Membership Audit

Jobs lost but 771 new members join

Membership is holding up very well with hundreds of jobs lost but 771 new members joining in 1998. The level of recruitment shows just how hard we have to work to stand still. The reduction by 600 members is almost entirely due to job losses.

In 1996 we had 10,900 members. Since then the council has lost over 2,000 jobs, but membership has fallen by less than 1,500 and even some of this was due to more accurate figures. Add recruitment freezes (1,600 jobs in 1996) and the picture is that membership as a percentage of employees is holding up and growing. But we can still do better.

It has been difficult to calculate comparisons this year with all the departmental restructurings as can be seen from the notes below.

* Individual comparisons of departments marked thus (see below) would not reflect the true picture because of mergers, so a global comparison has been given.

Property Services largely became part of City Development, Housing Benefits are now in Finance. IT moved from Corporate Services to Finance. Strategic Policy now comes under Corporate Services. Recreation was divided by the advent of Edinburgh Leisure Trust.

NOTES: Associated Bodies includes Forth Road Bridge, Fire Board, LRT, Museums Council, Premier Meats. Corporate Services includes Catering & Cleaning DSOs. Voluntary Sector covers 186 employers, 14 with over 25 members. Further Education covers colleges, considering new or separate structures.

Membership Figures
at 31 December 1998

 Department  31.12.1997  31.12.1998  Var
 Associated Bodies 174   180   +6 
 Career Development 95 99    +4 
 *(Central Departments) 2,813 2,540    {-273 
  City Development 518   640   
  Corporate Services 879   824   
  Finance 269   394   
  Housing 795   682   
  Property Services 271   0   
  Strategic Policy 81  0   
 Education 1,096  1,063   -33 
 Envt & Cons. Services 296 274    -22 
 Further Education 589   457   -132 
 *Recreation 964    581 {-126 
 Edinburgh Leisure 0  257   
 Social Work 2,998   2,836  -162 
 Valuation Joint Board 138   138   0 
 Voluntary Sector 844   983   +139 
 Unallocated 25 15    -10 
 TOTAL 10,032    9,423 * -609 
  Student 30   34   +4 
 Unemployed 29   32   +3 
 Retired Members 653   677   +24
  10,744  10,166  -578 

Recruited 1/1/98 - 31/12/98 = 771 Officially resigned = 80
* See notes in the report on above.

Audit for proportionality and fair representation

The percentage of women on the Branch Committee is steadily improving although Manual & Craft women are still very under-represented. The change in officers actually reflects just two posts.

The figures are slightly clouded by the department breakdown, eg a two delegate department meets proportionality by having 50%. Job shares only count as one delegate and this distorts the Branch Officer figure.

Figures in brackets show 1997/8 figures

1. Women

 Branch  Branch Ctte  Officers  Stewards
 64% (63)  47% (46) 36% (47)   42% (43)


2. Branch Committee breakdown

Women, Manual & Craft and APT&C (and CO) breakdown at 31/12/98.

a) Women on dept. delegations
NOTE: (2) denotes only two delegates.

 Department  Should be  Actual
 Associated Bodies  34% (29%)  No reps.
 Careers (1)  77% (75%)  0%.
 City Development  23% (24%) 60%(66%) 
Corporate Services  68% (70%) 50%(50%) 
 Education  70% (69%)  50%(60%)
 Env & Consumer  27% (28%)  0% (0%)
 Finance (2)  58% (62%) 50%(50%) 
 Further Education  63% (63%)  No reps
 Housing  43% (47%)  75%(50%)
 Joint Valuation (2)  44% (41%)   0%(50%)
 Recreation  47% (50%)  33%(38%)
  Edinburgh Leisure  48% (Newly set up)  No reps yet
 Social Work  82% (83%)  75%(62%)
 Voluntary Sector  73% (72%)  100%(75%)

b) Manual/Craft on dept. delegations

 Department  Should be  Actual
 City Development  19% (26%)  22% (33%)
 Corporate Services  45% (52%)  16% (50%)
 Education 19% (19%)  25% (16%) 
 Env & Consumer  32% (33%)  0% (0%)
 Finance 0% (0%)    0% (0%)
 Housing  9% (11%) 0% (0%) 
 Joint Valuation Board  0% (0%)  0% (0%)
 Recreation  33% (36%)  25% (37%)
 Edinburgh Leisure  46% (newly set up)  
 Social Work  38% (39%)  41% (0.2%)
 Voluntary Sector  5% (0.4%)   0% (0%)

c) Manual & Craft breakdown

% of Branch Membership = 28% (29%)

% of Branch Committee = 14% (13%) (Conditions drift should be noted with Manual jobs being regraded to APT&C)

d) Women on Manual/Craft delegations

% of Women among Manual & Craft members = 61% (61%)

% of Women among Manual & Craft delegates to Branch Committee = 40% (18%)

e) APT&C (and CO) breakdown

% of Branch Membership = 72% (65%)

% of Branch Committee = 86% (76%)

f) % Women on APT&C delegations

% of Women among APT&C members = 65% (63%)

% of Women among APT&C delegates to Branch Committee= 42% (51%)

Conditions breakdowns show the percentages where conditions are known. There are a large number of members, especially in Associated and other bodies where the conditions category is not clear. There are 110 members where gender is not recorded.

Stewards breakdown by conditions not available. Machinery not yet in place to identify shift workers, disabled, lesbian or gay, or black members. Figures for part time and job share are unreliable.

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