Forestry Commission Trade Unions - www.fctu.org.uk
Unite—The Union
Historically the TGWU have always been the only union that had a section dedicated to the Rural and Agricultural sector, covering Farming, Forestry, Horticulture, Arboriculture, and other related industries. Although it has never been one of the largest trade groups it has always been one of the most effective.
Now that we are part of a much larger Union it is very important that we all do as much as we can to keep the profile of the rural workers high. This of course means retaining membership and signing up as many new members as possible, but it also means being prepared to take an active part in supporting your Union and its representatives when the opportunity arises.
Robert Beaney
Chair—Forestry Workers' National Organising Committee
Civil Service Compensation Scheme
20th August 2010
The Civil Service Compensation Scheme (CSCS) gives statutory authority for paying various redundancy and early retirement terms to Civil Servants and to others covered by the scheme. Although it was decoupled from the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS) in the 1990s, its last substantive amendment was in 1987. The terms are by way of a combination of lump sum payment and, for staff over 50, access to early payment of pension on either a reduced or an enhanced basis, dependent on the nature of the severance. During 2009 the previous (Labour) government sought to change the terms of the scheme, in part due to a number of successful claims against the scheme under age discrimination legislation, cases which were supported by the unions.
Those discussions were undertaken by the Cabinet Office with the Council of Civil Service Unions (CCSU). In the absence of an agreed CCSU position the discussions broke down at the end of January 2010. Five of the six unions involved in the talks (Prospect, FDA, POA, Unite and GMB) were subsequently able to agree to the proposed changes to the CSCS, one union (PCS) did not agree the changes. On 7 February via a Parliamentary Order the CSCS was amended in line with the agreement of the five unions.
PCS launched a successful challenge to these changes via Judicial Review. The judgment concluded that, in the absence of the agreement of all the unions, the amendments to the scheme were unlawful. Section 2 (3) of the 1972 Superannuation Act requires the agreement of the CCSU for changes to the CSCS to take effect. A significant part of the judgement rested on the finding that the benefits contained in the CSCS accrue in the same manner as pension benefits, and as such enjoy particular legal protection.
Following the election, the coalition government stated its intention to amend the terms of the CSCS. Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude, said in a statement to the House
“Earlier this year, the previous government introduced a revised Civil Service Compensation Scheme that introduced a two year cap on the payment of compensation for loss of office, or redundancy. The terms of this scheme were agreed with the FDA, Prospect, the GMB, Unite and the Prison Officers’ Association. One union, however, the PCS, did not agree, sought judicial review in the High Court, and won. The revised scheme was accordingly quashed. The previous scheme is therefore once again in force. This scheme is prohibitively expensive - in some cases worth up to six and two thirds years of salary. We believe swift action to curb its excesses is essential. We take this step without relish.”
As a reaction to this position, on 15 July the coalition government placed before the House of Commons the Superannuation Bill 2010-2011. This Bill has been presented as a Money Bill.
The sole purpose of this bill is to place upper limits on payments made under the Civil Service Compensation Scheme (CSCS), a Scheme made covered by the Superannuation Act 1972. In this way, the government seeks to circumvent the court decision.
We have strong reasons to challenge the status of the Superannuation Bill 2010-2011 as a Money Bill. Such Bills deal with national taxation, public money or loans and their management. Matters such as these are only able to be the subject of a Money Bill if the Speaker of the House of Commons agrees that it is the appropriate measure. The Speaker has to sign a certificate to indicate this. The most important Money Bills are those that deal with taxation or the Consolidated Fund Bills that formally vote money to the government. Parliamentary processes allow Money Bills to pass through the Lords within a month of being agreed by the Commons. The House of Lords has no power over Money Bills and these Bills can gain Royal Assent without the Lords’ approval.
Normal bills take some time to go through the parliamentary process because of the checks and balance system of readings, committee stages and debates in the House of Commons and the Lords.
In effect, the Money Bill is a shortened parliamentary process . It reduces the degree of scrutiny that would be required for true primary legislation. The use of a Money Bill in the current circumstances is, in our view, inappropriate and an abuse of parliamentary procedure.
We strongly encourage members to write to their MPs stating their opposition of the bill. Provided below are two templates that
Template Letter to MPs 1 - request a meeting.
Unite News
UPDATED 10th September 2009
UNITE is now in the process of forming its constituent committees around the country, it is important that the Forestry Sector is adequately represented on as many of these Committees as possible so if you can get a place please take it, and help keep the profile and relevance of the Forestry Sector high. In the formation of the new Union we have an opportunity to raise the profile of Forestry and the members employed in it but to do this we must all do our bit to radically improve our communications and recruitment and try to encourage more members to become active. It is an obvious thing to say, but still very apt, if we only recruit one new member each this year, we will have doubled our membership and in doing so raised the profile, importance and influence of all our members in the sector. This may not be a practical aspiration but it should be everyone’s aim to recruit those among our workmates who are not members of a Union at the moment.
I have had meetings with Unite officers in England and Scotland to discuss ways of improving our communications with members and in so doing hopefully make some headway in recruitment as well. There are many members in the Forestry Commission who are either not in a branch at all or in a branch that has no relevance to Forestry, so we are looking at organising our membership into branches (possibly aligned to FC district boundaries) purely for FC members. Although this will not be as straight forward as it may seem, it would have the obvious advantage of making it easier to keep track of membership and therefore easier to communicate with them and hopefully easier to organise those members that wish to be active. Along with this work, I have also met with Chris Kaufman (the National Officer) and Edwin Rowlands to look at producing a membership form specifically designed to be relevant to prospective members in Forestry. We hope that by outlining the great record that the Union has in negotiating changes within the FC for our members benefit as well as being a leading force in Health and safety, we can demonstrate the advantages of being a member.
If you have any views on how we can improve communications, increase recruitment or make our organisation more efficient please get in touch with me or your local rep who will pass any comments on.
Robert Beaney
Towards a New Union UPDATED 2nd June 2008
Unite's Joint Executive Committee has agreed rules for the new union. These rules will be submitted to a ballot of the members in the course of the summer, under procedures to be agreed by Unite's Executive Council. They will come into force, if approved, in November, when the Amicus and T&G sections will cease to exist as Unite is fully merged.
Further Information: Final draft of the new rules | Members' guide to the new rules.
14th Jan 2008
Unite’s first Executive Council will sit for a period of three years commencing May 2008, and in accordance with the general rules of Unite it is necessary to hold a ballot to elect representatives to the first Executive Council. The T&G and Amicus will each elect 40 representatives to the first Executive Council, and the voting period will run from 3rd – 28th March 2008.
The election will be fully postal and conducted by the Electoral Reform Services, who have been appointed Independent Scrutineers. The T&G GEC has decided that the constituencies and procedures for the election will be the same as for the last GEC ballot
T&G Extranet 2nd Nov 2007
The T&G extranet is an essential resource for all T&G activists. A wide range of documents and related information is available and added to on a regular basis including bargaining briefs, guidelines, membership forms in foreign languages, T&G news, journals, campaign materials etc. What's more there's a health and safety section where safety reps can download supporting information, posters, the safety reps handbook as well as many other files.
To get access to this resource simply email your name, trade group and T&G membership number to extranet@tgwu.org.uk and your name will be added to the list. (Note: passwords are issued on a monthly basis)
Progress within the new Union 12th Sept 2007
The Joint Executive Council has been formed and had its first meeting on May 9th with another on July 6th. The Rules Commission of Unite have also taken up their duties and had their first meeting. Tony Woodley and Derek Simpson (joint General Secretaries) are leading a Senior Management Team to manage the integration process and to support the work of the JEC.
Regional Secretaries have been appointed to all the new regions:
| Laurence Faircloth (Amicus Section) | NORTH WEST |
| Davey Hall (Amicus Section) | NORTH EAST/YORKSHIRE and HUMBERSIDE |
| Gerard Coyne (T&G Section) | MIDLANDS WEST |
| Adrian Axtell (Amicus Section) | MIDLANDS EAST |
| Andy Frampton (T&G Section) | SOUTH WEST |
| Steve Hart (T&G Section) | LONDON and EASTERN |
| Jennie Bremner (Amicus Section) | SOUTH EAST |
| Jimmy Kelly (T&G Section) | IRELAND |
| John Quigley (Amicus Section) | SCOTLAND |
| Andy Richards (T&G Section) | WALES |