Conference ends with urgent call for fairer workplaces

When the pandemic is finally over, workplaces need to be made a lot more fairer for the people who have helped the country through the crisis, UNISON delegates heard today. Lilian Macer opened a debate on a composite motion made up of submissions from her own Scotland region and the Newcastle Hospitals branch, each addressing the need to create fairer workplaces. She said that it was UNISON members who had kept communities safe “in the eye of the COVID storm”. And yet the crisis of the last 15 months had shown more clearly than ever the unfairness that exists for so many of those workers. For instance, according to the TUC two million workers in the UK aren’t eligible for sick pay, a situation exacerbated by “austerity, underfunding of public services and work insecurity.” Fair work conditions can be a fundamental driver for improving the lives of individuals and their communities, Ms Macer said. “Never has there been more need for a fair work agenda… Workers want to be treated with dignity and respect.” And she concluded: “Let’s make sure that no worker has to choose between keeping the public safe or feeding their family.” Miriam Mafemba for Newcastle Hospitals told delegates that, “COVID has tested each and every one of us to our very limits.” While talking of the trauma of what NHS workers had experienced, she also praised other key workers, such as the bus drivers who had made sure that she, as a nurse, could get to work during the pandemic. Rob...
Source: UNISON Health care news - Category: UK Health Authors: Tags: Article News 2021 virtual special national delegate conference Josie Bird social care Source Type: news