D-Day approaches, wish me luck :-(

[CyberNerd]

It sounds as though the council are being rather devious implementing the job evaluation. You should appeal now saying that you have been matched to the wrong job. What they are trying to do is to get you to accept the job title and once you do that you cannot appeal against the salary that has been attached to that job. Very devious!

If the job description they are offering you does not match what you do, the normal process is that you appeal on those grounds and they should then ask you to complete a questionnaire. The information from this questionnaire will be evaluated to see whether they have made a mistake and matched you to the incorrect role. Failure to follow this procedure, alongside the threat that if you do not sign that this is your job, and your employment will be terminated, could be unfair dismissal! What in the earth have the union been doing?

If there is a recognised trade union (the council will have an agreement with them) all of this should have been consulted on prior to the implementation of the process. It's outrageous! The union could get all the employees together and put in a collective grievance to the council that they have failed to consult. There is a legal obligation here. There is plenty of case law on this subject (google it)

I know laws are different in Scotland so i think the best thing to do is to contact ACAS . http://www.acas.org.uk/ to confirm what I have said.

[Halfmad]

well as it turns out it seems to be mostly cleaners, technicians, library workers that have been targetted, some have been given small increases but are now at the top of their new grade - meaning they'll never get another pay rise. It's crafty as hell.

I'm willing to be the gap between managers and staff has widened rather a lot to

I can't believe they've targetted people under £20,000/year. It's sick.

[Midget]

Don't believe the "cost of living" increase b*ll*cks. I was at the top of my pay scale and told I couldn't move up, I'd just get inflation or cost of living increases from then onwards.
I got £2.50/month increase in April, which I found completely insulting.

Inflation this year was 3.1%
I got <0.2%

[russdev]

@Mark I was told if work 3 months and refuse to sign contract then it becomes inforced was what i was told by union people when we had conversation about it .

But maybe wrong but was way less than 2 years..

As for pay review I would a consult unions, appeal I would also make a point of confirming with your union the appeal process.

If not in union join now we will wait...

[Firefly_Transport]

A note about abruptly joining a union,

Most if not all will not handle an existing issue at point of joining
Most if not all will be extremely leery of anything major in the 1st 3-months

They are not being unreasonable, it can cost a fair bit to defend somebody and they are not just there for your bad times, they are supposed to be there for everybody.

The best advice is to join a union off-bat, from personal experience it’s a wise investment in personal legal protection - unless you are labouring under some illusion the school/LEA will bail you out if things go pear-shaped.

My advice - Go and talk to a professional - IE a solicitor, most run a fixed fee interview and can advise you of your position. This charge is around £50 - £100 depending on solicitors. If you can't afford it - go to a citizen’s advice centre. With the best will in the world, everybody else is nothing more than a well meaning amateur.

[Halfmad]

I won't join a union, they're in the back pocket of the council as far as I'm concerned. Essentially the only way you get anywhere in our council is by being a union rep and doing as you're told.

I'll work something out, my boss unlike many values me and wants me to stay. The last two network managers were frankly a joke and they've noticed a huge improvement since I started.

If things get iffy I'll call my cousin, she's a lawyer

I doubt they will though, too many people watching this for the council to have slipped up legally. There will be appeals but we all know they've timed it so a majority of staff go off on holiday and forget about what's coming.

[Midget]

my boss unlike many values me and wants me to stay.

That's actually quite rare, mine thought that just anyone could look after a network of 400machines.

[alonebfg]

The problem is that no 2 techs do the same job it depends how much the school ca afford ie in secondry schools you have 3 techs one is maybe a network manager one fixes and works on servers and the other does pcs but the all work together. but i know in a lot of primary schools the tech does the lot from adding users to rebuilding server fixing pcs as there is usually only one.
Ii know this is the same in some secondry schools. I dont see how they can put everyone in the same band it is not like teaching where every teacher does the same job. I am not happy with all this at all. and have made this known to my union.

[Firefly_Transport]

The problem is that no 2 techs do the same job it depends how much the school ca afford ie in secondry schools you have 3 techs one is maybe a network manager one fixes and works on servers and the other does pcs but the all work together. but i know in a lot of primary schools the tech does the lot from adding users to rebuilding server fixing pcs as there is usually only one.
Ii know this is the same in some secondry schools. I dont see how they can put everyone in the same band it is not like teaching where every teacher does the same job. I am not happy with all this at all. and have made this known to my union.

They will try because the poor widdle accounts can't get their heads around the concept of IT.

Which I find amazing given the complixitys of tax law are much like a Microsoft Licensing agreement.

[Midget]

In the eyes of many, an IT tech is no more than a caretaker for computers, they're just there to turn them on, or phone a company to take them away and fix them if they are broken, other than that they spend all their day sitting around not doing anything.

[Halfmad]

Well I just found out that the guys in central IT have been hit badly too, with some of them it's justified I guess but others it's definately not. Server specialist, bloody good at his job is losing £9,110. What's really mad is that the council probably spent that much last year training him and now he can walk!

madness! but it's nice in some way to know I'm not the only one!

[mark]

A note about abruptly joining a union,

Most if not all will not handle an existing issue at point of joining
Most if not all will be extremely leery of anything major in the 1st 3-months

They are not being unreasonable, it can cost a fair bit to defend somebody and they are not just there for your bad times, they are supposed to be there for everybody.

The best advice is to join a union off-bat, from personal experience it’s a wise investment in personal legal protection - unless you are labouring under some illusion the school/LEA will bail you out if things go pear-shaped.

My advice - Go and talk to a professional - IE a solicitor, most run a fixed fee interview and can advise you of your position. This charge is around £50 - £100 depending on solicitors. If you can't afford it - go to a citizen’s advice centre. With the best will in the world, everybody else is nothing more than a well meaning amateur.

Unison have a 13 week rule.

All this means is that you're not eligable for legal support until after 13 weeks membership for the reasons Firefly states above - it just wouldn't be fair on long term members paying for people with no intention of paying their share.

Otherwise you're entitled to full support from the union besides legal support, immediately your membership commences.

[aesop]

guess who halfmad

well bods, i'm one off the printer monkeys mentioned earlier in this thread from central IT (not by choice, happened through an assimilation process a few years back, many off us went in there kicking and screaming)

of course i'm so happy they have finally got round to reducing our salary to complement the few years deskilling they thrust upon us. dead thoughtful really.

and its nice that they threw the server/comms/unix bods in with us, we all need a bit of group empathy in times like this.

conserving or increasing the middle management saleries was also the way to go. to be honest, how important is the tech side of IT really?

i better go, think i hear a printer jamming in the distance.. one down four to go..

[Halfmad]

*hands him a banana*

Good little monkeychimpboy!