TUC demo: Seven bonus reasons to enjoy a day out in London
Doing the right thing doesn’t have to be angst-ridden. You can argue for a change in how the government copes with the cost of living crisis and have some fun with your friends and family.
You can demand better and have a good time too.
Take in the sights. Let’s face it, all the marches through the centres of the UK’s great capitals have some great views. Closed off roads at the start of summer, doing some sightseeing, what’s not to like?And for those going on the London march, treat it as your own tour of those infamous partygate venues. Spot the Tesco!
Top up your tan. Overseas travel is opening up again, but th...
Source: UNISON meat hygiene - May 10, 2022 Category: Food Science Authors: Simon Jackson Tags: Article cost of living demonstration TUC march Source Type: news
Government must bring back COVID funding to safeguard ‘ lives and livelihoods ’ , says UNISON
UNISON and the Care Provider Alliance (CPA) have written jointly to Sajid Javid urging him to reinstate Covid funding for social care.
The letter to the health and social care secretary says the government’s decision to end the adult social care covid infection control fund (ICF) – at a time when virus rates are still high – is an ‘incredibly dangerous move’ that will ‘cost lives’.
Introduced in May 2020, the £1.75bn fund gave financial support to care providers so they could continue to pay full wages to staff while they were self-isolating.
However, funding was stopped at the end of March in a ...
Source: UNISON meat hygiene - May 4, 2022 Category: Food Science Authors: Sophie Goodchild Tags: News Press release adult social care infection control fund Source Type: news
Blog: Let ’ s remember those who have died because of their work
Today, on International Workers’ Memorial Day (IWMD), UNISON and the whole trade union movement will lead the way in showing respect for all those who have sadly lost their lives while working.
During a minute’s silence at 11am, we will also think of their families and friends, so deeply affected by their tragic loss.
Most work-related accidents and diseases can be avoided, but only if employers make health and safety a top priority. Statistics suggest that, on average, 135 workers die each year in the UK from work related accidents, and a further 13,000 from preventable occupational lung diseases and cancers.
But at U...
Source: UNISON meat hygiene - April 28, 2022 Category: Food Science Authors: Christina McAnea Tags: General secretary's blog News Covid-19 international workers' memorial day Ukraine Source Type: news
Health conference takes on a packed final morning
On the final morning of UNISON’s national health conference, delegates in Liverpool began by observing a minute’s silence for International Workers’ Memorial Day, remembering those who have died as a result of their work, and re-dedicating themselves to the fight for improved health and safety.
Proposing a motion on the international recruitment and support for migrant healthcare workers, on behalf of the nursing and midwifery occupational group, Gamu Nyasoro described how she came to the UK from Zimbabwe, got a bursary to study as a nurse and moved to live in the West Midlands.
She had conference laughing with her m...
Source: UNISON meat hygiene - April 27, 2022 Category: Food Science Authors: Amanda Kendal Tags: Article News 2022 Health Care Service Group Conference Source Type: news
Ministers must adopt Migration Advisory Committee recommendations to beef-up care staff numbers, says UNISON
This report is yet another wake-up call for a government that’s been dozing at the wheel for decades.
“No bluster, no slogans, the government must adopt the MAC’s recommendations now, so the Cinderella care sector can attract the new recruits it needs and retain experienced staff too.”
The article Ministers must adopt Migration Advisory Committee recommendations to beef-up care staff numbers, says UNISON first appeared on the UNISON National site. (Source: UNISON meat hygiene)
Source: UNISON meat hygiene - April 27, 2022 Category: Food Science Authors: Garfield Myrie Tags: News Press release care Gavin Edwards migrant Source Type: news
Delegates back a range of motions on mileage and other rates
For some NHS workers, using a car for their work isn’t a choice. But with the cost of living crisis – including the rise in fuel prices – increasing numbers cannot afford to do that and some are even having to “pay to come to work, or stay at home and call in sick”.
That is the shocking reality for some NHS staff described by Susan Highton, as she moved a motion for the Yorkshire and Humberside region at UNISON’s health conference this afternoon.
Community and district nurses in particular often have to use a car, and those who travel the furthest for their work are disproportionately affected, as more of their...
Source: UNISON meat hygiene - April 26, 2022 Category: Food Science Authors: Amanda Kendal Tags: Article News 2022 Health Care Service Group Conference NHS Agenda for Change Source Type: news
Next week – let ’ s find our voice through the ballot box
In just one week, on Thursday 5 May, UNISON members across the UK will get a chance to cast their votes in elections.
Most of the council seats up for election were last contested in 2018. The political landscape of the UK has clearly undergone huge changes in the past four years.
From parliamentary gridlock around Brexit to the 2019 general election Tory landslide, from the pandemic to the cost of living crisis, it’s now a different and more challenging world for UNISON members.
Clearly many of the issues that can decide local elections remain the same, such as bin collections, the state of neighbourhood parks and pavem...
Source: UNISON meat hygiene - April 26, 2022 Category: Food Science Authors: Martin Cullen Tags: Article News local elections Source Type: news
Health debates turn to equalities
A busy afternoon for health delegates debating in Liverpool yesterday saw them debate a number of motions covering equality issues.
Domestic violence
Motion 23, submitted by the national women’s committee, urged conference to address domestic violence as a workplace issue. The mover of the motion, Cheryl Perit, opened by telling delegates: “Too many women live in fear of violence.”
Ms Perit added: “Home and work issues cannot always be neatly separated. Violence can frequently spill over into the workplace.
“The best employers are introducing workplace policies on domestic abuse. And these policies make disclosin...
Source: UNISON meat hygiene - April 26, 2022 Category: Food Science Authors: Simon Jackson Tags: Article News 2022 Health Care Service Group Conference Source Type: news
‘ This is genocide, ’ Ukrainian union leader tells health conference
UNISON’s health conference rose as one this morning to applaud Iryna Shvets, the deputy leader of the Health Workers’ Union of Ukraine (HWUU), and the people of that nation.
Addressing delegates virtually, Ms Shvets, whose union organises 600,000 doctors, nurses and health support workers, in all regions of Ukraine and in more than 90% of health care facilities, said that she would like to have talked “about peaceful health care matters”.
However, for the past two months, Ukrainians “have been raging a heroic struggle against the Russian occupiers”.
She thanked UNISON members in London for organising a delivery...
Source: UNISON meat hygiene - April 26, 2022 Category: Food Science Authors: Amanda Kendal Tags: Article News 2022 Health Care Service Group Conference Ukraine Source Type: news
Ambulance pressures taking a significant toll on staff, says UNISON
Increasing pressures on ambulance services are leaving workers “overwhelmed” and struggling to shake off work stress when they finally finish their shifts, according to a new UNISON survey published today (Monday).
Emotional breakdowns, sleep problems, mood swings and the use of anti-depressants are among the issues reported by staff who have been dealing with unprecedented demand for months, says the union.
The survey gives a snapshot of the colossal scale of difficulties the ambulance workforce is facing daily, with resources stretched to the limit and waiting times hitting record highs, UNISON says.
Staff shorta...
Source: UNISON meat hygiene - April 25, 2022 Category: Food Science Authors: Fatima Ayad Tags: News Press release 2022 Health Care Service Group Conference Ambulance Sara Gorton Source Type: news
UNISON welcomes asbestos report
UNSON has broadly welcomed today’s report from the work and pensions committee, which calls for a deadline for the removal of asbestos in all public buildings.
With cancers related to asbestos – including mesothelioma – remaining one of the biggest causes of work-related deaths in the UK, the committee highlighted the risk of disturbing the material and exposing workers to it when retrofitting buildings in response to net zero plans around energy efficiency.
It also reported on a woeful lack of inspection and enforcement activity by the Health and Safety Executive.
The committee made a number of recommendations...
Source: UNISON meat hygiene - April 21, 2022 Category: Food Science Authors: Amanda Kendal Tags: Article News asbestos health and safety Source Type: news
Blog: Deal to send refugees to Rwanda is a ‘ cruel trick ’
Last week, the UK government signed a deal with the autocratic government of Rwanda that would see us pay money for every refugee we deport from our shores. It is not just a trade in vulnerable human beings, it’s trading away our moral, legal and humanitarian duties.
Rwanda will be paid to take on the UK’s obligations to provide safe refuge to those fleeing wars and persecution. The deal will include families, women and children.
It will include deporting LGBT+ people – who turn to the UK for safety – to a country where gay and transgender people say that security officials accuse them of “not representing Rwanda...
Source: UNISON meat hygiene - April 19, 2022 Category: Food Science Authors: Christina McAnea Tags: General secretary's blog News refugees Source Type: news
Conservative MP must apologis e to health staff over Covid law break slur, says UNISON
A Conservative MP who suggested health staff regularly broke Covid rules should retract his comments and apologise, says UNISON today (Thursday).
Michael Fabricant has repeated the remarks on social media which he made in an attempt to defend lockdown law breaking by the Prime Minister and Chancellor.
In a letter to the MP for Litchfield, UNISON head of health Sara Gorton has admonished him for insulting health staff who helped get the nation through Covid.
The letter says that nurses and other NHS workers would not have behaved as Cabinet members did by socialising or drinking at the end of their shifts, as th...
Source: UNISON meat hygiene - April 14, 2022 Category: Food Science Authors: Sophie Goodchild Tags: News Press release Michael Fabricant NHS staff Source Type: news
NEC hears how the cost of living is dominating the union ’s work
In a meeting dominated by preparations for the first in-person national delegate conference since before the pandemic, there were still plenty of opportunities to discuss the issues affecting members as UNISON’s NEC met today.
General secretary Christina McAnea highlighted the cost of living crisis and the union’s campaigning on it, together with ongoing pay disputes and the need for the union to mobilise at the big TUC march and rally in June.
In her report to the NEC, the general secretary said: “We’re campaigning on the cost of the living and the cost of working. Rishi Sunak’s sweeping promises don’t stand u...
Source: UNISON meat hygiene - April 13, 2022 Category: Food Science Authors: Amanda Kendal Tags: Article cost of living NDC NEC Source Type: news
It ’s right to celebrate diversity, but much more needed to tackle racism in the NHS
Commenting on NHS England’s race equality standard report published today (Thursday), which says the NHS workforce is more diverse than at any point in its history, UNISON deputy head of health Helga Pile said:
“While it’s good to see NHS staff better reflect the communities served by their hospitals, unfortunately the picture isn’t quite so rosy when it comes to their experiences at work.
“White applicants are still more likely to be appointed than black job seekers. Black staff are more likely to be disciplined and experience bullying or harassment from patients and other staff. They...
Source: UNISON meat hygiene - April 7, 2022 Category: Food Science Authors: Anthony Barnes Tags: News Press release Source Type: news
