ilawrence@napo.org.uk's blog

Today, across six Community Rehabilitation Companies owned by Sodexo, staff are hearing whether they are in scope for the proposed redundancy programme that the company first revealed last Easter.

Last night I issued a Branch Briefing BR/76/2015 which summarised Napo's approach to the attempts by Sodexo to only offer around half of the Enhanced Voluntary Redundancy (EVR) terms to those of their staff who are facing the loss of their employment.

Sorry itts a quick fire posting to close what has been another extraordinary week which has largely been taken up with the Sodexo CRC and EVR issues that I have been covering of late. I was  nevertheless able to make a visit to speak with Western Branch members today in Bath which was both a pleasure and a privilege and I am really grateful for the hospitality shown to me and the positive feedback about what Napo are actually doing on their, and your, behalf.

Our members across probation will be well aware that Napo and our sister unions are engaged in an extremely challenging issue around the plans by the six Sodexo owned CRCs to shed 600 jobs. In addition, we are spending a considerable amount of time trying to unravel their intention to offer a variation of the Enhanced Voluntary Redundancy scheme (EVR) as enshrined in the National Staff Transfer and Protections agreement.

I reported earlier this week that the two disputes registered by Napo and Unison reps in South Yorkshire and Northumbria were to be considered by the National Negotiating Council (NNC) Joint Secretaries (of which I am one, and Francis Stuart of NOMS is the other).

Whilst I am in discussion with my Employers Side counterpart about the wording of a possible determination of these and one other unrelated dispute that we looked at yesterday, I am naturally limited in what I am able to say about them right now.

Our top priority over the last few weeks has been the ongoing dialogue with senior Sodexo management about their offer of an Enhanced Voluntary Redundancy Scheme (EVR) which was supposed to shield the 600 staff who have been deemed as surplus to requirements from the possibility of being made compulsorily redundant (that’s sacked in everyday language).

We have been releasing as much news as we can on the talks that have been taking place between the Probation Unions and Sodexo over their offer to vary the terms of the Enhanced Voluntary Redundancy scheme that they wish to offer to staff within their six Community Rehabilitation Companies. At the meeting with Sodexo Reps last week we reported on developments and drew up an action plan.

A big day for Napo again, as the fully booked WiN (Women in Napo) conference commences in York with a range of excellent speakers on a number of diverse subjects covering probation and the family courts.  As you would expect, I have sent greetings and best wishes to our sisters for a successful event and I am sure that the proceedings will be hugely positive and hopefully encourage new activists to step forward.

Two big meetings today. The first with Sodexo senior leaders to resume discussions on the workforce reductions that they announced before Easter and on which we had secured a pause in the proceedings.

A brief position statement has been agreed and appears elsewhere on the Napo website. As you will already have gathered, we are into a complex discussion where the contrasting factors of moral responsibility, the role of the MoJ and the ability to honour the terms of National Agreements have been the main drivers.

We expect to formally launch our campaign in the next week or so to encourage existing Napo members and those who wish to join us to pay their future subscriptions by Direct Debit (DD). this follows the announcement by Chris Grayling (that I have previously mentioned) to bring an end to the long standing deductions at source system for union subs ('Check Off')

In advance of the traditional introductory phone call from the newly appointed Justice Secretary Michael Gove and our first meeting with him, all of the probation unions have been reflecting on the outcome of the general election result and how we can develop a new agenda for engagement.