to the Councillor on what they should do if they are asked to support the people who voted for them:
Dear Councillor
You may well receive communication from individual members of staff seeking your assistance with their results under the job evaluation scheme.
We are aware that one of the trade unions at least has prepared standard letters for their members to send to elected Members.
I know that some Members are also being asked to attend meetings with groups of staff (for example, in your role as a school Governor).
I have provided text for a standard letter of response which you may find useful as a basis for your reply if you so wish, below.
Please be aware that the authority has a duty to treat all of our employees equally.
At the moment they have all been assessed in exactly the same way by independent panels of officers who have been trained in how to use the agreed evaluation scheme.
The trade unions were involved in these panels also.
If elected Members seek to become involved and to influence the outcome in favour of some staff, when others may not have had this same facility, the independence and fairness of the process will immediately come under challenge.
The authority - and individual Members - could be subject to complaints in these circumstances.
This is particularly the case since, as elected Members, you are effectively the ultimate employers of all our staff.
I should point out that we as Chief Officers need to exercise just as much caution. Directors and Heads of Service have not carried out the assessments.
They were undertaken by independent panels, including trade union representatives.
Chief Officers are not responsible for individual assessments because consistent, fair treatment for everyone requires independence and the certainty that the same approach is taken in every part of the authority.
We too have to ensure that we could not be accused of favouring some groups of staff over others.
We have a responsibility to ensure that this fair, equal and consistent treatment for every single employee is maintained.
Please also be advised that there is a danger that if you give advice to an employee and they subsequently feel that this advice was wrong and disadvantaged them that you could well find yourself subject to a complaint.
I hope this information is of assistance and I do appreciate that these contacts from staff may put you in a difficult position.
If you need any further information or advice please do not hesitate to ask.
(PLEASE NOTE THAT THE COUNCIL OFFICERS DIVULGE THEMSEVES OF ANY RESPONSIBILITY - WELL THEY WOULD WOULDN'T THEY)
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