As the Social Work Union does not require any member to pay any Union Dues, how does it fund it's work?
Does it have any paid staff?When does it expect to join with the TUC?Who is it CEO/General Secretary?Anyone know how to get a copy of it's Governance documents?Can any of 90% of BASW members who have not joined request a deduction in their BASW membership fees?Who employees those who undertake the work of the Union?
Ths is a cut and paste from a previous article elsewhere:
Following calls from the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) for an enquiry into the College of Social Work’s exclusive membership deal with Unison, the Education Select Committee will now be holding an evidence session on the formation of the College next Tuesday, 8th November at the House of Commons.
BASW has repeatedly campaigned for an explanation as to why £30 million of taxpayer money is being used to establish a new quango that will act as a recruiting body to attract new members to the Unison trade union.BASW’s attempts to find answers to these questions has resulted in the organisation being excluded from negotiations to establish a unified college for the social work profession.
The evidence session will be open to members of the public, and BASW is urging social workers and all interested parties to attend to show their support.
Separately BASW has written to the prime minister David Cameron highlighting the decision of members at its Additional General Meeting on 1 November to commit to transferring the Association’s assets into a unified College of Social Work. It insisted, however, that ministers must ‘address the serious concerns’ BASW first raised with the prime minister on 14 October. ‘We will not be coerced or colluded into backing a College whose foundation has been so murky and in which Unison – or anyone else for that matter – plays an inordinately influential role,’ the letter stated.
A recent FOI request regarding the College of Social Work’s decision to exclude BASW from negotiations admits that should Unison get ‘cold feet’ on an exclusive membership deal, the ‘entire viability’ of the College will be put at risk.
The risk assessment document reveals that the College’s entire business model ‘is based on a service level agreement with Unison and a joint member recruitment campaign in order to gain a critical mass of members right from the start’.
BASW’s Chief Executive Hilton Dawson commented: “We see this decision to hold an evidence session as a vindication of our concerns. For months now we have been asking for someone to explain exactly why the establishment of a publicly funded body is so dependent on a secret deal with Unison to the exclusion of all other trade unions, but have been met by a deafening silence. We owe it to social workers not to stand idly by while the entire social work profession is handed over on a plate to Unison, and welcome this supportive stance from MPs.”
ENDS
Note to Editors
The evidence session will begin at 09.30am at the House of Commons on Tuesday 8 November. Please allow at least 20 minutes to clear security.
mhsw: This is a very good question and most of us will remain puzzled about this new organiztion for a long time. Read something which I read last week and hopefully somebody will post an update since then. In the end, what Social Workers need is a responsive union, which can answer key questions relating to issues arising in their day-to day practise in addition to the ' old chestnuts' of pay and conditions. It isnt clear if this is going to happen. I have yet to meet one Social Worker who has felt apropriately supported or represented. Dissatisfaction is big on the map. Ths is a cut and paste from a previous article elsewhere: MPs probe into College funding as BASW takes case to PM
@mhsw Don't be shy the "elsewhere" is from:
http://www.basw.co.uk/news/mp-probe-into-college-of-social-work-funding/
why write in such vague terms?
mhsw, we may or may not have met but I ceratinly have felt supported and well represented by UNISON when I have needeed them to. This si not to say that they are in any way the perfect organisation for social workers but I have absolutely no doubts that they are and will continue to be a more useful one for us than the self serving shambles that is BASW
My personal view is that we need to differentiate between a trade union and a professional association. The Union is to protect our pay and conditions, and while Unison may have its faults it does at least have some clout as part of a very large movement. And sometimes, pay and conditions issues become professional issues.
Those of us of mature years may recall the events of the seventies - yes, the much-stereotyped "Winter of Discontent." At that time I worked in a London Borough, and since there was no way you could afford to buy even a pokey one-bedroom flat on the money we were paid, very few newly-qualified social workers remained at the front line for two years - you either sought promotion or you moved away. As a result, the turnover of workers experienced by our service users was phenomenal - it wasn't uncommon for a child in care to have had a dozen social workers in fewer years. So after ten years of campaigning for a regrading, we finally lost patience and voted for strike action. I recall that my borough rather stupidly regraded Housing Welfare Officers onto a higher grade than us two days before the ballot, leaving us and librarians together on the lowest professional grade. Now all due respect to librarians, but it ain't child protection.
It was a difficult decision for most of us to make, to leave our service users unsupported, often a critical times, at very short notice and for an indeterminate period (six months, as it turned out.) And we remained somewhat underwhelmed by the union (NALGO at the time) that on a march to Westminster we diverted to shout a few home truths outside the union's offices. But my contempt was reserved for BASW, who shilly-shallied around, tried to sit on both sides of the fence, totally failed to speak robustly in our support, and even criticised strikers for being "unprofessional."
I'm afraid they've failed to impress me ever since. Yes, they are useful now and then on providing networking and information, but they have NEVER represented us well in the media, as we have had kicking after kicking in the media and parliament every time something goes wrong. That should, at least, be their job - Unison is there to give us legal support.
So, make up your own minds which "Union" you want to join. Just make sure you know what it says on the tin.
"My personal view is that we need to differentiate between a trade union and a professional association"
That seems to be the problem with BASW's SWU......it seems neither one thing nor the other, properly.
Seti, Thanks for the historical information, quite useful seeing as BASW redesigned it's website recently so it's members history went down the Orwellian memory hole, leaving BASW to present itself, post it's aborted we are 'BASW - College of Social Work', as the paragon of all UK Social Workers Ethics and Principles and express such with great 'humility' and use it's Ethics and Principles Code as a marketing tool and offensive weapon.
That is good to hear on a number of points. However, we probably have not met, due to the first point you make. perhaps what we all agree on is that what we need, we can ask for, but cannot always get, when it seems we ought to.
Has BASW's Advice and Representation Service aka SWU ever had an independent evaluation?
It seems that BASW is still stuck in 1978, not even balloting over the 30th November strike. As an addendum to what I said before, they also tried to set up a Union at the time of the '78 strike - and failed, through lack of interest. There was also the issue that under TUC rules they weren't allowed to "poach" members from a TUC affiliated union, and if they did they would not be able to affiliate to the TUC. I assume this still provision still exists?
http://www.community-tu.org/information/100308/100310/101298/buswehistory/
Seti: There was also the issue that under TUC rules they weren't allowed to "poach" members from a TUC affiliated union, and if they did they would not be able to affiliate to the TUC. I assume this still provision still exists?
There was also the issue that under TUC rules they weren't allowed to "poach" members from a TUC affiliated union, and if they did they would not be able to affiliate to the TUC. I assume this still provision still exists?
1939 Bridlington Agreement between TUC unions bans poaching of members
Though the SWU has not even applied to affiliate with the TUC.
Is the originating question political or based in outcome value? Ie does the funding of the union represent a point of interest to members?
I have met members of Unison, in recent months, from three separate professional groups and 3 different employers. None of them could get any strident representation from Unison and found themselves abandoned and suffering substantial losses anand jobs in circumstances which were clearly open to legal representation, had comittment and attention to dxetail been within the grasp of Unison's people. BASW, on the other hand, will stay with the case of a member, if the case is put to them. Does the funding of the Social Work Union impact on the union members in a negative way or a positive way?
mhsw: Does the funding of the Social Work Union impact on the union members in a negative way or a positive way?
Does the funding of the Social Work Union impact on the union members in a negative way or a positive way?
JoSoPhine: mhsw: Does the funding of the Social Work Union impact on the union members in a negative way or a positive way? Has BASW's Advice and Representation Service aka SWU ever had an independent evaluation?
Not quite sure of the relevance...is there a legal requirement for one? If it had and it came out well, would you be happy? Do Trade Union's undergo regular independent evaluations?
Silver Sage:Has BASW's Advice and Representation Service aka SWU ever had an independent evaluation?
JoSoPhine: Silver Sage:Has BASW's Advice and Representation Service aka SWU ever had an independent evaluation?
40-all? whats going on?