Location: Shimkent Room, Daneshill House
Present: Employer Side: Councillors: K. Vale (Employer Side Chair - in the Chair), R.A. Clark, R.G. Parker, S. Taylor. Staff Side: Pam Chapman (UNISON), Jim Brown (UNISON), Gary Palmer (AMICUS/UCATT), Peter Terry (UNISON).
Others: Bill Welch, Assistant Chief Executive and D. Williams, Acting in charge of Personnel (as advisers to the Employer Side) and Ian Gourlay (Committee Administrator).
Duration:
Start: 6.00pm
End: 7.25pm
Status: Noted
Business: Staff Side: Courtney Giles (UNISON), Darron Nicholson (T&GWU) and Mark Roberts (UNISON).
The Employer Side Chair announced that the Head of Personnel Services (Alan Durham) was currently in hospital undergoing major surgery. Both Sides of the Committee asked for their best wishes to be conveyed to Alan for a speedy recovery.
At this juncture, the Employer Side Chair stated that, in a similar fashion to the previous two meetings, the Employer Side would not be attempting to respond at the meeting to the items raised by the Staff Side. Instead, the Employer Side would provide responses either at the next meeting or in writing before the next meeting. Whilst acknowledging this, the Staff Side Secretary commented that the Staff Side expected a two-way dialogue with the Employer Side at JCC meetings and hoped this would be the last meeting at which the Employer Side operated in this manner.
Decision:
Status: Agreed
Business:
Decision: It was RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 9th January 2003, having been circulated, be taken as read,confirmed and signed by the Employer Side Chair as a correct record.
Status: Noted
Business: The Staff Side Chair expressed the thanks of the Staff Side to Chief Officer Board that the NJC Parental Leave Policy (see Minute 10 of the meeting held on 9th January 2003) had recently been adopted by the Council, and requested the Employer to advise all employees of this.
Decision:
Status: Noted
Business: The Staff Side Secretary referred to Minute 10 of the meeting of the Committee held on 17th December 2002, whereby the Employer Side had been asked to provide a written account of why it had been decided to abandon the work undertaken at SBC using the jointly agreed computerised Job Evaluation (JE) Scheme; to confirm the Council's intentions with regard to JE; and to provide commitment to a timetable for implementation. The meeting had also noted that the Staff Side was in the process of seeking expert advice on the Council's proposed new JE scheme.
The Staff Side Secretary stated that, notwithstanding the letter of response sent by the Head of Personnel Services on 24th January 2003, the Staff Side was still awaiting an answer on the above issues. He re-iterated that an explanation was expected from the Employer Side as to the reasons why the computerised scheme (with agreed conventions) had been abandoned in favour of a new scheme, with changed conventions. He added that UNISON had now received expert advice, and would be advising the Employer that they had significant reservations about the Employer's proposed new scheme.
Decision:
Status: Noted
Business: A member of the Staff Side referred to Minute 13 of the meeting of the Committee held on 17th December 2003, raised again at the meeting held on 9th January 2003, regarding a number of anomalies in the contracts of employment of some staff who were not fully covered by NJC Terms and Conditions of Employment, for example contracts that excluded provisions for premium payments for overtime, weekend, bank holiday, evening and night working, sleep over, call-out and standby duties and essential car user allowances being applied pro-rata to part-time employees.
The Staff Side Secretary re-iterated his previous comment that should the Staff Side not receive a commitment to rectify the above anomalies by the 1st April 2003 then he would be referring the matter to the Regional Joint Secretaries.
The Employer Side was unable to give a commitment to meet the 1st April 2003 deadline, but asked the Staff Side to provide the information they had on the anomalies so that they could be considered as soon as possible.
Decision:
Status: Noted
Business: The Staff Side Secretary advised that the Government had recently announced the introduction of legislation to outlaw the two-tier workforce. He reminded the Employer Side that UNISON had been seeking discussions with them since 2001 for the incorporation of a 'fair wages' clause in the Council's Procurement Policy.
It was noted that although local authorities had been granted the power to insert 'fair employment' clauses into service contracts since the amendment to Part II of the Local Government Act 1988, the Council's position was that it believed it was inappropriate to require contractors to apply NJC terms and SBC terms and conditions to new starters. The Staff Side Secretary advised the Employer Side that that policy would now be unlawful under the Government's new legislation and again invited the Employer Side to enter into discussions and negotiations with the Staff Side on UNISON's 'Fair Wages' proposals, including the compelling of contractors to obtain Open Admitted Body Status to the Local Government Pension Scheme.
Decision:
Status: Noted
Business: The Staff Side Chair asked for formal consultation from the Employer Side as to whether the Council would be applying the terms of the recent National Agreement on Continuous Service, whereby any ex-Council worker who had been transferred to a private contractor under TUPE within the last six years and had subsequently returned to a local authority would be counted as having continuous service. The Staff Side requested the Employer to advise all employees of their entitlement under this condition.
Decision:
Status: Noted
Business: The Staff Side Secretary referred to the Employer Side Chair's recent letter to him regarding Union requests for officers to convey comments and information on committee reports to elected Members. He commented that this letter did not contain the requested assurance that officers would comply with such requests, but instead asked the Staff Side to only make comments to JCC Employer Side Members.
The Staff Side Secretary stated that if officers were not prepared to convey the Staff Side's comments and information to Councillors then the only recourse open to the Staff Side was to write directly. He added that, in some instances, it would be more appropriate for the Staff Side to direct their comments to the respective Portfolio Holder responsible for a particular area, rather than JCC Members. However, he asked once again for a commitment and an assurance from the Employer Side that officers would be instructed to convey the Staff Side's information and comments on committee reports to Elected Members.
Decision:
Status: Noted
Business: The Staff Side Chair referred to Minute 21 of the meeting of the Committee held on 27th September 2001, whereby the Employer Side had asked for a progress report to be submitted to its next meeting regarding consultation with the Unions on matters delegated to officers. No such progress report had been submitted to the Committee since that meeting.
The Staff Side Secretary requested that the Employer Side enter into discussions with the Staff Side on a mechanism/framework for consultation on matters delegated to officers, with a view to a progress report being submitted to a JCC meeting in the near future.
Decision:
Status: Noted
Business: The Staff Side Secretary advised that, notwithstanding a meeting he had attended with the Assistant Chief Executive (Policy & Communications) on 5th February 2003, he had not been formally advised of the Best Value Reviews to be carried out in 2003/04, nor had he been informed of the plans for Trade Union involvement in these Reviews. He requested a written answer on these two issues.
Decision:
Status: Noted
Business: Use of Ingelheim Lounge
The Staff Side Secretary commented that for many years UNISON had been permitted to use the Ingelheim Lounge for its Annual General Meeting. However, when attempting to book the lounge in 2003, UNISON had been refused permission. The Staff Side Secretary asked for an explanation as to why this facility had been withdrawn without any consultation or period of notice.
Decision:
Status: Noted
Business: It was noted that the next and subsequent meetings of the Committee would form part of the 2003/04 Municipal Year, the Calendar for which had yet to be agreed.
Decision: