Pupils face schools turmoil over government ’s inaction on building safety, says UNISON
Responding to the announcement today (Thursday) that pupils at dozens of schools are to be told to stay away over building structural safety fears, UNISON head of education Mike Short said: “This situation is nothing short of a scandal. “The DfE and government have squandered valuable months hiding this crisis when they should have been fixing dangerous school buildings. “The schools minister even broke his own promise to publish information about at-risk properties before parliament’s summer recess. “Parents, pupils and staff will be relieved the issue is finally being taken seriously. But to wait until the elev...
Source: UNISON Health care news - August 31, 2023 Category: UK Health Authors: Anthony Barnes Tags: News Press release School buildings school safety school staff Source Type: news

UNISON urges government to make schools safe now
Scores of schools that could be at risk of collapse have been warned to be ready for the possibility that they could have to close part or all of their buildings within days, according to reports in the Mirror. The affected schools were built with “crumbly” reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) from the 1960s to 1990s, with a life expectancy of around 30 years. According to an internal government document seen by the media, the Department for Education have been hastily calling schools over the bank holiday weekend warning them to have plans in place to close school buildings at short notice, despite unions an...
Source: UNISON Health care news - August 30, 2023 Category: UK Health Authors: Martin Cullen Tags: Article education schools Source Type: news

Clinical support workers set to strike for the first time in NHS history
Over 400 health staff at Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (WUTH) will take strike action tomorrow. The strike will take place from 7am on Thursday 31 August through to 6:59am on Saturday 2 September after an overwhelming majority (99%) of clinical support workers voted to strike in a recent UNISON ballot. Clinical support workers (CSW) are some of the lowest paid workers in the NHS. As roles have evolved and hospitals have struggled with staffing, they have taken on more clinical responsibilities without the pay and recognition to match. The clinical support workers are employed at band two but regu...
Source: UNISON Health care news - August 30, 2023 Category: UK Health Authors: Janey Starling Tags: Article News health pay fair for patient care Source Type: news

Anti-strike law will cause headaches for employers and unions, says UNISON
Commenting on the launch of a consultation today (Friday) on the implementation of the government’s minimum service levels legislation during strikes in some public services, UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea said: “This legislation has always been pointless and totally unnecessary. “It’s a desperate attempt to prop up a failing government by demonising unions, rather than a serious effort to improve industrial relations and protect the public. “UNISON said all along it would be difficult to enforce and the draft guidance proves that. It’s full of holes and will cause headaches for employers, as well as...
Source: UNISON Health care news - August 25, 2023 Category: UK Health Authors: Anthony Barnes Tags: News Press release minimum service levels bill Source Type: news

Environment Agency staff set for out-of-hours ban
Thousands of Environment Agency (EA) workers in England will stop out-of-hours attendance at incidents such as floods, water pollution, spills, waste fires and fly-tipping this weekend, in their ongoing pay dispute. The industrial action, which starts at 9am tomorrow (Saturday), is set to continue for a month, with workers refusing to volunteer for on-call cover outside of contracted hours until 19 September. Officers will step in where there is a threat to life, from incidents such as a major flood, as emergency life and limb cover has been agreed by the union. This new wave of industrial action follows months of industri...
Source: UNISON Health care news - August 18, 2023 Category: UK Health Authors: Amanda Kendal Tags: Article News environment agency Industrial action Source Type: news

NHS staff at Merseyside hospitals announce 48-hour strike after years of being underpaid
Over 400 health staff at Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (WUTH) will take strike action this month in a dispute over pay, says UNISON today (Thursday). The strike will take place at 7am on Thursday 31 August through to 6:59am on Saturday 2 September after an overwhelming majority (99%) of clinical support workers voted to strike in a recent UNISON ballot. Clinical support workers (CSWs) assist nursing staff in delivering care on the wards. They’re employed across the trust’s sites at Arrowe Park and Clatterbridge hospitals on the Wirral. UNISON says these employees should be pa...
Source: UNISON Health care news - August 17, 2023 Category: UK Health Authors: Lucy Shaddock Tags: News Press release clinical support workers pay fair for patient care strike Source Type: news

Blog: Investing in you is investing in our schools and in our pupils
Our streets, villages, towns and cities only thrive when unsung heroes roll up their sleeves to keep our public services going. In every neighbourhood, it’s local government workers who everyone relies on. And every day, UNISON campaigns to improve their pay and recognition for their essential work. From maintaining roads to ensuring public safety, their roles are indispensable. But workers find themselves grappling with inadequate pay and shrinking budgets in their workplaces. Pay fails to reflect the value of their work, and local council funding fails to keep up with the need in our communities. UNISON Scotland has be...
Source: UNISON Health care news - August 17, 2023 Category: UK Health Authors: Christina McAnea Tags: Article General Secretary General Secretary's blog News Christina McAnea local government Source Type: news

Take the UNISON equalities survey
Every year, UNISON surveys its members to get a better understanding of their experiences over the last 12 months – both in and out of work – and how that is bound up with equalities. The results help us understand more clearly what our members are experiencing and to shape our work in campaigning for fairer, safer workplaces and better working lives. This year, we want to find out more about how the cost of living scandal is affecting you. Specific topics include flexible working, childcare and domestic abuse. The survey, which runs until the end of September, takes about eight minutes to complete. It is confidential ...
Source: UNISON Health care news - August 15, 2023 Category: UK Health Authors: Demetrios Matheou Tags: Article News equality equality survey Source Type: news

NHS staff at  Merseyside hospitals vote to strike after years of being underpaid
More than 400 health staff at Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (WUTH) have voted for strike action over pay, says UNISON today (Friday). An overwhelming majority (99%) of clinical support workers voted to strike in a recent UNISON ballot. Industrial action is now imminent unless the trust makes an improved offer to staff, says the union. Clinical support workers (CSWs) deliver essential care alongside nursing staff on the wards. They’re employed across the trust’s sites at Arrowe Park and Clatterbridge hospitals on the Wirral. UNISON says these employees should be paid at least £...
Source: UNISON Health care news - August 11, 2023 Category: UK Health Authors: Anthony Barnes Tags: News Press release clinical support workers nhs strikes rebanding Source Type: news

Get set for Green UNISON week
As we head towards Green UNISON week, which runs from 15-22 September this year, it’s the ideal time to start planning. Green UNISON week is a chance to raise awareness of green issues nationally and locally, plan activities to encourage and enable members to get more active and to celebrate all the things they are already doing in support of the green agenda – not just in work but anywhere. There are many things that you could do to mark the week – here are just a few ideas. Hold a UNISON green event You could run a lunchtime stall in the canteen, show a film or arrange a talk. Why not invite a speaker from a nearby...
Source: UNISON Health care news - August 10, 2023 Category: UK Health Authors: Amanda Kendal Tags: Article News green network Green rep Green UNISON Week Source Type: news

Workers speak out about mileage rates
Last month, The RAC Foundation, a transport policy and research organisation, announced that frontline workers who use their car for work are out of pocket by an average of £6,000 a year due to out-of-date mileage rates. Since then, the union has heard from numerous members about their experiences. Roger Lewis said: “It’s an outrageous scandal that the higher the mileage workers have to travel in their cars, the more out of pocket we are. It’s a financial disincentive or penalty for doing our work. We should be paid properly.” Community care worker Debbie Pink said: “We have not had an increase in our mileag...
Source: UNISON Health care news - August 8, 2023 Category: UK Health Authors: Janey Starling Tags: Article News cost of living mileage mileage rates Source Type: news

Autumn term strikes set to go ahead at 13 universities
The results are in for the higher education strike ballot that ran from 31 May to 31 July – and 13 higher education institutions have met the threshold for action. The current offer from the University and Colleges Employers’ Association (UCEA), a 5-8% pay rise depending on salary spinal point, equates to a real-terms pay cut given inflation was over 10% this year. Although some money was backdated to earlier this year, it’s still not enough for staff to live on with the ongoing cost of living crisis. HE members have suffered a real-terms pay cut of around 25% over the last 14 years, due to year on year uplifts that ...
Source: UNISON Health care news - August 4, 2023 Category: UK Health Authors: Janey Starling Tags: Article News higher education Source Type: news

New funding brings temporary relief to care but much more is needed, says UNISON
Responding to the government’s announcement of a £600m package for social care, UNISON assistant general secretary Jon Richards said: “A cash injection might offer temporary relief to the woefully underfunded and broken care sector, but it does nothing to address its huge problems.   “Without a long-term plan to solve care’s staffing crisis, the sector will remain many thousands of employees short.  “The government must work with councils, unions and care employers to establish the national standards and funding arrangements that are desperately needed. “Only a national care servi...
Source: UNISON Health care news - July 28, 2023 Category: UK Health Authors: Fatima Ayad Tags: News Press release Jon Richards social care Source Type: news

Blog: Influencing the next Labour government
After 13 years of Tory failures in Westminster, our economy is weaker, our living standards are lower, and our country is poorer. Britain is clearly broken. Over the weekend, our UNISON delegation spent long hours in intense negotiations with the Labour party at the National Policy Forum. Our mission was to get UNISON’s priorities on pay, public services, social care, workers’ and trade union rights, and equalities into Labour’s policy platform for their next manifesto. That manifesto must be election-winning, because despite Labour riding high in the polls over the past year, they’ve lost the last four general ele...
Source: UNISON Health care news - July 26, 2023 Category: UK Health Authors: Christina McAnea Tags: Article General Secretary General Secretary's blog News Christina McAnea Labour Party UNISON Labour Link Source Type: news

Government must raise ‘ out-of-date ’ mileage rates for struggling public service staff, says UNISON  
More than a million public service workers including care staff, district nurses, housing officers, police staff and probation officers are being left thousands of pounds out of pocket because ministers have failed to update national mileage rates, says a UNISON report published today (Friday). NHS, social care, police and local government employees who need to drive for work are up to £6,000 a year worse off because the current 45p rate, set by HM Revenue and Customs, has not changed in over a decade, according to research by the union and the RAC Foundation. The report Driven Out of Work says the allowa...
Source: UNISON Health care news - July 13, 2023 Category: UK Health Authors: Fatima Ayad Tags: Article Press release Christina McAnea mileage rates Source Type: news