calderdale appeals process

[rangeroy]

Hi John, I really do mean the purple book!! you have to remember we are talking complete idiots here.
plus I recived a letter yesterday from the H/R dept stating that the appeal panel had come to the desision that my appeal against my J/E grade was not to be upheld so in effect I had lost & that was the end of the matter.
I phoned Unison (local branch) & asked who was on the appeal panel & was told that because my post was been looked at by the consultant from APSE the panel had not infact looked at my appeal at all, jeez!! just what the chuff is going on?
so to recap the J/E proccess that had taken from October 2006 to date has been binned without (IMHO) following any due proccess at all ,just lets make it up as we go along eh?!!

[johnfricker]

Rangeroy, if they're proposing to use the 'paragraph H' scheme, that was definitely abandoned because it wasn't equality proof. The LGMB (predecessors of the Employers Organisation, LGA etc.) developed an employers' only scheme for 'white collar' jobs which was supposed to address the problems with the 'paragraph H' scheme, but that also had equality and other issues. We spent weeks with ACAS to deal with its shortcomings at my council and almost re-wrote it. If your appeal was determined by the consultant when other appeals were determined by panels, there isn't the consistency which should underpin job evaluation.

There are so many examples of bad practice that I really think Calderdale Unison should be bringing in a JE expert like Sue Hastings (who advises the national unions) to examine what has gone/is going on. If the union won't do this voluntarily, it may be necessary to gain support for a special general meeting to propose it. Alternatively, if enough people raise concerns that the JE is unfair, flawed and might not achieve its objective of protecting the council from equal pay claims, the councillors might be persuaded to agree to Sue Hastings being involved or a joint review with ACAS. Your councillor Tim Swift seems to support the staff and might be a good person for people to contact with a list of all the shortcomings and departures from good practice (look back through this thread). Your MP Linda Riordan might also be interested to hear how, despite the pay cuts, the council might not be protected from equal pay claims.

Good luck - John