Forestry Commission Trade Unions - www.fctu.org.uk
PCS Forestry Commission Group News - June 2008
Welcome to another of our newsletters which are published after each meeting of the Group Executive Committee. The newsletters are not intended as a definitive account of the GEC’s actions, those are recorded in the minutes of the meetings, but are an ad-hoc selection of articles which we hope will give a flavour of some of the work of the group and which will be of general interest to most members.
Please also remember that all our group news is always available online at: www.fctu.org.uk/pcs.
In this edition:
> Wales Branch Activity
> Silvan House Branch
> Yorkshire and Humber Branch
> Presentation by John McInally
> STUC Annual Conference
> Annual Delegate Conference
> Group Conference 2008
> Scottish FD Review
> SEARs and SRPD
Wales Branch Activity by Antony Griffiths
PCS Wales Branch held its AGM back in February with a reasonable turn-out. Although one says reasonable this isn't an indication of good membership participation and it would be far more supporting for Union Representatives if the Membership were more willing to support such events. Please remember that this is your Union, not the Reps, so if you want things to change/improve please support your Union Representatives.
The Forestry Commission PCS Conference 2008 was held in York during May and was well attended by Members across the Forestry Commission. Wales filled its 6 allocated places and the motions chosen at the AGM were raised and debated by your Conference Representatives. Not all of them were accepted, however, some were so that was good for Wales Members.
It is the Branch’s intention to try and re-introduce local workplace meetings around offices across Wales. These meetings tended to be held every quarter, give and take, and were generally well received by Members. So to try and improve and invigorate Membership communication we hope to set-up a number of local workplace meetings throughout Wales in the near future. If one is organised near to you please make every effort to attend and support you Representatives.
PCS Wales is very well represented on the Wales NOC with all 5 places filled. Your Representatives are Antony Griffiths (NOC Chair), Rhian Evans (NOC Secretary), Paul Finch, StJohn Ashworth and Chris Edwards. Cross Union issues are discussed at the NOC Meetings and those issues felt needing some input from Management are then taken by the NOC Representatives to Staff Council Meetings. Both NOC and Staff Council Meetings take place roughly every quarter.
If as a Member you have any issue or concerns please contact your local FCW PCS Representative whom will be happy to talk to you.
STUC Annual Conference by Joanne McAuley
Prime Minister Gordon Brown gave an unprecedented address to the 111th Annual Scottish Trade Union Congress in Inverness in April. The First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond also addressed Congress for the first time.
During Brown’s speech, the 14 strong PCS delegation held up placards reading “fair pay for public servants”, which was broadcast in the media throughout Britain.
During the debates, general secretary, Mark Serwotka responded to the Prime Minister by pointing out that the Labour government have cut 77,000 civil service jobs, privatised more services than even Margaret Thatcher and is also penalising public servants with a pay policy which is in effect a pay cut when housing costs, food prices and fuel bills are spiraling ever higher. President Janice Godrich elaborated this message, informing congress of the scandalous 0% pay increase faced by members in the DWP this year.
Scottish Secretary Eddie Reilly moved a PCS motion on further devolved powers for Scotland in which he called for all options to be in the debate, including a referendum on independence for Scotland. Other PCS delegates contributed to debates on the trafficking of women, I spoke on the structures of the equalities and human rights commission in Scotland.
Congress gave unanimous backing to an emergency motion in support of PCS members in the Glasgow Passport Office, who were informed on 2 April that 100 jobs were to be cut.
Annual Delegate Conference by Joanne McAuley
This year’s Annual delegate conference (ADC) took place in Brighton between 21-23 May. Only 2 branches from the Forestry Commission were represented which was disappointing and I would hope more branches will participate next year.
Pay and the national campaign dominated the first morning of conference. Mark Serwotka kicked off a general debate on the way ahead for our national pay and jobs campaign by moving emergency national executive motion EM1. Condemning the government’s pay cap Mark said: “At a time when the Labour government is at its least popular it is further alienating its own workforce with a policy of pay freezes and pay cuts in real terms." Pay in the civil service is among the lowest in the public sector with a quarter earning less £16,000 and thousands on the minimum wage. The resolve of our members is clear as is our commitment to work with other public sector unions who are facing the same attacks on pay.” A full report of conference is available here: PCS National Website
Group Conference 2008 by Sue Gillingwater
Once again, the people of York were treated to the sight of groups of delegates emerging from cars and trains to attend this year’s Conference, which took place at the Fairfield Manor Hotel in May.
Feedback from those who attended suggested that it was one of our most successful to date, dealing with motions from branch AGM's as well as revising our policies on PMS, performance related reward and operational pay. All of which was achieved through the enthusiastic input, good exchange of experiences, and impressive level of inspiration from everyone who took part.
A further key note were our guest speakers Simon Hodgson, Janice Godrich and Jean Lindsay. Jean delivered an inspiring presentation with an interesting perspective on the way forward for HR that was particularly well received by delegates.
For all those with a 2009 calendar - please note that the date for next year’s Conference is 12th &13th May and will be held at the Fairfield Manor Hotel, York.
For full details of this year’s Conference (including the photo gallery) please, visit our main conference page.
Presentation to the GEC by John McInally – Allan Mackenzie
John McInally is one of the four nationally elected vice-presidents of PCS, he had been invited to address to the GEC at their most recent meeting. John has been an active union member for 30 years and works for the DWP in Bristol.
John was quick to offer thanks to your GEC from the NEC for all the hard work that they have carried out on behalf of PCS members in the Forestry Commission. He reflected that times were difficult for representatives with many different aspects of activity calling on their time.
Political establishment offers a consensus that solutions in the public sector need private sector answers; he feels strongly that this is fundamentally wrong and for Gordon Brown to stand up and announce 100,000 jobs cuts has led to the action being taken by unions today. Some losses have happened particularly in DWP with 30,000 losses.
Union activity has slowed the rate of cuts and negotiations should enable the further protection of our member’s rights to employment in the Civil Service. Instead of lying down and accepting these private sector borne solutions PCS has strongly campaigned since 2004 to reverse this situation.
John stated that the activity generated by members has brought about results particularly in relation to sick leave, pensions and a written agreement that there will be no compulsory redundancies in the Civil Service, campaigning by our members has led to these negotiated wins.
PCS has a strong desire to return to National pay bargaining and the talks with Cabinet office are moving slowly towards this. Since 1981 the year in which saw the dissolution of the original National pay system and the setting up of over 200 pay units, this has led to our pay rates falling behind other public sector workers. This has also led to some departments having up to 40% disparity in wages for people doing basically the same job.
The pay remit for 2008 is not just about a single year but the continued pay freeze or indeed pay cuts that the Government wish to impose for years to come. The 2% limit is wholly unacceptable when currently CPI and RPI are running at over 4% however the costs in the high street for the basic items are running at far higher rates. There is a genuine fear that fuel costs for the average family home could rise by as much as £400 in the forthcoming 12 twelve months. Another factor within the pay remit is the question of other public servants receiving an inflationary award and the getting their progression on top. As Civil Servants this does not happen and we have to fund our own progression from our annual award. This is under challenge by the Union with a clear aim that progression must be funded from over and above the inflationary award.
The NEC is certain that Groups can not fight this alone and it will take a concerted action and campaigning to bring about a satisfactory result. PCS has submitted a National claim that asks for 6%, of which 4% is to deal with the current inflation rate and a further 2% as part of a catching up exercise.
The NEC and the leadership of this Union do listen to members and will consult widely with the membership of which this meeting is a start in that process for the Forestry Group. PCS will seek opinion on the next stage of the campaign which could lead to some form of action in relation to pay settlements. Aligned to this is Parliamentary work which is not just about rallies at Westminster but our members writing to or speaking to their local MP. The message to these MPs must be that rates of pay in the Civil Service are totally unacceptable.
There will come a time in the campaign in which members will be asked to take some form of industrial action as a Union we need to be supportive of one another during these times, however that is not the whole story as other form of campaigning will be taking place such as Parliamentary work, we will require stronger support from other public service unions and this seems to be coming particularly within the teaching unions.
In conclusion John expressed his shock that the levels of child poverty in the UK are a National disgrace, with half of these children coming from working households and the majority of those are families in which the breadwinner is employed in the public service. John quoted Adam Beresford who writes the Sunday Times rich list he said that after 11 years of Labour in power has been absolutely fantastic for the super-rich, having a friendly Labour Government has almost been better than having a Tory one. What this Union does not want to see is another Tory Government but neither does it want to see a Labour one delivering Tory policies.
Our strength lies in a unified campaigning approach across the whole of the Civil Service and that will include those members in the Forestry Commission everyone who is covered by the current pay remit is going to receive a below inflation pay settlement together we are stronger and it will take everyone of us to become involved and reverse this Governments public sector pay policy.
The task ahead of us will be difficult and our representative whether they be in the Forestry Commission or elsewhere will need to be strong in meeting that task, these reps have the day to day to work to contend with let alone the pressures of union work. John believes that campaigning does work and that we should all support the National campaign as it will bring about those changes we need to be valued by the Government and society in general.
We need determination and unity but most of all we need confidence in our abilities to bring about change and with that confidence we can win over those less sure and deliver the desired outcomes of the National campaign.
Scottish FD Review by Malcolm Crosby
The Working Group has had several meetings since February. We have explored the issues which have been raised with the TUS by staff, who are not persuaded of the merits of merging any of the current 14 Scottish Districts.
Successful delivery and community involvement are high priorities in the Scottish Forestry Strategy, so removing offices seems contradictory.
Management have indicated a change of role for FDMs to be more of a coordinator of different teams rather than supervision of the FD teams, which has arisen as Ops and other parallel structures have been set up, reporting to the Inverness/Dumfries Head Office staff.
They have also reconfirmed that Districts will continue as the centre for Planning, but feel that this is the area we are falling short at present. Insufficient resource is available and short-term delivery pressures will always take precedence over longer-term issues of Planning when the same people have responsibility for both. Local Delivery and Stakeholder Involvement are principal District roles.
The meetings have moved management thinking a long way. The number of FDs they are proposing has firmed up as 10, but few staff will have to move or work from a different office. Every effort will be made to retrain/redeploy affected admin staff to avoid redundancies as far as possible. Field staff should continue with current reporting points. Most local offices will remain, or another building locally may be set up as base, so many PB5s and PB6As will see little change. Some outstations will be led by a PB4.
Gordon Donaldson and Malcolm Crosby held meetings with staff in the Districts proposed for merger to give fuller information and gather views on the way forward. Following another meeting with management on 27th June we will be going to all FDs in July with further detailed draft proposals on staffing, which we will be given shortly. These will allow members to decide how they want us to proceed with negotiations.
Silvan House Branch by Mary Irvine
In Silvan House BEC one of our priorities is identifying any training needs and organising these to ensure that our reps are equipped to deal with the challenges that they face. Currently we have four reps who are trained in dealing with personal cases, three of whom Mary Irvine, Linda McGinley and Edward Shephard have also been trained in mediation. Mediation is a useful tool when dealing with disagreements and when introduced early enough can prove useful in preventing an escalation of problems. We will continue to build on this solid foundation and promote our services to our members.
SEARs and SRPD by Trevor Blackburn
SEARS Phase 1
Scotland's Environmental and Rural Services (SEARS) was launched at the Royal Highland Show by Richard Lockhead (Cabinet Secretary) and Michael Russell (Minister for the Environment) on 19th June. Regular newsletters have kept staff up to date with developments under the first Phase of SEARS (i.e. what was launched at the show) and these can be found on the SEARS page on the intranet.
The developments under phase 1 include (but are not limited to):
- One Door Any Door Approach - (new protocol for call handling). Staff in receipt of a query that is for another of the SEARS organisations should not 'hand off' the call, but route it internally to the correct contact if the customer wishes.
- Web Portal - A site for customers and staff to search for SEARS organisation contact details. Customers can also use it to inform organisations of any updates to their basic contact information.
- Communication Centre - A 24/7 facility for customers to contact the SEARS family.
- CAR engineering checks / diffuse pollution inspections - FCS will carry out diffuse pollution and Controlled Activities Regulations (CAR) engineering checks for compliance with the general binding rules (GBR) by integrating them with existing site visits where the opportunity arises. FCS staff are to receive training from SEPA in September.
- Woodland SSSI agreements - FCS will take on the lead role to liaise with owners and managers of woodland SSSIs, aiming specifically to create action plans to reverse declining/unfavourable condition of notified features.
- Woodland creation and felling (internal consultation) - Following critical examination of the extent of consultation, SGRPID will no longer be consulted.
- Legacy Scheme Inspections - The risk based selection of schemes to inspect will align with that adopted by the Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP).
SEARS Phase 2
A key aspect of the SEARS over the coming months will be the consolidation and evaluation of Phase 1 to ensure that all new processes are implemented, and that the training, where applicable, is completed and consolidated. Michael Russell has also laid down themes that are to be looked at for phase 2, though the specific detail of these is yet to be finalised. The broad themes for consideration in phase 2 include:
- Inspections - exploring further opportunities to coordinate between SEARS organisations (e.g. by the development of a single customer identifier).
- Paperwork - exploring ways to rationalise the amount of form filing for the customer.
- Integrated Services - looking at opportunities to coordinate across a range of areas inc. local service delivery, scientific advise etc.
- Process delays - looking for opportunities to streamline business processes.
- Regulation - looking at ways to make implementation more efficient.
Yorkshire and Humber Branch by Jon Bates
Start up meeting for Yorkshire and Humber branch was successfully held on 23rd April 2008 at the FC Offices at Wheldrake attended and supported by Edward and Allan. 11 members attended out of a total branch membership of 26 (42% turnout!). Branch Elections were held successfully with volunteers for all vacant positions as follows :-
- Chairperson – Iwan Downey
- Treasurer – Sally Thirsk
- Secretary – Debbie Clough (continuing her good work from the role as secretary for the former N England Branch)
- Organiser – Lorna Acomb
- Jon Bates agreed to continue as GEC representative for the new branch (formerly N England GEC rep) and Mick Hoban continues as one of the PCS representatives on the England NOC.
The main local issue discussed was the proposed change in location for the Wheldrake/Clifton Moor offices. Other items discussed included the England Efficiency review and the DEFRA funding settlement for FC England with the potential risk of increased woodland disposals. 3 members expressed an interest in the Group Conference and subsequently attended as day delegates on the first day.
The next Branch Meeting was scheduled for approximately 6 months (October time) to be held at Pickering, to encourage members based at Pickering/Wykeham to attend and raise local issues.