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Lambeth Council to take action on racial equality among staff

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UNISON has repeatedly highlighted the problem in Lambeth with so few Black members of staff in senior management. Currently out of 26 there is only 1 non-white person working in the upper echelons of the council, which does not reflect the vast majority of the workforce.

Thanks to a campaign by UNISON we have made serious progress. Lambeth Council have started a programme of activities to “enhance leadership opportunities for black and minority ethnic staff.”

The first event will be a speech by Althea Loderick, a strategic director from Brent Council, from 1 – 2pm on 31 October in the Lecture Theatre, International House. Council CEO Sean Harriss and Cllr Jennifer Brathwaite will host the event.  We encourage our members to attend and to ask what the practical steps are to address the inequality in structures at Lambeth Council.

For more details please see the council sharepoint site.

 

Get involved, become a shop steward!

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Would you like to become a shop steward in UNISON?

A union is only as strong as its members, and its members are stronger when they are better organised. Lambeth UNISON has a number of stewards across the council who help members with any issues they might have at work.  Our stewards are the front line support for our members, helping with organising, listening to members’ views, and promoting democracy and participation. They are also active in recruiting new members – a very important role because the greater the proportion of workers who are members of UNISON, the stronger we are when it comes to having our voice heard, and the more likely we are to win campaigns.

UNISON provides full training for stewards so you can feel confident and capable to represent members and offer advice.

If you would like to take up this opportunity then please print off and complete the following form.

UNISON Stewards nomination form 2016

Please return this form to Paul Fitzgerald, UNISON, International House, by 5pm on Monday 6 June 2016 (or
scan and email to JABlake[at]lambeth.gov.uk).

If you have any questions please email either Ruth Cashman  or Jon Rogers (Rcashman[at]lambeth.gov.uk and JRogers[at]Lambeth.gov.uk).

Alan Gibbons on Lambeth Council

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I’ll tell you what happens with impossible promises,
Like thinking that, in the world’s fifth richest country,
We can keep libraries open
And offer communities the possibilities
Literacy affords.
You start with far-fetched dreams,
Like children sprawled on the mat
Reading books,
Old people meeting to discuss
The newspapers and fiction,
The unemployed using computers
They can’t afford.
They are then pickled into a rigid dogma,
A code,
Called a comprehensive and efficient service,
And you end up in the grotesque chaos of a Labour council
-a Labour council-
hiring lawyers to scuttle round a city
handing out legal notices to its own people.

Alan Gibbons – award winning children’s author.

If the council won’t budge… we’ll have to budge-it!

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Jeremy Drinkall unpicks the latest cuts budget from Lambeth Council – another 500 job losses planned for 2016/17

Lambeth’s Labour Group of Councillors passed its annual budget on a bleak mid-winter night at Elmgreen School in Tulse Hill. It was the third in the series announced two years ago in their attempt to cut £90 million from the council’s budget. This year’s tranche is if anything more severe than the other. And it won’t be the last. Continue reading →