REFUSE COLLECTION
"FUTURE STATE" BALLOT
Unite can confirm that the Council's "Future State" proposals were rejected following a workplace ballot on 13 August 2010.
PAY OFFER
Unite have rejected the 3 year pay offer from Council which was 1% in year one,0% in year 2 and 0.5 % in year 3
REFUSE COLLECTION BALLOT
A workplace ballot will be conducted at Powderhall Depot on 13 August 2010 regarding the Council's "Future State" proposals for refuse collection
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FUTURE STATE PROPOSAL
If any member wishes to discuss the Councils " Future State" proposal for refuse collection please contact Stephen Macgregor on 0781 889 0555
LETTERS FROM THE COUNCIL
Member who did not sign up voluntarily to the Council's single status deal should have received a letter from the Council which is a notification of termination of your current contract and offer of re-engagement on new terms and conditions. If you have any questions please contact Stephen MacGregor or Tam Bell.
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REFUSE COLLECTION, FUTURE STATE PROPOSALS
Unite will be meeting Mark Turley, Director,Services For Communities and Philip Barr, Head of Human Resources on 2 July 2010. At this meeting Unite expect to recieve final " Future State" proposals for refuse collection. Workplace ballots on the proposal will commence on 6 July
COUNCILS VOLUNTARY SIGN
UP LETTERS
The council's sign up letter consists of 2 questions - accept or do not accept.
Opt for the do not accept option.
You will have recently recieved correspondance from the Council asking to voluntary sign up to the Councils Single Status package. Unites advice is that you do NOT sign at this time as you could be signing away your legal rights to raise a case against the Council When the Council request 2nd time around to sign from july onwards our advice is to sign to protect your employment. Signing during the imposition period ie between July and October should not affect any legal rights you may have
LATEST BALLOT ANNOUNCEMENT
Unite can confirm that members within Burial Services and Waste Disposal have accepted the Councils " Future State" proposals. The Grounds Maitanence ballot outcome wil be known by June 3 2010.
BALLOT RESULT
Following the ballot on the future state proposals UNITE can confirm that members within Street Cleaning have accepted the proposals. Members within Waste Disposal and Grounds Maintenance will be balloted on future state proposals this week with a result expected on 28 May 2010. Final future state proposals for Refuse Collection have yet to be received by UNITE.
SINGLE STATUS
The 90-day statutary consultation period with the unions has now ended and the final package has been presented to the trade union side. We will now be consulting with our members on this package over the coming weeks.
BRANCH MEETING
The next branch meeting will be on 9 June 2010 from 5pm-7pm at the district office. Proof of membership required.
The final future state proposals have been received by UNITE for the majority of groups involved in the current dispute. From this week (17 May 2010) UNITE will be balloting members starting with members within Street Cleaning. Final proposals have yet to be received for members within Refuse Collection. We expect these in the next few weeks.
PICKETS
Over the last few weeks UNITE members have been picketing outside Craigmillar depot. The branch would like to thank these members for their continued support during this dispute.
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A meeting will take place with Mark Turley, Director of SfC and UNITE on 22 March 2010 to discuss "Future State" proposals.
5 March 2010
To read the joint press release from UNITE and Unison for the City of Edinburgh Council regarding the GMB's factually innaccurate correspondance please click here.
11 February 2010
There will be a protest against the Council's proposed cuts at the City Chambers at 8.30am-10am on Thursday before the Council's budget meeting. Please come along to show support.
January 2010
As you know manual workers within the council are involved in a dispute over single status. On Thursday 21 we received notification that proposals will be presented to UNITE. We will meet with the council on 26 January to discuss proposals for Gravediggers and Grounds Maintenance staff; on 1 February to discuss Street Cleaning, Specialist Services and Waste Disposal; 5 February to discuss proposals for Refuse Collection and Public Conveniences.
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Unite have been issued with formal 90-day consultation notice regarding Single Status. This is the first step towards the imposition of the package.
We will update this website when anything relevance comes from the discussions.
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If you would like the back-issues of our newsletters please contact Stephen MacGregor or Tam Bell.
17 December 2009
THE LIB DEMS, THE SNP AND THE TORIES HAVE VOTED TO PUT OUR VALUED PUBLIC SERVICES OUT TO TENDER WITH LABOUR AND THE GREENS OPPOSING THEM. REMEMBER THIS AT ELECTION TIME FOLKS. It's crazy that they took this decision when for instance in refuse collection the department is making efficiency savings year on year and is in surplus this year.
We will continue to oppose this privatisation agenda and continue to gather signatures for our petition. If you would like to help out in any way please contact one of the officials.
Thursday 17 December 2009
UNITE will be handing out leaflets to members of the public outside the City Chambers from 10am to outline the ongoing dispute and to collect signatures for our petition.
This Saturday - 14 November 2009
UNITE will have a stall at the foot of Leith Walk from 10am - 12pm. We will be talking to the public and handing out leaflets outlining the current dispute. If you would like to help out, simply show up! We will also be starting our petition against the Council's privatisation agenda.
ONLINE PETITION
We are using our guestbook as an online petition. We will be collecting as many names as we can and will present them to full Council. UNITE have been saying for months that the Council was unwilling to resolve the current dispute as their real agenda is to privatise. We do not want our valued public services privatised. To sign our online petition please click here and leave your name, address, date and any comment.
5 November 2009
Unite will meet with thePersonnel Appeals Committee on 25 November 2009 to hear our case on the council's decision to withhold wages and sick pay for those employed within Refuse Collection. This committeee consists of elected members from all political groups. Hopefully they will see sense and all monies will be reimbursed.
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Following a mass meeting with manual workers on 9 October 2009 it was unanimously decided that UNITE will keep up the industrial action, but will enter fresh talks with the Council. If anyone has suffered a detriment through alleged partial performance or the withholding of sick pay, please contact one of the branch officials so that employment tribunals can take place.
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Due to a bothersome PC glitch, the member's mailshot details have been lost. Please, if you were on the e-list could you send an e-mail to steviemacgregor@blueyonder.co.uk to be added once more. Sorry for the inconvenience.
22 September 2009
Unite met with the Council on 22-09-09 to discuss the ongoing dispute. We offered to use ACAS for consiliation but the Council refused this offer.
11 September 2009
UNITE lodged an avoidance of industrial dispute regarding the Council withholding our members pay within refuse collection alleging partial performance. We believe this deduction is an unlawful deduction of wages and we are processing employment tribunal claims. If anyone has had monies deducted it is important that they contact Stephen MacGregor or their local shop steward. The avoidance of dispute meeting today was adjourned until Monday 14 September 2009. This site will be updated after Monday's meeting.
11 September 2009 (Part 2)
UNITE will hopefully meet with the Council on 17 September 2009 regarding the current dispute over terms and conditions. To date, no firm proposals have been presented to the unions despite repeated requests.
ONGOING DISPUTE - 27 August 2009
The industrial action short of a strike is still in place while UNITE and our sister union Unison continue negotiations with the Council. Should you have any queries please don't hesitate to contact your steward or one of the branch officials.
10 August 2009
UNITE can confirm that the industrial action ballot that concluded last Wednesday resulted overwhelmingly in members voting in favour of strike action and action short of a strike. Following meetings with members on 6 & 7 August proposals put forward by the Council were rejected and it was decided that members want to take action short of a strike. This action will commence next week.
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Following the meeting on 3 August I can confirm that no imminent resolution is on the horizon, despite media predictions to the contrary.
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Following the meeting on 23 July UNITE can confirm that the Council refused to take the final package off the table and no written proposals offered at all. The council offered up only "ifs" and "maybes" with nothing concrete whatsoever. It was disappointing that the Council walked away from these 5-hour-long negotiations. UNITE have offered the Council a week-long set of negotiations, however the Council have not formally responded to this offer.
If you have any concerns about your grade and pay please contact Tam Bell - 0771 731 8888 or Stephen MacGregor on 0781 889 0555.
To join our e-list please send an e-mail to steviemacgregor@blueyonder.co.uk
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UNITE will meet with the council on Thursday 23 July 2009 to discuss the ongoing dispute.
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UNITE wrote to Tom Aitchison, Chief Exec' of the Council, on 15 July 2009 to inform the Council that we will be carrying out an industrial action ballot commencing on 23 July 2009 and running for 2 weeks
Negotiations - 9 July 2009
Following the meeting beteen the unions and the Council yesterday (9-7-09) we can confirm that the Council's position remains unchanged - the final package that the Council presented to the unions in June remains their offer.
Ballot announcement
The ballot result regarding the council's proposed terms and conditions has been overwhelmingly and unsurprisingly rejected. UNITE are now in the process of carrying out our industrial action ballot.
BALLOT
Unite are undertaking a workplace ballot on the Council's terms and conditions proposals. This ballot applies to manual workers only at this time. APT&C members will be balloted in the coming weeks. This consultative ballot will end on Wednesday 1 July 2009. If you have not received a ballot paper please contact Stephen MacGregor on 0781 8890555.
SINGLE STATUS
If you have any queries about Single Status please e-mail steviemacgregor@blueyonder.co.uk
URGENT NOTICE TO MEMBERS - SINGLE STATUS:
The Council have informed the trade union side that the draft package of proposals re single status that was presented to the trade unions on 11 June 2009 is their final position. This is extremely disappointing as there were 3 more dates scheduled for negotiations - 23, 24, 25 June 2009. Unite will be visiting depots/offices over the next few weeks to meet with members. We have a very varied membership within the Council, but we can confirm that the current manual worker (bonus earners) are set to have their wages slashed by thousands of pounds if the Council get their way.
Unite do not usually hold branch meetings in July however due to the severity of this issue a Special Branch Meeting has been arranged for 1 July 2009 to which all members are invited.
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Unite will be conducting health and safety checks within depots over the coming weeks. If you have a health and safety concern please contact your local steward or one of the branch officials.
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It is with some amazement that we must report that the Waste Department within Services for Communities, after terminating the contracts of Pinnacle consultants, have hired a new crew of consultants to assist in the Waste Review. We view this as a total waste of taxpayers money.
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