NEW BRANCH TEAM TO FIGHT ON BEHALF OF OUR MEMBERS

Message from the new Branch Secretary. Welcome to this edition of the UNISON Barnsley Health newsletter and my first ever attempt at being a journalist, I don’t think I will be ready for News international. I never realised how difficult it is to write a piece for a newsletter.

It has been a busy year here at Barnsley Health UNISON. One of the major events to affect us at the branch is Barnsley PCT has transferred to SWYFT (South West Yorkshire Foundation Trust) in July 2011. Unfortunately with the PCT moving to SWYFT, the branch secretary, chairman and PCT stewards had to leave our branch as well and join our sister branch. This left the branch requiring a new branch secretary, chairman, and a need to fulfil other branch officer positions. With support from the regional organiser and our outgoing branch secretary the branch reformed and with a strong membership set out to support our members both in the Barnsley Hospital (trust) and the local nursing homes.

The branch has had to hit the ground running, as the trust have gone all out in restructuring the hospital and putting our members at risk of being made redundant or to be re-banded to a lower banding. The process that Management fails to identify the emotions and feelings of those who are at risk of being subjected to this restructuring. Some of you have been in the same post for a number of years and are doing the job extremely well and now you are going through this period of uncertainty of whether you will be made redundant or down banded. This is wrong, we all know from experience that this management will expect you to do the same job but on a lower salary in part of the cost cutting exercise. Ultimately the losers will be you and the patients we all care for either directly in the clinical setting or indirectly through support services.

The only people who appear to be safe from this form of management this restructuring is the management. The trust could save a lot of money if they got one director to the job of 2 directors.

The branch has taken this very seriously and have organised a task force to fight the corner of our members. The task force will be lead by our lead steward Liz Mawson and supported by our chairman Val Rimmington and steward Kat Holloway.

The branch officers and stewards have been busy as well attending sick reviews, one to one’s disciplinary, grievances. Attend meetings as delegates of staff side.
See overleaf for a taste of what some of our branch officers and stewards have been involved in over the past couple of months.

Mollie Crookes who has been a welfare officer for several years. Any financial concerns etc, Mollie is the person to chat with. If you do see Mollie it is totally private and confidential. We have a dedicated Health and Safety Officer in Darren Nunn who has completed several work place assessments and the management has acted on his advice. We are also interested in expanding the Health and Safety role due to the increasing demand to do workplace assessments. Our new Treasurer is Phil Bell; he is coming into the role from very little financial experience. Phil is looking forward to the challenges of the new role and we will give him our full support. He is also a good UNISON advocate and steward. We have other stewards who are working hard with our members completing sickness reviews, grievances, and disciplinaries. I hope you will give them your full support in doing this difficult but rewarding role. In the near future the officers and stewards will do a small resume’ about themselves and have it on our website.

It appears I have been elected into one of the hardest officers positions within the branch. I am unknown to a lot of my members within the trust and until I can do a walk around you should know who I am: It is very difficult to talk about myself, so here goes:

I am Gordon Kelly; I am a staff nurse in the medical unit. I qualified as a nurse in 1995 and nursing has been my work and life since then. I attended Sheffield Hallam University and gained a LLB (Hons) degree. I have always been a supporter of UNISON and been a member since around 1992. I have asked myself several times why UNISON and not another union and I believe it is because UNISON has actively worked hard to support and protect those who are easily discriminated against and the unions’ policy’s appeal to me. I believe in equality and diversity what happens internationally will inevitably affect the trust and staff within the trust. It does not matter what your age is, where you come from or what sexual orientation you might be. What is important is we work side by side giving our very best in an ever increasing stressful work environment. The job we do is hard enough without being prejudice against another person for some reason or another.

As the branch continues to fight the cause on behalf of our members, I ask all members to have a small amount of consideration for your stewards. Try to give them some notice if you want a UNISON Steward to attend a meeting and give you support. The earlier you contact branch and get representation, the easier it will be to prepare the case and to support you, the member through the process.

Barnsley Health UNISON Branch is here to stay and fight the cause on behalf of its members and will continue to do so. We will always extend our open Arms to help and support a member in becoming a Steward or those who just want to be involved in the campaigns. Liz or Gordon a call and we will gladly assist in any way.

Ed Replies...

Gareth Everton lead Occupational Therapy representative for the Yorkshire and Humber region wrote to Ed Milliband, Leader of the Labour Party, to offer the support of Barnsley Health UNISON in the party’s continued fight to save the NHS from the Conservative lead government’s ideological cuts agenda.

Ed wrote back to reiterate the fact that the NHS is vital to the wellbeing of our nation and one of the proudest institutions of our country. He went on to say:

There is little reason to believe that wholesale transfer of £80 billion to GPs will enhance accountability.

Although Labour did use the public sector to deliver service for NHS patients, the proposals take us to a new arena with the prospect of private companies commissioning services on behalf of GPs.

Nobody voted for these proposals, they were in neither party’s manifesto. Before the election David Cameron promised there would be no top-down reorganisation of the NHS.

The plans have been condemned by patients groups, professionals and experts as wasteful, unnecessary and damaging to the NHS.

The Prime Minister has launched a “listening exercise” however at the same time the Department of Health continues to plough ahead with its reckless reorganisation.

Ed confirmed that he has suggested amendments to the legislation to offer 5 basic NHS safeguards:

Protect the NHS against the full force of UK and EU competition law.

Protect patients by re-instating the 18 week waiting times guarantee.

Abandon the breaking up of commissioning into hundreds of small GP consortia.

Ensure that commissioners make decisions in the interests of patients and prevent commissioners making private profits or commissioning services from themselves.

Safeguard NHS services to prevent the full commercialisation of foundation trusts.

Barnsley & District Schools FA under 12s have been sponsored by Unison for 5 years now and once again have been successful winning the Michael Dale trophy.

The Association provides the opportunity for children who attend a Barnsley School to represent their school at District level playing against other District School teams from Under 11s to Under 15s.

Players progress from the Association to Football League clubs and again this season we have seen five players signed by Barnsley FC, one at Scunthorpe, one at Sheffield Wednesday.

UNISON Barnsley Health were very fortunate this year, as we were able to send 3 delegates to the National Delegate Conference (NDC). The Delegates were Tony Wright, Liz Mawson and Kat Holloway and they attended the 5 day conference at Manchester Central. To add to the achievements Tony was able to stand on the conference podium and discuss the issue of “Organising in UNISON”.

You can see it for yourself on www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU0ptwPrnwY.

Liz and Kat have given a brief written account of their 5 day conference and from what they have said to me I have got my name to go next year. This is what they have had to say:

Liz Mawson:
This is the first time I have attended NDC and it was a brilliant experience and it would benefit all stewards if they decide to attend. You are able to see what UNISON is doing nationally. I went with a new steward Kathryn Holloway who works as an Occupational Therapist at BDGH. We had shared delegation which was fantastic for Kat and I. it allowed us both to attend sessions during the week as a visitor and a delegate and vote accordingly on issues that would affect us nationally and as a Branch. It was a fantastic experience and benefited me enormously.

It was not an easy five days, as you were constantly socializing and meeting other delegates from all areas of the country on a night and attending conferences during the day with guest speakers from Swaziland and Ireland. The Speech from Swaziland was very emotional as he explained that union activists in Swaziland are being imprisoned because they are campaigning for a better life and working conditions.

Here are some of the campaigns that was discussed at conference; to fight the conservative led Coalition policies of letting Public services be open to free economic market and economic drive program to cut spending which will ultimately affects the lower paid, devastates communities and force a new generation into unemployment and ultimately failure to recognise the need for the country to grow out of the recession; it also welcomed the work done by the “Million Voices campaign” in exposing the myths of the so-called financial crisis caused by the banks and in promoting sound arguments for an economic alternative and urges all branches and activists to ensure these materials are circulated widely among members and service users alike. To continue with the campaign to expose, challenge and defeat Cameron’s twisted ideology of the Big Society

Some of the other things discussed were campaigning against the Conservatives at Manchester Central on the 2nd October 2011.

It was not all about campaigning against the Tory LibDem coalition government; delegates agreed that members who are on an official strike will get financial support from the strike fund. Union membership has risen from 6 million members in 2009-2010 to 9.3 million members in 2010-2011. One of the highlights for the week was the Dave Prentice speech and it was reported that online membership tripled just after the speech was broadcasted.

You are able to see it on the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFRd_zEoHoM&feature=related. One issue discussed that will affects us at Barnsley hospital is healthcare pensions as it has a major effect on women who work in healthcare. The government has formed an independent Public Service Pensions Commission to undertake a fundamental structural review of public service pension provision by Budget 2011. It was agreed that private sector pensions are inadequate this does not mean that public sector pensions should be either.  This action if taken will have a detrimental effect on women and Black Workers and how they make provision for their retirement.

Kat Holloway:
This was the first UNISON conference I have attended and I thought that it was a fantastic experience. I would recommend it for any UNISON activist to attend the conference as it was a great learning experience. I attended the conference with Lead Steward Liz Mawson. We had shared delegation which meant that Liz and I shared the delegation duties, alternating between visitor and delegate.  This allowed us to be flexible but also gain the “full experience”.

The Conference was held at the Manchester Central conference centre. This was an enormous venue with about 2-3000 people present.  I was able to follow the order of business through the documentation received in the post which helped me to further understand the procedure. On the first day we received talks from Dave Prentis and also President of Unison which were both very motivating and interesting. 

I remained a visitor for the first day to get a feel for things but on the second day I was given the opportunity to vote as a delegate.  This allowed me to vote on such matters as Pensions and keeping public services public. This was an amazing experience and I have learnt so much about these issues, all of which I can implement within my UNISON Steward duties. It was a little intimidating at first as we were sat right at the front of the conference hall by the NEC panel, but I soon got the hang of it.  There was lots of abbreviations and new terms used which took a bit of getting used to but by the third day I was feeling much more confident and even had to film Tony Wright as he got up to speak about Organising the Union! I feel I have learnt so much from this experience.  I have met new people and feel even more motivated and prepared for the challenges ahead as a steward.

You can clearly see the fantastic experience both Liz and Kat had at the Conference. If you are interested to make a difference to your work both locally at Barnsley hospital and nationally at the National Delegates conference give Liz Mawson a call on 01226 432393 or give Gordon Kelly (Branch Secretary) a call on 07919173326 or if you are able drop us an email: emawson@nhs.net or Gordon.kelly@nhs.net or go to www.barnsleyhealth-unison.org.uk for more information

As most of you will be aware the outcome of the transforming community services exercise was announced earlier in the year and of 1st May 2011 all the PCT NHS staff has been transferred into South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. To mirror the change of employer UNISON regional managers decided to move the UNISON membership to follow.
This allows for greater representation of these members. This means that the PCT staff have now left and your UNISON Health Branch contains NHS members from the hospital only. Myself as Branch Chair and Tony Wright (Branch Secretary) has moved as employees of the old PCT.
This is a great time to get involved in your branch as we need more stewards to help at this unprecedented time of uncertainty in the NHS. There has been a “pause” in the NHS and social care bill, however the CONDEM government continue to come after our pensions. If you would like to get involved please contact Liz Mawson for details of the next branch meeting on 07836 708334.
It is important that we act as one and that we have as large a membership as possible to put us in a strong position to negotiate with our employer. If you know anyone who may be interested in joining UNISON there is a membership form at the back of the newsletter. Remember that in our surveys the main reason for not joining UNISON is that “no one has asked me to join”.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the past and present stewards who have been involved with the old Barnsley Health Branch and wish you every success in the future. It’s been a pleasure.

Gareth Everton
Outgoing Chair
Barnsley Health Branch

Beverley Powell, Equality and Diversity Advisor Barnsley NHS Foundation Trust reports:

I was appointed to the Trust January 2009. I have over 15 years in the public sector, and have gained a wide range of equality and diversity experience over that period, in which I am happy to bring to the table and work alongside UNISON at Barnsley NHS Foundation Trust. I was a Unison member whilst employed in the Police Service, and a member of the POA Prison Officers Association whilst employed by her Majesty’s Prison service.

My work over the last fifteen years has been around workforce equality, community engagement, and social policy. I am proud to have been part of team who helped drive through real organisational changes in the police service following the damming report after the murder of the black teenager Stephen Lawrence. I am also proud to have been at the forefront of developing new equality robust and systematic equality mechanisms in the prison service, after the untimely murder of Zahid Mubarek by a fellow prisoner and ensure the subsequent report and recommendations from the Mubarek report was followed through. And so I arrive at the NHS to work with, help develop, advise and support management, staff and Union Stewards on all equality human rights and diversity matters. Equality and patient care embody my work and Liberating the NHS white paper underpins my work at the Trust.

Since my appointment to the Trust, there have been many legislative changes. With the support of the Unison Equality Officer, we try and take a proactive, positive and pragmatic approach to all equality matters which serve Unison members. Since my appointment, I have developed and fostered a positive working relationship with Unison Staff Side Representatives. I see this as an integral part to ensuring effective communication and engagement is undertaken on all equality matters to the benefit of the staff member, management and service users. Not withstanding this, all the Unison Reps have undertaken my in–house equality Impact assessment master class and attended the Trust’s mandatory diversity training programmer. The Trust’s Equality and Diversity Steering Group, chaired by Director of HR and Organisational Development is attended by Unison members. In line with the specific duties of the Equality Act, the Trust has a statutory responsibility to publish annually the results of the equality monitoring of staff in post, applicants for jobs, promotion and training, as well as the outcomes of employee relations activities.

A regular meeting is tabled with the Unison Equality Officers to who are Representatives. In meeting our statutory duties, the Trust has developed an annual equality and diversity report which highlights engagement work over the last twelve months.

Ultimately what underpins and drives my work and to which I feel passionately about is outlined below:

• To actively promote equality of opportunity
• To eliminate unlawful discrimination.
• To foster good relations between others.