SCOTTISH WATER BRANCH

Minutes of the Scottish Water Branch Meeting held in Kingshill House,
Aberdeen, 4th October 2005

Present:   

Fred Gibson    Iain Diamond    David Wilkinson    Andy Nisbet    Willie Fortune
Jim Anderson  (E)    Jim Anderson (S)    Barry Allibone    Steve Scott    Craig Christie

David Wilkinson in the chair

(Note: in abbreviation SW refers to Scottish Water; SWW refers to Stephan Walker; JA refers to Jim Anderson (Shetland); and JSA refers to Jim Anderson (Edinburgh))


Apologies for absence

Apologies were received from: Elaine Noble, Ken Seaward, Richard, Paul Hyles, Gareth Lifton, Kate Brown & Fergus Allan.

Minutes of previous meeting (23rd August 2005)

Minutes of previous meeting were approved (proposed AN, seconded JSA)

Matters Arising

Item 3.1 (… member in Dumfries has retired due to ill health… paying her life membership) carried forward.

Item 3.4 (Query re. suitability of SJIB accreditation for M&E staff) is back at BUC on Thursday (6/10/05).

Item 8.0 (Rewards Group) Iain Jones and Donnie Elder are reporting back to DW.

Item 9.0 (Riverside House facilities) ongoing.

Item 9.0 (Contact Centre – T&C) AN to investigate actual proposed changes and report back.

Item 10.0 (Equal Ops – sponsor payment), payment has been made.

Pensions

SS attended a seminar held by Unison week past Friday, outlining the LGPS Employers Proposals. Meeting was given a brief outline of details previously circulated to Stewards.

There is a series of meetings planned on the government’s proposals to ascertain way ahead.

JSA added following point, all of UK will be affected by proposed changes, although implementation is currently 1 year behind in Scotland, and that any/all changes will be decided on by MP’s rather than MSP’s.



JSA offered to do a FAQ page for the web site.

DW also offered to do an article for the newsletter & website complete with a link to JSA’s FAG page.

Reports

Branch Secretary

Concern with the ongoing NSO in Prestwick re. Standby & Overtime supplement, meeting with HR planned for this week in Glasgow.

Disciplinary in Ayreshire, which had been handed over to JSA, has been successfully concluded.

WF queried if SS was receiving Secretary’s correspondence, Barbara Slater has been notified and mail is starting to be delivered.

SS tabled report (jointly given by JSA) on Water & Environmental Committee meeting, 30th Sept 2005. JSA was appointed to the NEC Appeals Panel and SS on to the Policy Sub-Group. John Kidd was re-elected as Chair and Ruth Davies as Vice Chair.

SS advised that accommodation for next years annual conference was being booked up fast and that rooms were at a premium. It was agreed to provisionally book rooms for 4 delegates. SS intimated that he would like to attend as the Full Delegate which was unanimously supported.

DW raised the possibility of getting SWW a small token of appreciation for all his hard work for the branch. It was unanimously agreed that DW would procure a suitable token on the branches behalf in recognition of SWW contribution.

Treasurer

ID confirmed that the proposed new Dunfermline Account would have Instant Access but did not offer a Cheque account facility.

JSA proposed that we keep our existing Cheque account with Unity Bank but transfer ‘some’ monies to the proposed new high interest account, WF seconded.

There was a general note of thanks to ID for his hard work in investigating the availability of a suitable high interest account.

ID tabled branch accounts for period June – September 2005.

SWC Update

STAR – 93% complete with still 43% of staff still to be advised of their score.

DW advised that the Draft Determination to the WICom, due on the 28th September 2005, addressed the various issues raised in their previous reports. The questionable report previously submitted by Fauber Mansell had now been withdrawn, by themselves, highlighting the inaccuracies contained there within.


Ultimately there is ‘hope’ that there may be more monies available for investment in QSIII.

Confirmed that a SWC Sub-Group were looking at Mileage, T&C’s, etc however, any and all findings would be subject to final ratification by the full SWC. JSA suggested that the above group visited any BUC concerned.

Current employee head count stands at 3,720 (100 positions have disappeared through vacancies not being filled).

There is currently a £1.7m overspend on the transport budget. However, the £2.65m spend target (bonus related figure) is still achievable with an average £5m/week spend the ‘Bonus’ figure of £2.2m is possible.

SWS are currently projecting an ‘overhang’ of £250m therefore well outside the target figure, for bonus, of £159.4m. (Note: target figure was never actually signed off therefore …)

Mileage Review, there is a general acceptance that the misery figure of 40p mile requires to be looked at. However, if we went to the proposed 43p a mile figure there would not only be the obvious direct cost to the business but the indirect cost of administration due to the increased workload associated with paying the Tax element of 3p a mile. There is a proposed direction to encourage the use of hire cars (on cost saving grounds) where the round trip mileage of any business trip exceeds 100miles. JSA pointed out that this was a win-win situation for SW due to employees using own vehicle only when it suits employer financially to do so, at the ‘cost’ of the employee.

Rewards Steering Group, currently main priority is the Differentials Group, looking at addressing the historical anomalies in salary within each role profile across the company. Hopefully, bar exceptions yet to be decided e.g. new starts, etc, all transferred employees currently in the same role should achieve median of their salary band next year, but certainly within a maximum of 2 years. There was a general consensus that monies for differential settlement should be ‘new’ monies and not eat into any cost of living award.

Pay Progression / Skills & Competencies, 75/25 split on objectives / values. The proposal to incorporate the ‘Values’ within role profiles was greeted with some scepticism and concern as these would always be open to interpretation. The Branch is still looking for a volunteer to sit on this group, DW has already circulated an e-mail looking for expressions of interest but to date had received none.

Project Aquarius, the IT Joint Venture investment programme over the next 8 years due to commence in April ’06 is progressing with final submissions being sought from 3 companies. The JV will involve the secondment of 57 staff from SW to the new work force totalling some 110 staff. SWS are to share lessons learnt with secondment policy with group. The old VR scheme will be open to any/all IT staff affected.

BUC Reports

DW advised that a BUC Stakeholders Group had been set up to look at the organisation within the BUC’s and partnership between.


There was a general note of concern raised at the ‘Bullying’ nature within some BUCs and that when there is genuine disagreement it is ignored by management side. JSA stated that he was willing to collate any specific examples which could in turn be presented rather than general hearsay.

Concern was raised over some Bucks offering Union seats to employee Reps outwit Union agreement.

It was unanimously agreed that a greater visibility of a SWC rep at the various BUC could only be advantageous.

SE Assets, A recruitment policy draft has been submitted to the SE BUC. Concern had been raised that the Equal Opportunities Policy was not being consistently applied within the business. Review of Standby & Contractual Overtime had been generally condemned especially the proposals re. cover during sick leave. Concern had been raised, again, with respect to the observance, or lack thereof, the EU Working Time Directive with regards Standby Time being classed as Working time.

NE Assets, Noted concern at the recent ‘Warning of Potential Shock’ from the new IMS units while charging. Broadly similar concerns to that raised by the SE re. revised Standby proposals. AN offered to send out a guide to the working time directive, kindly supported by JSA, to help clarify rest periods, etc.
New management responsibilities due to Joe Moore leaving the NW area.

SWS

Monday 10th October is the deadline for submission of figures to the WICom prior to their final determination in November.

UU contracts terminate in December 2005.

Graham Mallet has left (post meeting note: taken up new position of Olympics Project Director) and Martin Bradbury has returned as the COO.

Programme Delivery and Operations & Commissioning have merged under the existing PD manager Tracy Reads after Jim Conlon’s departure.

Very few jobs have been handed over to SW - £585m remaining to be signed over to SW by 31st March 2006, £200m at CAPEX 5 stage.

Management are currently looking at a methodology of ‘High Speed Delivery’.

Current delaying factors to handover are:

47% awaiting O&M Documentation
23% awaiting Telemetry
13% awaiting Utility Provision

Ewan Robertson is currently heading up an organisational review.

Current proposals re. staff reductions should be along the lines of – Initially Agency then Consultants, Partners and finally seconded SW staff.


Service Conditions

JSA asked that any cases of staff being forced into doing an increased standby in line with the review document should report the occasion to him.