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DWP Norcross Closure - Members Meetings #2

The purpose of this post is to advise members of forthcoming meetings to discuss the closure of the DWP Norcross site.

The meetings have been split into members on the teams that have been announced as going to Peel Park and members on the teams that have been announced as going to Warbreck.

The details of the meetings are as follows:

For members on the teams that have been announced as going to Peel Park:

Thursday 27th September 2012

Norcross Canteen - 10.00am

Norcross Canteen - 2.00pm

For members on the teams that have been announced as going to Warbreck.

Friday 28th September 2012

Norcross Canteen - 10.00am

Government 'will have blood on its hands'

The following has been supplied by the TUC:

Government plans to leave most workplaces exempt from unannounced, preventive safety inspections have been condemned by unions. PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: 'It is simply absurd to describe the health and welfare of people at work as a burden. Instead of giving a green light to employers to make their workplaces more dangerous, ministers should be investing to ensure people are not put at risk when they go to work.' RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: 'This isn't about cutting red tape, it's about cutting the throat of safety regulations and the trade unions will mobilise a massive campaign of resistance.' Urging the government to rethink its plans, CWU general secretary Billy Hayes said: 'The government will have blood on its hands if these dangerous cuts go through.' He added: 'Cutting pro-active inspections could be disastrous. Moving to a reactive system would mean that people would have to be injured, become ill or die before any inspection took place, rather than preventing these incidents happening in the first place.' GMB national safety officer John McClean said the announcement was 'a regurgitation' of a government policy that 'will not promote growth and could well lead to an increase in accidents at work.' He added: 'Current laws in this area were not enforced very strongly anyway. The burdens will now fall on individuals and society in suffering and cost.' NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates said: 'No case has been made for the attack the coalition government has launched on health and safety provisions.' She said it was 'another ideologically driven policy... where hard fact and evidence are, quite frankly, ignored. The drive to deregulate health and safety is a return to the dark ages when the lives of working people had no value.' UNISON said supposedly low risk workplaces could have high levels of work-related health problems. UNISON's James Randall said: 'The government does not take into consideration occupational ill-health such as musculoskeletal disorders and work-related stress, which are the most common types of ill-health in so-called low risk workplaces, and account for more than threequarters of all work-related injuries and illness currently suffered in the UK.'

TUC Warns Cable His Deregulation Plans Will Kill

This information has been supplied by the TUC:

A renewed government drive to abolish official safety inspections in hundreds of thousands of businesses and to force regulators to take a hands-off approach will put the health of millions of workers at risk, the TUC has warned. The union body was responding to plans outlined by Vince Cable. The business secretary said: 'Removing unnecessary red tape and putting common sense back into areas like health and safety will reduce fears and costs for businesses. We want to help give British business the confidence it needs to create more jobs and support the wider economy to grow.' In future, businesses will only be inspected if they are operating in high risk areas, such as construction, or if they have a poor record. The plan to end safety inspections in 'lower risk' workplaces repeats changes already implemented under the government's March 2011 health and safety blueprint. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has already gone further, and included some known higher risk workplaces, like agriculture and quarries, in its no-go categories for unannounced inspections. But the government now intends to introduce a legally binding statutory code in April 2013 outlawing proactive inspections of in all but 'high risk areas'. HSE will also be required to ensure local authority regulators abide by the non-inspection rules. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber condemned the government action, warning the 'UK is facing an occupational health epidemic.' He added: 'Some of the 'low risk' workplaces identified by the government, such as shops, actually experience high levels of workplace injuries. This will only get worse if employers find it easier to ignore safety risks. This epidemic will only be stopped by ensuring that employers obey the law, and when every employer knows their workplace can be visited at any time. Health and safety regulation is not a burden on business, it is a basic protection for workers. Cutting back on regulation and inspections will lead to more injuries and deaths as result of poor safety at work.' Business lobby groups the CBI, EEF, the Institute of Directors, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) and the Federation of Private Businesses (FPB) all welcomed the government plan to remove safety oversight at work.

Equality Matters

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) and other Trade Unions represent their members at work regardless of their race, religion or ethnic origin; Trade Unions have also been tireless campaigners for women’s rights both in and out of the workplace.

Equality

Equality is about reaching and maintaining a fair society, where everyone can participate and has an equal opportunity to fulfil their potential. PCS helps work towards this by trying to eliminate prejudice and discrimination.

Diversity

Diversity can be defined as difference when used as a contrast or addition to equality; within the workplace it is about recognising individual as well as group differences and recognising these place positive values into our workforce. PCS campaigns against any form of discrimination. The local Branch has been involved in many equality events including but not limited to the subjects of: Anti-Bullying and Harassment, Stress Awareness, Black History Month, World Aids Day and Mental Health Awareness.

Proud

PCS Proud is the equality group representing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) members. The aim of PCS Proud is to support LGBT members in the workplace and offer support, guidance and training for any issues they may encounter.

Further Information

A stand containing information on many aspects of equality in the workplace is being arranged by Fylde Central Benefits Branch and Services Branch as follows:

Tuesday 18th September 2012

Warbreck House Restaurant

11.45am – 1.30pm

PCS backs fit-for-work protests

The following has been supplied by the TUC:

The union representing staff in benefits offices and job centres has backed a national protest against Atos, the private firm undertaking the controversial government fit-for-work tests. Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) organised the five days of action against Atos, which ran from 27-31 August. According to DPAC, the impact of the Atos tests has been devastating on claimants. 'Many have committed suicide because of its testing programme, and over 1,000 people have died of their illnesses soon after being found 'fit for work',' it said. A statement from PCS said the union 'wholeheartedly supports the campaign's aim, which is to fight back against the unfair workplace capability assessments. The 'fit-for-work' tests have led to severely ill and disabled people being forced off the benefits system.' It added: 'This system, which comes as part of the government's brutal cuts agenda, has led to real stress and hardship for many disabled people and their families, with some extreme cases even leading to suicides.' The union, which has members in Atos, added: 'The members we represent in Atos offices are not responsible for the failings of the government's unfair welfare policy which victimises people who are not able to work through no fault of their own. They deserve your support, consideration and respect during what is a difficult time for any worker trying to deliver public services.'

Quotes against austerity

Many people are speaking out against austerity, warning of the huge dangers posed by the government’s massive and unnecessary spending cuts and the need to protest against them:

“We are the real opposition to what the government is doing, and we want to build that opposition to their austerity programme,” Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary.

“We seem to be reverting to an older past in which a mega-rich minority pre-empts much of the profit of any growth in the economy while the rest of the population has to scramble for whatever they can get,” John Gray, formerly professor of European thought at the London School of Economics.

“We invented the banks to lend to the real economy, yet the austerity measures demand that we lend huge sums from the real economy to prop up insolvent banks. We need to be talking to people about macroeconomics, not allowing the government to present this as a crisis of the public sector,” Ann Pettifor, distinguished academic.

“Austerity as the solution is just wrong. There won’t be a return to confidence – quite the contrary. So the direction Europe is going is I think the wrong direction,” Joseph Stiglitz, economics Nobel prize winner.

“It’s becoming clear that Britain’s unnecessary turn to premature austerity is becoming a historic policy and political disaster that will haunt the country for years,” Paul Krugman US economist and Nobel prize winner.

Sick to face big fines for breaching work plan

The following has been supplied by the TUC:

The government has drawn up plans to withdraw £71 a week from sick and disabled benefit claimants if they fail to take steps to get back into the workplace, according to the Guardian. The paper says a leaked draft of a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) template letter warns sick and disabled claimants they will lose 70 per cent of their weekly employment support allowance (ESA) if they refuse to take part in work-related activities, more than doubling the current penalty. The DWP has also told the Guardian that it is finalising plans which could make unpaid and unlimited work experience placements part of work-related activity. The draft letter, which the Guardian says is expected to be sent to all those in the ESA work-related activity group (Wrag), informs claimants that from 3 December the penalty will jump to £71 a week out of a maximum allowance award of £99.15. Latest figures show that there are just over 340,000 people in the Wrag category and that between 1 June 2011 and 31 May 2012, 11,130 of them have been sanctioned for an average duration of seven weeks. Charities have warned that stripping Wrag claimants of 70 per cent of their allowance risked 'devastating' consequences for people's health, especially since a good number of those currently being sanctioned have little understanding of why they are being punished.

DWP Norcross Closure Announcement of 6th September 2012

To all members and potential members of the PCS Fylde Central Benefits and Services Branch at Norcross:

Dear Colleagues 

Members at DWP Norcross may/ should have seen the communications form the employer regarding the next stages of the closure of the DWP Norcross site, and that the Formal Notice of site closure has now been given.

We are extremely disappointed that the final decision has now been made to close the DWP Norcross site, and that 31st August 2013 is the final date of closure.

We will continue our campaign to reverse this decision and will continue to raise with MPs and other political leaders the need to promote the economy of the area, to defend jobs and employment prospects. The decision to close the DWP Norcross site will undoubtedly result in job losses/ redundancies for members who work for the DWP contractors, and job losses in the DWP as well as undermining future employment in the DWP in the locale.

Location strategy
Members should now know which teams are moving to which site. Please note that this does not necessarily mean that all the people on the team may move to that site (see later on).

Excess Fares
We welcome the announcement that excess fares will be paid to people in the DWP, moving from the site as a result of this announcement, for a period of 5 years rather than 3 years.

Transport solution for Peel Park
We believe that the option of seeking a permanent solution to the problem of public transport to the Peel Park site is the correct decision. We believe that this solution is far preferable to the potential solution of shuttle buses. (The problems of shuttle buses were highlighted in a circular in August with the problems surrounding the closure of the DWP Moorland Road site and the shuttle bus that ran for three years and then stopped when the excess fares period ended).

However it will be extremely important to see what bus routes are extended to Peel Park and the frequency of service. Only when this is known will members be able to actually calculate their real travelling time for that element of the Mobility Policy.

Mobility Policy 
Unfortunately there have been some questions about Mobility Policy as some people misunderstand/ confuse this as being just the travelling times.

Here we go starting with the actual policy:

“Mobility Policy:
 The mobility policy describes how compulsory moves will be managed within the Department. Prior to making a decision to impose a compulsory permanent transfer full consideration will be given to an employee’s personal circumstances, including caring responsibilities and any disability or domestic difficulties.” I have bolded the last section.

Now the headline Conditions of Service for the travelling times:
These were and remain: 1 hour for employees with “limited mobility” status (AAs/ AOs/ Part time staff) and 1.5 hours for those with “mobile” status, by public transport for those employed prior to 15 January 2007 and, by reasonable mode of transport offering the greatest radius of travel for those staff joining the Department on or after 15 January 2007.

Then explaining what this means in practise:
The following is an extract from mobility; “Questions about an employee’s home to office journey time cannot reasonably consider just their time sitting on the bus or train, but must look at the end-to-end process from the point of leaving home to the point of arrival at work (and the return journey).” Please note therefore that walking and waiting times are important and that the return journey must also be taken into account.

And what to do when the employer says that the details are calculated on the computer:
The following is an extract from mobility “There is a common perception that public transport services (and timetables) can be, or are unreliable. In grievance cases it may therefore be necessary for journey times to be accurately measured, for example by arranging for an independent person to make the same journey on a number of occasions, in both directions and at the same times as the employee who has raised the grievance normally makes the journey.”

Further One to Ones 
There may later in the year be further one to ones, particularly once the permanent solution bus timetables are known. This may lead to people, who may remain outside of mobility, having discussions about options which may be available such as:

• being transferred to a site that is within their conditions of service
• and/ or consideration of accepting a post which involves breaking their conditions of service provided that the employer pays compensation under the Workforce Management Redeployment Package policy (see the link here 
• and/ or consideration of an exit package

Support from the Branch
If you require representation at any meetings please contact Jon Colgan who is the personal case allocator for Norcross, or CharlesHancock who is the Deputy.

I hope that the above is useful.

Remember that it is important that members at Norcross actively support the Campaigns that the Branch/ PCS take forward.

Yours Sincerely

Duncan Griffiths

Branch Secretary