Public sector workers are facing difficult times, with an economic recession and an assault on jobs, terms & conditions (including pensions), and privatisation & out-sourcing of services. UNISON has an important role in resisting these assaults, not only for the sake of members, but also to preserve and improve the quality of the essential public services we provide.


We hope you find these pages a useful first point of advice and help, but remember your stewards and full-time branch officers are always here to help…see About Us page

If you are not yet a member, but would like to join, see the How To Join page.

If you have any suggestions or comments about the website please email Peter Marsden at

Million Voices Campaign Logo

LOBBY OF LIB-DEM CONFERENCE
IN LIVERPOOL - 19th Sept 2010

UNISON is supporting a TUC lobby of the LibDem Conference in Liverpool on Sunday 19 September 2010 to show the level of opposition to the Coalition cuts.
read more here

'£5 Million Discovered Down Side of Council Settee'

On July 27, Blackpool Council (BC) declared that it will loan £5 million to The Pleasure Beach to fund a £10.3 million development. This is on the back of the announcement in June that up to 261 of its employees (now reduced to 70) were to be thrown onto the scrap heap, following reductions in funding from central government of £5.6 million.
read more here

Lobby of the Council, 21 July

Following the successful lobby of the full Council meeting on 28 June, UNISON organised another protest on Wednesday, 21 July, this time to coincide with the meeting of the Council’s Conservative-dominated Executive Committee.
read more here

Letter to Councillors

Today we will be providing the councillors with a letter from the branch on how to fund the remaining 80 jobs identified for redundancy.
Read more here

KEEP UP THE PRESSURE – SAVE OUR JOBS AND SERVICES

Detailed negotiations between the union and council officers and a successful lobby of Conservative councillors have resulted in the number of likely compulsory redundancies falling from 261 to about 80 staff.

Blackpool UNISON is calling on all members to support a further lobby of the Council’s Executive meeting on Wednesday 21 July, at 4.30 pm, at the Town Hall.
Read more here

Redeployment

Are you affected by the redundancies and need more infomation on redeployment? These are the most recent redeployment policies:

More News from the Lobby of the Council

‘Blackpool Council handing out redundancy notices first then thinking later’

Leader of Blackpool Council’s Labour Group, Simon Blackburn, said he was delighted with the turn out of Unison members at the lobby of the Council meeting earlier this week.
Hear the Radio Wave Interview...

Callow fails to impress angry Council employees

A Council worker at risk of redundancy took advantage of a rare opportunity to speak directly to Leader of the Council, Peter Callow, when he stood on the Town Hall steps after the Extraordinary meeting to discuss the recent cuts.
Hear the Radio Wave Interview...

“This Isn’t the End ... It’s Only the Start”

That was the message of Simon Blackburn, leader of the Labour group of councillors, to a magnificent and defiant demonstration of 100 Blackpool Council staff on the steps of the Town Hall. Read More Here

Threat of 200 compulsory redundancies

UNISON's Advice on the Redundancies

Links

The authority has recently informed the branch about the withdrawal of almost £3 million of Area Based grants by the coalition government and the prospect of 200 compulsory redundancies.

These grants are used by Blackpool Council to fund much needed projects to tackle deprivation and to improve local communities. Projects include help to get people off welfare benefits and into training and work, tackling anti-social behaviour, reducing teenage pregnancies and work with people with drug and alcohol problems and many more vital projects.

The local branch has responded with a twin track approach to the Blackpool Council’s  plans:

The first track is proposing alternatives to redundancies. These include using unallocated reserves to fund the posts until the 31 March 2011, money saving ideas such as stopping or reducing the use of agency staff/consultants and council wide efficiency services as well as a series of other measures.

The council have already agreed to consider requests from employees for voluntary redundancies or in special cases early retirement. The branch has produced some summary information for members - see ‘Redundancy Payments and Early Voluntary Retirement Summary.’

The second track involves campaigning against this attack on services and jobs and working with Labour Link. The branch has supported a recent lobby of an Extraordinary Council meeting and have set up meetings with Gordon Marsden MP and Cllr Simon Blackbury, Leader of the Opposition.

The budget announcements of 25% cuts in departmental public spending, a two year pay freeze and a review of the final salary pension scheme amount to a massive assault on the public sector. These will have a massively detrimental impact on local people due to the withdrawal of much needed services and could threaten thousands of jobs within Blackpool Council.