UNISON Southend-on-Sea AGM 2018 +buffet in pictures; Secretary and Officers’ Annual Reports; and duly elected Branch Officers and Stewards

Over the last year, we have seen no let-up to austerity or the hypocrisy of ordinary workers paying for the crisis we did not start! We also see no let-up to the crisis in the wider world that sees our sisters and brothers flee and seek refuge from war, death and inhumane regimes.

However, over the last year, we have seen considerable defiance and action against cuts and crisis, which as a branch we have supported by participating in rallies and demos and showing solidarity through supporting strike funds and supportive letters.

Our branch banner was unfurled on many occasions including at the Refugees Welcome National Demonstration, Defending the NHS National Demonstration and 2 local demonstrations that saw over a thousand members of the community fighting to Save Our NHS Southend and saw a victory in stopping the downgrading of our local A&E. These national and local demonstrations can make a huge difference including raising awareness of issues as well as shaping national and local policies. If you have never been on a demonstration – come along you’ll love it – you will feel the power!

Your next opportunity is the STEP UP FOR PUBLIC SERVICES march and rally on Saturday 12 May in London – let us know if you are interested.

Locally as a branch we have supported various campaigns to help raise awareness of the impact caused by underfunding. For example, on Save Our Libraries Day we wrote to local councillors and visited our members in libraries to highlight the importance of library services and to Save Our NHS Southend against the creeping plans to dismantle and downgrade through the so-called Sustainable Transformation Plans (STP’s) we leafleted locally and sent letters to all our members. Also, crisis in social work is still high on the National UNISON agenda and Pam Drever has been supporting local SWAN (Social Work Action Network) meetings. We have a SWAN ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2018 on 20th – 21st April in Southend. We hope initiatives like this will help support our social workers against more cuts coming our way.

Whilst it might not feel like it, we do see the incumbent government increasingly on the back foot with Brexit, there is a groundswell of support against the underfunding of the NHS and cuts to social services, and now they are quite rightly being hammered for the most recent cuts to the funding of our schools.

This groundswell against unfair and unjust policies can be seen as reasons to be cheerful but only if we continue to make our voices heard and support events that highlight the true horrors of these policies. Already this year the branch has supported many events to help get that message across to members and to the government that there are alternatives to austerity. This has included the Stand Up To Racism march against Islamaphobia, anti-Semitism and racism, important because of Brexit and Trump and the resulting rhetoric of racism, sexism and division that has started to become acceptable arguments from our politicians.

This year, the budget cuts for Southend Local Government  was £11-million with job losses being hailed as minimal i.e. 5 full-time posts. However we know this has a large impact on people’s workloads and their ability to deliver services on a day-to-day basis – also this so-called minimal cut is on top of job losses over the last 11 years, which equates to near 1/4 of the permanent workforce being cut.

We also know budget cuts affect our members and services in both the private and voluntary sector, for example, less money is given for care packages or to support services such as advocacy or mental health. As wages are squeezed, our members are made to work harder – the governments derisory extra cash for social care is a spit in the ocean and an insult to those that need support and care.

Locally, regarding social services, our work with SBC has led to an adoption of the Ethical Care Charter principles – but this is a great start, but we need to push further.

Long-term (by 2020) the government will not be supporting councils with any grants for the services we deliver and all services within the community will need to be supported by business rates – the new formula, which has been on the news lately, is obviously not popular and unless you’re Kensington or Knightsbridge will not create enough monies to support services. Nationally, UNISON are looking at ways to get this message to members and are challenging this at government levels – local councils are staring at a cliff edge.

However, we still see there is money for Trident, tax breaks for corporations to build new grammar schools and free schools, as well as massive payouts for CEO’s not to mention taxpayer-funded subsidies for the MPs’ food and drink at Westminster!

We have our national conferences coming up for tabling motions to tackle these and many other issues and we would encourage anyone interested in attending to contact the branch asap. The outcome of motions passed will act as action plans for the union during the following year – so it is important we table motions that call for action and deliver a strong message.

As we know, the incumbent government will continue to attack us as long as they think they can get away with it – therefore we need to fight back more than ever.

We achieve this partly through our lay delegates involvement on national committees and you can use your vote in choosing these delegates. This branch has backed candidates standing on the UNISON Action platform – so use your votes – ballots coming out in April.

PAY

Local government workers and school workers have all been balloted on the pay offer – this branch rejected the proposed 2% pay rise for 2018/19 and a further 2% in 2019/20 for most workers  because the offer is below inflation and therefore represents another pay cut for the majority. Over the year, we have held stalls on pay, lobbied councillors and MPs and sent out leaflets and information to all our members.

Like this branch, nationally many union members rejected the pay offer. However most branches accepted, so unfortunately the National Joint Council (NJC) committee must now recommend acceptance of the pay offer.

PRIVATE SECTOR

We are recruiting in the Private Sector regularly and have gained some activists and are working hard with Eastern Region to organise further in this area. We have won some fair pay cases and also helped people keep their jobs through supporting our members against bullying managers. Also, the adoption of the Ethical Care Charter principles should improve these care sector workplaces.

THE BRANCH

We are an active branch and continually engage with employers over issues affecting our members. We have had 223 new members this year.

Thanks to all our active stewards who have made a real difference for members when faced with disciplinaries, contractual reviews, grievances and restructures. We have had over 135 individual cases across the branch membership this year and UNISON’s presence has impacted positively on outcomes.

I also thank all our activists that have given out our newsletters and kept members in touch with their union and its activities.

We are also being proactive – we note from our casework issues that equalities whether it be around disabilities, gender, race or sexuality have often not been dealt with properly by managers. We continue to liaise with the employers over this and we have furthered work around the sexual harassment issues with the employers on the back of the TUC report ‘Still just a bit of banter?’

This branch has organised a lot over the last year but it’s not always demos and picket lines! We have organised theatre trips, thanks to Shona Rowe, yoga sessions and training for stewards and activists. With the help of our LGBT+, Women’s, Disabled and BLACK Members’ Officers we have supported International Women’s Day, Black History and LGBT+ History months with stalls, information and events and sent out information around disability rights in the workplace. We know society is still not treating all people equally and we strive to make this workplace and the community a fairer place for everyone. Thanks to those officers for their support and hard work on this.

Our Health and Safety Officers and Stewards have also been proactive in supporting safety at work. We have had a stall on health and safety issues and the team has met regularly with the employers to highlight concerns and worked with them to improve workplace health and safety.

Activists have been supported in developing their skill set and knowledge by attending various training from H&S courses, law webinars, officer and steward training, web design sessions and much more.

However, if you feel there are any areas that we are not looking at then please let us know. Also we need your continued help spreading the word about the value of being in a union – take a membership form and recruit a colleague today!

Also, I thank all members for letting us know when things are not right – we need to know so we can support you both individually and collectively.

GET ACTIVE

We have gained 4 new stewards in schools this year, thanks to our school worker from Eastern Region. However, there is always room for more activists and we would welcome a chat with any members that would like to consider being more active or have a look at what training we could support them on.

We have also supported members to go to the LGBT+ National Conference, Black Members’ National Conference, Local Government Conference and UNISON’s National Conference.

INTERNATIONALLY

UNISON locally has supported a lot of trade union activity abroad as union members fight under undemocratic regimes for their rights under far harsher conditions than us. We have supported international organisations such as the Burma and Philippines Campaign, ACTSA (Action for South Africa) and other trade unions in Columbia, India, Palestine, Canada to name a few who, like us, are fighting against greedy bosses, cuts and so-called austerity. We hope to be able to support our sister unions in the future.

I would like to thank all those that have worked really hard this year, noting our volunteers, Sue Letherbarrow, Michael Mann and Sam Adams.

We will have a lot of battles ahead and we need all our members’ support as this is where our strength lies so help us to Educate Agitate and Organise! … and Recruit!

In my role as Disability Officer, I can be called upon to support disabled members in Absence Review meetings, Contractual Reviews, also with completing forms. I help to raise awareness with the employers of events that particularly impact on disabled members and feedback any issues that come out back to the Branch Executive. This helps to keep the lines of communication open between the employers and the unions to make it a better workplace for all.

With my gained knowledge I am able to signpost members to useful websites and companies who provide advice, equipment to enable members to fulfil their job role responsibilities to the best of their ability.

If you are a disabled UNISON member and would like to help UNISON develop this area of work, become a steward or attend UNISON’s Disabled Members National Conference (once a year) then please do not hesitate to contact us – there is loads of training and support we can give.

This past 12 months, as Women’s Officer, I was fortunate to attend the Eastern Regional Women’s Conference with educating and interesting talks, including pregnancy and working rights. The opportunity to meet and listen to other women who have experiences from so many different backgrounds can give a greater understanding of how inequality sadly still thrives in our modern world, but with campaigns around Sexual Harassment in the Workplace, conversations are taken back home and tackling this issue can be discussed and stopped.

As UNISON Women’s Officer I have also supported the organising of the International Women’s Day celebrations at the Civic Centre in the early stages as UNISON and SBC met to plan. UNISON is able to bring together like-minded people who want to make changes in the workplace and support our members.

If you are interested in becoming more involved in UNISON and supporting raising awareness over equality issues for women, attending our yearly National Women’s Conferences or becoming a rep – please do not hesitate to contact us – the more the better!

June ’17 Civic Centre foyer stall publicising Essex and London Pride. Promotion of the Branch LGBT+ group. (Continued on all stalls through the year).

August ’17 Meeting with Transpire (Southend based trans support network). Continued monthly in the workplace and community.

Sept ’17 Civic Centre foyer stall for WHO World Mental Health Day. Information and advice on LGBT+ specific mental health issues, and their causes. Signposting to LGBT+ support organisations.

Oct ’17 Meeting with Outreach (SBC LGBT+ Staff Forum). Continued regular meetings with an aim to joint working re: events, publicity, and challenging discrimination in the workplace.

Nov ’17 UNISON National LGBT+ Conference, Brighton. Attended by 3 Branch LGBT+ Group members. Report made to Branch Executive Committee, also available from the UNISON Office.

Nov ’17 Civic Centre foyer stall for Day of Elimination of Violence Against Women. Information and advice for LGBT+ affected by abuse and violence, and raising awareness of domestic abuse in same-sex relationships.

Nov ’17 Raising of the Transgender flag at the Civic Centre to commemorate Transgender Day of Remembrance. Result of joint working with Outreach and Transpire.

Jan ’18 Meeting of community activists with the aim of organising Southend’s first Pride. Continued monthly meetings and formation of official Organising Committee. Moves towards the Branch being an official sponsor of the event.

Feb ’18 Meeting of South Essex Equality Network. Continued bi-monthly meetings. Debate of current issues, policies and procedures, and support in the workplace.

Feb ’18 LGBT+ History Month Event. Held in the Jubilee Room at the Civic Centre. Various stalls representing community groups and workplaces. Presentation from the founder and Chair of Transpire. Raising of the Rainbow flag at the Civic Centre, as a result of joint working with Outreach.

March ’18 International Women’s Day Event. LGBT+ Stall with information and advice for lesbian, bi, and trans women.

April ’18 Meeting with Southend’s Youth Council Mayor, with an aim of joint working, re: future events, raising awareness, and support.

This year has been a busy one, with the Branch LGBT+ Group making links in the wider community, and raising its profile both in, and out, of the workplace. We have offered support and advice, recruited new UNISON members, and continuously strive to create a safe and diverse working environment for all.

Hopefully, this work will be built upon in the coming year, especially with the exciting prospect of Southend hosting its very own Pride for the first time, and this Branch being an active sponsor and supporter of the event.

As we recover from the second bashing from the Beast from the East many of us Retired Members must consider the last year as just a continuing “winter of our discontent”! We are continually blasted by politicians and government officials with fibs, half-truths and meaningless consultations!

Take the current debate over the Hospitals in our part of Essex, the STP (whatever that stands for), we are given a plethora of complex slideshows, maps, graphs and long complicated glossy pamphlets. I attended a recent public meeting at the Southend Cliffs Pavilion and was shocked that the organisers had Private Security bouncers on the door to weed out “people who did not have a good reason to be there”. I luckily was one of the last to get in and was able to join other UNISON members there. But were there any of our local MPs there or local councillors, who say they “Love The NHS”, to gauge public opinion, what do you think? Although I hope most of us RMs are in “Good Nick for our age”, some of us have to rely on the services of our hard-pressed working colleagues in the NHS! We get very angry when our local Ambulance UNISON members get blamed for having to wait in the A&E car-park and doubly annoyed when our frail and vulnerable friends & relations get blamed for bed-blocking, because our LG Social Services members are suffering another set of cuts to local care services, to balance the council tax budget!

Continuing on this Care theme, I’ve attended many national events, happily listening to speakers from the hall, but last Oct at RM National 2018 Llandudno Conference, something Clicked that morning! That particular date was the 8th anniversary of the death of my Mother-in-law, Jean, extremely active all her life until stiff joints rendered her housebound, relying on family and carers 4 times a day (which she hated). Listening to the debate I became increasingly aware of the déjà vu, 8 years on, of the poor situation in home care has not improved, in fact, was getting worse. So I joined the debate in front of 400 other delegates, by outlining our family experience of “Home Care Short Comings”, urging all fellow delegates to support the motion. Returning to my seat I received many words of congratulations from our fellow Eastern region members, for my first conference address.

Back to our RM year, I was very disappointed that the September RM Seminar was cancelled because funding for it had been cut by Eastern Region. This is the only occasion when ordinary Eastern RMs can meet to discuss matters relevant to retired UNISON members. This lack of funding became a contentious point at the RM January Bi-Annual Election Meeting. We look forward to the promised refunding of this Seminar next Autumn.

Locally, we are trying new ways to interact with our very diverse local RM membership, with some limited success i.e. different venue, different time. This is another continuing concern of many Branches nationally and there are some interesting new ideas on communicating with our retired members being discussed by many other branches. I am very keen to have this matter fully discussed by our RM Branch. But I need you to come along with your views and ideas on how we can improve our communication with our retired members. Please contact me if you would like to join this discussion.

Finally last October’s Conference was sadly overshadowed by the untimely death at the beginning of Oct, of Rodney Bickerstaffe at 72, as many there had worked with him. Our Rodders or “Bick” in his dark, heavy-framed NHS spectacles and a shock of hair, just like Buddy Holly. He was a fighter for the low-paid workers, first as general secretary (1981-93) of the National Union of Public Employees (Nupe), then as associate general secretary and general secretary (1993-2001) of UNISON. He was an ordinary chap turning down a knighthood and peerage when offered but without him the country might still be without the National Minimum Wage. I met him at National Conference some years back, he chatted to Lynne & myself while posing for photos with Lynne and a huge blow-up Yellow Duck, a warm, good-natured bloke with steel behind that sense of humour.

P.S. I did find out one thing at the NHS consultations meeting I attended, the definition of “Cost Avoidance” is … “CUTS!”

President	Louise McDermott
Senior Vice President	Steve Cooper
Junior Vice President	Gloria Lawton
Secretary	Claire Wormald
Chair	Steve Cooper
Assistant Secretary	Diane Fraser
Treasurer	Robert Harris
Education Officer	Claire Wormald
Welfare Officer	Liliana Baker
International Officer	Vacant
Equalities Officer	June Dillow
Health & Safety Officer	Marco Woods/Diane Fraser
Assistant Health and Safety Officer	Louise McDermott
SEH Health and Safety Officer*	Gordon Wells
Black Members’ Officer	Cassandra Senda
SBC LGBT+ Members’ Officer	Ashley Dalton
SEH LGBT+ Officer*	Vacant
Women’s Officer	June Dillow/Louise McDermott
Communications Officer	Vacant
Events Officer	Shona Rowe
Young Members’ Officer	Vacant
Retired Members’ Officer	Roger Young/Pam Drever
Disabled Members’ Officer	Jill Henson
SEH Disabled Members’ Officer*	Vacant

*SEH – South Essex Homes

Department of People

Steve Cooper	Youth & Connexions
Victoria Pallen	Locality Teams
Samantha Reed	Community Housing
Diane Fraser	Adult Services
Louise McDermott	Regulatory Services

South Essex Homes

Gordon Wells	Caretakers, Health and Safety
Pam Haffie	Careline, Nicholson House
Nadine Gould	Senior Steward
Neal Brown	untrained Steward

Corporate Services

Robert Harris	Legal & Democratic
Liliana Baker	Council Tax and Benefits

Department of Place

June Dillow	Museums & Libraries
Kevan Baker	Waste and Environmental
Marcus Woods	Parks, Health and Safety
Christopher Langden	Museums

Schools

Mary Sykes	Futures Community College
Sharon Hatton	Leigh North Street Primary School
Caroline Crofts	Hamstel Junior School
Joanne Kenyon	Thorpe Greenways Junior School
Victoria Crow	Thorpedene Primary School
Laura Noakes	Thorpedene Primary School

Private Sector

Sharon Needham	Southend Care
Lazarus Sibanda	Affinity Trust

Community and Voluntary Sector

Vacant

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