Somerset County UNISON Branch

2006 Pay Scales

Campaigns

Car Allowances
Offer of 45 pence per mile from September 08
(08/08/08) Further to our claim for an increased mileage allowance, SCC have offered an 2.5 pence increase to the basic mileage allowance Further details

Local Government Strike Threat Over Fuel Costs
(17/06/08) Delegates at UNISON’s local government conference have threatened strike action if employers do not increase mileage rates. Raed UNISON press release

(16/06/08) 'Eyewatering' increases in the cost of petrol mean that council staff who drive their cars for work are now subsidising their employers. The impact on UNISON members is devastating, said the union's local government reps at their conference today, calling for immediate action to resolve what they termed a crisis. More from UNISON

May 2008 Many members have been advising us that the current mileage rates are no longer covering the cost of the use of thier vehicles and that they are and have been running at a loss. The Branch has raised this issue in the past months with SCC. The following link contains a letter to members, a mileage questionnaire and a sample letter for members to send to their managers if they wish to withdraw their vehicle for business use.

Committee of Enquiry into academies and trust schools
(21/04/07) In conjunction with the Anti Academies Alliance (website link below), MPs are holding a Committee of Enquiry into the impact of academy and trust schools. AAA want to hear from all parts of the country to help demonstrate the growing concerns, with the aim of pushing this issue up the political agenda. More from Anti Academies Alliance www.antiacademies.org.uk

See also:
Early Day Motion 605 - SCHOOLS ACADEMY PROGRAMME by Ken Purchase

Campaigns Against Foundation Status, .
Keep Fortismere Comprehensive is an example of how parents and unions in North London are campaigning to try to prevent their local school from obtaining foundation status.

2 schools in Somerset have become foundation schools. If you have concerns about your school becoming foundation, please contact the branch.

Speak Up Lobby and Rally - Monday 9th June further details Please contact the branch if you wish to go.

Public Services Not Private Profit
www.publicnotprivate.org.uk
is a joint union campaign launched in March 2006 to defend public services against privatisation.

Billions of pounds of public funds are being wasted boosting the profits of private companies who are downgrading services and slashing conditions and jobs for public sector workers. This increased trend towards privatisation puts at risk the accountable and effective delivery of public services.

Related topic: Local Government White Paper

Early Day Motion EDM1940 Public Services Not Private Profit Campaign John McDonnell MP:Primary Signatory. Ask your MP to Sign!

Keep the NHS working

nhstogether: a campaign alliance of all the health service unions and staff associations together with the TUC working for a better health service.

Keep Our NHS Public
Across England NHS patients and local communities have been linking up with nurses, doctors and other health care workers to meet, march, protest and lobby as they fight to stop further closures and cuts in local NHS services. Visit www.keepournhspublic.com where you sign up online.

Keep the NHS Working is UNISON's campaign calling on the government to stop expanding the role of the private sector in the NHS.click on the image to find out more.

Gloucestershire NHS In Crisis
We are told unprecedented sums of money have been put into the NHS, we are now being made to cut services, staff and even close Hospitals.
Visit www.glosnhsincrisis.org.uk for more info.

Stop The War Coalition
Time to Go - End the Bush/Blair Wars - Demonstrate, Saturday 1pm at the Labour Party Conference, Manchester. Called by Stop the War Coalition www.stopwar.org.uk and CND - Transport available

Stop Climate Chaos Coalition
150,000 people die every year from climate change. The 1990s was the warmest decade, 1998 the warmest year on global record.The Earth is warming faster than at any time in the past 10,000 years.The burning of fossil fuels has increased the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere by 30% over natural levels. Please visit www.stopclimatechaos.org

Campaign Against Climate Change is part of the Stop Climate Change Coalition. Visit their website - www.campaigncc.org which include an activists area with forums and rescources.

"Climate change is perhaps the gravest calamity our species has ever encountered. Its impact dwarfs that of any war, any plague, any famine we have confronted so far. It makes genocide and ethnic cleansing look like sideshows at the circus of human suffering."

"We need to put climate change right at the top of the political agenda — it is by far the biggest threat to humanity. We have to turn this into the primary political campaign. That means keeping on the streets, keeping up the demonstrations and putting an enormous amount of pressure on our politicians."

"It's not just ... that Bush has withdrawn from global agreements and global attempts to do something about this problem, he has actually quite deliberately gone about to try to destroy those attempts, and try to destroy any agreements to sort out climate change."

Honorary President George Monbiot