ADDITIONAL BRANCH RESPONSE TO JANITORIAL
REVIEW
May 2010
This is an additional response, further to the submissions made
following the original consultation.
Janitors believe the proposed changes benefits no one, not the
school, staff, pupils or Janitors themselves. Work done by the
Janitors to save the school money will no longer be done, so work
will go out to Contractors which will cost more money and end
up costing Aberdeenshire Council in the long run.
Contractual overtime
Those Janitors that still retain Contractual Overtime wish to
know how the hours are going to be worked. Will all schools operate
the same hour system? If janitors do not wish to retain the contractual
overtime, will they be allowed to reduce the hours over an extended
period of time to lessen the impact of loss of earnings? Can the
lunch hour be reduced to incorporate the additional hours required
to work? Janitors are predominantly on call during their lunch
break and deal with situations.
At present staff rely on regular overtime to enable them to maintain
their current lifestyle. The loss of this will have a massive
detrimental effect on their ability to continue working in their
posts.
The Janitors believe Aberdeenshire Council is taking advantage
of the current employment situation to force staff to take a cut
in pay because the job market is struggling.
On call
Staff have indicated that if they state that they
do not wish to continue doing call, that they wish not to be contacted.
Who will be managing the call outs?, and who will do the calling?
At present supervisory Janitors are only on call for 2 6am starts
per week. The rest of the time they start at 8.
UNISON believes much emphasis is being placed on the duties and
recruitment of Caretakers, what happens if sufficient numbers
cannot be recruited? At present in some locations it is very hard
to fill existing janitorial posts. Many areas experience recruitment
difficulties in many of the lower graded posts. Domestics, Cleaners,
Carers posts are hard to fill and to retain these staff once appointed.
If the caretakers have other posts either within or outwith Aberdeenshire
Council, will their hours be monitored for the working time directive
including the 48 hour rule and the 11 hour rest break?
Staff feel that their work is being devalued taking the work
of Janitors and trying to provide it cheaply by Caretakers. This
is an insult to dedicated staff.The Janitors are concerned that
the schools do not know about the impact of these proposals. Schools
will lose service and the good will of the Janitors.
UNISON believes that this consultation is based on the premise
that there is a pool of people waiting for low paid manual jobs
to be created by the Council.What happens to the School, Community
Activities etc. if this supposition cannot be fulfilled?
Janitors are disillusioned and are extremely unhappy about the
review, the way it has been conducted and the view they feel Aberdeenshire
Council has of them. These staff do not feel valued.
Inez Teece
Assistant Secretary
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