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FCTU Scotland

The FCTU Scotland Committee is one of the FCTU's six area teams and is responsible for leading on the FCTU's work in Scotland. On this page:

> High Level Implementation Group
> SEARS and SRDP
> FES Forest District Structure Review
> FES Forest District Admin Review
> Review of Scottish DP Harvesting
> Scottish Operations Review

High Level Implementation Group

Report of the First Meeting 1st Sept 2008 by Gordon Donaldson

The High Level Implementation Group met last week for the first time. The purpose of this note is to ensure that all staff are kept up to date with the work of the group.

As you are aware the remit of the group is twofold, the tasks being to pull together the outputs from both the Admin and Forest District Reviews, and also to provide guidance and act as a clearing house for the Local Implementation Teams that will be set up in due course.

We recognised very quickly at the first meeting that we need through a series of job trawls to identify certain key postholders prior to setting up the Local Implementation Teams. Work has therefore started on preparing trawls for the FDM posts at Dornoch, Lochaber, and Ae/Scottish Borders. We would hope to have the postholders identified by early November at the latest. Work has also started on refining and defining the Job Descriptions for the 6 new posts of Admin Managers and it is expected the trawls for those posts which still require to be filled will fairly quickly follow the FDM trawl notices. Actual locations of the posts have still be to agreed but it is anticipated that the Admin Managers will cover FDs as follows:

Once we have all the above postholders identified we can then move forward on the following:

a) Setting up the Local Implementation Teams. Each team will comprise FDM(s), Admin Manager, District Forester(s), TUS Rep, HR Rep, and AOM/ALA (as required). Teams will cover existing FDs as follows:

Whilst the aim will be to keep the groups restricted in size provision will also be made for co-optees as necessary. The Local Teams will be tasked with managing the transition to the new structure, developing resolutions for local issues, and ensuring formal sign off of their proposals by the High Level Group. Further guidance on staff transition, transition required to meet the standard FD internal structure, and consideration of revised FD names where required will be provided by the High Level Group to the Local Implementation Teams in due course. We anticipate setting up the Local Teams during November.

b) Filling / Trawling the outstanding PB3 posts at the combined Inverness / Ft Augustus, West Argyll / Part Lorne, Ae / Scottish Borders, and Cowal & Trossachs.

c) Filling / Trawling the outstanding PB4 posts at Dornoch, Inverness / Ft Augustus, Tay, and Lochaber.

d) Filling / Trawling the vacant GIS Support Posts (PB6a) at Dornoch, Inverness / Ft Augustus, Aberdeenshire, Tay, Scottish Borders / Ae, and Galloway.

The next meeting of the High Level Implementation Group will be on 14th November by which time we should have all the FDM and Admin Manager postholders identified following which we can instigate the work of the local teams. In the meantime other than for Moray / Aberdeenshire (where John Thompson has assumed responsibility), and the earlier decision to prepare joint budgets based on the revised structure it is business as normal.

We do understand that some staff will naturally feel unsettled at this time however we will do our best to ensure the period of uncertainty is as short as we can make it and that all staff are kept up to date with the work of both this group and local teams.

SEARS and SRDP

Meeting on Workloads and Job Design 13th Nov 2008

Over the last few months we have received quite a number of comments about the impact that the roll-out of SRDP is having on the quality and quantity of work for some staff in conservancy offices. Amongst the concerns expressed to us over recent months are:

Therefore on 7th November Hazel Maclean and Edward Shephard met with Bob, James and Helen Paterson to discuss the implementation of SRDP to see what can be done to address the concerns.

What was apparent was that significant new areas of work are due to be rolled out over the coming few weeks, though crucially it is unclear what the cumulative impact of these will be on individual jobs. We have therefore agreed that it is time to hold a number of communication events so that members can input their concerns in order that we can assess what changes need to be made. The overall design of the SRDP system is of course largely out of our control, but there may be scope to alter how we manage the work within the FC, and it is this that we wish to examine. We are committed to to trying to ensure that people's jobs are as satisfying and as rewarding as possible. Further information on the meetings will be circulated by James or Helen in due course.

July Update 10th Jul 2008

Trevor Blackburn has kindly provided the following update on the SEARS project. Additional background information can also be found in the SEARS Information Pack.

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 will have kept Scottish based members 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):

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:

February Update 5th Feb 2008

Over the last few months the FCTU have been keeping in close contact with the SRDP/SEARS projects, in order to monitor their potential impact on FC staff; though to date there has been little concrete news to make available on this site. However on 30th January, Hazel MacLean (who has been most actively involved in monitoring the project) met with James Simpson to get the latest update on the project, and Hazel has kindly produced some notes from the meeting for members' interest: notes of meeting.

If you have any particular questions or concerns about the SEARS/SRDP project, or would like any further information then please contact Hazel MacLean.

FES Forest District Structure Review

Review Outcome 11th Aug 2008

Gordon Donaldson and Hugh Insley have now issues a joint statement regarding the outcome of the Scottish Forest District Review. Further details will be circulated in due course: Outcome Letter | Final District Boundary Map | Minutes of the meeting of 8th August.

The recommendations of the report will now be considered alongside the conclusions of the forest district admin review. The TUS are sitting on a High Level Implementation Group (HLIG) for the integrated deployment of both reviews. The Group will have Malcolm Crosby, Gordon Donaldson and Hazel Robertson (who was on the admin group) for the TUS along with Les Bryson, Stephanie Atwell and Nick Whitaker (who was on the admin group) for management.

Review Update 5th July 2008

The last meeting of the Forest District Review was held on 27th June (Minutes of the meeting). At this meeting Gordon Donaldson and Malcolm Crosby reported on District meetings that they had held to discuss concerns with the proposals. The results of these meetings made it clear that the greatest concern was for the impact on work and the personal circumstances of those affected. The TU side therefore felt that they could not consider any changes in the number of districts, until there was a greater understanding of how future forest districts would be staffed and where the staff would be based.

Although Hugh Insley had hoped to make more progress on this part of the review at this meeting, he recognised the concerns of staff and agreed that he, along with his team, would produce a generic model to illustrate how he sees the future forest districts working. The model would show enough flexibility to allow Districts to organise it to suit local conditions, including working a beat structure.

The next meeting is scheduled for July 10th.

Review Update 25th June 2008

Minutes of 29th May: Minutes of the meeting of 29th May.

Forest Districts Structure Paper: A paper prepared following the meeting on 29 May 2008.

FD Review - Proposed Boundaries: A map showing the revised forest district boundaries proposed under the FD review. This map was presented and discussed at the review group meeting of 22 May (minutes of this meeting are below).

Staff Development Paper: Paper presented to the meeting on 22 May 2008.

Review Update 1st June 2008

At the last meeting of the FD Review group held on 29th May, it was agreed that the TUS would hold meetings for staff to discuss the emerging proposals before the next meeting on 27th June. For further information please contact either Gordon Donaldson or Malcolm Crosby.

At the meeting on the 29th the unions did express concern that a map of suggested district boundaries was posted on the FC intranet without any contextual information and we must be clear that none of these mergers have yet been agreed with the TUS.

Minutes of meetings: 6th March | 7th April | 2nd May | 22nd May

Report of First Meeting 26th Mar 2008 by Robert Beaney

Hugh Insley chaired the meeting with Les Bryson and Nicol Sinclair along side making up the management team. The TUS was represented by Gordon Donaldson, Malcolm Crosby, Michael Wall, James MacDonald and Robert Beaney. Hugh opened the meeting asking for suggestions to how the staff could best be kept informed of progress, after some debate it was decide to use the FC Intranet. He then went on to suggest that the main issues should be dealt with one by one, these he felt were –

Gordon expressed surprise at the use of the SEARS map, Hugh explained that it was not absolute but that because of political pressure it had to be born in mind when making decisions, Gordon also asked that the FES history of excellent delivery should also be remembered. The TUS side asked if there were any plans to extend office sharing, arrangements with Conservancies, Hugh explained that there were no plans to extend the current arrangements, but that it would be desirable to consider any sensible options if and when they arose.

It was agreed that the original target date was too optimistic and it was agreed to revise the completion date to the end of June. The next meeting will take place on April 7th, at Inver.

Review Announced 18th Jan 2008

Hugh Insley has today written to all FES staff in Scotland and announced a review of the forest district structure: '...we have recently been looking at the possibility of further amalgamation and Moray has specifically been considered. However, rather than just address the issue piecemeal we have now decided to have a fresh look at the whole forest district structure across Scotland with full involvement of the TUS.'

The TUS were first informed of the possibility of a review just prior to Christmas, and this initial contact was confirmed in a further briefing just prior to the announcement. As many union members will know it often appears that the TUS are excluded from the early stages of a review, so although the FCTU is concerned about the number of potentially overlapping reviews now taking place across Scotland, we do welcome the opportunity to participate and always believe that where reviews are taking place it is in all our interests that we are involved as fully as possible. We shall try to ensure that the review undertakes a genuine assessment of the most effective way to deliver forestry across Scotland. It has been agreed a joint review team will be set up within the next 2 weeks with a view to completing the review by the beginning of April. Further information will be posted here in the coming weeks.

Further Information: Letter from Hugh Insley | Terms of Reference | Q&A | Future role for Forest Districts

FES Forest District Admin Review

Final Report UPDATED 28th July 2008

A copy of the final report from the admin review is now available: Final Report; and our thanks go to Corrine for all of her hard work representing admin staff on the review group.

The recommendations of the report will now be considered alongside the emerging conclusions of the forest district review when the FCTU Scotland Committee meets again on Friday 8th August. The TUS are sitting on a High Level Implementation Group (HLIG) for the integrated deployment of both reviews. The Group will have Malcolm Crosby, Gordon Donaldson and Hazel Robertson (who was on the admin group) for the TUS along with Les Bryson, Stephanie Atwell and Nick Whitaker (who was on the admin group) for management.

The TUS position is that any posts regraded in the district review should allow filtering back to potentially provide opportunities for admin grades being lost from that role due to this review. For further information please speak to Gordon, Hazel or Malcolm.

Minutes of Meetings 20th June 2008

First meeting | Second meeting | Third meeting | Fourth meeting | Fifth meeting | Sixth Meeting | Seventh Meeting | FAQ

If you have any comments on the work of the group so far, then please feed these into Corinne using the contact details below.

Consultation on Admin Duties 29th Feb 2008

In order to assist the Admin Review Group in drawing up potential options for structures, the Group are seeking views on the whole range of administrative duties that are currently undertaken and whether or not they need to be undertaken at Forest District level. In addition they are also considering if there are things currently not being done by the admin group that perhaps should be, as well as things that are being done that it is felt no longer need to be done.

Attached is a list of FD admin tasks that the Group has put together. It is split into 2 sections: the first is a list of duties that we consider have a degree of flexibility in terms of location whilst the second is rooted to the FD location. Click here to read the list.

The Group would be grateful if anyone with a working knowledge of admin duties could consider the list and submit any additions / amendments / deletions to the list, as well as any comments you may have on the split that they have made. The next meeting of the group is on March 13th so comments would be welcome via Corrine Cheetham by no later than close of play on Tuesday 11th March.

Background 23rd Nov 2007

The first meeting of the the Forest District Admin Review Group will take place in Stirling on Monday 26th November. The review follows on from the Ops Review, and its purpose is 'to consider options and make recommendations for the future delivery of administrative functions within FES Forest Districts'. The review is being led by Nicol Sinclair and aims to make recommendations back to Hugh Insley by the end of February. The FCTU are represented on the review group by Corinne Cheetham, who is the office manager at West Argyll FD. Corinne would welcome any comments or feedback from FCTU members and may be contacted either by email or telephone on 01546 605054. (Full terms of reference and members of the review group.)

Review of Scottish DP Harvesting

Consultation Update UPDATED 17th Sept 2008

In the last update we advised that it was our intention to hold a consultation exercise with the machine operators. This is still the case, although due to the negotiations being a little more protracted than originally anticipated, they will not take place until later in the year.

The negotiations as a whole are now nearing the end. The management side have sent the AOM’s a consultation document on how working practices and shift patterns may comply with the Working time directive, OGB 39 and the FC guidance, when the comments are collated they will be ready to finalise their proposals on working practices. We are close to agreeing a definition of shift work and the application of the shift allowance for machine operators in Scotland and the Management side are close to putting the finishing touches to a proposal to standardise the buy out of travel time, they have already tabled a proposal to protect earnings of operators that will lose out due to the necessary reduction of overtime.

There is a meeting scheduled for September 22nd, it is hoped that at this meeting the Management team will be able to present their final proposal in detail. Then Robert Beaney and Mo Hastie will organise workplace meetings for all machine operators to discuss the proposal.

5th meeting with FES Managers 5th July 2008 by Robert Beaney

The sub-group met on Tuesday July 1st. Initially the group had been charged with negotiating the changes in work patterns etc. required after the reduction in machine numbers. However since the last meeting of the full Committee and this meeting, the OGB on whole body vibration has been issued. The result of this was that the majority of this meeting was spent looking at possible work patterns that would conform to the guidance contained in the OGB. The results of the Group’s deliberations will be put before Emily Ramsey, to ensure that they do conform, and then the TU side will arrange a series of meetings with machine operators, to gather their thoughts.

The Group also looked at the definition of shift work and how staff could become eligible for it. After some discussion, a form of words was agreed which will be sent to the HR department for their comments.

The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday 22nd. July.

4th meeting with FES Managers 1st Jun 2008 by Robert Beaney

The latest meeting of the Direct Production review group was held in Silvan House on May 13th. After the formalities, Les Bryson said that he was aware that the TU side had difficulties with the proposals, therefore he was prepared to make the following offer: to keep the operators posts in Ae and retain the two machines in Galloway. This would allow the operators to work the East side of Galloway Forest, and if required the West side of Ae. Les hoped that this concession would allow us to move forward. The TU side took a break to consider the proposal and, on deliberation, agreed to accept the offer and allow the rest of the proposals with regard to Machine numbers to go ahead.

The whole group agreed, that the proposals for the implementation of changes to working practices that would be required to make the new machine structure efficient, is extremely complex and therefore a small working group has been set up to look into this. The group consists of Mike Green and Stephanie Atwell from the Management side and Robert Beaney and Mo Hastie from the TU side.

3rd meeting with FES Managers 9th Jan 2008

Our third meeting with FES managers took place on 20th December 2007. The bulk of the meeting was spent providing feedback from the local meetings that have been held with operators through November and early December. The main elements of this were; frustration at the need to know what the future now holds; a feeling of betrayal that they were forced to adopt working practices that they are now being told are unhealthy and unsustainable; and cynicism that the current proposals are in any way based on concern for their welfare.

After much discussion two action points were agreed: that the FCTU would analyse the list of machine losses and suggest how this might be amended to minimise those losses whilst still addressing some of the management concerns; and FES managers have agreed to detail out their proposals for changes to conditions of service (contracts, shift patterns and travel arrangements) and the impact that these might have on individual earnings. For further information please contact Robert Beaney.

Local Meetings  21st Nov 2007

Following our further meeting with FES managers we are now in the process of arranging meetings to find out the detailed concerns of local staff and to discuss potential options for moving forward. The meetings arranged so far are:

Galloway and Ae 14th Nov
Scottish Borders 20th Nov
West Argyll 23rd Nov
Cowal & Trossachs 27th Nov
Aberdeen 7th Dec

For further information about the meetings including timings and locations, please contact Robert Beaney.

2nd meeting with FES Managers  7th Nov 2007

Following our first difficult meeting with FES managers a few weeks ago, the TU side met with Mike Green and Les Bryson again on Friday 2nd November. The meeting was open and frank with Mike and Les explaining in detail their proposals and the rationale behind them. We agreed at the outset that this would not be a decision making meeting, and consequently much of the time was spent exploring the review's findings and potential ways forward. Some of our key concerns are; unfair comparisons with contractors, job security, loss of income for operators and the potential need for some redundancies. If you would like any further information on the discussions then please speak to either Robert Beaney, Edward Shephard, Malcolm Crosby, Colin Watret, Laurence Villa, or Mo Hastie (07760 388998).

Also, many thanks to everyone who returned our survey questionnaires which were sent out a few weeks ago. This proved to be a very successful exercise with over thirty responses and the swift responses meant that we were able to raise all your concerns with management at the meeting on Friday. It is clear that most of those potentially affected by the review want the opportunity to attend a meeting to discuss the issues and we shall be trying to arrange for this to happen before Christmas.

Minutes of the 2nd meeting.

Consultation With Members   11th Oct 2007

Following our meeting on 21st September we have now agreed to meet again with FE Scotland managers on 2nd November in order to agree a way forward, both on those elements of the review that we do support (such as the commitment to apprenticeships) and those that we don't. In advance of this meeting we have written out to all members who we believe may be affected by the report to seek your views on the way forward. This letter along with a short questionnaire and a return envelope should be with you by about the 12th October and should be returned as soon as possible and no later than Friday 26th October. (Download a copy of the letter and questionnaire.)

1st meeting with FES Managers  21st Sept 2007

On 21st September we met with mangers from FE Scotland and MES to discuss the report into the DP Review. At the start of the meeting FES managers were clear that the review had been concluded and its recommendations accepted by the FE Scotland management board, and consequently they did not wish to engage with us on this aspect; but rather they hoped that we would join them on a working group to assist with the implementation of the review's recommendations. After careful consideration we concluded that we were not prepared to join managers on a working group if its remit was limited to implementation alone. There were two main reasons for this:

1. Over recent years our dealings with FE Scotland and its predecessors has been punctuated with several serious reviews where there has been less than full consultation with staff and the trade unions.  Most marked of these was the preceding DP review in 2001 when we received an apology for not being included, and an assurance that such an oversight wouldn't happen again. Given this background, we expressed our significant disappointment the FES managers have completed a review that makes significant changes to the DP fleet, proposes changes to terms and conditions of service, makes around fourteen posts redundant and proposes laying-off several members or staff; yet at no time was there any discussion either with ourselves or those staff most directly affected. To our minds this stretched the bounds of credulity.

2. It was also the case that we felt that we were not in a position to support the implementation of the review’s recommendations until we had had an opportunity to gather the views of those of you most directly affected.  One of the noteworthy points from the meeting was the comment from FES managers that the criteria and standards used in the market-testing aspects of the review were ‘subjective’ and had not been previously agreed either with ourselves or the machine operators—in other words some of you have been assessed and found wanting against a standard of which you had no knowledge; something which I do not consider to be fair. FES Managers also noted that they ‘need [to undertake] further analysis on reasons for the cost differentials’. Understanding the reasons for cost differentials is something that the TUS has been keen to do for many years, and I think that it is important that we do this before agreeing to lay-off any staff or adjusting working practices.

Consequently whilst there are several aspects of the report which are positive we concluded that it would be inappropriate for us to join a working-group if its remit is restricted to simply implementing the review as it currently stands. We have indicated however that we are more than willing to join a group to look at the issues raised by the report, to explore the underlying issues of competitiveness, to make recommendations to ensure the short and long-term sustainability of the harvesting fleet and to implement some of the positive aspects of the report such as the strengthened commitment to the apprenticeship scheme. This offer was sent to FES managers on 25/09 and I am hopeful we can discuss the matter further in due course. (Click here to read the letter to FES Managers.)

The changes being proposed by FES also have a significant impact on staff in MES, and it is essential that they are given equal consideration as we move this issue forward.  (Further information about the impact on MES is available here.) I am hopeful that in the coming weeks we can enter into a meaningful discussion on some of the issues raised by the review and the potential impact that these might have on different groups of staff.  If this does not happen, then the unions will provide those members who are affected by the report's implementation with every possible support in raising their concerns.

For now we are keen to gather the views of those of you who are potentially affected by the proposed changes and have asked local union reps to arrange for this to happen over the next couple of weeks. Please check back here for further updates on this issue as it progresses, but if you do require any further information then please speak to your local rep.

Background  7th Sept 2007

This week FE Scotland management have circulated a copy of a report of a review of Scottish DP harvesting. (Summary report) Despite the fact that the report has significant implications for some staff, the review was carried out without any trade union involvement or discussion with those staff potentially affected. Representatives from the Scottish and MES staff councils are due to meet to discuss the report on 21st September and further information will be circulated to members after this.

Scottish Operations Review

 

UPDATED  25th Feb 2008
The final results of the survey are now available: Final Results. The majority of responses are against the changes that have taken place, but some have commented that the new structures provide a clearer focus in their work. The TUS will use this record in discussions with management to try to deal with the new difficulties created, as there is no realistic possibility of undoing the new arrangements. We also hope that management has learned some lessons from the changes to the Operations setup and will conduct the current round of reviews in a much more open way.

25th Sept 2007
The survey has now closed, and our thanks go to everyone who responded. We have had 124 submissions covering the full spectrum of staff in Scotland; including 23 non-members. Due to tight resources it will take a few weeks to analyse all of the results, but we shall publish the comments and follow-up actions as soon as possible.

3rd Sept 2007
In 2005 FE Scotland replaced its district based harvesting and forest management teams with an 'Operations' structure reporting directly to FE Scotland HQ at Inverness. Earlier this year through negotiation with the FCTU, the structure was revised so that the number of operational areas was reduced (from six to five), but the overall staffing was increased. A copy of the original report is available from here (2.6MB!).

With the new system now having been in place for nearly two years our national organising committee for Scotland would welcome feedback on whether or not you think that the changes represent an improvement, firstly for you and your work, and secondly for the delivery of the Scottish Forestry Strategy in so far as it is covered by the operations unit. The survey will be open until the 21st of September: please click here to complete the survey. Once the survey closes a summary of the results will be posted here. If you would like a copy of the results sent directly to you, then please enter your name and email address into the survey. All individual responses will be kept confidential.

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