Minute 60 of the meeting held on June 20th 2017 discussed the matter of ‘Representations’.
In the minutes it reads that the Staff Side had asked if a review could take place to look at the way in which the Staff Side and Departmental Representative meetings were taking place, and if there was a possibility of a joint meeting.
Whilst not passed as a formal resolution, the Council Leader (Councillor Carr) stated that the matter of a review should be given serious consideration and that the Council should be seen to be acting in a reasonable manner.
Unite would like to ask if there has been any progress made, or time table set for this consideration?
Minutes:
Minute 60 of the meeting held on June 20th 2017 discussed the matter of ‘Representations’.
In the minutes it was noted that the Staff Side had asked if a review could take place to look at the way in which the Staff Side and Departmental Representative meetings were taking place, and if there was a possibility of a joint meeting.
Whilst not passed as a formal resolution, Councillor Carr stated that the matter of a review should be given serious consideration, and that the Council should be seen to be acting in a reasonable manner.
Unite asked if there has been any progress made, or time-table set for this consideration.
The Director clarified that the Council had previously agreed to have two separate arrangements for meeting with the Trade Unions and with the Departmental Representatives. This had in effect only been in place for less than two years, taking an inception date of November 2015. The Director expressed the view that the current arrangements had been working well, and would be reviewed in about a year. The Director stated that the new arrangements had been set up as the old arrangements had not worked.
Ms Slater disagreed with the Director and expressed the view that the meetings with the Trades Unions (other than statutory / issue specific) had not been taking place and that the previous arrangements where general staff matters were discussed had worked. She felt that certain recent issues like the problem of car parking space for staff, had not been dealt with in the correct manner, and could have been dealt with by a joint forum of the Unions and the Departmental Representatives.
The Director stated that the reasons for setting up separate consultative forums had been outlined clearly in sections 3.10 and 3.12 of the report.
Ms Slater expressed the view that the dep reps system had been set up to enable the Council to put across information down rather for staff to feed up.
She felt that the Council was in a weaker position for not taking advantage of the opportunities provided by a joint discussion forum—she regarded it as a missed opportunity. She stated that the matter had not been given serious consideration as had been promised, and that the previous system, in which trades unions and dep reps met together, had not been in operation for more than two years.
Councillor Carr commented that the current system had been operative for about two years and that next year would be the best time for a review. He pointed out that the Departmental Representative system had not been set up to be top down, but had been set up to provide a helpful staff forum, not a Trade Union like forum. Serious issues like the matter raised concerning staff parking would need to be dealt with daily, and could not wait for forums. This was not a trade union issue. Councillor Carr was keen to see a good working environment, and felt that it was always important to be thinking how we could make things better. Many of the day to day issues had to be dealt with by office managers.
Councillor Fawthrop declared that LBB should avoid restrictive practices and that the convening of meetings for the sake of having meetings should be avoided.
Councillor Onslow asked if the Departmental Representatives had been consulted on the matter, and would they be for or against joint forum meetings.
Ms Slater responded that the Union did not want meetings for the sake of having them, but rather that the dep reps forum already existed they were asking not to be excluded. They could bring a different voice to the table.
The Director advised that the Departmental Representatives communicated with all staff, and that staff had an email address that could be used to communicate issues and concerns to the Departmental Representatives.
Councillor Cartwright voiced the view that line managers should manage, and that there was a danger that too many forums could undermine line management.
Ms Slater opined that there was a fundamental difference between the Trade Union representatives, and the Departmental Representatives. She stated that the Trade Union was representative of members and that the Union representatives were elected by a democratic process. She suggested that staff would feel more comfortable making their concerns known through a TU rep than through the Departmental Representatives who by contrast were appointed by - managers or were managers. The Director of HR did not agree with Ms Slater.
Councillor Fawthrop responded that the point made by Ms Slater was superfluous as not all Council employees were members of the union. He expressed the view that Trade Union representatives were not always democratically elected and that in some cases a ‘closed shop’ environment existed to the nomination of representatives.
Ms Slater replied that this was not the case the process was wholly democratic and that any union member could be elected.