Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received from Cllr Rod Eaton.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 22 September 2010. (Copy attached)

Resolved: 

To confirm and sign the minutes of the Committee meeting held on 22 September 2010 as a correct record.

Arising therefrom

Minute No. 43 – Trade Union Negotiations

Cllr David Jenkins drew attention to a request from Cllr Peter Colmer made at the last meeting that consideration be given to extending the Member substitution policy to the newly formed Staff Management Executive Board and that the Chairman had undertook to seek the views of the Board on this suggestion and report back to Cllr Colmer.

The Chairman reported that the Staff Management Executive Board had considered this request but had decided that on balance it would not be appropriate or practical for members of the Board, either Councillor or Officer, to have deputies bearing in mind the fast changing situation.  Furthermore, the Board was not a decision making body and substitution facilities were not extended to similar bodies.   

Cllr John Noeken as Chairman of the Staff Management Executive Board, stressed the importance of regular attendance at Board meetings and encouraged both Councillor and Officer members to ensure their availability to attend these meetings.      

To receive any declarations of personal or prejudicial interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no Chairman’s announcements.

The Council welcomes contributions from members of the public.

If you would like to make a statement at this meeting on any item on this agenda, please register to do so at least 10 minutes prior to the meeting.  Up to 3 speakers are permitted to speak for up to 3 minutes each on any agenda item. Please contact the officer named above for any further clarification.

Members of the public wishing to ask a question should give written notice (including details of any question) to the officer named above by  12.00noon on Friday 8 October 2010.

There were no members of the public present.

A report by the Service Director, HR & OD is attached.

Consideration was given to a report by the Service Director HR & OD which set out revision proposals to the redundancy pay, redundancy and appointments policies.

It was noted that negotiations had been taking place with UNISON, UNITE and GMB, the recognised trade unions to reach agreement on the revisions to these three policies.  Progress on reaching such agreement had been positive and the trade unions had acknowledged the Council’s financial position and the pressure to change the redundancy pay policy. The trade unions had now agreed to these proposed policy changes but the GMB would be recommending acceptance of these proposals via a ballot of their members, the outcome of which would be announced on 22 October 2010.

The UNISON Branch Secretary reported that whilst her members appreciated the reasons for the need to change these policies, they were not at all pleased in particular with the £380.00 per week maximum weekly pay figure proposed to be used to calculate compulsory redundancy. 

After further discussion,

Resolved:

(1)       To approve the revised proposals in the redundancy pay, redundancy and appointments policies.

(2)       To note that approval of these policies by Staffing Policy Committee is still subject to the outcome of a member ballot by GMB being in favour of the proposed changes to the policies.

(3)       To note that these policies cannot be implemented, and the formal consultation period for the redundancies resulting from the management review cannot take place, until the outcome of the GMB ballot is known.
    

Any other items of business which, in the opinion of the Chairman, should be considered as a matter of urgency. Urgent items of a confidential nature may be considered under Part II of this agenda.

There were no urgent items.