Local government employers in Scotland impose pay freeze
31 August 2010
Unions have reacted angrily to the decision by the COSLA Scottish local government employers to impose a pay freeze on 150,000 council workers. COSLA had offered a three-year deal with 1% in 2010, 0% in 2011 and 0.5% in 2012. This was rejected by unions but instead of negotiating the employers have moved to impose a worse deal with a 0.65% increase this year followed by two years of pay freeze.
Read more at > UNISON (EN)
And at > Unite (EN)
And at > Herald news site (EN)
Union attacks scale of fixed-term staff in civil service
31 August 2010
The PCS civil service union has criticized the ministerial employers for using over 4,000 fixed-term workers across 20 departments. The union campaigns for fixed-term staff to be given permanent contracts and argues that these workers are often employed on different pay and conditions from those of permanent workers.
Read more at > PCS (EN)
Tribunal ruling backs union’s equal pay claim
17 August 2010
Healthcare assistants, domestic supervisors and reception staff, overwhelmingly women, working at a National Health Service Trust have won an Employment Appeal Tribunal case on equal pay. The case backed by the UNISON public services union argued that the women were paid lower rates for unsocial hours working on Saturdays and Sundays when compared to men in comparable jobs. The ruling could be important for women working in other Trusts where there are differences in unsocial hours payments.
Read more at > UNISON (EN)
Rejection of local government deal in Scotland - dispute in rest of UK
4 August 2010
Local government union members in Scotland have voted by a massive majority to reject a three-year agreement that would have provided increases of 1% this year, followed by a pay freeze and then 0.5% in 2012. The local government unions, UNISON, GMB and Unite, will meet to discuss their pay campaign. Meanwhile, the same unions have registered a dispute with local government employers in the other main agreement that covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Unions are angry that employers are maintaining the pay freeze, refusing to pay low paid workers the £250 approved by the coalition government, and also recommending local deals to undermine the national agreement.
Read more on Scotland at > UNISON
And on the other local government agreement at > UNISON
Unions argue the case for public sector pensions
4 August 2010
In the face of widespread attacks on public sector pensions, unions are putting together their evidence for the government-appointed Hutton committee that has been charged with reviewing the system. The PCS civil service union has submitted a detailed report setting out how recent changes to the civil service pension scheme have been acknowledged by the National Audit Office as putting it on a sustainable footing. The Unite union argues that the government has already pre-judged the review by changing the way that public sector pensions are protected against inflation.
Read more at > PCS
And at > Unite
Unions win €1.2 million for privatised care workers
21 July 2010
The UNISON and GMB public service unions have won €1.2 million in compensation for 117 care workers who had new contracts imposed on them by the Excelcare company when it won a contract from Essex County Council in the South East of England. The workers saw their pay cut by 40% at the time of privatisation. The unions pursued the matter through the courts using the TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings) Regulations based on the European Acquired Rights Directive.
Read more at > UNISON
And at > GMB
Government plans cuts to civil service redundancy scheme
21 July 2010
The PCS civil service union may return to the courts to defend the current redundancy compensation scheme. The union won two court rulings against the previous government that had tried to change the scheme without proper negotiation. Despite those rulings, the new coalition government is pushing through legislation to cut the scheme. PCS is also challenging the government’s claims about the scheme, arguing that it has exaggerated the levels of compensation by focusing on the maximum payments for those with the longest service.
Read more at > PCS
Local government employers refuse pay rise for lowest paid
5 July 2010
The Coalition government recently announced a two-year pay freeze for public sector workers on an annual salary of £21,000 (€25,300) or more. However, unions have criticized the local government employers for refusing to pay even a £250 increase to those below that threshold.
Read more at > UNISON (EN)
Civil service union wins second court ruling on redundancy scheme
21 June 2010
Following its earlier victory over the government, the PCS civil service union has won a second High Court ruling over the redundancy compensation scheme. After the first ruling the government was supposed to agree changes to the scheme with the union. However, the two sides didn’t agree and in this second ruling the court has said that most of the government-imposed changes (apart from those dealing with age discrimination) to the scheme are null and void. The new coalition government will now have to negotiate with the union if it wants to make any changes to the scheme.
Read more at > PCS (EN)
Equal pay ruling could be major breakthrough
1 June 2010
Public services union UNISON believes that a ruling by an Employment Appeal Tribunal in Edinburgh could be a major breakthrough in its campaign for equal pay. Local authorities have tried to block claims by arguing that the jobs being compared have to be at the same workplace or covered by the same pay and conditions agreements. This ruling challenges that argument and means that some occupations, such as classroom assistants that are dominated by women can be more easily subjected to an equal pay comparison.
Read more at > UNISON (EN)
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