UNITE Parliamentary Staff Branch
Old campaigns
The branch has a new website:
http://unitepsbranch.org/
Parts of the new website are still under construction so the
material held below on this page,
and on those linked from it, will remain for the time being.
To go to the main page click here.
To go to Current Campaigns click here
Added: 6 May 2009
More on the centralisation of staff of MPs (see below).
Added: 24 April 2009
Initial thoughts on the centralisation of staff of MPs.
In Harriet Harman's statement on the reform of expenses part D proposes that in future all staff appointed by MPs without exception should become direct employees of the House of Commons; it also emphasises the right of the House to make an independent assessment of contracts between MPs and their staff.
I am pleased that the Government Chief whip has said that the staff union will be consulted throughout the process, including when the details are looked at in committee if the proposal is accepted by MPs.
The question the staff union is now asking is: could centralisation be the change we've been campaigning for?
Until we see that detail of what MPs will vote on next week, we can only comment on the Government's stated intentions.
There are some obvious advantages to the principle of central employment, but also the possibility of unintended consequences.
The intention of the change is to reassert publicly that MP's staff are not their 'personal' staff, or some kind of perk, but instead provide a service people contacting their MP expect.
The intention is also that, though the employer would change to the House, there would be complete continuity of employment: MPs will continue to be the line manager, hiring, setting terms and conditions within the boundaries decided in the way they are now.
Already staff of MPs are centrally employed in most ways, their pensions, standard contracts, pay scales, training and accommodation etc. being decided and administered centrally. There is a strong argument that the Government's proposals are simply regularising this.
However, the change might not be as easy as the Government envisages. A change of employer is significant and many concerns, for example whether TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981) would apply, and whether any variation of terms/conditions would result in constructive dismissal claims, have to be dealt with in the detail that MPs vote on next week.
The second part of the proposal emphasises the right of the House to make an independent assessment of contracts between MPs and their staff.
It is thanks to the campaigns of the T&G Staff Branch officers and members over its 25 years that MPs and the media are well aware that staff are often underpaid. I know of Caseworkers doing hours which mean they are paid less than the minimum wage.
However, the detail of how "an independent assessment of contracts" would work is not yet clear. We know that the gentle reminders to MPs who have been bad employers have not worked over the years, an example being the many staff who do not have contracts.
All this is subject to the negotiations going on between the political parties. My concern is that the final wording will be drafted without a full understanding of the real working situation for staff, in which there are as many variations as there are MPs.
I am also concerned that the reforms do not extend to an improvement in the way changes to staff standard contracts and payscales are currently made: advice from a committee of MPs sitting in private interpreted behind closed doors by a House department. This may become for the press and public the next target.
Dan Whittle, Chair UNITE Staff Branch
Added: 22 April 2009
Appointment of MPs' Staff - new proposals
Updated 17 April 2009
Added 18 February
(Unite guidance added
19 February 2009)
IMPORTANT: Survey of all Staff of MPs
As many of you know, the maximum contracted hours of MPs’ staff in the standard contract were increased recently from 37½ to 42 hours. This increase was imposed centrally, with no formal consultation process that involved them or sought their views on the proposal. This applies equally to MPs' staff based in constituency offices and those based at Westminster.
Following this increase, the staff union (UNITE) has decided to apply for the right to be consulted by the House Authorities on future changes to staff’s contractual terms. This means that whenever future changes are proposed to our working hours, pay, holidays or other employment rights, we will have the right to be consulted and to make representations on behalf of the staff before any changes are put in place.
In order to gain the right to be consulted on these important issues, the branch must show that a majority of staff wish this consultation to take place.
For those of you who do want this right to be consulted, please use THIS LINK to answer a short survey.
CLICK HERE TO TAKE PART.
Background information:
At the moment, the House Authorities are not formally recognised as the employer of staff who work in MPs’ offices. This has a number of disadvantages for those staff. One disadvantage is that changed terms and conditions of employment can be inserted into the Authorities’ standard contracts of employment, and staff have no formal say about that.
This has led to those who work in MPs’ offices being adversely affected. Staff on the Parliamentary Estate who do not work in MPs’ offices have more favourable holiday and redundancy packages, they have the right to sit down with the House Authorities and be consulted on their pay and other terms and conditions of employment. They also have the right to be recognised for Health & Safety purposes. In contrast, staff working in MPs’ offices in Parliament do not have these rights.
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The change was brought in at the beginning of January and your hours can only be increased in agreement with your MP: (iv) Hours of Work At present the standard contract allows for a maximum weekly hours of 37.5. Additional hours thereafter are likely to be met through overtime payments or time off in lieu. From 1 January 2009 Members will be able to specify contractual hours of work up to 42 hours per week. A number of Members considered this was necessary to meet the extra demands they now face especially from constituents. Where hours above 37.5 become contractual then it is desirable to consider a proportionate increase to the salary. This would have impact on the salary range which is based on 37.5 hours. In such cases the current maximum can be exceeded in proportion to the hours in excess of 37.5. Implementation These options apply only to new employment contracts. They could be applied to existing staff contracts but only by negotiated agreement. In general, we would strongly advise that you do not disturb existing contractual arrangements unless you are levelling-up across the office. |
As the recent increase in contractual working hours show, at the moment the staff in MPs’ offices can have working hours or other key contractual requirements changed without any formal consultation being required.
In order to establish a right to be consulted on such matters, it has to be shown that there is a level of support for this among MPs’ staff. This applies equally to MPs' staff based in constituency offices and those based at Westminster.
The short survey HERE gives you the opportunity to show your support on this crucial matter.
CLICK HERE TO TAKE PART
KEY POINTS:
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You do not have to be a union member to vote – all that is needed is that you work in an MP's office, either in the constituency or at Westminster.
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When recognised the union will consult all staff, whether union members or not, on all key issues.
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A significant number of colleagues from all the political parties have joined the union and have said they want better redundancy conditions and contractual terms, which is why we are conducting the survey.
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This will not interfere in any way with an MP’s right to hire the staff s/he wants and run the MP’s offices from day to day. The issue is whether members of staff should benefit from greater protection of their employment rights. This is a concern that many MPs share.
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Instead or as well as taking part in the online survey you may wish to sign the petition and circulate it to colleagues, and you can also take part in the postcard survey which will be taking place soon. Click here to access the petition (PDF file).
In accordance with the law, the detailed results of the survey will be given to ACAS, an independent employment relations organisation, but they will not be given to your employer.
CLICK HERE TO TAKE PART
Dan Whittle - Branch Chair
Added: 11 February 2009
Added: 30 January 2009
More on the new standard contract and redundancy arrangements for MPs' Staff.
The union currently has two EDMs down. Click on the links to check the current status of each EDM.
EDM 568
NEW STANDARD CONTRACT FOR HON. MEMBERS' STAFF
26.01.2009Etherington, Bill
That this House notes with concern the new standard contract for hon. Members' staff which extends the minimum hours of work from 37.5 to 42 hours and does not allow hon. Members to negotiate contractual hours outside these boundaries; is concerned that this will cause tension where new employees have longer contractual hours than existing staff; further notes that the contract was agreed by the Advisory Panel on Members' Allowances and introduced by the Department of Resources without formal consultation with staff union representatives; and urges all hon. Members to support recognition of the UNITE Parliamentary staff branch by the House authorities to ensure that they have a formal voice in future changes to the contract.
Full information here, including current number of signatures on this EDM:
http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=37602&SESSION=899
and
EDM 599
REDUNDANCY ARRANGEMENTS FOR HON. MEMBERS' STAFF
27.01.2009Sarwar, Mohammad
That this House notes the derisory redundancy arrangements available to staff of hon. Members as compared to other staff on the parliamentary estate; calls on the House authorities to review the arrangements before the next general election; and urges all hon. Members to support the UNITE Parliamentary Staff Branch campaign to improve staff contracts above the statutory minimum redundancy payment.
Full information here, including current number of signatures on this EDM:
http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=37637&SESSION=899
Want to know more about EDMs? http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/business/edms.cfm
Added: 19 December 2008
MPs' Staff Union calls in Acas to Resolve Dispute
UNITE, the Union the represents researchers working for Members of Parliament have called for Acas to help resolve a dispute over consultation and representation in the House of Commons.
The House of Commons Commission turned down the request of the union to recognise parliamentary staff last month. But 130 MPs signed EDM (1057) saying staff of MPs should be consulted more.
Dan Whittle, Chair of the branch said:
"The views of those 130 MPs who signed EDM 1057 should not be disregarded.
"Because decisions on payscales, contracts of employment, pensions etc. are taken centrally by the House authorities and not by individual MPs, we need, as a branch, a formal way to speak to them. We will fight on until we get fair treatment from the House of Commons for staff of MPs."
DAN WHITTLE: tel 07747026406
Kevin Flack, branch secretary said:
"We are calling on the House of Commons to give the lead in best practice when it comes to recognising employees rights - we are simply asking for the same rights as all other staff employed on the parliamentary estate."
KEVIN FLACK: tel 07769657291
This letter was sent to the Chair of the Administration Committee by the branch yesterday following their AGM:
Dear Frank Doran MP,
We very much welcomed the support of the Administration Committee and Commission in discussing the draft recognition agreement submitted by the Unite Parliamentary Staff Branch. However, we were disappointed that the decision of the Commission was that recognition of the branch "was not possible".
Because decisions on payscales, contracts of employment, pensions etc. are taken centrally by the House authorities and not by individual MPs, we need, as a branch, a way to conduct collective relations with them.
We have approached Acas for help in resolving the dispute and consider that our voluntary approach to settling the recognition dispute has failed and that our trade union should now make a statutory claim for recognition to the CAC. In accordance with the guidelines this letter is therefore an official request for recognition which you have 10 working days to respond to before the application is made to the CAC.
We hope in resolving this dispute we hope we can establish new systems for consultation and representation and a joint commitment to a cooperative approach.
EDM 1057 states: That this House congratulates the Unite (TGWU) Parliamentary Staff Branch on its recent recruitment drive; believes hon. Members' staff perform a remarkable public service; and calls on the House authorities to look at ways in which the branch could gain consultation rights so that it could have a say on matters such as terms and conditions.
http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=35255&SESSION=891
Added: 15 September 2008
Meeting with Head of PICT
Branch Secretary Kevin Flack reports: Continuing the informal meetings between ourselves, the Secretaries & Assistants’ Council and departmental heads (something we achieved through the Queueing campaign), I met with Joan Miller, Head of PICT, in July. She reported on the new tendering process for the computer contract, currently with Dell, to be opened next Spring; potential of new hand-held PDA gadgety things and a probable update from Internet Explorer 6 to IE7 in next twelve months. Staff are invited to speak to the PICT desk in the new one-stop shop in Portcullis House.
Meeting with Head of Information Services
A similar and very encouraging meeting was held with John Pullinger, Librarian and Director General of this Department. He was keen to stress his attitude to abolishing the separation between MPs and their staff when providing services, is investigating video conferencing with schools, has introduced teacher training courses at Parliament, is re-examining the visitor routes and working on outreach projects. He stressed that we should encourage staff to take up the training courses on offer.
Healthcare in Parliament
Following representations from the branch and the Secretaries & Assistants Council, we have received clarification that MPs' staff are entitled to make use of the Practice Nurse who is normally on duty at the Lower waiting Hall in the Commons from 9-5 on Mondays and 9-4 on Fridays on sitting days - recess times vary. She can provide information and advice, and minor treatments such as changing dressings.
They drive us mad - it's official!
A study by the All Party Parliamentary Group on mental health found that 45% of MPs' staff responding to a survey had suffered from some form of mental health problem whilst working for an MP. On a serious note, the report from the group highlights the need to raise aware of mental health issues and is well worth reading.
In the news
· Let's away to the Commons, where the more disgruntled types in the TGWU Unite parliamentary branch are canvassing MPs in support of their early-day motion seeking official recognition. They approach Nicholas Soames but the feedback is disappointing. "Sorry, no," he says. "I'd rather have root canal surgery." And this takes us back four years, for wasn't it the same ebullient Tory who then rejected the possibility of further preferment within his party on the basis that he would rather have "root canal surgery without a bloody anaesthetic". Have his visits to the dentist really been that grisly? Why doesn't he just get a new one?
Guardian Diary 16th July
Added: 8 September 2008
Survey Shows MPs' Staff Are Not on the Gravy Train
A cross-party survey of staff of 159 MPs staff shows though the average pay is £20,000, more than 1 in 5 had a real terms pay cut this year, and 1 in 10 believe they earn less than the minimum wage because of unpaid overtime.
The survey was conducted by the Parliamentary Staff Branch of Unite who launch their bid for official union recognition at the party conferences this month. Journalists are invited to attend the event at Labour Party Conference 5.30-7pm at the Nags Head, Jackson's Row, Off Deansgate 22nd September.
The survey says 9.2% of respondents believe they receive less than the minimum wage and that 21.8% received either no pay rise, or a pay cut this year. Wages are as low as £14,000 in London and in constituency offices. 70% say they suffer from stress.
A separate study by the All Party Parliamentary Group on mental health found that 45% of MPs staff responding to a separate survey had suffered from some form of mental health problem whilst working for an MP.
Launching the campaign for recognition branch secretary Kevin Flack said:
"We hope that MPs will want to set the best possible practice in the employment conditions of everyone who works in Parliament. That means decent working practices, as well as decent pay, for those who are the first point of contact for often desperate constituents. Looking around Parliament this week, it is clear many staff are working as hard in recess as they do the rest of the year, and we are sure those who make the laws will want to set a good example in the treatment of their own staff."
Branch Chair Dan Whittle said:
“80% of survey respondents say they are treated well but there are some issues including low pay that need to be resolved. We need a union recognition agreement so we have a framework to resolve them. MPs are behind us, over 100 have signed an early day motion to say the House Authorities should consult more with us. Our union, Unite, is behind us. We all want the House of Commons to show an example of the best employment practice.”
More info: Dan Whittle 07747 026406
Added 12 August 2008
TGWU/Unite survey of Staff 2008.
Click here for more information and for the link to the survey. Deadline 1 September 2008.
Added: 6 August 2008
Activists Training in Summer recess
The Union has agreed to put on training courses for branch members in the House of Commons in the summer recess. Issues to be covered include grievance and disciplinary hearings and health and safety matters. Please email/phone the branch secretary (Kevin Flack: flackk@parliament.uk ext 6273) if you would like to come along – no previous involvement required.
Added 5 July 2008
T&GWU (Unite) Parliamentary
Staff Branch
brief on Motion on Members’ Expenses for Debate 3 July 2008
2 July 2008
To signatories of EDM 1057,
Thank you for signing EDM 1057, which calls on the House Authorities to look at ways in which the T&G (Unite) Parliamentary Staff Branch could gain consultation rights.
This briefing sets out the views of the branch on the motion on Members’ Expenses to be discussed on Thursday. We ask that members of Parliament use this briefing to consider making contributions to the debate on 3 July in order that the opinions of staff may be heard.
Our branch has over 400 members of Parliamentary and constituency staff. We believe that it is in the interests of MPs and constituents as well as staff that our members should be better rewarded for the work they do.
Contents of this briefing:
i) What the motion says
ii) The branch’s submission to the MEC
iii) Points our branch would like raised in the debate
iv) Contact details for our branch.
To read the full briefing click here (Word document)
Added: 18 June 2008
Recognition Campaign - Why the branch is campaigning for official recognition:
- The House of Commons should be setting an example of good employee relations.
- The only thing stopping the branch from being recognised in the past is the complexity of being jointly employed by MPs and the House authorities. House of commons staff have recognition, and senior Government ministers have said there is no reason we should not be recognised.
- Recognition would set out the rights the branch and its members now get on an ad hoc basis. The status quo is damaging to MPs and staff because staff representation is ad hoc and patchy.
- Over 100 MPs have signed EDM 1057 which asks for more consultation rights for the branch.
The T&G (Unite) Parliamentary Staff Branch have written to the
GMB
to complain about their attack on MPs staff.
- The GMB Congress Advised House Of Commons Authorities To Abolish the Members’ Allowance Expenditure Schedule
- Brian Strutton, GMB National Secretary for Public Services told delegates: "MPs continue to flick through their posh shop catalogues to work out what allowances they can claim on top of their generous salaries – and it seems not a week goes by without another story that smacks of greed and milking the system."
- Kevin Flack, T&G (Unite) Parliamentary Staff Branch secretary, said, "who do the GMB think it is that answers the phone to their members when they take a problem to their MP? Who draft the letters and make enquiries on their behalf? It has taken years to get a decent staffing allowance for MPs, which is ring-fenced and can't be used for other purposes. It is sad to see such uninformed comments from a fellow trade union."
- Robert Atkinson a Caseworker who is changing his membership from the GMB to the T&G Parliamentary Staff Branch said: "I am pleased I will be a member of a union that understands that MPs staff do an important public service job."
- Another caseworker who is switching from GMB to Unite, Robin, said: ““Of course I don’t condone the misuse of Parliamentary expenses but our trade unions really should back up MPs office staff, the vast majority of whom work extremely hard, putting in long hours for low pay. The GMB seem to be moving away from representing their members and instead joining the opportunist tabloid bandwagon attacking all MPs offices”
- Unite is now taking this up with the GMB at a national level.
Some of the inaccuracies in the GMB press release:
- Members staff costs are ring-fenced, (not part of an open-ended system as said by the GMB).
- House Authorities do not make decisions about changes to the system of allowances, parliament does.
- The press release justifies the GMBs proposals saying Tory MP Caroline Spellman's payment of a nanny "should not be an allowable claim". However, this is why it is being investigated by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner.
The Queue Jumping campaign
Message from the
TGWU/Unite Parliamentary Branch Chair, Dan Whittle - January
2008
The Queue Jumping campaign – making the argument that the rule that MPs can queue jump staff should be abolished.
I hope you all saw or heard about the petition Lembit Opik MP presented in the House.
To quote from Hansard: “The 380 signatories know that the staff keep this place running in the democratic interests of the country. I thank Unite, the union, for its tireless efforts on this campaign and hope that the Administration Committee will soon abandon the regime of common discourtesy and restore courtesy to the Commons. ” So he did us proud.
We will pursue this campaign in 2008 because there’s nothing more petty than an employer passing a rule that lets them jump a queue in front of their employee, in no other workplace in the country would this be tolerated.
UPDATE June 2008: The response to Lemibit Opik’s petition was that the Administration Committee will review the policy after a year.
Click below to see Branch newsletters:
The Pay Up campaign
Message from the
TGWU/Unite Parliamentary Branch Chair, Dan Whittle - January
2008
We are in a great position starting the New Year in terms of membership, recruitment and campaigning. We can be proud of what we’re doing. We now have over 400 members and rising, and our lobbying of the SSRB paid off with an increase in the allowances MPs have available to pay us, which was agreed to last month.
I am very pleased to have taken over the Chair at a time when many of these things were about to come into fruition, because of the hard work of the former Chair and all of the Executive Committee. There are 3 campaigns I would like to update you on: The SSRB review, the queue jumping campaign and the campaign for recognition.
The SSRB review
I hope you managed to see one of our briefings on the SSRB report which I emailed to all MPs, and which set out the gains to staff, notably:
Recommendation 20 a Staffing Expenditure increase to allow MPs to employ up to 3.5 full-time (or equivalent) members of staff; Recommendation 21 that the ceiling should be £96,630; Recommendation 22: that the ceiling on be increased by £1,720 for each fulltime equivalent member of staff based in London, up to a maximum of £102,650.
The branch’s task now is to ensure that that expenditure increase is passed on to researchers and caseworkers. As it says in the briefing we sent round to MPs: 20% of MPs don’t pass on all of their staffing allowance to staff.
We are also continuing to push MPs on the automatic uprating of salaries. Their staffing allowance goes up every year but many of them do not pass this increase on. We are also going to push MPs on the starting salaries of researchers and secretaries which at around £13,000 are far too low.
MP of the year so far goes to Linda Gilroy MP, who in the debate on the SSRB argued that if MPs get their pay automatically uprated, so should staff. We get another chance to lobby MPs on this when some of the recommendations go to the Members Estimates Committee.
The
union campaigns for better working conditions and pay for staff. The 5th
July 2001 decision by Parliament to provide decent pay, more staff for
MPs, provide better employment procedures, security in constituency
offices and 'ring-fence' the money allocated for staff wages (so you
don't have to compete with a new fax machine when asking for your annual
wage rise) was the culmination of 20 years' campaigning by the TGWU
branch. Obviously,
the more staff who join the union, the stronger our voice is.
The union branch has made representations to the Speaker's Advisory Panel on the implementation of these proposals and is arguing for the best possible contracts to be adopted. In the current climate, Health and Safety is obviously of major concern and we have pushed for improvements to staff safety, especially with relation to security and post.
Click here for a pdf version (22KB) of: TGWU PARLIAMENTARY STAFF BRANCH 1/427
SUBMISSION TO THE SENIOR SALARIES REVIEW BODY: REVIEW OF PARLIAMENTARY PAY AND ALLOWANCES. This was submitted in January 2004.Commons Cleaners Strike - “Makes me proud to be in the T&G”
That was the verdict of one of the branch’s newer members as they saw how much support the union gave to the House of Commons’ cleaners on their strike day in July.
Branch officers and members joined picket lines and were invited to the mass meeting at Parliament and we helped with organisational back-up and ensuring MPs’ support – not that most MPs needed much encouraging!
The Commons cleaners are in dispute over their pay and conditions, in particular the absolute minimum legal holidays their receive (12 days on top of 8 Bank Holidays), lack of company pension and a wage of a fiver an hour.
The cleaners’ reps and their Organiser, Rhys McCarthy, have met regularly with the branch and its officers and we will continue to support them. In the meantime, please urge your MP to sign EDM 434 (tabled by Shahid Malik who also joined the cleaners’ picket line), if they have not already done so.
Over the summer, T&G members were once again force to show their solidarity as the baggage handlers at Heathrow walked out in support of 670 Gate Gourmet staff who had been summarily sacked, apparently for staying too long at a staff meeting while waiting for union advice. Gate Gourmet has a history of poor treatment of staff and amongst those sacked were workers on holiday or on sick leave.
Without the action of the baggage handlers- and subsequent pressure from BA - there is little doubt that Gate Gourmet management would have refused to go to the negotiating table with the T&G.
The T&G is fast gaining itself a reputation as the champion of the low paid, which will stand up for its members when they need it.
By Kevin Flack
Branch Secretary
Last updated: 24 February 2011