REMINDER - BRANCH AGM

Dear UNISON member

The annual general meeting of your branch is in Islesburgh Community Centre, this Friday (14 March) at 12 noon.

We are lucky this year to have Mike Kirby, UNISON’s Scottish secretary, as our main speaker. Mike is Scotland’s top full time official in UNISON. He took over as Scottish Secretary in December 2010 after serving as Scottish Convener - Scotland’s lead lay activist - since the merger that created UNISON. He was president of the Scottish Trade Union Congress in 2011/12.

Lynne Duncan, our regional officer, based in Aberdeen, will also be present.

There will be the usual buffet following the meeting and a gift for all those who attend.  I hope you make every attempt to come to along, to hear what has been going on and what might be happening from now on.

We are always on the lookout for new stewards and officials – do consider getting active in UNISON. The more active members we have, the more of a difference the union can make. Training is always available.

Best wishes

Brian Smith

Branch Chair

BRANCH AGM UPDATE

The branch are delighted to announce that Mike Kirby, Scottish Secretary, will be speaking at this years meeting. Mike is Scotland’s top full time official. He took over as Scottish Secretary in December 2010 after serving as Scottish Convener - Scotland’s lead lay activist - since the merger that created UNISON. Mike was also for many years one of Scotland’s lay Regional reps to National Conference. He was 2011/12 STUC President.

Our fabulous Regional Officer, Lynne Duncan shall also be attending. Lynne's support to the branch is crucial in helping reps and officers support our members in the issues that affect them during their working lives.

BRANCH AGM

This years Branch AGM will be held in Room 16, Islesburgh Community Centre at  on Friday 14th March 2014 at 12pm and will be followed by a buffet lunch.  A small gift will be presented to all those who attend.

 

Management have granted time off to attend so please give line managers ample notice of your wish to attend.

 

As always we would love to hear from anyone who is interested in participating in the branch, whether it be a workplace contact or a branch officer.  Our national campaign states 'we are worth it', so help us spread the message.

 

If you have anything you would like to see on the agenda please get in touch.

 

We look forward to seeing you there.

 

Kind regards

 

 

Tracey Leith

Branch Secretary

Shetland Local Services Branch

unisonslg@btconnect.com

01595 696668

Scottish Pension Reforms

Local authority employers and trade unions have reached emphatic agreement on the new design of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) in Scotland.
The movement to a Career Average Valuation will ensure that those at the lowest end of the pay scale and particularly female employees will benefit from a fairer and sustainable pension.  Scotland’s Councils are one of Scotland’s largest employers, employing over 280,000 people.
The new scheme design will go a significant way to ensure that those employees can make a decent provision for their retirement.  COSLA Leaders approved the new scheme design in September 2013 and now UNISON has confirmed that they had received an overwhelmingly positive response to the new design with a 94% positive response to the ballot.

Councillor Kevin Keenan COSLA’s Finance Spokesman said:

"Whilst we felt we already had a sustainable and fair Local Government Pension Scheme in Scotland, the reform process did over an opportunity for local authorities as Employers to ensure that the Scheme provided important support for employees at the lower end of the pay scale and reflects the unique demographics of our workforce whilst remaining affordable and sustainable.  The positive ballot result from the Trade Union Side is a welcome confirmation that the new scheme design is a positive change and reflects a very constructive approach between all parties."

Dave Watson, Scottish Organiser (Bargaining and Campaigns) at Unison said:

“Whilst the local government trade unions, UNISON, GMB, Unite and UCATT regard the reform of the Scottish LGPS as an unnecessary interference by the UK Government in the operation of a pension scheme that had been updated as recently as April 2009, our approach has been to minimise the impact of the changes imposed by the UK Government and maintain the main elements of the uniquely Scottish approach. The main aim was to protect and improve pension benefits for the majority of members without increasing contributions. Such an increase would simply drive members away from pension provision at a time of pay cuts and other economic pressure. We hope the new scheme will attract new members, particularly women and those at the lower end of the pay scale who are most likely to suffer by not having a secure pension in retirement. In doing so we believe we have a sustainable and affordable scheme for the longer term.”

The key changes to the new scheme are:

• Move from Final Salary to Career Average Pension Scheme
• Increase in accrual rate from 1/60ths to 1/49ths.
• Retaining existing ill health and death in service benefits.
• Introducing a 50/50 option allowing employees to pay 50% of contributions for 50% benefits.
• Introduction of an Employers' cost cap mechanism to ensure the future affordability and sustainability of the scheme.
• Equality in partner pensions for co-habiting and civil partners as with married couples

Xmas Spree!

UNISON Shetland Local Services are delighted to be working with Oceana Productions to offer UNISON Members a Xmas Spree on Friday 20^th December from 7pm.  

The event will be at Mareel and features a great line up of bands, including local heroes The Revellers, Blondie tribute act Bleachie, and rip-roaring ska outfit The Amphetameanies.

Members can buy tickets from Friday from Shetland Box Office outlets at Mareel or Isleburgh for the concessionary price of £14!  Tickets must be bought in person.  It should be a great night, so make sure and get your tickets.  See you there!

Screenplay 2013

UNISON Shetland Local Services are delighted to be supporting this years Screenplay Festival by sponsoring a one-off screening of The Happy Lands.

The Happy Lands is set during the General Strike strike of 1926, and explores the impact of severe austerity measures by a Liberal Conservative coalition government. The screening will be followed by a question and answer session with the director, Robert Rae.

The first 20 branch members to accept this invitation by email to the branch at unisonslg@btconnect.com will receive a FREE ticket.

Further details of the movie can be found on our facebook page or here: 

http://www.shetlandarts.org/whats-on/festivals/screenplay

See you there!

LOCAL GOVERNMENT PAY BALLOT

The Pay Ballot closed on 13^th August and resulted in a very narrow rejection of moving towards a programme of industrial action in support of an improved offer. 49.78% voted in favour of industrial action and 50.22% voted against.

The Scottish Local Government Committee met this morning to consider the outcome and agreed that UNISON will not take industrial action over pay this year. It was also agreed to inform the employers that we should now accept the 1% offer and the introduction of the Living Wage, inform the employers of this, and press for an early payment date.

Whilst the result of this ballot means that members have voted to reject industrial action over the current one year deal, there was a substantial vote for a strike. Our members in local government voted by 3:2 in an earlier consultative ballot to reject the 1% pay offer which is effectively a further pay cut.

Clearly our local government members fear for the security of their jobs and the pressure on the vital services we provide to our communities. This is on the back of job losses in local government upwards of 35,000 over the last three years. This is clearly a very difficult climate that our members are working under.

Whilst at this stage our members have rejected taking industrial action, there was however a substantial vote in favour of strike action, this together with the campaign and resources that we developed over the past months will form a substantial platform to build on and move forward with a real impetus to push pay to the top of the bargaining agenda.

Finally thanks to all our members and activists who participated in this long running campaign, whilst it did not provide the result we had hoped for it has provided the basis for moving pay forward next year.