Branch Secretary Report 2020

It has been another busy year with several large scale transfers from one provider to another and the continuing trend of mergers in housing associations which is becoming an increasingly common occurrence in our sector.

During the 12 months 1st February 19 to 1st February 2020 we recruited 1034 new members, mostly through online joining, and as I write the branch has 5090 members spread across some 638 employers in the West Midlands. This figure has fluctuated this year more than most due to a variety of factors but we are pleased to still have a net gain, when membership in other sectors is waning.

The branch was selected to take part in the piloting of a new web based case system for Unison branches and have been using the system since September. The pilot has been successful and the system will now be rolled out to all Unison branches who wish to use it. As the national Unison will be using the system we will continue to also use the system and over the next few months will begin to roll it out to our stewards so they can access and keep records of cases in their own employers. This should help us gain a better understanding of the work going on in individual employers but also provides a more fluid transition if cases need to be escalated to the branch or regional office.

One thing the system does is allow us to provide figures based on what case types and outcomes we have had which is useful when plotting trends in employers or sectors. Since we started to use the system in September below is a highlight of some of the figures for cases myself and the staff have dealt or are dealing with currently.

Disciplinary: 74

Grievance: 80

Sickness/ill health: 56

Discrimination: 13   

In total myself and the staff team have logged and advise or represented 608 members during the period we have been using the system and closed around 311 of these. This shows the scale of work we do on your behalf but again more than ever we need activists and stewards in workplaces to combat the worrying behaviour of employees in our sector. I’d encourage as many of you as possible to consider this or talk to myself or our staff members about training and support.

We are hopeful by the time we reach the AGM we may have an answer to the question of sleep-ins as the hearing is ongoing at the time of writing. This has been an important issue for many of our members and Unison for a number of years so we are hopeful for a positive resolution.

This year also sees the start of a campaign nationally called Care Workers for Change. We will be hoping to contact and engage as many members as possible in this so please update your contact details and preferences so we can get everyone involved.

As always, we have been working hard to make sure the branch is represented at every level of Unison both regionally and nationally with great attendance at National Delegate Conference in June. We have had less take up of places this year at the other service group conferences and will work to improve this in the coming year.

I look forward to meeting new committee members and activists at and after the AGM and hope for another productive and exciting year for the branch.

 

Sincerely

James Hawker

West Midlands Community Branch Secretary