Swine flu Conference.

On the 2nd November there was a conference at CCOO, Barcelona, about the swine flu (gripe A). The main points discussed were:

1. Effective hygiene habits are probably the best way to decrease the possibilty of the virus spreading.
2. As a worker, you have a right to sick leave should you feel unwell.
3. As a worker, you are able to receive a swine flu vaccination from your local GP.

If you should have any further queries, please do not hesitate to talk to a staff rep.

Focus: Paul Mcginty EWC (European Works Council) representative, Madrid

What is the EWC and what’s your part in it?


The 26 EWC representatives are a mix of teachers’ reps(5) and non-teaching staff(21), mostly projects, from almost every European country in the EC where the BC has offices. It is a statutory body, which means it can’t be ignored or bypassed, with statutory rights to be informed about the Council's plans for closures, redundancies and shifting resources. Mostly the recent bad news has affected non-teaching centres and smaller offices but the Brussels teaching centre was shut in June 2009.
We are very concerned by the scale of redundancies planned for the UK and for Finance and IT in Europe. We are also raising concerns with the CRB, performance mgt, and the lack of accountability and endemic poor levels of consultation. We are getting access to the Regional Directors who manage the Country Directors and making slow but steady progress in talking to the real decision-makers. The Steering Committee is due to meet with the Executive Board shortly and Martin Davidson will attend the 2nd of the two annual EWC meetings in Lisbon in November.
We have 2 reps for Spain and my colleague David Ireland is very busy on the steering committee. We are asking for more resources so we can travel to the various centres in Spain and report to staff in person.


What is the BC convenio?


By BC convenio I imagine you mean the acuerdo de empresa which we have agreed with MGT to begin discussions on. The process has been slowed by delay in finding a way all centres can agree decision-making. We reached some kind of agreement amongst the centres’ reps earlier this year but our union at national level has been dragging its feet a little. I hope to have some positive news shortly about starting the negotiations.

What will happen in this coming year on the BC convenio?



Hopefully negotiations will start, and we can deal with some of the more pressing concerns, which include pension provision improvement, abuse of temporary contracts, TACOS, and, of course, pay for 2010 onward.

For more info click on the links:

wikipedia

European Trade Union Confederation

European works council website

CCOO membership

As a teacher at Bonanova you can always ask a member of comite to help with your problems and tricky situations...what doesn't come with a BC contract though is being a member of a Spanish union.
In Spain there are 3 big unions,CCOO, UGT and USOC click to find out more each one:

CCOO,

UGT

and USOC.

The reps at Bonanova are all affiliated with CCOO, sometimes affectionately known as Cocos... This is because, we believe it has the biggest and best representation of English language teaching staff out of The Big 3. CCOO even has an English speaking representative from our sector, Steve Rumbold who runs the Grup d'idiomes, a group which deals with all issues involved in our working lives. You can find them here:

Escoles d' idiomes

You may ask yourself, what's in it for me?

At Bonanova we can help you with Bonanova issues but not any questions or issues that arise in anyother outside work situations...we are all part time, we all work elsewhere, you may need help in other situations. The CCOO provides

• Advice from Steve Rumbol.
• Free legal advice.
• A lawyer for emergency situations
  

Apart from that there is a goody bag of other delights that just may help your working life in Spain run more smoothly and just a little bit more stress free...

• A discount on the cost of submitting your taxes, "declaration de la renta"
  
• Discounts on dental treatment
• Dscounts on Hotels thoughout Cataluñya and Spain itself
• Discounts on insurance coverage
  
• And many many more....

As a part time worker at the British council the good news is you get part time rates for bargain membership at 6.50 a month

How do I join?

You can take an application form from the union board in the staff room or you can join on line here

Meeting between staff reps & CCOO.

On Friday 12th June a meeting was held at CCOO between staff representatives and the trade union.

In the above photo, delegates and trade union members are discussing the progress of negociations with the Patronal and the route of action to be taken in September.

Remember that you can keep up to date with what is going on by asking a staff rep, by checking this blog or by clicking on this link and visiting the CCOO no reglada blog spot.

New Website from the Generalitat.

The Generalitat has just set up a new website for immigrants. The website provides general information in 10 different languages (one of them being English) about a variety of important issues such as housing, social services, education and citizenship.

If you would like to have a look around the site, then please click here

16th May Demonstration & Declaration.

The rather sunny and hot demonstration that took place on the 16th May was a great success.

As well as live music, dj's and a barbacue, staff reps from different language schools in and around Barcelona read out "a declaration" in no less than 6 different languages: English, Spanish, Catalan, French, Italian & German.

The photo above is of the German delegate.

Please scroll down to see more photos and read the declaration (in English)



The Smokey Mountain Convenio Boys (once again!, but this time in the sunshine)



The "barbie" (quite a bargain at 2 euros a "butifarra")



Mark Dix on the decks.



Existim i Resistim!





Sambao Samba making A LOT of noise.



Sue organised some kids activities and here she is, busy face painting.

Declaration: Please click on image to make it bigger.

Remember remember, We Exist, We resist...

(picture above taken during last demo, March 28th)

Tomorrow. Saturday 16th May, 1.45pm

A sunny day in Gracia....Come along and defend your rights!!!!

Remember, this Saturday 16th May, 1.45pm, No Reglada Demonstration,
oragnised by CCOO and open to all workers in the 'No Reglada' sector.

We return to the Jardinets de Gràcia to demonstrate in defence of better working conditions, permanent contracts, a healthy working week, salary scales and a quality conveni.

There'll be live music, samba, blugreass and DJ set, plus kids' activities.
Bring colleagues, friends, family and food to share!

To the employers' we say: We exist and we resist!



Don't miss out on the food! (above cake won competition on March 28th Demo)