North Lanarkshire Update

A number of readers from have been in touch with information about the political connections between local trade unions and Labour-run North Lanarkshire Council.

For example, I'm told that the following positions within the local Unison NLC branch are all held by Labour Party members:

• Branch Chairperson
• Branch Vice Chairperson
• Branch Secretary 
• Branch Treasurer
• Branch Service Conditions Officer

Now I don't have any problem with trade union activiists being members of a political party, but such a high concentration of key people in just one party, suggests to me that the union is not exactly 'representative' of the wider grassroots members.

Which is odd, not least because trade unions claim to be 'representative organisations'.

I'm also told that some of these individuals have stood as Labour Party candidates or acted as election agents to a senior local councillor.

Which all sounds a bit too cosy and chummy, if you ask me.

So if Unison would like to comment or clarify any of these points, perhaps by putting some names to the various positions, I'll be happy to share what they have to say on the blog site.

 

North Lanarkshire Update (11/10/16)

A reader from North Lanarkshire has been in touch to ask if the leadership of the local trade unions (Unison, GMB and Unite) is connected, politically speaking, to the leadership of the Labour-run Council.

Now I don't know the answer to that, but if anyone can shed a light on the subject I'll happily share this information on the blog site.

People are free to join or not join any political party, of course, both in Lanarkshire or anywhere else for that matter. 

But it's still useful to know where people's political loyalties lie if they occupy a position of influence, especially if there is a high concentration of such individuals from just one political party.

So let's see what information the good folks of North Lanarkshire have to share.  

 

North Lanarkshire Update (10/10/16)

A reader from North Lanarkshire have been in touch to ask if the following Facebook post from the local Unison branch, means that all Council employees are about to receive their backpay from the late-running job evaluation (JE) review.

*Home Support*

 Final back pay settlements 

UNISON and THOMPSONS are in the process of finishing the final settlement letters, which will be sent out in due course. 

Thank you for your patience 

Well the honest answer is that I don't know, but I do think it would be outrageous if North Lanarkshire Council treated one group of employees more favourably than another.

The same discussions have been taking place with A4ES for weeks on end and NLC seems to be making commitments which senior officials don't keep.

I note as well that the Unison Facebook post does not mention a specific date, so who knows what's really going on at Council HQ in Motherwell.

All the Council has to do to end this frustration and anxiety is to confirm an early date for the process to be completed which is not exactly asking a lot, especially as senior officials have had months and months to prepare for an event that should have ended in December 2015.

So unlike Unison, I don't agree that people should be patient - because they've been waiting far too long already.