ATTENDANCE MANAGEMENT SHAMBLES ALREADY A SOURCE OF GRIEF

It seems that the implementation of this policy, despite the failure to agree it with Napo and other unions, is set to cause huge rifts between managers and staff if the early feedback we have received this week is anything to go by.

 

The genesis of this deficient and divisive process is that the government sees public servants as a burden on society and has decided to launch one of the most punitive personnel management regimes for managing sick absence that it has been my misfortune to see in many years in this business. 

 

We wrote out to NPS members in the week to confirm that we had received a number of queries and concerns from branches about this policy. Napo has followed up on the meeting that took place between Michael Spurr and the unions just before the Christmas break and are challenging both the contents and the implementation of the policy.

 

We have also made it clear to Michael Spurr and his senior management colleagues that we are appalled at the lack of clear communications to staff. Many managers have not received any information about what the policy contains and how it should be used, which has significantly hampered their ability to brief staff and local Napo reps. We also have serious doubts about the quality and quantity of the training that has been offered for managers.  Below is the link to the advice Napo issued just before Christmas. We are working urgently on further guidance and advice for members which we will issue shortly.

 

Essentially, this policy was drawn up and implemented without anything resembling negotiation, and apart from some late and very cursory consultation where we managed to secure some changes, it was very much a case of ' carry on regardless' (for those of you who remember the lamentable series of movies of that genre) but without even the remotest semblance of humour. 

 

While the NOMS supremos cannot escape the accusation that they have palpably failed to bat for their team, this is yet another example of the attitude that this government has for its employees who it sees as wasters and malingerers who jump at the opportunity to take sick leave. Unlike the faceless Mandarins in their Whitehall ivory towers who concocted this nonsense, our members live in the real world and we will do our best to highlight and challenge the numerous problems that this is already causing at all levels. Meanwhile, I fully appreciate the difficulties this implementation places on our reps on top of all the other pressures that you (and we) are facing, and Napo will do all that we can to help you represent any members who fall foul of the new instructions.

 

I aim to publish the exchanges we have had with Michael Spurr once he has been able to consider our latest letter, but issues such as the lack of an Equality Impact Assessment, retrospective treatment of absences preceding the policy, new rules on sick pay,  and the way in which serious underlying medical conditions are apparently supposed to be totally ignored as a factor for not attending at work are right up there. So, as a member asked me yesterday, it's presumably ok for someone with an infectious medical condition to drag themselves into the office and put others at risk to avoid being pulled up under the policy? 

 

More news as soon as we can get it to you.

 

Click here to read N39-2016 circular issued to members 

 

 

Access to Justice

 

Its a reasonable assumption that all of our members, wherever they work, will agree with the following sentiments:

 

'When you try to raise your concerns but they fall on deaf ears; when you feel locked out of the political and social discourse and feel no one is on your side, resentments grow”.

 

and:

 

“It is the job of government…to correct the injustice and unfairness that divides us wherever it is found.”

 

In a week where the British Public heard a good number of platitudes and statements of intent from the Prime Minister, then Justin Madders MP was right to quote these words from her in the attached parliamentary debate in the hope that they might be turned into action.

 

Hansard transcript of Access to Justice debate

 

Why DV victims should not face the perpetrator in court 

 

Long before Chris Grayling was put in charge of the biggest train set in history, he was being told that his cuts to the legal aid budget would have serious repercussions in a number of areas. That Mr Grayling failed to listen is of course not surprising to Napo members, and it is increasingly becoming clear, many of those who worked with him in the MoJ. So credit where it is due to Elizabeth Truss who has announced a review into the scandalous situation of victims being cross examined by their tormentor.

 

The following links make for interesting reading:

 

The Guardian’s view on family courts: cuts hurt

 

Hansard transcript of domestic violence victims cross examination debate

 

Standing up to workplace racism

 

The TUC is launching an online survey to expose the everyday reality of racism faced by many Black workers.  This is the first time that a survey of this kind has been carried out across the trade union movement and we wrote out to Branches this week to encourage a response.

 

Those of us who have encountered racial abuse at work at some time in our life will know that this  might come from a number of sources. Sometimes this is overt, but often its more subtle, especially with the rise in the use of social media networks where detrimental things are said about individuals without their knowledge. One example that has come to my attention was cleverly masked by suggestions that the individual worker (who was also a member of a traditionally under represented group) was intellectually inferior to those around them. Just because this sort of thing might not actually take place in the workplace, doesn't mean that its not racist. 

 

The information provided will be treated in confidence.  Racism at Work The survey closes on the 27 February. 

 

Standing up to Trumps racism

 

Whilst on the subject, I have been invited by 'Stand Up To Racism' to their event outside the American Embassy next Friday 20th January at 6:00pm. The demonstration is designed to create an opportunity to express deep concern about the racist attitudes that have been on display by the soon to be inaugurated Donald Trump.

 

I am sometimes asked what international politics has to do with Napo. All I can say is that next weeks protest is a chance for London trade unionists and supporters to show the sizeable American community in the UK, and those across the Atlantic, of our values; and send a signal that the many American citizens who are appalled by this demagogue are not in a minority.

 

NNC indicative ballot  - ensure that you vote please!

 

We recently asked all our members in the NPS, CRCs and Probation Board Northern Ireland to take part in an indicative ballot strengthen our efforts to defend collective bargaining. 

 

Please check through your Napo mailings in the preferred e-mail address that you have chosen to use for the receipt of information and complete the survey. It will only take a couple of minutes and you are being asked to vote 'YES' to both of the key questions. 

 

If you cannot open the link on your work e-mail system then simply forward it to your private address. Your negotiators need to know where you stand on this important issue in order that we can best defend your interests going forward.