Issue 026 | June 2010

This newsletter provides information for members of the Nationwide Group Staff Union
In this Issue
Update from Tim
Recruit a member - earn a £20 gift voucher
Domestic Violence
Domestic Violence - Helplines
Stay at Home Dads
and finally...
Update from Tim
The pay negotiations are underway and we're exploring a number of issues with the business, in particular, the implementation of performance management across the organisation and how this links to the distribution of pay awards. The new performance management system has been applied to all parts of the business for the first time in 2009-10 (having been piloted in Retail in the previous year) and we are keen to know about members' experiences of the process. If you have any feedback please contact us - speak to your local Representative or call or e-mail us directly.

We're grateful to the members who have already given their views and expectations about the pay review. As you might imagine the current economic conditions are providing some focus to the discussions and the review continues to explore how to implement the 'future pay' agreement, in particular, to re-align pay scales to 90%-110% of market anchor. Set this against the rising cost of living and a desire for those at the top of pay bands to come back within the scope of pay reviews as soon as possible and you have a challenging set of factors to contend with. However, I am hopeful that we'll be able to secure a fair settlement over the next few weeks.

The latest edition of our member magazine, Rapport, was sent to members this week. You'll see from the published annual accounts the number of redundancies at Nationwide and an increase in legal costs is having an impact on Union funding and resources. We remain in a strong position but it is important that we maintain and build our membership base to ensure that we can continue to deliver the support and services members need. To that end we're asking all members to support us in encouraging new starters to Nationwide and other non-members to join. As a staff union we devote all our efforts and resources to looking after the Nationwide workforce - a strong membership base helps us do that more effectively. There's still time to participate in our recruitment incentive scheme and details of this are given below.

In response to member feedback we've made some changes to our website to make it easier to navigate and enhance the ways in which we communicate to members - click on the link below to check out the new look and read our 'blog'.

Best wishes

Tim Poil
General Secretary
Recruit a member - earn a £20 gift voucher
The Union continues to operate in a challenging environment and we need to maintain and grow our membership base to keep our influence strong.

If you know someone who's not in the union please encourage them to join - whether they are a new starter or have just never got round to joining. As an additional incentive we will give you a £20 gift voucher for every new member you introduce.

To qualify for the voucher you must be an NGSU member and the new member's application form must be received by 30th June 2010. You'll receive your voucher(s) once the new member has paid six month's subscriptions.

Here's what to do. Download an application form from the link below and write your name and employee number in the 'introduced by' box on the form. Ask your colleague to send the form to our office in Middleton Cheney. We'll do the rest.

If the new member wishes to join online you must let us know you are the introducer (at the time of application) by sending us an outlook to 'Anne Mailbox1' with the details. If you'd like to know more about this scheme please call us on 01295 710767.
Domestic Violence
You may have seen the recent TV adverts highlighting the issue of abuse in teenage relationships. It was an important campaign and served to remind us that domestic violence remains widespread. Figures from the British Crime Survey reveals just how prevalent abuse is - one in four women and one in six men will be a victim of domestic violence in their lifetime with women at greater risk of repeat victimisation and serious injury.

Domestic violence is also a workplace issue - because its not something that a victim can leave behind when they come to work. A few years ago NGSU and Nationwide worked together to produce a Domestic Violence Policy and this can be found in the HR Manual. It's a good policy but not one that is regularly publicised - so we'd like to take this opportunity to remind members of the support available.

The Policy identifies how domestic violence can impact on work, for example, on an employee's performance and provides guidance about how managers and colleagues can support someone who is a victim of violence. The Policy also highlights other support that is available, such as short-term leave, welfare provision and identifies external agencies who can provide further support. We'd like to encourage everyone to read the Policy and be aware of the help that is available if they need it or are aware of a colleague who may need support.

Some useful phone numbers are given below.

Domestic Violence - Helplines
A number of helplines are available to support victims of domestic violence:

English National Domestic Violence: 0808 2000 247
Northern Ireland Women's Aid: 0800 917 1414
Scottish Domestic Abuse: 0800 027 1234
Wales Domestic Abuse: 0808 80 10 800
Male Advice & Enquiry: 0808 801 0327
Forced Marriages Unit: 0207 088 0151
Respect (for domestic violence perpetrators): 0845 122 8609
Broken Rainbow (for lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender victims): 0300 999 5428
Stay at Home Dads
A study from Insurance company, Aviva, reveals that an increasing number of men are staying at home to look after children while their partner goes out to work - because the woman is the higher earner. One in six couples with dependent children said that the main wage earner is female. The study shows that the number of stay at home Dads in the UK has increase ten-fold - from 60,000 10 years ago to more than 600,000 now.

The research also revealed some interesting emotional responses - two-thirds of the stay at home Dads said they were lucky to be spending time with their children with around a third finding it more rewarding that going to work. Over a third of the women who went to work as the main bread winner felt guilty at going out to work and leaving their children.

The study coincides with additional paternity leave and pay rights which came into force on 6 April 2010 (but only apply in respect of babies due or born after 3 April 2011).

The Additional Paternity Leave Regulations 2010 will entitle eligible fathers and partners to take an additional paternity leave period of up to six months, to care for the child. For the father or partner to benefit from this right, the mother, or primary adopter, must have returned to work with some of his or her 52-week maternity or adoption leave period remaining.

Additional paternity leave will have to be taken before the child's first birthday or within the first year of adoption. It cannot begin earlier than 20 weeks after the child's birth or 20 weeks after the date when the child is placed for adoption.
and finally...
Just to end on a lighter note (b-flat apparently) we thought we'd jump on the vuvuzela band wagon by bringing your attention to Vuvuzela Radio - the station dedicated to playing the sound of the much loved vuvuzela. Go on have a listen - you know you want to!

PS. You may want to do this at home rather than work.
Nationwide Group Staff Union
Middleton Farmhouse
37 Main Road
Middleton Cheney
Oxfordshire
OX17 2QT

tel: 01295 710767
fax: 01295 712580
 
 
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