Secretary's Corner
March 2009
The branch held its annual General Meeting on the 24th February 2009, and a big
‘thank you’ goes to all those members that attended. The election of Branch officers took
place on the evening, and a full list of the results of those elections can be found elsewhere
in this Newsletter. I would like to take this opportunity to assure members that this branch
will continue in its efforts, both locally and nationally, in representing your views to the
very best of our ability in the difficult and challenging times that lay ahead.
We in the public health sector are now coming up to the second year of the 3 year Pay deal which will give us a 2.4% cost of living pay increase from the 1st April. UNISON were one of the lead organisations in negotiating this agreement, and the government have so far stated that they will honour year three of the agreement in 2010, however as Greg pointed out, as the National debt reaches the trillion pound mark and the very real threat of deflation takes hold, securing annual Pay increases in the future will be a very real and difficult challenge, as will negotiating adequate budgets from commissioners to carry out our work as Health care Professionals.
The other area of major concern is with pensions. UNISON were again instrumental in staving off the governments intentions for a complete reform or our pensions arrangements in the last couple of years, but again this is another area that the government will almost certainly be keen to revisit. With all of this in mind, I would strongly urge anyone that is not currently a UNISON member to become one, it is only by having a strong membership base that will give UNISON the ability to negotiate at the very highest level, and will also give members the opportunity to vote and have a genuine say when these things are balloted on in the future.
Branch Treasurer Steve Beckley’s article in our January Newsletter on claiming Tax relief on UNISON
subscriptions has generated a level of interest from members, we have been contacted by some seeking further
advice about how to go about this, we have also had a few enquiries recently on how UNISON subscriptions are
calculated and banded. If anyone would like advice or clarification on these issues, Please contact your County
Lead or Divisional Secretary who will be happy to explain.
There have been some occasions recently whereby members have contacted the branch seeking representation on
issues only to find that their subscriptions are not being paid by payroll, and as a consequence their membership
has lapsed. This can happen for a variety of reasons, one being when staff move from one band to another.
It is the responsibility of individual members to ensure that their subscriptions are paid, and therefore membership
is maintained to ensure representation from UNISON remains available.
Therefore I urge all members to keep an eye on the deductions section of their monthly pay advice and ensure
that UNISON subscriptions are being paid, any problems, contact your local rep immediately.
The Dynamic Deployment Group will meet again on the 6th
March to review the ongoing trial. This will include reviewing data
from ‘Lightfoot.’ locally agreed DAP sites and feedback from Local
SPF groups. Outcomes from those meetings will be communicated to
Staff via the Branch Website and Newsletter.
Version 2.2 | © EEAS-UNISON. All rights reserved.
