Birmingham City
Council
Children, Young
People and Families Directorate
B49 Branch Meeting
Minutes of
Meeting 30th April 2012
Present
Jenny
Willets (JW), Christine Cartwright (CC), Errol Waldo (EW), Stephen Barrett
(SB), Ronnie Hill (RH), Ian Bailey (IB), Geoff Matthews (GM), Pete Duffy (PD),
Chris Barham (CB)
1.
Apologies
Cynthia
Henry, Christine Mooney, Tevtal Phuller, Gary Griffin, Ann Lafferty, Ebrahim
Byatt, Valerie Selwood-Thomas, Alicia Clarke, Mandy Sheldon.
2.
Minutes 15th December 2011 ,Matters
arising and accuracy
The
minutes were agreed as accurate with no matters arising
3.
Election of Youth Officer
·
JW
- no longer has the time to continue so has asked to step down from this
position and SB has been nominated to take over.
·
PD
asked SB to give some background as to experience etc and offered support.
·
SB
said that he attending courses and will report back on his progress.
SB
was elected to the post of Youth Officer unanimously.
4.
B49 Relocation
·
The
move to the office in Margaret Street has been completed and the branch is now
up and running. All stewards welcome to
drop in.
·
CC
– said that to stop mail etc going astray everything should be addressed to B49
specifically.
·
SB
– asked about parking - JW said that this is an issue –and suggested using the
car park behind Baskerville House. There is also on street parking near to the
College of Food. EW warned the parking
staff very diligent so to take care.
5.
B49 Branch New Regional Officer
Roger
Jenkins has now left and has been replaced by Anne Lafferty. She is very thorough and methodical. At present she is still doing national work
which is stressful for her.
6.
Temporary position for Branch Secretary
·
JW
who is a member of the Territorial Army has been called up to serve for 3
months during the period prior to the Olympics.
The position of Branch Secretary was being held by JW on a temporary basis
until June when there will need to be an election. As she will not now be leaving until the end
of June the re-election can be left until then.
·
JW
is still eligible to stand and wishes to do so.
Anyone who is also interested needs to forward their expression of
interest in the post to either JW or GM
7.
Facility Time
·
GM
is having a lot of difficulties with BCC regarding Facility Time. This situation first occurred 6 months ago
when Tony Hughes left and continued when Pat Walton also left. The Council have procrastinated in allowing
the facility time to be implemented.
·
IB’s
facility time OK, Chris Mooney’s return to Branch is being blocked.
·
It
would be useful if the Branch could support her return ie pass a resolution
objecting to the way she is being blocked and also condemning BCC for not
supporting the GMB
·
EW
would like to become a full time rep but there are objections being raised
about his T&Cs and school holidays.
There is a need to condemn the
council senior HR managers for the way they are behaving towards the GMB and
let them know that the Branch is wholeheartedly behind supporting proper
facility time allocations.
·
PD
said that if the Labour Group gets control of the Council they will be more
supportive. Are other unions having
similar problems, if so then a joint
complaint could be made. UNISON have not always been co-operative and
supported GMB
·
GM
was of the opinion that B49 should act independently and write to Cllr Les
Lawrence about HR ie Sam Hulson about whom there are particular issues. CC seconded this proposal and agrees that GMB
are being targeted unfairly. We as a
Branch are getting less voice with the Council
and we need to act swiftly.
·
RH
asked if this should come from our regional organizer and suggested that we
need to check the rule book to ensure that we are acting within the rules. ie differentiate between what is regional and
what is branch responsibility.
·
PD
said the PCS Union held a hustings meeting which council leaders attended. When asked about the future they said that they
wanted to foster better relations with unions and would look at reinstating
cuts in wages.
GM
in liaison with Anne Lafferty will put a letter together condemning the way the
GMB is being treated by the Council
8.
Financial Donations
·
A
letter has been received asking for a hardship donation to be made to a long term member hardship who has health
problems/needs.
o PD reminded the
Branch that we had been down this path
before and sadly it was decided that the branch could not make financial donations - no matter how
unfortunate the circumstances. If you
donate to one then would have to donate to others.
o ER Members could
make a personal donation and suggested bringing this to the Shop Stewards meeting. There are organizations and charities out
there that can help.
o GM said that there is no welfare fund.
·
RH
asked about sponsorship for a group of young people who are going to the
Olympics to represent the region in karate.
He felt this could be a good opportunity to advertise the GMB.
o IB if you are looking at it from the benefits of
advertising then £500 sponsorship would buy more than spending the same money
in other ways.
·
PD feels that we are being asked to pick up the
crumbs of problems that the Government should be dealing with, also where does
it end?
·
CC would like to clarify with region what we as
a Branch can and cannot do. We need to
operate within procedures. Discuss at
the next meeting
·
SB
said that the Branch can’t keep discussing sponsorship etc when our time should
be spent campaigning for Government to improve facilities.
9.
Branch Finances
·
The
Hazards Campaign has asked for a donation. They are organization who deal with H&S
issues. They are very good at supporting
with advice. They are also campaigners for safety.
o CC suggested
that this is looked at in the June meeting when we know what the Branch is
likely to make in a year.
o JW will check on
past minutes to see what donations have been made.
o The Hazards
Campaign are being invited to the June meeting.
·
GMB
are supporting the Teachers’ Mass One Day of Action against Forced Academies on
the 19th May. However, the Teaching Unions have a fund to pay
strikers which the GMB do not have. We are looking at action in 10 schools. Discussion may be needed to decide what can
be done to support GMB staff.
o IB The GMB needs to do all it can to prevent the
balance of schools going over to academy status tipping over.
o PD said this
could extend to Leisure Services in the future.
Birmingham Against the Cuts are taking up as an issue.
o RH said that we
need to know what our finances are like, what can be used safely to support
campaigns without putting the branch in jeopardy.
o IB felt that
there are other ways of showing supporting - ie food packages, child care.
o GM said that if
CC and JW are going to the Region it may be useful for them to ask is they are
able to support this campaign.
·
All
reps having to pay amazing parking fees due to the non cooperation of the
council and these expenses will be going up.
·
Mileage
can only be claimed retrospectively and advised that if out at meetings
entitled to claims subsistence allowance and forms will be amended to reflect
this
10. AOB
·
PD
- Workers Day – an indoor event in the Bright House this Saturday 4 - 11. Invite everyone.
·
PD
spoke of the meeting where Roger Jenkins spoke about performance related pay
and suggested that a similar one on Pensions should be held. Get a pensions expert in to address members.
o IB ditto for Performance Management ie scoring
system and the missing increment.
·
RH GM has elected to take early retirement. Branch may need to take up his daily expenses
CC seconded.
·
IB
asked how we as a Branch deal with issues that appear in the press and was told
that we wait until it becomes national and then it comes down as a campaign
·
RH Workplace package to help prepare for
tribunals. Very good to give to Shop Stewards on a pen drive. Would be useful if it could be an App
available on tablets etc. It is a whole
organizing kit.
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