March branch meeting minutes

Minutes from the Unite Branch Meeting of the 28^th March 2012

Apologies

Chris Biggam

Ian McGraw

Rick Doran

Minutes – Laura Sweeney

The Minutes from the previous meeting are agreed. Joanne and Steven did not receive the global communication advising that the minutes were available to view and Andrew advised that the they would be able to view these on the Unite Website once they have viewed these he will amend the website so that these are no longer a draft.

Treasurers Report – Mike Dyer

There was an issue with the Bank Account and the fund being paid in. When this was checked the balance was Nil. Mike confirmed that he has emailed the finance department at Unite to confirm why this was. He had not had a reply from them at the time of the meeting but confirmed that he had been advised that the way the money was being paid may have changed from monthly to Quarterly.

Mike also advised that a member of Unite in Craigforth unfortunately had passed away. He will make a formal proposal to contribute towards a bench or other type of memorial once funds become available.

Woman’s/Equality Report – Karen Harkness

Again there is nothing much to report at this time as Karen has not received anything as yet. Andrew advised that these should be something coming through soon, he will speak to Stewart to confirm.

Mike added that Karen may not have heard anything as the mailing list may not have been updated by the Woman’s and Equality committee representative – Elaine as next month is the elections and they may update everything after this.

1^st Motion – Made by Andrew Curtis regarding Free Open Source Software (FOSS)

Andrew is making this motion from the chair and there were no objection to this. Laura Sweeney seconded the Motion.

Free Open source software: (FOSS)

This branch believes:

1. That the non-necessary use of proprietary formats limits accessibility.
2. That the use of FOSS should be encouraged as it is typically more transparent, democratic, fair and progressive when compared to proprietary alternatives.

This branch resolves:

1. That FOSS shall be used for all branch communications where possible.
2. That branch equipment, when purchased, shall use FOSS (e.g. Libre Office) where possible and the savings made by doing so will be announced to branch.
3. That all communications shall be sent out using open formats where possible.
4. A list of FOSS alternatives to the most commonly used proprietary formats (such as Libre Office rather than ms word) will be drawn up and posted on the branch website and members encourage to use it.

This motion was passed.

Mike suggested that we maybe think about expanding the idea throughout the Region and to the rest of the Unite union.

Capita Report: - Mike Dyer

Mike confirmed that this was the second year of the Pay deal and that everything seemed very quiet regarding the 2% pay pot. However there was more queries regarding ratings and the scale these were issued on. Many people received a 3 rating and were unhappy at this. An update was issued to all staff advising how to appeal.

There was a meeting fro reps a few weeks ago concerning addressing teamwork ect. It was discussed that a plan will be put into force for the rest of the year. It was agreed that once all employees have received their pay increase. A questionnaire would be issued to examine what Capita employees thoughts were regarding the issue of pay in terms of ratings rather than the actual amount received. Mike was unsure if this would be sent out to all employees but it was suggested that this would be more beneficial in order to receive a more accurate result.

There is also some independent research being done in conjunction with Strathclyde University into Performance related pay. This is being carried out so that we can get an independent view and can therefore put forward a suggestion with intent to change the way performance related pay works.

Finally it appears that members are still requesting advice and help fro those who are no members of the union. Please note that Union reps cannot provide help and support to those who are not members of Unite.

Royal London Report – Joanne

The Pay negotiations are almost finished and this needed to be concluded Thursday the 5^th of April. This was not helped by the fact that the negotiations were supposed to be started in November but did not in fact begin until January.

Royal London did increase their offer but there was still some unhappiness as they continued to use an outdated and unfair matrix, which means that some staff would receive no increase. Currently 70% of Glasgow staff are paid below market value a new offer would which was proposed would mean that staff would now be on a par with other companies.

There was some resolution regarding the Temporary measure put in place meaning that some staff were performing more technical roles but not being paid for it. It was confirmed that those in these position would be made permanent and the pay backdated.

Mike Campbell has been working on some surveys to see how Royal London Staff feel regarding various issue. There has been a good response to this with many non-members advising that they would like more info but unfortunately not providing details for us to get in contact with them. A stall was being put in the Department on 2/1 South on the 28^th of March so that more information could be provided and make an effort to increase member numbers.

It was also confirmed that Edinburgh employees would not be receiving the pay deal with Glasgow employees are receiving.

Not everything that members were aiming to achieve with the negotiations has been achieved but we will continue to push forward. Still waiting on a meeting with HR, which was requested last August, but Joanne believes that They are now starting to get somewhere.

Question: from Steven – if the pay deal has been agreed with Glasgow staff what are Edinburgh Staff not receiving it?

Answer: as the Edinburgh staff did not want to disclose that they were part or Unite and therefore entitled to this we have not been able to include them in this round of negotiations.

Question from Steven – Is there a risk of strike action?

Answer – there is a ballot paper going out regarding the pay agreement and we could not make a decision until after the results of this have been received.

Question – will Unite recommend one action or another?

Answer- It will be up to the lay people who negotiated the deal to decide but at the moment it looks like Unite will remain neutral in the decision.

Andrew advised that if Joanne sent the Ballot information to him he would put this on the website.

Question – What is the Justification fro staff being paid below market value?

Answer – apparently benefits offered to staff make up for this but this is not the case

Steve then confirmed that he had done some calculations and worked out that in order to make up the difference in the benefit provided to staff he would have to spend more than his monthly salary.

Santander Report

There was no representative from Santander in attendance.

Mike advised that he had been in contact with a Santander rep that does not work in the Glasgow Building but he will ask him to contact Santander Staff and encourage them to come along to branch meetings and contribute.

Any Other Business

None at this time.

The Next meeting will be on the 19^th of April. This meeting is a sort of AGM held every 3 years and is the re-election meeting for all Reps and Branch staff..