Picture: We are Barnsley<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Barnsley council leader, Councillor William Brown, responded to six nurseries across the town that have voted to strike over \u2018outsourced\u2019 employment to private provider Limetree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yesterday, the GMB union announced that workers planned to strike in November due to a dispute with the council over the pension scheme amidst the transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These nurseries, under the council\u2019s Family Hubs offer, are North East, Central, Bolton upon Dearne, North, Dearne and Darfield nurseries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to GMB union workers were told they would keep their existing pensions but have now been told they will move onto the companies basic statutory pension scheme, lowering their retirement pay out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Further it would remove their \u2018Death in Service entitlement\u2019, a tax-free lump sum death grant of three times their annual pensionable pay, alongside ongoing survivor pensions for spouses, civil partners, eligible cohabiting partners, and dependent children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vicky Austin, GMB Organiser, said that: \u201cThis is a decisive result, showing Barnsley Council that they can\u2019t dismiss this issue anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“These workers will not take this lying down, even if it means an autumn of disruptions for the nurseries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cllr William Brown said, \u201cThe review started before I was elected. But the position is clear. The council cannot provide the childcare offer families need with the money we have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis proposal is about keeping nursery provision available and sustainable. It\u2019s not privatisation, outsourcing or \u2018selling the business\u2019, as GMB has claimed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCouncils do not have a legal duty to run nurseries. Under this proposal, nursery services would run separately from the council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAt the start, there was discussion about whether staff could stay in the Local Government Pension Scheme…further legal advice later made clear that staff are not eligible to stay in that scheme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAt the last meeting, trade unions \u2013 including GMB – had agreed to move forward on the proposed TUPE arrangements and pension scheme because they protect people\u2019s jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGiven that progress, we are disappointed that GMB has now moved to an industrial action ballot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe will put children and families first. We respect the right to strike, but we won’t allow the threat of industrial action to dictate our decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Picture: We are Barnsley Barnsley council leader, Councillor William Brown, responded to six nurseries across the town that have voted to strike over \u2018outsourced\u2019 employment to private provider Limetree. Yesterday, the GMB union announced that workers planned to strike in November due to a dispute with the council over the pension scheme amidst the transition. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":253,"featured_media":5792,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[575,576,577,580,591,581],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-story","category-live-news","category-live-news-top-story","category-news","category-news-barnsley","category-news-top-story"],"yoast_head":"\n