Surrey County UNISON

Please click here for the PDF leaflet to distribute.

UNISON have organised a meeting for members working at AO3 to discuss the closure of the building and the effect on staff and services. It is our opinion that there have been a number of issues handled badly regarding the closure.

1) Explaining the actual case for closure
2) Communicating the planned closure – this was handled appallingly and without any prior consultation
3) Planning to vacate the building before any serious plan has been formulated regarding where staff and teams will be relocated

We believe there are, and will be, many issues arising from this project which are going to adversely affect staff and the services they provide. For us to gain a true picture of the current issues and any potential future problems, we want to meet with members to discuss what is happening. To this effect, we have organised a meeting for all UNISON members working at AO3.

The meeting is on Wednesday 25th August from 12-1.30pm.

The room number will be published soon.

Although this is a meeting for UNISON members, all staff working at AO3 have been notified, as membership forms will be available at the meeting for those who wish to join and attend. Alternatively, email UNISON for an application form in advance of the meeting or join online by clicking on the “Join Us” bottom at the top left of this page.

UNISON are anticipating that there will also potentially be many staff (and teams) who end up with individual issues regarding relocation and need support and representation with management. We will endeavour to ensure that we support all of our members to the best of our ability during this difficult time and would appeal to any members who may wish to help support their colleagues to please come forward and get elected as local UNISON reps.

To help us prepare for our meeting on Tuesday 17th August, we are asking all staff who work out of County Hall and Conquest House only to complete our short online survey.

Click here to complete the survey!

The new issue of Organise! is out now and has been emailed to all members on email, and posted to all members for whom we do not have email addresses. You can also download a copy by clicking on this link.

Featured in this issue are reports from the activists meeting, bullying in DCSF, updates from Save Our Services in Surrey, UNISON conferences, and schools.

Also featured is an update to the changes being made to your newsletter. This issue will be the last issue in the current format – from now on, we will be producing Organise! on a quarterly basis, and introducing a monthly email bulletin called eOrganise! for all members on email.

All branch activists – officers, stewards, contacts, reps and anyone else who wants to get involved – are asked to come to a meeting on Wednesday 14th July at the Runnymede Centre, Addlestone. The meeting will start at 4.30pm and will finish at 6pm.

The meeting will discuss the election of the ConDem government, the austerity budget of 22nd June, the Council’s intention to cut spending by £180 million, the announced closure of two area offices without consultation with UNISON, the appaling imposed pay settlement and more.

It is very important to attend this meeting – please email unison@surreycc.gov.uk to let us know if you are able or not to attend.

This week, 28th June to 4th July, is Deaf Awareness Week.

Nearly 15% of the population have some degree of deafness. Over 70,000 people across the UK use British Sign Language (BSL) as their first langauge, and deaf people still face major barriers in the workplace, with over a third of deaf people not in work, according to the Royal National Institute for Deaf people (RNID).

Surrey County Council’s Deaf Services Team are hosting Deaf Awareness Sessions across the county. You can learn some basic signs, how to spell your name in BSL, understand how to communicate with Deaf Sign Language Users, and find out more about the work of the Deaf Services Team.

Tuesday 29th June, 1pm-2pm, AO3 Atrium, Guildford
Thursday 1st July, 12-1pm or 1-2pm, Grand Hall, County Hall, Kingston

There is no need to book, you can just trun up. If you want to find out more about Deaf Awareness Week, you can email ssd.dst@surreycc.gov.uk or call the DST on 01372 376558.

The new Con-Dem government will announce a new “emergency” budget on Tuesday 22nd June, and so far, all they have promised are cuts, cuts and more cuts.

Save Our Services in Surrey will be holding a campaign stall and protest outside of County Hall on 22nd June, from 12-1pm, to raise awareness of the impact cuts will have on our communities. Please join us if you can.

Paul Couchman, Branch Secretary of Surrey County UNISON said:

“Social Work Teams do an incredible job despite lack of resources”

“The situation revealed by this programme comes as no surprise to UNISON. We have been arguing and campaigning on behalf of our members in social work teams for many months now (see articles below). The system is at breaking point, with our members telling us that although caseloads went down when 500 cases were closed, this hid the real level of need and that many children in Surrey are no safer now than they were eighteen months ago. Dozens of our best social workers and family support workers have left Surrey, unable to cope with the unacceptable pressure and high caseloads”.

“Those workers secretly filmed in the programme feel abused and violated by this intrusion into their working lives and UNISON believes there is a very fine line between the ethics of this type of undercover filming and public interest”.

“Just last week, we held a meeting of Family Support Workers, many of whom told us they are still doing the work of qualified social workers”.

“The need to reach government targets and key performance indicators has taken over from the need to work with children and young people”.

“Surrey UNISON are currently carrying out an online survey into bullying at work in children’s services and the returns so far indicate that our members believe there is a bullying culture within Surrey and that this has got worse over the past eighteen months. Our members are too scared to talk publicly about these issues or to raise them with senior managers for fear of disciplinary action”.

“The planned cuts in Surrey’s services (up to 30% in Children Schools and Families) can only make the situation worse. There has to be a major national campaign for extra funding and resources to be invested in children’s services across the country if children and young people are to be safeguarded effectively.”

“Comments from workers in the programme only mirror what the council leadership has been saying over the past year and the real situation within Surrey. They must not be used to witch hunt this team or to victimise any worker. UNISON in Surrey will defend any member who is scapegoated for the very real failings in the system”.

Article continues after the cut.

Continue reading Surrey County UNISON responds to C4 Dispatches programme on “Undercover Social Worker”