around the negotiating table and come up with a better offer. “I am pleased we now have a commitment around the living wage from the employers – this will be significant for our members on a low wage. We need to continue to build on this, especially for those on lower wages. We are still 16% worse off over the past five years, and many workers who are in employment still rely on benefits and foodbanks, so we will continue to negotiate and fight for a fair pay for all workers.”

UNISON local government members have voted to accept the revised pay offer – 70.8% of members voted yes, and 29.2% rejected it. The revised pay offer is a significant achievement as, after years of imposed pay awards; negotiators got the employers back to the agreed joint negotiating machinery to discuss the pay offer. It was also a major achievement for the branch and, importantly, the members, who put pressure on the employers and forced them to improve upon their original offer.

The strength and influence of UNISON was very clearly demonstrated, given the GMB and Unite played no part in this dispute. UNISON will be writing formally to the employers accepting the new proposal. Branch Secretary, Ailsa McDowell said: “I want to thank all the members who took the time to return their ballot paper in the first consultation and made it clear to the employers that the original, imposed, pay offer was simply not good enough. The fact that the majority of our members voted to take action because of it forced the employers to sit

Inside this issue:

Social Work Team

Meetings

2

Holiday Pay: Update 2

Your New Steward 3

Political Fund ballot 3

Thompsons Legal

Services

4

TTIP—A UNISON brief 4

NOVEMBER 2014 Join online at joinunison.org or call 0800 171 2193

Moray Local Government UNISON branch held open meetings for social work teams in Elgin, Keith and Buckie over the summer.

Members and non members were welcome to attend these meetings, which allowed the opportunity to discuss issues—including the recent case of contempt of court in which two social workers were found guilty.

Kate Ramsden, a children and families social worker and a member of UNISONs Social Work Issues Group led the discussions.

Kate explained that two Edinburgh social workers had been found in contempt of court for

restricting a mother’s access to her children, against conditions set by the court in April 2012. The social workers defied the sheriff’s original ruling that the children should have contact with their mother a minimum of twice a week. They complied at first, but, according to the Edinburgh branch of UNISON became “increasingly concerned” about the emotional effect on the children. UNISON emphasised that all decisions were taken in accordance with Edinburgh council’s normal processes and procedures. However, the sheriff held this to be an intentional breaching of her access

order and made the social workers subject to contempt proceedings, which she presided over. The judgement found the social workers guilty of contempt, but did not impose any further penalty. They were ruled to have obstructed the administration of justice through their actions, which “affronted the authority of the court and frustrated the rights of [the mother]”. Condemning the judgement, UNISONs Scottish organiser Dave Watson said: “Our social work members have an overriding duty to ensure that a child’s welfare is paramount in all that they do.

This is important – please read if you work on commission, work overtime, receive a bonus, shift premium or any other payment that is not paid for holiday periods. As reported in previous briefings, the European Court ruled in a UNISON case that workers should not suffer financially when they take annual leave. This means that if you receive any of the above payments or any other additional payments when you are at work (other than expenses) but

do not receive them for periods when you are on holiday, you may be able to claim back pay in respect of non-payment of these additional sums. Please contact the Branch immediately if the above applies to you and complete a CASE form. It is important that you contact your Branch and complete a CASE form if your employer has recently started to include any additional payments in your pay in your payslip as ‘holiday pay’ or if you have

just noticed that your pay has increased without explanation. You must act quickly. Most tribunal claims must be submitted within three months less one day of the date of the act complained of. In these circumstances, the act complained of is the failure to pay the additional sums for annual leave. If payments are now being made, time started to run from the date on which you were most recently paid holiday pay that did not include any additional sums.

Upon receipt of your CASE form, your claim will be considered and you will be contacted and advised as to whether your claim has reasonable chance of success.

“However, it seems the paramountcy of the wel-fare of the children is not considered relevant during contempt pro-ceedings. This is quite clearly a conflict of laws.”

In this case, UNISONs legal team and the branch supported the social workers.

UNISON IS ESSEN-TIAL COVER FOR THOSE IN SOCIAL WORK.

Branch Contact Details

Office Tel:

01343 563170 Mobile Tel:

07557 671490 E-mail:

unison@moray.gov.uk Grampian Resource Centre

Tel: 01224 620 624

If you would like your UNISON branch to visit your team to

have an informal chat about this issue, or

any other issue please get in touch with your

UNISON branch

POLIT ICAL FUND BALLOT : HAVE A VOICE, VOTE YES

“I have been a social worker since 1985 after leaving The Royal Navy. I have undertaken many roles and worked with many groups and individuals. I have also worked in the voluntary sector before joining The Moray Council in 2001. I decided to join UNISON as a member ,but after hearing how social workers were under represented, I wanted to make a difference to ensure the grass root workers voices were heard. I have recently completed by part 1 training and found it very informative and educational.

I would hope to make a difference by expressing the view of the members within social work and offer the appropriate support as required. I have come across may workers who feel intimidated by the system and individuals and do not feel they are able to express their viewpoints. I would hope to support individuals and teams to openly express their concerns without fear of retribution. It is my intention to encourage all workers to become members of UNISON as together we are able to effect real changes.”

FRANKIE BARTON: YOUR UNISON STEWARD Frankie Barton Steward & Social Worker Moray Branch

UNISON is calling on all our members to vote YES in the Political Fund ballot which opens on 1 November and closes on 30 November. This is NOT a vote for any political party, it is to contribute to campaigns to defend jobs, promote public services and other key political campaigns.

UNISON has a tradition of successful political campaigning both at national and at local level. The law says that unions must have a specific political fund to pay for such work and that a ballot has to be held every 10 years for it to continue. UNISON is unique in having two parts to its political fund. You can choose whether you want your political fund payment (which is a small part of your normal subs rate and does not cost you anything extra) to go into the General Political Fund (GPF), the Affiliated Political Fund (APF), or not to pay into the fund at all.

The ballot asks members to confirm these arrangements, which have been in operation since the formation of UNISON.

UNISON's National Executive Council is recommending a yes vote to keep a strong political voice for the union at European, national and local levels. Our political fund is what allows us to take campaigns into the political arena.

The ballot papers will be mailed out with U magazine in late October. For more information or if you have not received your ballot paper by 10 November please call 0800 0 857 857.

What is the political fund and how is it used? UNISON campaigns hard to defend jobs and decent employment standards, to promote public services and equality, and to protect the health and safety of our members. Much of the high profile political campaign work you see from UNISON is paid for by the general political fund (GPF) – defending the NHS and pensions, through to tackling racism and the BNP. But it’s not just the big things the GPF funds. All sorts of national and local projects and campaigns benefit from receiving funding this way; anti-cuts campaigns or local campaigns against hospital closures, for example.

UNISON needs to be able to continue to influence political decisions. Politicians make decisions that affect members’ jobs and the public services that are vital to our community, and the GPF is what enables UNISON to stand up for members and working people As our branch has members in it who pay into the GPF, the branch can apply for financial support for a political campaign or activity.

UNISON also needs to be able to campaign in the political arena, at Westminster, the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly, in Europe and at a local level too. The Affiliated Political Fund (APF) is known as Labour Link, and it funds work to take UNISON’s policies to the heart of the Labour party, promoting the Living Wage, decent pay and defending the NHS etc. Members have a choice about paying into the APF but only those who choose to do so can have a say over how the fund is used.

As part of the Members Benefits available to UNISON members a range of Legal services are available, including a free will service. Members should also bear in mind that they and their family members are entitled to pursue a claim if involved in a road traffic accident whilst driving, travelling as a passenger, cycling or if involved in an accident as a pedestrian. Here is an example: Successful Claim to MIB When Negligent Driver Could Not Be Traced Your member came to us following an accident out with the

course of his employment last year. He was involved in an RTA while driving a motorbike. As he proceeded to overtake a car, the car also pulled out and drove your member off the road. He sustained an injury to his neck and a concussion. The accident was reported to the police. Your member was unable to provide any details for the car which was involved in the accident. We obtained the police report and the police report also had no details of the car involved. The police report contained witness details and we wrote to the witnesses but they again were unable to provide any details of the driver or the car which was involved in the accident. A claim was intimated to the

Motor Insurers’ Bureau as the driver could not be traced. They carried out their investigations, including speaking to witnesses and sending your member for a medical examination. They advised that they were willing to offer £3,250 in settlement of your member’s injuries. The offer of £3,250 was discussed with your member and he advised that he was incredibly happy with this amount. He therefore advised us to accept this offer in full and final settlement of his claim. Your members should remember that we can assist them following a road traffic accident even if the driver is uninsured or cannot be traced. In circumstances like these we will pursue a claim

LEGAL SERVICES - A MEMBERSHIP BONUS!

WHAT IS THE TRANSATLANTIC TRADE AND INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP?

TTIP is designed to: Achieve mutual recognition of

regulations in areas such as manu-facturing, chemicals and pharma-ceuticals, food and environmental standards.

Open markets in the services sec-tor, including public services, to delivery from private companies.

Introduce investment protection provisions that include Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanisms which allow multina-tional corporate investors to chal-lenge government actions which they perceive as threatening to their investment.

Open up access to public procure-ment markets and eliminate pref-erential treatment to local suppli-ers.

Remove the last remaining tariffs on goods traded between the EU and the US.

TTIP is a different type of trade agree-ment because its main focus is on regula-tion and investor protection rather than tariff barriers to trade.

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a proposed trade deal between the EU and US. UNISON believes TTIP is a profound threat to public services, which will not only lead to further liberalisation but will make it harder for government to regulate private companies providing public services. It could effectively prevent a future government bringing those services back in-house. UNISON will be calling on the European Parliament and national governments to reject the deal if it includes: - The liberalisation of public services. We want all public services explicitly excluded from the scope of TTIP. In particular we want to ensure the ‘positive list’ approach towards liberalisation commitments is taken, so that only services specified in the agreement can be liberalised, rather than the ‘negative list’ approach, which means that only services that have been specifically excluded are safe. -The removal of the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism. ISDS has no place in a trade deal between two trading blocs with well-established legal systems and effective existing protections for investors. -The mutual recognition of regulatory standards that will inevitably lead to a lowering of established European regulations and which exist to protect workers, consumers and the environment. Furthermore, the European Parliament and national governments should not ratify any agreement unless it includes a commitment by the US to respect and implement the ILO core conventions.

GET IN TOUCH WITH YOUR BRANCH IF YOU WOULD LIKE THE FULL UNISON BREIFING