I work condensed hours on Tuesday to Friday, and have Carer responsibilities, so I was not planning to make another blog post until the weekend. However, unable to sleep I thankfully came across Tom Rendon's Grievance Letter, which was so much better than the one I had been preparing. So I have taken the liberty of swapping it for my own meagre efforts, and I have adapted it to fit into my own anticipated CRC allocation. I will be adding to it, but thought I would post it as it reads now:
I am writing to formally register a grievance, in accordance
with the Trust’s grievance procedures, against being required to express and
interest in working for the NPS or a CRC. I note that your letter has been sent
out to me without national agreement. I feel under pressure to make a decision
about my future without the necessary information to do so. I therefore return
this letter without prejudice.
I am concerned for a variety of reasons (specifics appear
below) and am requesting an opportunity to meet with you to enable you to
investigate and then either resolve my concerns directly or refer the matter to
the relevant person.
A suitable resolution would include being given full
information about what I can expect about life in the NPS and CRC so I can make
an informed choice. This would include the following; my place of work, the
name of the company who will run the CRC, the aims and values of the new
organisations, information about how I will be paid and by whom, the equality
and diversity commitments of the new employer, the type of work I will be
undertaking, a guarantee of continuous service should I change roles, an
outline of employee support, a guarantee that I will not be disadvantaged or
victimised in any way because of my trade union membership and activism and my
status under the Equality Act 2010 as having a “protected characteristic”.
Specifically, in relation to my broad concerns I would
specifically ask that the following concerns be addressed
• I am concerned about having to choose between career
development and losing accrued rights to redundancy because of the loss of
continuity of service if I transfer between CRC’s and/or the NPS.
• My job may be allocated to the civil service NPS and I
have no information regarding any additional restrictions that maybe placed
upon me as a result of this.
• The staff split is to be based upon my job and caseload
allocations on November 11th 2013 but I am on facility time release. I would
need an explanation of how I might be assessed because I need reassurance that
my union activity would not place me at any disadvantage.
• My previous work covered a mixture of high, medium and low
risk cases and I benefit from the variation. I feel post transfer my role will
be more limited, which will significantly limit my career and professional
development as a result of not being able to freely move between CRC’s and the
NPS.
• I have no information about where my job will be based
post transfer or share sale and this is hindering my capacity to choose a
preferred option.
• I am being asked to choose between posts in the NPS and
CRC but have no job description for roles and as such I have no serious idea
what I’m applying for or being assessed against. This is unfair, especially as
the jobs could change significantly post transfer / share sale and I’ll be
stuck.
• As someone who has a registered disability, and who is an ex-offender I was taken on my SYPT with
this knowledge and I legally have some protection in the Probation Trust. I purposefully only choose to work for
employers with robust policies and practices to help me feel safe at work. In
expressing an interest I have no idea about my future protection against
discrimination. I have not seen an equality impact assessment and my union
representatives have not had the opportunity to voice my concerns. I therefore
feel under represented and this could lead to me being discriminated against
and/or at risk of harassment or victimisation.
• The TR programme’s work around diversity, equality and
risk assessment has been identified as unlikely to meet the requirements of the
Equality Act 2010, and ignores risks of disproportionate impacts that
discriminate against offenders with protected characteristics. As such this
will undermine my wider professional standing and status. I would like the
Trusts’ views, explanation and reassurance on this.
• Both the CRC and NPS are likely to have reduced resources
and increased workloads. I have seen first hand the impact of the privatisation
of unpaid work in London. My concern is that mass redundancies will increase
workloads and potentially leave me at risk of stress and ill health. Can the
Trust give assurances that adequate resources will be available – for example,
suitable office locations, IT support, risk assessment tools and adequate line
management in each organisation?
As a result of this process, I have suffered from anxiety
about my future working life and it has caused me stress and sleeplessness. I
hope to be able to have a career in probation work for a long time but am
worried about who I will be working for and what the conditions of work will
be. Without adequate information, I feel I am being forced into a situation
when, in reality, the new arrangements should be in place before I am asked to
make a choice. While I am sure that individual line managers in LPT may not be
in control of this situation, the Trust remains my employer and has a duty of care
to me.
Generally, I support the policies LPT has in terms of staff
care and I realise that I could seek counselling through the Trust. However, my
anxiety does not arise from an internal conflict requiring counselling but an
external lack of information which the Trust needs to take heed of and resolve.
During the grievance process I intend to continue to perform
my duties, and to participate in the staff assignment process.
I reserve my right to:
• take action to protect my position and enforce my rights
under my contract of employment
• take action to retrospectively protect my position in
relation to any outcome of continuing negotiation/conciliation at the Probation
Service National Negotiating Council which may impact on the matters set out in
your letter to me and any consequences arising from it.
My Grievance is not finished but it is unfolding, and I am ready for my impending allocation Letter.
No comments:
Post a Comment