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Single Status 2

PAY DEAL CONCESSIONS PAVE WAY FOR TALKS

26-02-2008

Unions have won major concessions from Birmingham City Council ahead of negotiations designed to end the impasse over the Single Status paw row. Controversial details of the new deal such as performance related pay, extended salary protection and the new seven band pay structure are all up for grabs.

Of course, the local authority’s willingness to discuss these issues doesn’t mean that they’ll be able to come up with a compromise that’s acceptable to the workers – but it’s significant that they are now back in play, given that thousands of employees have already signed their new contracts.

As an appendix to the joint management/union statement issued today makes clear, nothing will be off-limits in the talks.

Here’s that Appendix in full.

Appendix to Joint Statement

It is accepted by both sides that proposals on several of the issues below have already been, in varying degrees, discussed. Future discussions will build upon the outcome of the proposals.

Items to be discussed/resolved in joint discussions (in no order of priority):

1) Progression

• · Appeal arrangements
• · ‘Ratchet ‘ arrangements, ie no salary falls
• · Monitoring arrangements
• · Progression criteria. There is no intention to apply performance based criteria
• · Sub-division of salary bands and application of PDR process
• · Application of process to specific groups
  
  

2) Pay Structure

• · Concept of salary banding as opposed to grades
• · Sub-division of salary bands, as appropriate
• · Assimilation arrangements to salary bands to more closely match job evaluation scores
• · Joint commitment to consideration of financial implications and the additional funding required
• · Bonus discussions
  
  

3) Protection

• · Extension of protection beyond 2010
• · Potential for setting targets to reduce red circles after protection period to a level below 7%
• · Monitoring of above as KPI in Council’s Performance plan
• · Potential to ensure no red circles lose in excess of an agreed maximum, eg 10% or 15% at the end of protection. An arrangement similar to that set out in respect of hardship payments to bonus paid staff.
• · Joint commitment to, and co-operation in, a structured programme of job redesign, commencing with those who lose most.
  

4) Non-pay Contractual Terms

• · Payment methods (weekly to monthly)
• · Flexibility/Agility in deployment
• · 5 out of 7 days working
• · Extra Statutory days
• · Additional payments
• · Temporary injury allowances
• · Implementation of contractual changes for those who have accepted new contracts
• · A full application to the Insource programme to all employees
• · The completion of the Red Book negotiations within the timescale set out above

(To see the Joint Statement, click here)