Welcome to UNISON, our Trade Union. We support and protect almost 1.3 million working people and offer a huge range of benefits to our members. We represent over 8,000 members in the City of Sheffield and those employees engaged in delivering public services allied to the Council, in addition we have members in Further Education Colleges and the Community and Voluntary Sector within Sheffield.
(11/01/12) Council Officer’s today announced formally the first round of jobs cuts needed to balance the budget for 2012/13 given Tory and Lib Dem spending cuts. The proposals take out more than £15m of expenditure and will cost nearly 300 jobs. Details of all the cuts can be found in the attached spreadsheet.
Today’s announcement is the first but unfortunately not the last such announcement. We anticipate further announcements over the coming weeks which could see the total job losses rise to more than 500.
“Cameron and Clegg told us that cuts in public spending would not hit front line services but as we can see from the announcement today that is simply not true” said UNISON Regional Organiser Chris Jenkinson. “Today’s cuts will hit the most vulnerable in our communities whether that be the cut to the home care budget, cuts to the budget for equipment and adaptations or the closure of intermediate care beds.”
UNISON Stewards and Branch Officials will be meeting with members in those areas affected over the coming weeks to determine the precise impact on jobs and services and how members want to respond to the proposals.
(11/01/12) UNISON's lay representatives covering members in the LGPS met on 10th January to consider the next steps in the campaign. Each of the Service Group Executives (SGE) separately agreed a motion to proceed with detailed negotiations.
In the Local Government SGE, by far the largest in terms of the membership involved, the vote was 24 - 10 with reps from Scotland understandably abstaining as their scheme is different. The individual SGE meetings followed a joint LGPS presentation which itself followed a briefing for Regional Convenors and senior activists and staff in the morning on the latest position in the different pension schemes.
http://www.unison.org.uk/asppresspack/pressrelease_view.asp?id=2563
The vote to proceed will be a blow for those from some factions who had been calling UNISON to walk away from any negotiations - even though the staus quo has been secured and in the LGPS there is no detailed set of proposals as yet! Perhaps those officials and activists in some other unions who have openly tried to interfere with UNISON's decision making processes will now respect the democratic decision of UNISON's elected lay member bodies.
With rising fuel costs affecting many UNISON members, There For You starts the New Year with the launch of its Winter Fuel Grants programme.
Grants of up to £50 per household are available to members on low income. Apply by completing the 'Winter Fuel Grants' application form which is available to download.
Alternatively call 020 7121 5620 if you'd like to receive a form through the post. Please note that this is a limited fund (conditions apply) with grants of up to £50 available to members on low income. Applications must be received by 29 February 2012.
Download application form here...
UNISON has developed a useful 'quick calculator' to give you an idea of how the pensions changes might affect your own public service pension. See the calculator here...
The AGM will be held on Wednesday 28th March 2012 in the Memorial Hall
(City Hall) starting at 5.30 pm.
The AGM is open to all members and its function is to allow an opportunity for members to receive reports from Branch Officers on the performance of the branch in the previous year, including the campaigns that we have been involved with, our services to members, the branch accounts and our performance on recruitment. Members have an opportunity to ask questions about reports that are submitted including the financial accounts of the branch.
Motions / Amendments to Branch Rules
As a member you are entitled to submit motions and amendments to branch rules to the AGM so that they can be debated. For a motion to be competent the subject must be relevant to the functions of the branch and be submitted in time for its inclusion on the agenda of the AGM. The final date for motions or rule amendments to be submitted is noon on Friday 27th January 2012.
Motions and rule amendments must be received on the appropriate form a copy of which can be obtained from the branch office. Motions received by 27th January 2012 on the appropriate form will be posted on the branch website (www.sheffield-unison.org.uk). Any member then wishing to submit amendments to motions will need to do so in writing to the branch office with details of the proposer and seconder by Friday 17th February 2012.
Election of Branch Officer/Stewards/Conference Delegation
This AGM also endorses the election of Stewards and Branch Officers for the forthcoming year 2012/13. You will find a list of Branch Officers overleaf and further details of the roles and responsibilities can be found in the branch rules that are posted on the branch web-site. You will also find a description of the duties and responsibilities of workplace stewards. A nomination form is included with this mailing.
Any full member of the union can stand for election to any of the Branch Officer positions subject to obtaining the appropriate number of members to support the nomination. Details of the numbers of members required are printed on the attached nomination form.
Nominations should be received at the Branch Office by no later than noon on Friday 27th January 2012. In the event of there being more than one nomination for any Officer a postal ballot will be held of all full members to determine the successful candidate.
Any members wishing to be included in the delegations to the various UNISON conferences in 2012/13 (details of conferences appear on the branch website) should register their interest by completing the appropriate form obtainable from the branch office and submitting it to the branch by Friday 27th January 2012.
Election of Convenors
I have also enclosed a nomination form for the election of Convenors in each of the major employers. Convenors are branch officials who take responsibility for leading the organising and bargaining agendas in specific employers. A list of those employers where Convenors can be elected and the numbers recognised in each are set out on the nomination forms.
Only members who are employed in the area covered by the convenor can nominate or be nominated and participate in the elections. So, for example, members working for Sheffield Council nominate and elect the Sheffield Council Convenors, members working for Sheffield Homes nominate the Sheffield Homes Convenor etc.
Convenors are elected every two years and some paid time off from work is normally associated with the role. Please enquire with the Branch Office if you require any further details.
Branch AGM and Election Timetable
Find out the latest news where you work...
Place | Capita | Communities | Children & Young People | Resources, DEP CX, CX
Sheffield College | Schools | Probation | Sheffield Int Venues | Sheffcare | Sheffield homes
South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue |
About us | Campaigns | Contact us | Events | Join | News | Pay & Grading | SOGS |
Special offers | Stewards zone | UNISON Plus | Update your details | UNISON Welfare | Young Members | Home page
We're now on... 
