Stirling UNISON’s Industrial Action Ballot following the Stirling Council’s imposition of the new Organisational Change Policy
Stirling Council imposed a new Organisational Change policy that removes hard won terms and conditions. Under this new policy:
• You have lost the right to receive up to 3 years additional pension entitlement if you were leaving the organisation in a way that allowed you to access your pension.
• You have lost the entitlement to discretionary enhanced benefits, meaning that there is no guarantee that members would not leave employment with anything more than basic redundancy pay. This is a huge reduction in the severance pay that you could be entitled to. A 50-year-old who earns £26,000 per year with 20 years’ service would receive £12,250 under the new policy. Under previous arrangements, they would have received £26,950.
• There is a real terms reduction in the “payback period” for the cost of any benefits paid to staff when they leave. This is another method that cuts the Council’s ability to offer enhanced rates.
• There is no guarantee of any long-delayed Job Evaluation outcomes being backdated beyond two years. If the Council take longer than 2 years to evaluate your job, you could lose out on wages that should be yours.
• The Council can use settlement agreements in what should be redundancy situations, restricting members rights to speak about their experiences at work. We feel that this is an unnecessary gagging of Council workers, particularly as you will not be paid a premium payment as outlined on the second bullet point above.
• The Council has removed a reference to the legislation around permanency rights. This has been an issue in Stirling Council in the past and we feel that having this clearly marked in policy results in better outcomes for members.
In addition, we are hoping to resolve the imposition of generic job titles within Land Services, and the associated issues resulting from this.
To respond to these changes, we held a consultative ballot with selected groups of members to see if they would be willing to take action. This closed in late April, and those in favour were:
Wellgreen Car Park Attendants – 100% in favour
Enforcement officers – 100% in favour
Street Cleansing – 100% in favour
Waste – 98% in favour
Next steps
UNISON has now given Stirling Council formal notice that we will be balloting members for industrial action. The ballot will be open from 2nd June until 14th July.
Balloted members will receive additional communications from the branch on how to vote. If you are not in one of the above groups, then no further action is required.
However, please continue to show your support by liking, sharing and commenting on our Facebook posts. You can also talk to your colleagues about the issues and why they are important to you.
Remember, these groups of workers are taking action for ALL Stirling Council employees, as the changes will impact everyone.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact your local steward or the branch.
Yours sincerely,
Tony Caleary
Branch Secretary
UNISON Stirling Branch
Stirling UNISON 