NORWICH CITY UNISON

A truly significant milestone towards implementating single status was reached last Thursday when the Norwich City UNISON branch committee agreed to ballot members on the package offered by the council – with a recommendation to accept.

The latest round of negotiations saw the council accepting UNISON’s arguments in favour of enhancing the financial package for affected individuals. As a result, the offer was amended to include six months back pay for individuals whose pay is to increase and six months protection for those who will see their pay decrease.

An important step has been taken towards the council’s proposal for single status following a meeting of cabinet on Wednesday.

At the meeting cabinet agreed to UNISON’s request to amend the council’s single status proposal. The amendments put forward and agreed by cabinet include making provisions for up to six months back pay and protection.

The other options considered, but rejected, by cabinet were:

The Norwich City branch has received informal confirmation from the regional office that the council’s single status proposals can be put to members in a ballot.

The proposals will go before the council’s Cabinet on 16 March 2011.

The council and the Norwich City Unison branch have recently heard back from Unison nationally that the council's proposal for single status meets with legal requirements. These include fair and non-discriminatory pay and grading structures and terms and conditions of employment that are in accordance with equal pay legislation.

This is a key stage before proposals are presented to members for ballot.  The council and local and regional representatives of Unison will meet again at the end of August to finalise how we move forward with the single status proposal.

Norwich City Council’s proposal currently sits with UNISON headquarters, after the specialists at head office requested further details and information from the employer.

The proposals would mean: 

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.