News from the North West

PCS DWP North West Region                                             

The DWP North West Regional Committee is made up of reps from all the branches in the North West.

Improvements Negotiated in Contact Centres

Contact Centre TU reps from all North West branches said that members had had enough of management ignoring the Contact Centre Agreement and introducing local arrangements which were unacceptable.  

Regional TU representatives met with North West CCS Group management on 27th January and secured agreement in the following areas:

Access to leave – it was agreed that site managers should not be imposing restrictions on the discretion of line managers to authorise leave, and that the leave should be authorised in line with national instructions.  National restrictions on access to leave, including network days, need to be dealt with by national TU representatives.

Performance – it was agreed that line managers should be approaching the use of after call work, break times and medical appointment credits in a reasonable manner.

Agency workers – it was confirmed that there were no plans to recruit more agency workers in the North West.  All staff employed by agencies had been given the opportunity to apply for FTA posts with DWP with a view to permanency.

Fixed term appointment staff – our position on the need to retain FTA staff, and offer them full time permanent postings was acknowledged.  It was agreed that this needed to be dealt with urgently by national TU.

Flexibility – it was agreed that better planning was needed to maximise the number of staff who wished to work until 18:00 hours, in order to minimise the number of staff who did not wish to do so.

AA staff on former transformation sites – it was agreed that the majority of AA staff in NW CCS, who were declared surplus last year, are no longer under the threat of redundancy, and that work needed to be undertaken to secure permanent postings for the remaining few.

CEF definitions – it was agreed that the revised definitions needed to be reviewed, in order to ensure that a claimant’s dissatisfaction with a decision outcome was not classed as poor service on the part of the agent.

Part time preferences – it was agreed that all staff should be receiving 80% schedule preferences, irrespective of the number of days per week worked.

 

 

Victory for the Birchwood Apprentices

After a campaign by the union locally in Birchwood and national escalation the Department has withdrawn all compulsory moves. The staff will be able to choose their permanent workplace and remain on the Apprenticeship.

Chris Marks PCS DWP North West Regional Organiser said “thanks to these members for sticking to their guns and refusing to accept the move despite huge management pressure to do so. This is their victory.”

The branch and the DWP Group will be releasing more comprehensive updates shortly.

The union makes us strong.

Loss of the podiums is a pain the back …

 

During the Summer 2014 podiums were removed from all JC’s across the country.  This was despite compelling arguments to retain them on many sites, including the fact that they were a control measure agreed with PCS to bring an end to the screens dispute.  

 

In the North West, health and safety reps raised disputes with local management at each site where they felt the removal would be detrimental, giving reason why the podium should stay in situ.  The main reasons were that the podiums protected the personal space of the staff,  the podium was a focal point for all visitors to the JC and due to the positioning of the podium customers could not attack staff from behind.  Unfortunately these reasons were all rejected and it was clear that there was an instruction to remove all podiums regardless of how many logical arguments there were in favour of keeping them.

 

Since the loss of a focal point, staff on some sites report how confused our customers are when attending the office. On many sites other unsuitable furniture such as low sideboards are being used. These cost the dept well over a £1000 to purchase.  This furniture is not fit for purpose, it does not have lockable draws unlike a podium, to store items such as appointment list, it does not act as focal point and is too low to act as desk. In fact some ASM’s report that bending over this sideboard, to use it as a desk is causing back pain.  If that is happening to you please let your local Health and Safety rep know and they will help you to complete an accident report (AR1) and if you are absent due to this pain please also complete an injury leave application.  

We have now reached the ridiculous situation where management accept some staff are having serious problems and that what they need is a piece of furniture high enough to stop them having to bend over repeatedly – a bit like a podium in fact.

Cheshire Branch has submitted a motion to PCS Conference instructing the union to put pressure on  management to re-instate the podiums as they are an essential health and safety control measure on some sites and were removed to fit a ‘vision’ of how jobcentres should look without proper regard being given to the safety of staff.  

Garston Contact Centre

The fight to keep open Garston Contact Centre in Liverpool has finally come to an end with the last staff moving out on 30th January.

Although the site did not stay open, much has in fact been gained. When the closure was announce in at the end of January last year the only offers of relocation on offer from management was Birkenhead CMG and Bootle Call Centres.

This was totally unacceptable for many staff many of whom had been transferred to Garston following earlier closures, especially of Liverpool Contact Centre and Huyton Benefit Centre only 3 years ago.

The cost of the closure at around £750.000 dwarfs the £100,000 alternative compromise proposals put to management by PCS would have cost.

Before the campaign all staff would have gone to Birkenhead or Bootle, but because of the resistance only 82 of the original 164 members balloted have moved to Bootle. Compulsory moves to Birkenhead were taken out of the equation all together and 66 posts found in alternative locations for staff with the worst mobility, health and caring responsibilities. In addition to this DWP has for the first time agreed to extend the payment of excess fares to five years from the usual three.

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