Staff survey in trouble from page 1!

There was significant confusion for many staff working within Professional Services as they attempted to complete the staff survey.  Many were thrown by the first question: “Which Faculty/department do you work in?”  When UNISON contacted HR about this, a member of HR staff said that ‘HR are shocked that people do not know where they work in terms of Uni structure”.  This is arguably a survey outcome headline in itself! Of course, if the agreed consultation with Unison had taken place (see open letter to Janice Donaldson) we would have told them the confusion this would cause and saved a lot of people a lot of wasted time and energy.  Lesson to learn: consult with your Trade Unions!

Dear Janice,

I am writing to you to formally outline UNISON's position regarding the current University of Southampton staff survey. As you will be aware, my union ran a campaign in early 2012 around long hours culture at the University of Southampton. As part of this work, you agreed at a meeting with my union colleagues that UNISON would be consulted over the questions in the survey. This commitment was minuted.

Unfortunately, this promise was not honoured. As you are aware, we did get to see the survey - but only after prompting and then only 24 hours prior to the survey being released. This meant that I was unable to circulate these questions amongst my union colleagues and receive feedback by the deadline. As a result, we were unable to respond to the survey draft collectively. This is obviously disappointing given the assurances made.

You will be aware that UNISON is a democratic union. We have had serious discussions amongst branch representatives about how best to deal with this situation. Several of my colleagues have strongly suggested that members of our union boycott the survey as a result and that as a union, we do not recognise the results. It is easy to be sympathetic towards this position.

Despite this, we shall be urging our members to take part in the survey process. Ultimately we believe that despite flaws in the consultation process - flaws that are indicative of similar attitudes towards consultation that have negatively impacted upon several recent negotiations - the survey represents a clear opportunity for our members of staff to voice their concerns.

Following the restructuring, we know that our members have strong concerns and we hope that they use this opportunity to express them. We also hope that you listen and, most crucially, act upon their feedback.

I am also hopeful that moving forward, we can work together to avoid this situation occurring again. Restructuring, new staff and new procedures in the Human Resources department are on-going; and like any period of change, as a result, processes can run less than smoothly. I am convinced that time will help to improve our working relationship as the new structure settles in and therefore the bad practice that UNISON has had to circumvent will disappear. I am also convinced that you have a commitment to improving HR/TU relations at the University and that the changes made will ultimately prove valuable and result in a better service for staff.

I thank you for your efforts to move on in good faith, and I thank you for apologising verbally and via email. As I'm sure you can imagine, many staff will be disheartened by how this consultation has been implemented and will understandably be wary that further commitments made by HR will not be honoured - or at least, not honoured in the spirit that they were agreed. Your communications with me hopefully will be reassuring to our membership.

It is our hope that in future, situations such as this will not arise. Please be aware that this letter will be circulated amongst UNISON members at the University.

Yours sincerely,

Anna Lyon

Southampton City Council threatens jobs

Across Southampton City Council today 300 Council staff members have been informed that their jobs are at risk.  Up to 8% of the Council’s directly employed workforce is affected.  Some services, the Youth Service, “Our House” children’s home and Archaeology are facing complete closure.  Other services, Parks, Street Sweeping, Libraries, Waste Services, Children’s Services amongst them, face considerable job losses.  There are few areas of the Council which are not facing job losses.

Council workers are facing redundancy as a direct consequence of the policies of the Conservatives, both in Whitehall and in Southampton.  The government has reduced funding for the Council by around about £23 million for 2013 / 14.  This reduction is part of the “deficit reduction” policy of the Conservatives, an economic policy which is not working and is aimed to reduce the number of people working in the public sector.

The situation has been made worse by the policies of the previous Conservative Council.  They:

-                      Spent £100 million on capital projects.  They committed the Council to funding the Arts Complex as well as SeaCity Museum.  The interest charges for these capital projects is paid out of the annual budget.

-                      By freezing Council Tax the Conservatives reduced the ability of the Council to raise revenue.

-                      Spent the Council’s reserves in the run up to the 2012 elections.

-                      Spent one million pounds on Council Tax discounts each year for some pensioners.

Cllr Royston Smith will claim that the phased restoration of pay cuts is causing the redundancies.  This is untrue.  In 2013 / 14 the phased restoration of pay cuts cost £660,000, the same amount the Conservatives had put aside to fund their legal defense for unlawfully sacking Council workers in 2011.

We have already had a three year pay freeze, a two year increment freeze and 2 years of a pay cut which will not be fully restored for everybody until 2015.  We have already paid enough for a crisis we did not cause.

UNITE is proposing, in response to the budget cuts, the following:

-                      To support the “Stand Up for Southampton Campaign” the Labour Administration is aiming to set up which calls for fair funding for Southampton Council services.

-                      For the Council to implement the revised redeployment policy and ensure that staff facing redundancy are redeployed into vacant and temporary posts.  It is clear some senior managers are not signed up to this new process.  The Labour Administration must ensure that all managers are fully committed to the strengthened redeployment policy.

-                      To improve the redundancy payments for staff facing compulsory redundancy.  It is clearly unfair that those made voluntary redundant receive a .25 enhancement when those facing compulsory redundancy receive no enhancements.

UNITE and UNISON will be organising public protests on the job cuts leading up to the budget setting meeting in February.  We will also be considering balloting for a one day strike to coincide with the budget setting Council meeting so that union members can demonstrate their anger at the Government policies that are the cause of the job losses.

UNITE SCC Branch does not support the proposal that the Labour Administration refuse to set a budget.  If they took this action, the Government would remove the current Administration from office and replace them with Government appointed commissioners who would implement worse cuts.  We have not campaigned to remove the Conservatives from office over the last two years because of their attacks on our jobs, pay and services only to return control of the City to them.

The City Council and its workforce are about to enter one of its worse periods in our history.  Services that we have provided to the people of Southampton for decades are to be closed down.  Other Council services are to be reduced.  This is on top of the massive cuts in our pay we have suffered over the past three years.  Austerity is not working.

[…]

A joint UNITE / UNISON SCC membership meeting to discuss Council budget cuts was held on Thursday, 15 November - 12.30 p.m.  Unfortunately, we were unable to let you know about this in time via this page.

14th National Stress Awareness Day

The 14th National Stress Awareness Day (NSAD), which is held to celebrate helping people beat stress, will take place on 7 November 2012.

Stress management has never been more relevant than it is today. According to recent research by Insurance Company AXA, UK employees’ stress levels have doubled in 4 years suggesting that the worldwide economic turmoil, worries about job security and the cost of living are taking their toll.

The effects of stress can lead to physical symptoms of ill health as well as longer term psychological damage. Those who are experiencing work-related stress may also complain of or demonstrate symptoms of anxiety, depression or panic attacks.

Stress may be caused or made worse by a number of work related factors such as work practices, pressure, management techniques, environment and technology.

As a potential hazard, stress should be identified in risk assessments in the same way as physical hazards like dangerous chemicals or fire risks. Once identified, it must be prevented, removed or controlled in order to ensure a safe workplace.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guide Managing the causes of work related stress: a step by step approach Using the Management Standards should be used by all employers when considering how to address the problem of stress. The guide puts risk assessment at the heart of any plan to reduce the risk of work-related stress.

However the HSE makes clear that before a risk assessment is undertaken the employer should:

• Talk to their staff about work-related stress and explain what they want to identify;
• Set up a group to help (which includes trade union safety/employee representatives, the unit health and safety officer, one or more supervisors or line managers, an HR representative and, where possible, someone from the occupational health service);
• Explain that the first step is to undertake a risk assessment;
• Ask the group to assist in the assessment; and
• Agree a date when the key findings of the risk assessment will be available.

When assessing the risks in your workplace, your employer should follow the five steps to risk assessment:

1. Identify the hazards;
2. Decide who might be harmed and how;
3. Evaluate the risks and decide on precaution;
4. Record your findings and implement them; and
5. Review your assessment and update if necessary.

***UNISON members will be setting up a stall in the staff club on Wednesday 7^th November, from 12 midday until 2pm, to mark National Stress Awareness Day.  Amongst the many interesting items that will be on show, we will be giving away some stress-relieving toys.  So, come along and help yourself to a chill-out toy - but come early to avoid the stress of disappointment.***

Joint Higher Education Newsletter, October 2012

The autumn edition of a joint newsletter produced by UNISON at Southampton Solent University, University of Southampton and University of Winchester.

Open publication - Free publishing - More newsletter

Photos from Tolpuddle Festival 2012

Pictures taken by the University of Southampton UNISON branch at the Tolpuddle Martyrs festival, July 2012: