Blog: You can attack us all you want – we aren’t going anywhere

Everyone who has ever received support from UNISON knows how vital our union’s activists are. In every branch, they are the beating heart of the union, UNISON members working tirelessly to support other UNISON members around the clock and all year round. Without UNISON activists, there would be no UNISON. And yet, year after year, our union and our activists come under fire from those who would strip many of them of the facility time they – and their employers – rely on. Once again, the so-called “Taxpayers Alliance” – who seem to oppose public spending more than they represent the majority of taxpayers – have turned their fire on facility time.   Yet, as those same activists and those who rely on them know, facility time is vitally important and poorly understood – not least because it benefits employers as well as workers needing representation. As outlined in the 2016 report “The benefits of paid time off for trade union representatives”, for every £1 spent on trade union facility time, taxpayers get “at least” £2.31 back. That’s because, as the same report shows, facility time leads to “improved staff retention, reduced illness and boosted industrial relations”. Happier, safer, healthier staff. Lower staff turnover. All of which saves public services money. Yet this facility time which saves so much money is apparently what the self-appointed representatives of taxpayers wish to cut back – an utterly self-defeating move that wou...
Source: UNISON Health care news - Category: UK Health Authors: Tags: General secretary's blog News facility time Source Type: news