Fighting to Protect Jobs COMMUNICATION 1 Dear Member You should be aware of the threat facing staff and services from the pending cuts being implemented by Stirling Council. There are 4 ‘Work Streams’ currently being looked at but it won’t stop there, as these four have been short listed from an original total of 20, reduced by management team to 10. The 4 current ‘Work Streams’ are: - Organisational Review (Management & Administration Structures)
- Procurement
- Social Care
- Property and Facilities Management
You should view The Source under ‘Diagnostic Pathway’ for further information on these ‘Work Streams’ although it does not carry full details of what is planned. The management structures will bear the first impact and many managers and supervisors have already been offered voluntary severance. A letter has gone out to over 300 staff, approximately 100 of which will be identified as ‘at risk’ posts. Unfortunately, we believe this list of staff has errors and perhaps omissions. You should be aware that if you have received this letter, then your post is possibly at risk. Despite UNISON’s repeated requests we still do not have the actual “At Risk” list. We have also been told that it is less likely that there will be compulsory redundancies within the admin/clerical staff pool, other than those who have supervisory responsibilities. The proposed structure will mean that the current vertical tiers of management of 7 or 8 levels will change to flat levels of only 4. This will mean an organisational structure of - 1. Chief Executive2. Directors of Services 3. Heads of Service 4. Team managers There will be a greater number of Heads of Service and Team Managers than at present. No information has been forthcoming about how the structure will work in practice below Team Manager level and, as management have not answered any of our questions, it appears that they don’t seem to know the answers themselves. UNISON believes this to be an unacceptable situation – how can unions and staff understand how this can work without information being forthcoming? From the limited information we currently have, we believe this flat structure to be unworkable in practice but have been presented with a ‘fait accompli’. The Council has already spent £320,000 on fees to KPMG, not including £150,000 allocated from the Scottish Government. The Council has yet to take a decision on whether to spend an additional £600,000 to KPMG for additional consultancy, which will inevitably lead to further cuts. The SNP administration are making assurances in the press that frontline services will be unaffected but UNISON would point to the decision taken to close two ‘frontline’ care homes and question that statement! We will keep you informed as we push for more information but feel we have to let you, our members, know that we believe this to be a real threat to all staff and the public services we take pride in delivering.
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