UNPAID LEAVE
Members will be aware that when UNISON signed the collective agreement with the council it was done so on the basis that the unpaid leave should apply as a Christmas shutdown for the whole of the Council except in exceptional circumstances. A number of services have recently come forward with proposals which have no justification in seeking to deviate from the collective agreement. UNISON have been absolutely clear in all discussions with the Council on this matter: any exemptions to the general Christmas shutdown should be based on exceptional service need. The proposals we are now seeing are nothing of the sort. They are from service heads seeking an opt-out from the agreement. We therefore believe that these proposals are a clear breach of the collective agreement both in letter and in spirit.
Our Regional Organiser, Tony Caffery, has written to the Head of Human Resources & Organisational Development and to the Leader of the Council, and has asked them to reconsider the requests to depart from the collective agreement from service heads as we believe they are, in the main, without justification. A failure to do so we believe will result in the Council being in breach of the collective agreement. We will advise members on the outcome of this request as soon as we have a response from the Council.
Published on: August 16, 2016