| september
update
Terry O' Hare made
Vice President
Terry O' Hare, Managing Director of Stewarts of Edinburgh Ltd, has been
elected Vice President of the Federation. He has served on the Executive
Board for a number of years and is a former President of the Edinburgh
Print Employers Association and the Scottish YMP Group.
Terry will be nominated to
succeed Bob Hodgson as President at the Federation's AGM in June 2006.
april
update
Vision
in Print Conference 2005
Following the success of the ViP Conference in 2004, we are pleased
to announce the forthcoming Vision in Print 2005 conference which will
take place on 22-23 June 2005 at the Stratford Moat House. The conference
will tackle competitiveness from all angles. Manufacturing will be addressed
with excellent company case studies; the programme has been developed
around a central theme that best practice is a brilliant tool for managing
and empowering people and should and can be used throughout a business
- not just on the shop floor.
We are inviting those seeking an overview of best practice in Print,
and elsewhere, to attend the conference. Whether it is CEO’s,
Production Director’s or Manager’s all will gain practical
ideas for process improvement. All sizes of company and all print sectors
will be considered in both the presentations and the debates. This is
an exclusive event, targeted at printers only.
This years’ event will be a two-day conference commencing at 11am
with a seminar entitled “Introduction to Lean”. There is
also the option of a seminar on "Best Practice Purchasing"
that will running alongside on this first day. The main conference will
begin at 6pm on the evening of 22nd June with a keynote presentation,
a drinks reception and a silver service dinner. Delegates will be encouraged
to attend this session as it will set the scene for the conference.
It will also allow for ample networking. Accommodation will be provided
at the Stratford Moat House. The conference will commence again on the
morning of June 23rd.
For further information please contact Katie Christou, Project Manager,
at the organiser’s office on 020 7404 5444.
www.visioninprint.co.uk
march
update
Featured
News Stories...
•
BPIF/Amicus GPMS settle at £7.50
• HSE Manual Handling Blitz
• SPEF wins more funding for training
• Print works with spirits on duty labels
• SPEF Management Conference – 27 April
BPIF/Amicus
GPMS settle at £7.50
The BPIF and Amicus GPMS have reached a settlement providing for an
increase of £7.50 per week for skilled workers, representing 3%
on the minimum grade rate. The settlement, estimated to add an average
2.5% to payroll, came in below the January rpi figure of 3.2%. Subject
to its acceptance at ballot the new wage agreement will apply from 24
April.
SPEF/Amicus GPMS negotiations are scheduled for 20 April. We are well
aware that the Scottish printing industry continues to experience intense
competitive pressures, but we would like to hear your views first hand
at the Local Association meetings in Edinburgh (11am) and Glasgow (4pm)
on Wednesday, 16 March.
HSE
Manual Handling Blitz
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has given
notice that it will be conducting “an enforcement led blitz”
on manual handling over coming months. It should be anticipated that
any printing or publishing company may receive a visit during this period
specifically to look at the standards of manual handling provisions.
The
background to this programme of enforcement and action is that 393 manual
handling accidents, 33% of all accidents, were reported to HSE by the
printing and publishing industries in 2003-04.
SPEF has a stock of Health and Safety Packs for Printers which includes
advice on what employers should be doing in terms of manual handling.
Copies are available on request free of charge (one per company). Also,
from late April the HSE printing web site www.hse.gov.uk/printing will
contain a new manual handling module covering risk assessment and making
the best use of lifting and handling aids.
The
Federation will offer a seminar in early May for members requiring assistance
in reviewing their manual handling procedures. Please register your
interest with Bill Stark (BStark@spef.org.uk).
SPEF
wins more funding for training
The Federation has successfully persuaded Scottish Enterprise (SE) to
increase its financial contribution for Modern Apprenticeships in printing.
The printing sector is one of only a few to win an increase, in our
case up by £500 to £7,500 in respect of Modern Apprentices
(age 16-18) starting in the financial year 2005 – 06. In addition,
SE has agreed in principle to pilot a limited number of Adult Modern
Apprenticeships attracting a contribution of £3,500.
The Federation’s case was based in part on the need to persuade
employers that the funding made a meaningful contribution to the cost
of apprentice education and training and thereby assist the recruitment
of more young people into the industry.
SE funding is intended to contribute to recruitment and induction costs,
college fees, on the job training and assessment costs, but not wage
or other indirect employer costs.
Members may have read reports in the trade press about Dot-Gain Print
Management offering Modern Apprenticeship training in competition with
SPEF. The company is quoted as saying it will not approach SPEF members,
the real reason being that it simply cannot compete with the Federation’s
rates for members. The second major difference is that the Federation
strongly encourages support for the block release course at Glasgow
Metropolitan College (incorporating the former Glasgow College of Building
and Printing), the only remaining print training facility in Scotland.
Unless an employer has a suitably designed training course to enable
a Modern Apprentice to achieve successful completion of the relevant
SVQ at level 3, non-attendance at the College can be false economy and
lead to the loss of SE funding.
Print
works with spirits on duty labels
The Federation together with label printers has been working closely
with the Scottish Whisky Association and Customs & Excise on the
Government’s plans to implement duty stamps for spirits as a means
of tackling alcohol fraud.
The printing companies, in particular through Gavin Watson and Gilmour
& Dean, provided expert input on the printing options firstly in
steering C & E away from foil stamps printed by C & E’s
own security printers for incorporation into labels on the grounds of
practical, logistical, cost and wastage considerations. Supported by
the spirits producers, the industry’s favoured solution was for
a duty mark on back labels incorporating micro text and hidden images
in artwork controlled by C & E and the addition of chemical taggants
to ink supplies. It would offer security and meet C & E’s
overt, covert and forensic criteria at relatively low cost. A decision
is expected from the Government anytime now.
Any member involved in the supply of labels to the spirits industry
who has not been kept advised of developments should contact me (e-mail
JRaeburn@spef.org.uk).
SPEF
Management Conference – 27 April
A top notch programme has been arranged for the Federation’s Senior
Management Conference to be held at Stirling Management Centre on 27
April. It will include:
Tim Griffiths, Chief Executive, Williams Lea Group on Partnering Print
Management Companies.
Tony Burke, Assistant General Secretary, Amicus GPMS on Partnership
at Work.
Richard Gray, Chief Executive, Vision in Print, on VIP’s Maintenance
Study and the benefits from 20 practical steps in raising maintenance
standards.
Matthew Peacock, ViP Master Engineer, on how to boost profits by adopting
manufacturing best practice.
Fraser of Allander Institute on the outlook for the Scottish and UK
economies.
Full details will follow shortly, but put the date in your diary now.
Jim Raeburn
Director
february
update
Featured
News Stories...
•
Senior Management Conference
•
BPIF/ICSM Standard Terms & Conditions
•
Information & Consultation of Employees
• Regulations
2004
•
BIPIC joins Intergraf
•
Local Association AGMs
Senior
Management Conference > 27 April
The Federation is planning a one day Senior Management Conference to
be held at Stirling Management Centre on Wednesday 27 April. The programme
will include Tim Griffiths, Chief Executive of Williams Lea Group, speaking
on "Partnering print management companies", Tony Burke, Assistant
General Secretary of Amicus GPM Sector, on "Partnership at Work",
and Richard Gray, Chief Executive of Vision in Print, on action to improve
productivity and efficiency and one or two others to be confirmed. This
is a "must attend" event with something for every company.
Please make a note in your diary now. Full details will follow.
BPIF/ICSM
Standard Terms & Conditions
The BPIF and ICSM Credit Information Network have produced
new model Terms & Conditions, which can assist members in the effective
regulation of contracts with customers. They are an update of the Terms
& Conditions widely used by member companies covering issues particular
to print, such as variations between colour proofs and completed jobs,
ownership of plates and responsibility for electronic files. Notes explain
the legal terms and warn what should not be adjusted without legal advice
accompanying them, and there is additional advice on how to use the
Terms and Conditions most effectively. It is important to emphasise
that the Terms & Conditions are suggested terms only and may require
slight modifications to suit individual companies. It is therefore important
that you examine the details of the document and do not simply copy
and paste them in to your company documentation.
Information
and Consultation of Employees Regulations 2004
The above Regulations, implementing the
relevant EC Directive, establish a right for employees, or their representatives,
to be informed and consulted by their employer on prescribed matters.
They apply to undertakings with 150 or more employees from 6 April 2005,
to those with 100 or more employees from 6 April 2007, and to those
with 50 or more employees from 6 April 2008.
The
Regulations give employees a right to be informed about the business
economic situation, informed and consulted about employment prospects,
and informed and consulted with a view to reaching agreement about decisions
likely to lead to substancial changes in work organisation or contractual
relations, including collective redundancies and business transfers.
They
give employers and employees the flexibility to agree arrangements that
suit their individual needs different from those set out in the Regulations.
They also allow any existing agreements on information and consultation
to continue to apply where they meet certain minimum standards.
Employers
may withhold information whose disclosure would seriously harm the company
or be prejudicial to it, or they may require that it be kept confidential
by the employee representatives to whom it is disclosed.
As
part of the discussions on the Partnership at Work initiative, agreement
was reached with Amicus GPM Sector on a model information and consultation
agreement for use in the industry. Copies are available on request.
BIPIC
joins Intergraf
The Federation has teamed up with the
BPIF and the Irish Printing Federation to join Intergraf under the banner
of the British and Irish Printing Industries Council (BIPIC).
Intergraf
is the International confederation for printing and allied industries,
providing print specific European lobbying and information to its members
who are the national associations of printing industries in Western,
Central and Eastern Europe.
The
BIPIC arrangement is a logical extension of the co-operation between
the three federations and facilitates the return to membership of BPIF
and IPF, who had both resigned in 2002, as well as producing cost savings
for the three parties.
SPEF
President, Bob Hodgson, nominated by BIPIC as its first employer representative
to serve on the new Intergraf Board commented: "BIPIC joining Intergraf
will ensure that the printing industry has a strong, European-wide voice.
It will be able to articulate the specific needs of print in the development
of important EU legislation, such as the REACH chemicals directive".
Local
Association AGMs
The President, Bob Hodgson, and I look
forward to meeting members at the Edinburgh and Glasgow Association
AGMs to be held on Wednesday, 16 March, when it will be important to
obtain views on a number of important issues, including of course this
year's wages negotiations.
Notices
and agendas for the meetings will be issued nearer the time, but meantime
please make a diary note:
Edinburgh
Wednesday 16 March - 11am
48 Palmerston Place
Glasgow
Wednesday 16 March - 4pm
Marriot Hotel
Jim
Raeburn
Director
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