NORWICH CITY UNISON

The council’s single status proposal was submitted to Unison headquarters a few weeks ago. This proposal would mean that: 

• 34% of employees will see their pay increase 
• 54% of employees will see no change in their pay 
• 11% of employees will see their pay decrease

The employer has stated their intention to provide financial and career counseling for these staff and in addition, the branch has agreed an appeals process for those who wish to appeal against their job evaluation.

In our feature article of 1 July we outlined the position for single status. A revised proposal was being developed by the council following the rejection by Unison national office of the first proposal on the grounds of equal pay.

Last night the council's executive committee approved the revised proposal. It will now be sent to Unison national office for a review, expected to last approximately four weeks. The revised proposal is for a new pay system that all employees up to and including heads of service will be transferred to. The effect of this proposal is that: 

At the Norwich City Unison open day last Tuesday, members told us the current issue of most concern to you was single status. We are therefore responding with this feature article to set out the current position of the single status negotiations and keep you informed.

On Wednesday this week, around 50 members came to the Council Chamber in City Hall to attend the 2009 branch annual general meeting. The branch was pleased to see so many members present and would like to thank those members for attending during a very sunny lunchtime.

The moderation process finished in early February, resulting in a delay to the overall timetable.  We are not sure of the new timetable as yet, but expect the process to be completed very soon.

We are concerned about the outcomes of the recent cases that have been decided at the court of appeal regarding backpay, protection and equal pay issues - and how this might affect our own negotiations with the employer going forward.

The Single Status Team is still working towards implementation of the new scheme on 1 April 2009, and we are in negotiation on the conditions of employment that are being reviewed alongside.

We would like to remind members it is still important to return your forms to the team if you haven’t already to ensure the process stays on track.

Thank you to all of you that have spent your time on this so far.

You may have seen information in inner city and e-grapevine recently on the single status process, which is moving ahead with full rollout of the Job Evaluation Scheme soon.

In 2008 we look forward to continuing negotiations to achieve single status for our members.

Proposals have been referred back to the employers to revisit, as experts in job evaluation and pay systems at UNISON headquarters couldn’t agree those initially presented.