{"id":14995,"date":"2018-04-16T16:59:10","date_gmt":"2018-04-16T15:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=14995"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:59:03","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:59:03","slug":"14995-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=14995","title":{"rendered":"‘Hidden agenda’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The redundancy payments\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 dispute at Dacorum borough council in Hertfordshire, which has seen delays in the collection of dustbins, is set to escalate with more industrial action.<\/p>\n

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Unite said that the council had deliberately ratcheted up the dispute when it made nine compulsory redundancies in the team that looks after cleaning-up adventure playgrounds.<\/p>\n

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The council has voted to cut compensation payments to staff who are made redundant from 2.2 times the weekly wage for each completed year, down to 1.5 times of the weekly wage for each completed year.<\/p>\n

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Unite believes that the council\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard line on redundancy payments is part of a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098hidden agenda\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 to prepare the refuse service, which covers Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted and Tring, for Carillion-style privatisation.<\/p>\n

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Unite and Unison members will hold a protest rally that will take place at the Civic Centre, Hemel Hempstead HP1 1DN on Wednesday (April 18) at 6.45pm<\/p>\n

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The trade unions agreed at a meeting on Friday (April 13) to further industrial action which includes a number of Saturdays prior to, or following the forthcoming bank holidays not being worked due to the ongoing overtime ban which is due to run until the middle of June.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe council has adopted a deliberately provocative stance by making nine employees who run the adventure play grounds compulsorily redundant,” said Unite regional officer Richard Gates.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt has also rubber stamped a serious cut in redundancy payments.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe evidence increasingly points to the council making the service look \u00e2\u20ac\u0098attractive\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 for Carillion-style outsourcing \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and we know where that led. If such a course were adopted, refuse services for Dacorum residents will quickly deteriorate.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAt the meeting on Friday, it was agreed to hold a demonstration outside the planned council meeting, and for members of both unions to participate in further overtime ban actions at weekends leading up to and following the May bank holidays,” he added.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI have said to the council numerous times that redundancy pay is given to employees not so they can go on a luxury holiday, but so they can continue to put food on the table for their family until they can secure another job.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTherefore, this reduction in redundancy pay, running into hundreds of pounds, is completely unacceptable to our members. We won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t tolerate this race to the bottom.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe trade unions have made it clear to the employer that the door is always open for discussions on this issue, something the council has repeatedly turned down,” Gates noted.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUntil we have constructive talks and reach a fair settlement, this dispute will escalate with bin collections increasingly delayed with all the public health hazards that, unfortunately, may ensue.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Unite represents 40 drivers and loaders who voted by 90 per cent for both strike action and industrial action short of a strike i.e. an overtime ban.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The redundancy payments\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 dispute at Dacorum borough council in Hertfordshire, which has seen delays in the collection of dustbins, is set to escalate with more industrial action.   Unite said that the council had deliberately ratcheted up the dispute when it made nine compulsory redundancies in the team that looks after cleaning-up adventure playgrounds.   […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14996,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[349,128,582],"wps_subtitle":"Council slammed over slashed redundancy payments","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14995"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14995"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26268,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14995\/revisions\/26268"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}