Support the latest strikes of Your Choice Barnet Care Workers

From Barnet Unison
 

UNISON members working for Your Choice Barnet (YCB) have just announced their next strike dates as being 22^nd and 23^rd January. In addition the workers will be attending an event in the House of Commons 28^th January highlighting the conditions for workers in this sector. This will make a total of 6 days of strike action since the dispute began. This is in a bid to reverse the harsh 9.5% pay cut imposed on them by their employer. 

UNISON and YCB have had numerous meetings at ACAS and there has been no improved offer which has come close to being acceptable to the majority of our colleagues. The latest offer made in October 2014, was a 7.9% pay cut and this was resoundingly rejected in a ballot of the membership. The discussions have, however, revealed stark issues imposed on YCB by Barnet Council which make it difficult to see how YCB can survive financially into the future without our members constantly bailing it out through their financial sacrifice. The pensions deficit (an extra 9.8% payment) for the TUPE’d staff was transferred across to YCB, although this did not happen with other contracts in the private sector. Relieving YCB of the pensions’ deficit would restore our members’ pay at one stroke. Not allowing YCB to charge for unplanned “no-shows” (when service users are unable to attend the service at short notice) would potentially halve the pay cut to our members. However, Barnet Council refuses to participate in any of our discussions although ultimately the Council holds the purse strings.

Meanwhile our members tell us they are working harder than ever with increasing levels of stress and no prospect of a pay rise. They report the first day they have off from work is used simply to recover from the stressful week they have had. The pay cut has left many of our colleagues finding it particularly hard to make ends meet.  They have made it clear to us they want to see a substantial shift in any new proposals from YCB in order to end the dispute. 

UNISON Branch Secretary John Burgess said:

Our members held back from taking action before Christmas in order not to disrupt the service for service users and their carers at such a sensitive time of the year. This demonstrates again their professionalism and dedication but also their determination to stand up to attacks on their terms and conditions.

22nd January  & 23rd January Picket Line details 

1.Flower Lane Day Centre

41 Flower Lane
Barnet
London NW7 2JN

2. Rosa Morrison Day Centre

83 Gloucester Road
TotteridgeBarnet 

London EN5 1NA

Coming Soon Club takes over Wembley's Chesterfield House

The Coming Soon Club is taking over Chesterfield House, the previous Brent Children and Families Office, which is at the corner of Wembley High Road and Park Lane.

Ark Academy plan 6th Form building on Repton remnant

Bird's eye view of the area 

Rectangle marks the new building and red the trees to be removed (black dash is a tree protection boundary)

Ark Academy, Wembley, is applying for planning permission to build a Sixth Building on a site at the corner of Bridge Road and Forty Lane, that was retained when the original planning permission was given for the new school.

The site is thought to retain a rare portion of some of Repton's original landscape planting for the Page family at Wembley Park in the 1790s.  LINK

As well as the heritage argument campaigners also argued that this was a potential habitat for bats, hedgehogs and other animals as well as a patch of green in an area rapidly being concretised.

The Planning Application argues that most of the trees to be removed are due to their condition, rather than to make way for the building and that removal has been kept to the minimum. Some moving and replanting  of trees is proposed as well as new planting.

The application contains all sorts of ideas about the educational use of the protected area of trees and shrubs that will be left. However,  as someone who lives nearby and walks past almost daily, I have never seen it being used by pupils since the school opened in 2008 and the woodland looks quite neglected, with tin cans that have been tossed over the fence tangled in the undergrowth.

Habitat preservation and enhancement would be welcome but that should have been done anyway,

Preston Manor School is also seeking new build in order to expand its Sixth Form. The two schools are in competition with Preston Manor following the Ark by building a primary school on site and thus becoming an all-through school. It also converted to academy status. Ark plans to open its Sixth Form in September 2015 and is currently recruiting students.

The full plans can be seen HERE  The application will be decided no earlier than February 10th. Planning Officer  victoria.mcdonagh@brent.gov.uk

Leeks the most interesting item at Brent Council meeting

A satirical local activist presented Brent Council's Cabinet members with a leak each just before the formal start of last night's Full Council meeting at Brent Civic Centre.

The presentation followed mounting concern in Brent Labour Party over leaks from the Labour Group and meetings of the party to Wembley Matters.

The councillors instantly realised what was meant by the gesture and took it in good part, appearing to laugh it off:

Most of the meeting went according to the script published in my previous blog LINK with planted questions from backbench Labour councillors and pre-prepared answers from Cabinet members. There was what appeared to be a genuine question from Cllr Neil Nerva asking about the extent and quality of consultation over the Constitutional Amendments that had been tabled.  He was concerned about the impact on whistleblowers. One of the amendments, as Cllr John Warren pointed out for the Brondesbury Park Tories, bars council workers from talking to councillors about employment issues.

The report of the chair of Scrutiny Committee was noteworthy for its almost complete lack of content.

The Council approved without discussion a report on Council Tax Support. Although this put put forward only minor changes it proposed a full review before the 2016-17 financial year.

This follows a report on the same day that revealed that Brent Council had only spent 20% of its local welfare assistance fund which is meant to be crisis support for vulnerable families.