Dear Colleagues
This month there will be UNISON elections
for membership of your National Executive Committee (NEC) and on the 22 April
you will all be sent ballot papers for these elections to your home addresses.
Isobel McVicar & John
Gray are your current NEC
members for Community Service Group and they are standing again for
re-election. John is standing for the Community General Seat and has no-one
standing against him and Isobel is standing for the Female Seat.
The National Executive Committee of UNISON
represents the Union and our members to the wider world. It decides upon issues
and campaigns in between conferences and works with UNISON staff to support
members.
Isobel has been a longstanding UNISON
activist holding positions of Assistant Conditions of Service Officer,
Publicity Officer and Branch Secretary in the Glasgow City Branch and
International Officer in the Manchester Branch.
John has also been an activist in UNISON
for many years and held a number of branch and regional positions including
Treasurer, Health & Safety, Welfare, Labour Link, International officer and
Assistant Secretary. He is now the
Branch Secretary of the Greater London Housing Associations Branch and is
supporting Isobel for the NEC seat.
In 2011 they were the first ever elected Community
members to be represented on the National Executive Council. While on the NEC Isobel
has served on the Finance and Resources Committee and the International
Committee. John has served on the Policy
and Development Committee, been a trustee on the UNISON staff pension fund and
National Labour link.
Community members are facing amongst the very
worse cuts in jobs and attacks on their pay, pensions, terms and conditions by
this Tory led Government.
Care and support staff wages in particular are
under threat as unscrupulous employers deliberately underbid to win Supporting
People contracts then try and do their upmost to destroy TUPE protections.
While big Housing management organisations
are cash rich after years of inflation plus rent rises yet still refuse to give
their staff decent pay rises.
Many Community members belong to the
Pension Trust or the Social Housing Pension Fund. Some employers are using
flawed and discredited accounting measures as an excuse to try and close their
schemes or raise contributions to unaffordable levels.
John and Isobel have been working and
campaigning with branches and regions to oppose these measures. They believe
that Community members must also play their part in opposing Austerity and
arguing for an alternative economic policy.
They also believe that there are a number
of Community specific campaigns that UNISON should be pursuing such as:-
- Binding
Sectorial Pay Boards – Set up to decide the pay and conditions of all
staff by collective bargaining including a living wage minimum for all
Community workers and agency/sub-contractors.
- Better
governance and democracy – increasingly many of our employer management
boards are run by highly paid unelected and unrepresentative “elites”.
There should be union employee representation on all Community Trust or
management boards, especially remuneration committees (if applicable)
- Access
to a decent defined benefit pension scheme for all.
- No
public money for anti-trade union employers. Community organisations that
do not have trade union recognition agreements should not be allowed to
bid for grants or contracts from local or national governments.
- Adequate funding and resources for all UNISON
branches that have Community members to ensure that we have the means to
properly support and protect all members.
They both work together well as your
Community NEC team. While Isobel’s employer is a small charity, John’s works
for a large housing association, so they represent and complement both of the major
sectors in Community.
(P&P on behalf of Campaign to
re-elect John Gray & Isobel McVicar)
