| UNISON City of Edinburgh Branch |
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| UNISON City of Edinburgh Local Government & Related Sectors Branch MINUTES of BRANCH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING held on 8 MARCH 2001 within CITY CHAMBERS, HIGH STREET, EDINBURGH (NOTE: The Branch Annual General Meeting scheduled for Monday 19 February 2001 was inquorate) There were 217 members in attendance. The meeting was chaired by J Galletta, the Branch President. In the absence of D Black, Branch Secretary due to family matters, the meeting agreed J Stevenson, Branch Vice Chairperson, be acting Secretary. 1. OPENING REMARKS/ INTRODUCTIONS The Chair advised the meeting was now quorate and outlined the format the meeting would take. The Chair made the following announcements: Election of Office Bearers - Service Conditions Officer Agnes Petkevicius is Education Department not Finance as printed. Election of Office Bearers - Welfare Officer The job-share candidates were Gillian Allan/Mike Smith, not Gillian Allan/Julie Harris as printed. Motion 3 - Pay Claim 2001 As a result of the pay offer being accepted this motion was now incompetent and would not be heard. The meeting accepted the following emergency motions: i. Pay Campaign Review "This Branch notes the anger and disappointment of many members at the latest pay offer and about the organisation of the dispute. It congratulates members in this branch for their solidarity, organisation and support for the strike action. This branch meeting acknowledges the view of some of its membership that during the current Pay Dispute there has been, at times, a lack of consultation with the membership prior to Scottish Local Government Forum meetings on how our delegates both contribute to debate and vote. We therefore call on the Branch Committee:
Irrespective of the result of the ballot, this Branch believes there is a need to review the campaign in detail and to learn lessons from it. This review should take place at the end of the dispute. The review should be extensive involving full consultation with and feedback to all Scottish Local Government Branches and examine all aspects including:
ii. Edinburgh Leisure Crèche Redundancies "This Branch condemns Edinburgh Leisure for the closure of five crèche facilities with the loss of 15 jobs and it condemns the City of Edinburgh Council for confirming those cuts at its Budget Meeting on 15 February. The loss of these facilities will exclude many people from using public services and will threaten our members with redundancy. This branch notes that this is a further example of the lack of accountability inherent in ‘arms-length' organisations. We therefore resolve to:
iii. Bombing of Iraq "This branch joins with the international condemnation of the illegal bombing of Baghdad on Friday 16 February. The regular bombings of Iraq by the United States and British armed forces is deemed illegal by the United Nations, Iraq is bombed in the so-called "no fly zones” on average 2 or 3 times a week, resulting in the last two years of the death of nearly 300 Iraqis. The constant aggression to the Iraqi people does not undermine the tyrannical dictatorship of Saddam Hussein and his government but has continued to bring misery and death to the people of Iraq. Due to "economic sanctions” that include the ban of exporting essential provisions such as food, medicine, educational goods and medical services to Iraq and the pollution from depleted uranium has meant that untimely death of 4-5 thousand Iraqis every month. Since the sanctions it is estimated that one million children have died. This branch pledges to join in campaigns condemning war and sanctions against Iraq and demanding the immediate withdrawal of British forces from illegal participation in the bombing of Iraq.” 2. APPOINTMENT OF SCRUTINEERS 3. STANDING ORDERS 4. MINUTES OF BRANCH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING - 29 FEBRUARY
2001 5. ANNUAL REPORT 6. FINANCIAL STATEMENT 7. REPORT ON PAY AND COUNCIL BUDGET He outlined how the dispute had developed and advised this had been the most complex and difficult dispute he had been involved in during his period as an activist. It was recognised we had not achieved all we had sought, we had made significant improvements on the employer's initial offer despite not having the support of other Trade Unions involved in the pay talks. There were lessons to be learnt and the Branch would be reviewing its own involvement as well as seeking a review at Scottish level. The Branch Vice Chair spoke on this year's Council Budget which initially had threatened cuts and closures which would impact particularly on Social Work. In the event the Council had presented a budget with no impact on services or jobs with the reduction in grant to Edinburgh Leisure being the exception. This had placed 15 jobs at risk in the Crèche provision of Edinburgh Leisure. The lobby at the Council had profiled this issue and further representations had been made at the Council meeting. The Council had determined a three year budget which on the surface protected jobs and services but the Branch required to be on its guard as reviews and reconfigurations had the potential to impact detrimentally on jobs and services. At this point it was AGREED Emergency Motion i. Pay Campaign Review be heard. Decision : On being put to the meeting the terms of the motion were AGREED. 8. ELECTION OF BRANCH OFFICERS Election results recorded were: International Officer 9. RULE CHANGES Replace all instances of "Departmental Committees” with "Shop
Stewards Committees”. Proposed by J Stevenson (Social Work)
and J Ross (Housing). Decision: 10. POLICY MOTIONS (i). Resource Crisis in Social Work Childrens Services "This Branch notes that members in the Social Work Department are working under intolerable stresses due to acute shortages of resources, especially in residential and foster care for children and young people. It also notes that preventative services, like children's centres, are constantly under threat from budget cuts. It notes that the Edinburgh Inquiry stated that: · Residential care should be a positive choice and to achieve that flexibility the Council has to accept that residential units need to operate under-capacity · The welfare of children in the Council's care is a corporate responsibility across the Council Despite these recommendations, this branch notes that members constantly face situations where they have to compromise standards of practice and which can potentially leave children at risk and employees vulnerable. These include: · Regular absence of resources to accommodate children who need to come into care for their own safety or the safety of others · Residential staff working under extreme pressure and having to comply with unacceptable practices like ‘hot bedding' whereby children are placed in another child's bed when they are away from the Unit · Residential staff having to work with young people who are inappropriately placed or mismatched with resources This branch believes that these problems contribute to a difficulty in recruiting staff. It also believes that there is a risk of blame being laid on individual staff due to circumstances outwith their control. This branch believes that this is a resource rather than organisation issue and that many aspects of service provision are only being sustained through staff goodwill. Key elements of the Edinburgh Inquiry cannot be met in the context of successive cuts to budgets and within the current funding arrangements for the Department. It calls on Branch Officers to: 1. Set up task groups of relevant members to gather evidence for a co-ordinated campaign to build public and political awareness of the crisis 2. Set up a confidential reporting system to allow members to report situations that may leave them vulnerable 3. Seek to work in partnership with initiatives coming from the British Association of Social Workers where these match UNISON aims and objectives 4. Call on the City of Edinburgh Council to recognise the corporate responsibility it accepted in the Edinburgh Inquiry recommendations and adequately fund the Social Work Department to fulfil those recommendations.” Decision: On being put to the meeting the terms of the motion were AGREED. (ii). Cuts in Social Work "This Branch states its opposition to the recent package of threatened closures and cutbacks in the Social Work Department. At the time of writing, it is not clear which places are threatened but the possibility is that children's centres, residential units for the elderly and/or a day centre for adults with learning difficulties are affected. Local councils are not given sufficient funding by central government to fund services properly. The service users and the public deserve more services not less. The money is available. Gordon Brown recently boasted of having £18 billion in the government's war chest. The cuts and possible redundancies follow from the council's refusal to pay a £5 minimum wage. Both attacks flow from a government which prefers policies in favour of business and increasing profits rather than meeting the needs of working people, policies which have seen the income gap widen and 1 in 3 people now living in poverty. This branch resolves to oppose this attack and agree to the following: 1. We recognise that any closure should involve wider layers than those providing the service. UNISON should initiate a public campaign involving the service-users, local communities, trade unionists and any member of the public opposed to the closure. A public meeting should be called as a first step in this process. 2. We recognise that industrial action and occupations will be a vital part of opposing this budget cut. Recent experience with the pay dispute proves that the council will not be willing to stand up to new Labour and that determined action by UNISON and other trade unions will be necessary.” Decision: On being put to the meeting the terms of the motion were AGREED. (iii). At this point precedence was sought and AGREED for the
Emergency Motion on Edinburgh Leisure Crèche redundancies.
Decision: On being put to the meeting the terms of the Emergency Motion were AGREED. (iv). Salary Protection in Job Evaluation "This meeting views with concern the potential for our existing agreement on Salary Protection to be undermined as a result of the implementation of Job Evaluation as part of Single Status. The Single Status Agreement provides Salary Protection for only 3 years in instances where posts are downgraded following Job Evaluation. Our current agreement with the council provides that protection without limit. We call upon Branch Officers to take whatever action required to ensure the current level of Salary Protection remains in place.” Decision: On being put to the meeting the terms of the motion were AGREED. At this point the Chair declared the meeting inquorate and the AGM was closed with all remaining motions and vacant Branch Officer posts being remitted to the Branch Committee for decision and action.
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