Member Letter

LETTER TO ALL UNISON MEMBERS EMPLOYED BY ESSEX COUNTY COUNCIL

22nd April 2009

OUTSOURCING OF ESSEX COUNTY COUNCIL SERVICES

1. You will be aware, I am sure, of the continuing debate in the media and elsewhere about the outsourcing of services at Essex County Council. You will probably see a plethora of Press Releases and you may have been concerned by the latest one issued by Lord Hanningfield, the Leader of the County Council yesterday.

2. UNISON has held a high level meeting with Lord Hanningfield in the recent past and received a number of key assurances of the way forward for this process. The assurances are:-

• That the current proposals are not a prelude to extensive outsourcing of County Council’s services. The County Council is committed to retaining full control of services wanting to save £200m from back office and process costs to be spent on the delivery of services.

• Essex County Council is fully committed to supporting the businesses and the communities of Essex, so there was no question of jobs being lost to other areas of the country or abroad.

• An assurance was given that UNISON would be appropriately involved in discussions or options for the future provision of services under consideration. It was agreed that staff should be involved in discussions as they have much to contribute.

3. These assurances represent valuable progress from the initial position the County Council appeared to adopt by announcing its intention in the European Journal for contractors to bid for “any or all” of the County Council’s services. What we now appear to be facing is a more limited exercise in which a commercial partner will be invited in to advise on the configuration and running of back office services. From UNISON’s point of view, we wish obviously to retain these services in-house and the assurance given about jobs not disappearing outside the County in this respect is valuable.

4. According to Lord Hanningfield, what we don’t appear to be facing at the current time, is a major exercise in outsourcing a range of Council services across the board, although we would not rule out this as a policy option for the County Council in the future. This is something UNISON would need to monitor closely.

5. UNISON has also made it clear to Lord Hanningfield and to Officers at the County Council that it will continue to campaign against the principle of outsourcing services as it believes these are best delivered in-house. Nevertheless, in order to engage with the County Council on behalf of members, we have also agreed a number of steps in relation to regular meetings with the Leader and Senior Officers to discuss how we might become involved in those discussions in the future.

6. In that respect, it will be vitally important for you to keep us informed of your views about how this exercise should be carried out.

7. So the message is, as far as we are concerned:-

• We have now received some valuable assurances from the County Council about their intentions, in particular, relating to the fact that they are not contemplating outsourcing jobs outside the county, although we must not become complacent.

• That we have been told that the exercise they are currently engaged in is not a prelude to extensive outsourcing of County Council services.

• We will continue to represent your interests and require and hope for your involvement in those continuing discussions.

8. Our strength in negotiations and indeed in campaigning depends on a strong union membership. Ask your colleagues to join UNISON so that together we can ensure the staff of Essex County Council get a fair deal and are protected through these difficult, uncertain times.

To join us, either phone the Branch Office on 01245 354044 for an application form or see the home page of this Branch website or the National Website http://www.unison.org.uk/

9. Finally, we would like to thank everyone who sent in postcards to Lord Hanningfield. These, along with the petitions, will be presented at a suitable opportunity next week.

We have greatly appreciated the support given by so many people throughout the campaign and would like to reassure everyone that we will continue to fight for public services on behalf of our members.

Yours sincerely,

Mick Mahoney

Mick Mahoney UNISON Branch Secretary, Essex County Branch