http://www.unison.org.uk/local-government-and-school-support-workers-strike-suspended
I would like to apologise for our national negotiators.
That is all.
For now.
Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone on the EE network.
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Three years ago I begged our branch secretary not to put the county council's re-organisation package to the vote. I knew that the members WOULD ACCEPT redundancies, pay cuts & freezes, a loss of sick pay, the removal of Fringe pay (London Weighting) and overtime premiums, overtime itself, and lower rates for redundancy pay. They would stomach all of this for the promise of fewer job losses. The branch secretary assured me that the members would not stand for such draconian measures and would undoubtedly vote them out. They voted them in. I fear history is about to repeat itself.
I'd be interested to know the demographic of UNISON - the relative percentages of....shall we just say backroom (admin. and managerial) and front line? I suspect that, despite all we hear, a lot of members of the former group, disgruntled as they may be, are still doing relatively o.k. They are not desperate. I'm sure they will vote for the new proposals and if they do Unison is surely a dead duck, if it isn't already.
I share your pain.
Why apologise for the national negotiators?
They did not call off the strike.
The NJC committee did.
That is all.
For now.
Brian Stratton wanted to suspend the strike based on the last offer. There has been nothing on the GMB website about the strike - so they seemed set to push to end the action. "Suspend" - you can't turn these things on and off. We are already 6.5 months after the settlement date, having taken just one day of action. UNISON has a majority on the NJC - but we are probably playing to the lowest common denominator in order to maintain unity (in defeat). We have a leadership that is basically incapable of leading and want a quiet life.
In relation to the first anonymous comment I will say that it is quite obvious that one of our national negotiators is being stitched up, as she is a perceived threat to an incumbent General Secretary some of whose supporters have been the most energetic campaigners to kill off this pay campaign so that she can be blamed.
I'll be surprised if anything gets agreed before next April. Working for a Council (Essex) which is currently consulting on taking us out of the NJC (giving us the lovely options of opting into performance related pay or being 'dismissed and re-engaged'), would we still be able to get whatever the national agreement is for this year if it isn't agreed until next year?
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