Agenda item

Employees' Side Report on: Commercial Activities

Minutes:

An Employee side representative introduced the item which set out Harrow UNISON’s view of the Council’s failure to consult trade unions over plans to conduct a review of commercial activities which support the Community Directorate’s targets to reduce impact of budget reductions on staff.  The submission at agenda item 12 was considered in conjunction with the response report from the Interim Director of HR at agenda item 13.

 

In response, the Interim Head of HR, Resources and Commercial  advised that the Council was in the process of arranging a briefing to discuss the issue and regular meetings would be set up to supplement the process.  An officer also added that it was important to have sound information basis and advised that the Department was engaging in positive conversations with the Trade Unions.

 

An Employee side representative stated that reviews should allow for early engagement through the relevant consultation forums of the Council – something that was not evident in this case.  Concerns were also expressed over the breakdown in communications between the Council’s senior management and Trade Unions, thereby highlighting that fundamental issues with scheduled reviews remained and consultation must be prioritised in order to prevent such issues from happening again.

 

An Employee side representative enquired about a recent project on commercial activities from the Council’s Communities Directorate and whether that was making profit.  In response, the Interim Director of Environmental Services stated that the financial review had not been completed yet and no other steps had yet been undertaken.  Answers were expected in the upcoming weeks and assurances were given that engagement with trade unions would take place as soon as possible.

 

The Corporate Director of Community added that there had been considerable underperformance and more clarity was needed on the level of underspend.  As a result the Council was focusing on three key areas – 1) identification of £1.3m worth of additional income, (2) savings of further £700k and (3) in year under performance across number of key areas.  He expressed commitment to consult formally with trade unions and informed the Forum of a meeting scheduled to discuss areas of improvement.

 

An Employee side representative acknowledged the above points but noted that majority of savings were directed at operational staff.  Staff at lower pay scales was subject to more scrutiny and this was of a concern to trade unions.  In response to a question on whether all jobs should be outsourced, officers advised that the statement was founded on rumours and that it was the pursuit of savings was not solely staff focused.  Although areas for improvement remained, the Forum was assured of the Council’s commitment to preserve in-house delivery of services and ensure they were operational within the appropriate time scales.

 

Addressing an Employee representative’s comments regarding recent communication received by Harrow UNISON informing that an external company would be taking over the Depot and the insufficient information shared with unions on this, the Chair stressed that these were based on rumours and asked officers to undertake further discussions with the Trade Unions following the meeting.

 

The Chair further re-iterated the Council’s commitment to bringing services back in house and shared his belief in staff’s professionalism and ability to deliver a good service to residents as well as achieving commercial benefits, despite working in the context of continuous budget cuts.

 

RESOLVED: That the report and the comments made in the preamble above be noted.