The Joint Union campaign against the ending of the contract with Sandwell Leisure Trust (SLT) has been a success.
Last January staff working for Sandwell Leisure Trust faced the prospect of being transferred to another employer (with all the uncertainty that brings) – or the prospect of cuts in pay, terms and conditions if the contract remained with Sandwell Leisure Trust.
The trade unions in Sandwell worked together to launch a petition which attracted over 5,000 names in just five weeks. We lobbied the Cabinet for a change of direction.
It was pleasing to see that Sandwell’s new Leader give a commitment at a full council meeting that he thought a deal could be reached without any attacks on pay, terms and conditions.
Following the Council’s Cabinet meeting 8 February 2017 a Business Plan was agreed that ensures SLT continue to run the service, with no change to terms and conditions.
Whilst this is a victory from the position staff faced twelve months ago there are still a small number of redundancies involved with the deal and UNISON will work with the employer to try and avoid any compulsory redundancies.