Current News

Non-Manual Members - Lodge Your Equal Pay Claim NOW

Don't Miss Deadline 26 September

• Single Status Action News September 2008
• List of mainy female posts
• Equal Pay Case form (complete and return to the regional office)

Council withdraw 'Progression Paper'

Single Staus Action News 12 (PDF)

May 1st, Local elections, don't forget to use your vote!

Hope Not Hate 2008

Pay Deal 2008

Consultation has begun on the 2008 pay deal. See the Pay Matters campaign news for further details.

Photographs from the strike and rally 23rd and 24th April 2008

See here for photographs from the strike. If you have any photographs from the strike that you would like to share please upload them to a photosharing site such as Flickr.com or photobucket.com and send us the links (we have limited storage on our website so cannot host them ourselves). It would be helpful if you could indicate what sort of license you are prepared to give us to use your work. If no license is specified we will assume only that we can link to the pages you identify. We recommend Creative Commons licenses.

Urgent Update - 23/24 Strike

April 22nd UNISON issued the following clarification to members:

"Despite, managements’ best efforts to muddy the waters with their sham revised offer & subsequent propaganda campaign, we believe that members throughout our services will support the planned action on 23rd & 24th April.

For those staff who have read our managements propaganda & seen the video, I would like to draw your attention to a number of points that seem to have been forgotten or glossed over.

Firstly, for those staff who are relying on a positive Appeal against their score, management in talks admitted that they had made no financial provision for successful appeals. Given the size of the appeals – where is the money going to come from if we win our Appeal? Or is a fair & equitable appeals process simply a pipe dream?

Secondly, despite their comments to the contrary their revised offer does not constitute extra money because they have admitted that this money will have to be found from existing directorate budgets & as we all know the city is awash with spare cash!!!

Lastly, despite their assurances to the contrary staff are being asked to keep ALL offices open on traditional Concessionary & Extra Statutory Days with no regard to childcare issues or any other plans staff may have around school holidays. Clearly, this is how they see our flexibility in the future.

Finally, we would like to thank those senior officers for their
presentation, especially as their jobs have not been measured & unlike you & me they’re not facing huge wage cuts. Indeed, we understand, the national employer has just offered senior officers a 6% pay rise compared to their final offer of 2.45% to everyone else!!!"

And in response to press reports about division amongst the unions

Birmingham City Council Strike Media Release 22 April 2008

The Birmingham City Council Joint Trade Unions met today and have re-asserted their united position calling on all union members to take strike action tomorrow and Thursday, 23 and 24 April.

Claims by senior management of splits in the Joint Union side are unfounded and were rejected as sheer desperation.

Steve Foster, Unite/TGWU said

"The council unions have been united from day one and remain so. If the council is serious about reaching a settlement, it should withdraw the imposed contracts."

Caroline Johnson, UNISON said,

"This imposed contract affects all our members from cooks to park wardens, clerical workers to street cleaners. We have never known such unity amongst our members. Over 95% voted for continued action at our recent meetings. Our members remain united in our opposition to the new contracts and grading structure."

Paul Sayers, UCATT said,

"We remain solidly behind all our members who lose out under the pay and grading contract. We are all out tomorrow and Thursday. One question for Steven Hughes, Chief Executive, will he be losing his bonus like our members."

Ann Lafferty, GMB said,

"The GMB and its members are fully committed and involved in the dispute and along with their colleagues within the other trade unions will be asked to take part in the industrial action on the 23rd and 24 th April 2008. There is a slight difference of opinion as to the level of talks we are willing to be involved in with Education, however, this does not create disharmony. The joint trade unions have a commitment to fight together against an unreasonable package submitted by an unreasonable employer. Employer's tactics come and go, our commitment to the dispute is unwavering."

Birmingham Council Joint Trade Unions

For more information call : Steve Foster 0121 303 2867 / 643 6221 Caroline Johnson 07855 645 199 Paul Sayers 07828 038 801 GMB Office 0121 550 4888

Hughes stars in council's video nasty

Paul Dale (Birmingham Post and Mail) Blogs about the video made by the council to sell Single Status to the staff.

Poster for Strike on Wednesday 23rd and Thursday 24th

Please display this poster in your workplace.

Setting the Record Straight - Why we're going on Strike

UNISON Birmingham Branch have produced a document detailing the current situation and why we're taking strike action on Wednesday 23rd and Thursday 24th April 2008. This is hoped to counteract the misunderstandings and misconceptions that have been circulating.

Strike 23rd and 24th April 2008

Following the outcome of the mass members' meetings in March, UNISON and the Joint Trade Unions are calling further days of strike action on the 23rd and 24th April 2008.

Leafleting, Saturday 12th April

We will be leafleting Cllr Gregory's ward on Saturday 12th April. Please meet up outside the Billesley Public House at 11.00am.

Leafleting, Saturday 5th April

We will be leafleting Cllr Tillesley's ward on Saturday 5th April. Please meet up outside the St Bernard's Grange pub on Barrow's Lane, Sheldon.

Single Status Action News 10

Setting the record straight, results of the votes at the member's meetings and where we go from here.

Slides from Members' Meetings 13th and 14th March

The slides fromthe members' meetings are available.

Offer from management as of 12th March 2008

Details of the offer from management presented to the Mass Members meetings on the 13th and 14th.

Mass Members' Meetings 13th and 14th March

We are holding members meeting on the 13th and 14th March at Cocks Moor Woods Leisure Centre and 13th March at the Holte Suite at Aston Villa. these meetings are expected to take about 2 hours each and are:

• 09:30 to 11:30
• 12:00 to 2:00pm
• 2:30pm to 4:30pm

Time off with pay has been given for these meetings and all union members should attend. It is vital for your employment future that you attend.

Delays due to JEQ information being supplied late by the Pay and Grading team

A number of members have reported that they have had to wait several weeks past the due date for JEQ information to be supplied by the council's Pay and Grading team. UNISON Birmingham branch Single Status negotiators have reported:

"SSDT have confirmed that delays in JEQ info provision should be added to the appeal deadline date. We should be advisingf members to concisely record the date they request the info and record it securely"

Should Public Section pay be capped?

Public Finance magazine have a talking point on their website on this issue about this issue. We encourage all members to visit the site and add thier comments.

Unison Birmingham Branch
3rd Floor Albany House
Hurst Street
Birmingham
B5 4BD

Branch Contacts

Email Us

How to find us