Friday 6 May 2011

The One Barnet juggernaut thunders on

Residents should know that Barnet Unison members in the council's Development and Regulatory Services are currently taking industrial action short of a strike. This is in response to the fact that they are to be transferred to a private sector employer when these services are privatised as part of One Barnet/Future Shape/easyCouncil.

The union has written many documents on the shortcomings of the process leading to these privatisations. Detailed examination of the council's business case for privatisting DRS is available here and here.

The council's business case is here.

Councillor Robert Rams, famous for seeking the axing of Barnet's museums, now writes a blog (is he a one-handed or a two-fingered blogger? What is sure is he does it using a BlackBerry). He is promising to write (a blogpost!) about the union's detailed critique of One Barnet. Well, that's more than any other Tory councillor or the whole administration has done. He's game, I'll say that for him.

See Mrs Angry's Broken Barnet blog on how Tory Suffolk council has fallen out of love with outsourcing and connections with the folk here in Barnet.

Meanwhile, here's more from the Barnet Unison newsletter to make your hair stand on end:
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One Barnet Projects in May

This month a number of significant decisions are going to be made

Adult Social Care

On 24 May at Cabinet Resources Committee (CRC) a decision on the possible transfer of staff working in Social Care to a Local Authority Trading Company (LATC) will be made. UNISON has raised serious concerns about this proposal in our submission to cabinet last year. The Business Case will only become public a few days before the CRC meets. UNISON has lobbied for more time to consult with our members of what will be a major change to their terms and conditions, but our efforts are being ignored.

Parking

The Business Case has been agreed by Corporate Directors Group but controversially will not be going to any Council Committee. Early next week the Business Case will be made public and we will be seeking urgent meetings with UNISON members working in parking services.

2 comments:

Mrs Angry said...

It's interesting, isn't it, that parking is being outsourced at this particular point, after all the changes that have been pushed through?

Mr Mustard said...

From the DPR on the Future of Parking -

In order to begin the process of achieving potential cost savings during quarter 1 of the financial year 2012/13, the appointment of a partner or supplier should take place by the end of March 2012. In order to undertake such a complex procurement thoroughly and safely, it is usual to allow a 12-14 month timeframe for the procurement process. It is therefore recommended that the Council issues an OJEU notice for this cluster of services by the end of December 2010. This will allow the procurement process sufficient time to complete effectively.

If they have accelerated this timetable then the Council are speeding and will get penalty points or for the really serious offences - jail !