Topic: SCS & Single Status

[Tea Boy]

Admin edit:  This post was split from the Lamplighters Bulletin #2 - Tit bits from the TS leakline Jan 24th 2010 thread and was done so at admins sole discretion. 

The post split/new topic creation was not at Tea Boys request, I think it will make an interesting topic.

Dougal



Just to clairify

The Pay and Grading Review is Single Status they are interchangeable.

Rod does not like employees (AKA scum) calling it single status from all accounts

I sense the dictatorial hand of a person versed in Marketing or PR.....

[Geoff Reid]

I don't know much about single status or the pay and grading review, but I gather it's going to hurt a lot of SBC and SCS employees.

I'm not clear why Swindon Commercial Services staff should suffer though, as it was 'de-coupled' from Swindon Borough Council on the 1st of January 2010 and is now, according to the council, a 'standalone' company.

If it is truly a standalone company, why is Finuala Foley, (deputy leader of Swindon Borough Council), negotiating with the unions of SCS employees over the loss to their earnings?

Or am I looking up entirely the wrong skirt ? 

[Steve Wakefield]

Geoff

Good point, from what I can gather is that the reviews/appeals/negotiations around the SCS staff will be dealt wth by SBC as it was all in train, before and during the decoupling process was completed. I know that sounds confusing, but I believe that it is the nature of things as they stand.

It is a difficult time at the moment and Members are careful about their comments as it may cause difficulties during negotiations if all sorts of Hares are started running. I am not being gagged, but obviously cannot become involved in the negotiation process as they are being handled by Cllr Foley. This is not a matter for the whole council, it is a delegated task. For me at present this is a case of wait and see what happens.

[Tea Boy]

Hadn't expected this to have its own section. I would very much like to read other peoples views, it's too easy to see everything from your own perspective especially when your on the inside, upset and listening to your colleagues worrying about thier finances

Good to see such interest so far though, so much of SBC's direct services are provided by SCS that anything that affects us SCS employees affects everyone. from Bins to roads to litter to open spaces etc.

I would like to make something plain its not the grading review i have objected to, its the way it has protected managers while savagely hitting the bottom rung of workers.

we as council (ex-council) workers do need to remember that others are taking pay cuts to stay in work, it's only right that we should not be immune to this, but then where's the cuts in council tax or the improvements in service that should result? wheres that money going too and why are managers treated as if they aren't being decoupled.

The Mrs says i've got very strong sense of what is right and fair and that I don't like being bullied. It gets me to my very core that our leaders, managers and polititians have seemingly lost sight of who does the actual work! It seems as if they will push those that are on the knifes edge financially , but will protect those who are quite comfortably off. Is this some thing we can expect on a larger scale if David Cameron gets his feet under the desk at no10?

So much of what we do is not written in our job descriptions, it comes from the fact we all get a buzz from helping people or making Swindon a better place.

Its just a shame that attitude has done us no favours.

[Richard Shaw]

I wonder what the effect on negotiations would be if the Bin Men took selective action in Dorcan and Old Town?   The mind boggles, never mind which skirt Geoff.

[Geoff Reid]

I am not being gagged, but obviously cannot become involved in the negotiation process as they are being handled by Cllr Foley. This is not a matter for the whole council, it is a delegated task.

Therein lies one of the problems with 'delegated powers' which enable just one cabinet member to make decisions, without reference to full council, which can affect many thousands of people at work, rest and play.

Aren't 'delegated powers' the very essence of Blairite policy?  A good example of the centralisation of powers to politicians who are completely unaccountable to all but a very, very small number of voters within just one ward of the Borough.

The 'delegation of powers' is intended to streamline and quicken the councils decision making process by enabling 'minor' and 'day-to-day' decisions to be taken by just one individual, thus leaving the cabinet, (as a whole), to concentrate on 'Major' matters.

The SBC constitution is quite clear on this, on page 5 it says:

"To speed-up decision making and to allow the Cabinet to concentrate on major matters, Cabinet Members have the delegated power to make day-to-day decisions in relation to the areas within their portfolio. Councillors and officers operate in accordance with various agreed procedures and protocols as set out in Part 5 of this Constitution."

Is it starting to look like Rod Bluh and his chums are mis-using delegated powers by treating major matters as if they were minor ones ?

How many more delegated decisions are being quietly slipped behind the collective back of the council ?

Is the grading review or single status a 'minor' or 'day-to-day' matter ?

   

[Muggins]

The SBC constitution is quite clear on this, on page 5 it says:

"To speed-up decision making and to allow the Cabinet to concentrate on major matters, Cabinet Members have the delegated power to make day-to-day decisions in relation to the areas within their portfolio. Councillors and officers operate in accordance with various agreed procedures and protocols as set out in Part 5 of this Constitution."

See this is how things are mis-intepreted. By no stretch of the imagination is a pay cuts a 'day to day' decision.  Day to day is, 'can we buy a new lock for that door or shall we buy tea bags this week' sort of decisions.  NOT can we lob loads of money off the wage bill. 

[kohima]

the council workmen have just today, been up green road and st phillips road and meadowcroft road filling in holes, literary with a lod of tarmac, job done you could say, but its a bigger mess now than before... and I wonder how long the tarmac will last.

[Tea Boy]

the council workmen have just today, been up green road and st phillips road and meadowcroft road filling in holes, literary with a lod of tarmac, job done you could say, but its a bigger mess now than before... and I wonder how long the tarmac will last.

It never lasts that long, its only plastering over the cracks, the best solution is to resurface but thats expensive. Was the road dry? tarmac laid on a wet base 'heaves' quicker as the damp underneath expands when it turns to ice in cold weather.

[Richard Shaw]

So Fionuola is handling the negotiations.  How does that fit with SCS being a private company now?

[komadori]

SCS may be a 'private' company, but it is 100% owned by the council, so independent in name only. I've seen it stated that because Single Status negotiations were started before SCS was independent, it is a council matter rather than an SCS matter.

[Tea Boy]

Chatted to a bloke i know today and he raised an interesting point.

The council pays a set amount to SCS to provide a service. included in this is of course our wages.

If the budget is not cut, but our wages are, then there's a surplus.   So whats happening to that money? Will we all be getting more grass cuts a year, will the bins be emptied quicker?

wheres the money going!!

[AndyH]

Chatted to a bloke i know today and he raised an interesting point.

The council pays a set amount to SCS to provide a service. included in this is of course our wages.

If the budget is not cut, but our wages are, then there's a surplus.   So whats happening to that money? Will we all be getting more grass cuts a year, will the bins be emptied quicker?

wheres the money going!!

I suspect that the council, like they did with Thamesdown Transport, will take a dividend from SCS. I wouldn’t be surprised if there weren’t a few “Performance Bonuses” for the bosses who manage to “Increase Efficiencies”

[Geoff Reid]

They, (sbc that is), have already identified various things which are going to be cut. Town centre street cleaning routes are one area due to be 'rationalised'.  I'll have a proper look later.

[Piston Broke]

Rationalisation, now there is a word to conjure with?

[Geoff Reid]

I'd previously said:

They, (sbc that is), have already identified various things which are going to be cut. Town centre street cleaning routes are one area due to be 'rationalised'.  I'll have a proper look later.

Unison have today made some comment on this:  http://www.talkswindon.org/index.php?topic=4914.msg31022#msg31022