Welcome to UNISON, our Trade Union. We support and protect almost 1.3 million working people, with over 10,000 members in the Leeds Local Government Branch and offer a huge range of benefits to our members (if you are not already a member join UNISON now). Our branch is run by a committed group of individuals who believe passionately in public services and the public sector ethos.
Would you like to work serving and pouring beer at the biggest festivals such as Leeds and Glastonbury?
Workers Beer Company, founded in 1986 by the Battersea & Wandsworth Trades Council has been raising money for the trade union and labour movement.
As a volunteer, you would usually work three 6 hour shifts per day (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). The shifts would alternate between daytime and evening so you will get to see some of your favourite bands when you’re not working.
For your work you’ll get a couple of drinks after every shift and you’ll also get meal vouchers so you won’t have to spend too much at the festival.
The way it works is that for every hour of your shift, Workers Beer Company would donate £6.50 to our branch.
You’ll also have the safety of our own campsite; the Workers Beer Village, with clean toilets, showers and its own subsidised canteen and bar.
So, if you, your friends, or you think your son or daughter and their friends would be interested in going, then drop the branch a line or e-mail us and get your names on the list.
(28/07/11) You should have received a letter or an email from your employer – Leeds City Council – serving you with 90 days notice of a variation to your employment contract. This relates to changes to the Managing Workforce Change procedures and is part of the Council’s response to the Governments massive cuts to Local Authority funding that requires Leeds City Council to reduce its workforce by about 3000 f.t.e. staff by 2014.
The changes, relating to the amount of time that displaced workers will spend in the
redeployment process before being made redundant and the length of any Pay Protection
period, were put out for ballot by the Council’s unions. UNISON members voted by a very
large majority to reject the proposals. The other unions – GMB, Unite and UCATT – voted to
accept the changes. This has meant that the Council and the unions cannot enter into a
Collective Agreement and agree to the changes being made.
The Council, in the absence of a unanimous decision by the unions, is therefore making the
changes, and is doing so by issuing 90 days notice (a legal requirement) that the changes
will be made with effect from 1st November 2011.
Leeds UNISON is seeking legal advice regarding the legality of these changes.
The branch will continue to work with the other unions and the employer to seek to deal with
the Government onslaught on public services to avoid our members being made compulsory
redundant. That is the challenge we face.
Please see here information about our campaign to defend Pensions.
We will be able to protect ourselves from the threats to our jobs, pensions, pay and the services we provide if more workers are in the union, so try to recruit a non-union member to join UNISON - together we are stronger!
Brian Mulvey
Branch Secretary
'We believe that the best public services in the city will be provided by a
confident, motivated and highly skilled workforce where every individual has
the opportunity to develop to their full potential'
Unison is a full partner in the scheme and shares this commitment to providing learning opportunities for our members. This gives us an excellent opportunity to support our members in accessing lifelong learning so that they can improve their quality of life as well as their skills for life and for work.
Glen Pickersgill and Ian Burton are Unison's Lifelong Learning Officers and we have a number of Union Learning Representatives (ULRs), myself included, scattered around the authority.
In time there will be a lead Unison ULR in each directorate. Until then Ian and I are sharing the lead role with Glen's support.
There is also a full time Union Learning Coordinator who is John Clark from GMB. ULRs will be provided with support in the form of regular meetings within Unison learning and the wider joint trade union forum.
We need more Union Learning Reps!
I was told in my ULR training that PCS, the civil service union, like to have a ULR for every 10 or 20 members. That may be a little ambitious to start with, but we can definitely aim for more than we have at the moment.
This is how you can help
It is not necessary for a ULR to be involved in Unison already - as long as they are a member. In fact it is a great way for us to get more members involved with Unison. It's a really positive and interesting role and the training is excellent and very fulfilling. The right to time off for ULR training is enshrined in law and has been agreed by Leeds City Council so it's really easy to get the time off for training too. It's a good role for someone who wants to get more involved with Unison but doesn't want the confrontation involved with being a workplace rep or steward.
So if you know of any Unison member who would like to become a ULR drop me an email.
As a steward you are also welcome to become a ULR - you just need to remember to keep the roles separate as they are completely different This is covered in the training so don't worry about it at this stage.
If you're interested in becoming a ULR please send me an email.
Finally if any of your members have learning needs please ask them to contact me by email and I will arrange for a ULR to meet them and try to get some training organised. All enquiries are in strictest confidence and most learning is free of charge.
Please share this with all your members.
Anne Robinson
Unison Learning Representative
Tel: 0113 3760179
anne.robinson@leeds.gov.uk
(30.06.11) The Ballot on the Council’s proposals relating to Workforce Change and Pay Protection has been completed. The “return rate” was 31.3%. The outcome was 85% voting NO and 14.5% voting YES.
The other three unions voted to accept the Council proposals.
Leeds UNISON will not therefore sign a Collective Agreement to make changes to Service Conditions. Leeds City Council have been informed. The Branch is committed to seek to ballot for strike action if the Council seeks to impose the changes to Service Conditions on our members.
(23/05/11) Leeds UNISON is running several training courses this year and there are currently places available for stewards. Legislation states that training must be undertaken to enable you to fulfil your role as a steward and you also need to undergo training to become a fully accredited UNISON steward. Read more here...
Pay more, work longer, get less.
Many public service workers are being asked to pay more in pension contributions by an average of over 50%. You're being asked to work longer, as the retirement age for public service workers is set to increase. And you'll get less. By using the Consumer Price Index (CPI) instead of the Retail Price Index (RPI) anyone getting their pension could be 8.5% worse off by 2017. And the extra money isn't being used to improve pension schemes for the future, it's going straight to the Treasury to pay for the bankers' crisis.
Leeds UNISON Walking Group
The Groups has a different walk each month, apart from August. Everyone is welcome, not only UNISON members, so encourage your family, friends and colleagues to come along. The walks are on a Sunday starting at 10.15am and range from 4 miles to 9 miles. If you would like to be included on the mailing list for information please contact the branch office on 0113 245 8442 or for more information contact Stephen Johnson on 0113 267 5487.
