UNISON health conference opens in Brighton
UNISON’s annual national health service group conference opened in Brighton this morning, with union president Libby Nolan (pictured above) saying that it had been a “really tough year for us…We say that every year, don’t we?”
Sending “solidarity” to ambulance workers, she noted that, as ambulances queue outside A&E departments, unable to hand over patients to hospitals because of waiting times, they are bearing the brunt of the crisis in the NHS.
Elsewhere, applauding a recent back-pay win, she told delegates that, while people join UNISON for different reasons, she had joined the union to increase her w...
Source: UNISON Health and safety news - April 8, 2024 Category: Occupational Health Authors: Amanda Kendal Tags: Article News 2024 National Health Conference Dudley Libby Nolan Mitie one team for patient care Wilma Brown Source Type: news
NHS can ’t provide quality care until staffing crisis resolved, says UNISON
Responding to findings published today (Wednesday) by the National Centre for Social Research that public satisfaction with the NHS is the lowest level on record, UNISON head of health Helga Pile said:
“The NHS cannot provide the quality care people need until the staffing crisis is addressed. Patients are suffering because of government inaction.
“Low pay and burnout are to blame for nurses, paramedics and other health workers quitting the service.
“When the minimum wage increases next week, the lowest paid NHS staff will only be earning one pence an hour above the legal minimum.
“It’s not surprising the...
Source: UNISON Health and safety news - March 27, 2024 Category: Occupational Health Authors: Sophie Goodchild Tags: News Press release nhs pay Source Type: news
Getting pay right is key to turning around NHS fortunes, says UNISON
Commenting on the National Audit Office report on the NHS long-term workforce plan, UNISON head of health Helga Pile said today (Friday):
“Simply having a plan isn’t going to be enough on its own to turn the staffing crisis around. Wishful thinking won’t get the NHS very far either.
“The assumption that overseas staff will want to keep coming here to fill the gaps in the workforce is wildly optimistic. Especially given the increasingly hostile environment fostered by the government.
“Getting pay right is key to turning around the fortunes of the NHS, its staff and patients, and slashing the backlog too. E...
Source: UNISON Health and safety news - March 22, 2024 Category: Occupational Health Authors: Sophie Goodchild Tags: News Press release NHS workforce plan Source Type: news
Blog: Give your ❤ ️ to our unions
It’s Valentine’s Day tomorrow, which also means it’s Unions Week. Whatever your relationship status, you can still show your endless love for your trade union.
Besides me shamelessly trying to fit a few love puns and song titles into this blog, you’ll find here my message about how important unions are to me, to everyone’s working lives and to the whole of society.
I’ve spent my whole working life in the trade union movement, because I know that trade unions make life better for working people. Unions help boost pay by up to £60,000 over a working life, while workers in unionised workplaces also have better pe...
Source: UNISON Health and safety news - February 13, 2024 Category: Occupational Health Authors: Christina McAnea Tags: Article General Secretary's blog News Covid-19 Heart UNISON HeartUnions Source Type: news
Migrant family ban makes no sense without proper reform of social care, says UNISON
Commenting on the announcement from care minister Helen Whately that migrant care staff coming to the UK will be banned from bringing family with them after mid-March, UNISON head of social Gavin Edwards said:
“Care companies couldn’t function without migrant care workers. Firms have to recruit from overseas because the government’s done nothing to solve the care staffing crisis.
“Ministers’ reckless changes to immigration policy spell disaster for social care. Until pay rates rise substantially, there’ll never be enough UK-based recruits to plug the huge hole in the care workforce.
“N...
Source: UNISON Health and safety news - January 30, 2024 Category: Occupational Health Authors: Dan Ashley Tags: News Press release care national care service social care Source Type: news
NHS staff need better pay, not divisive distractions, says UNISON
Commenting on the government’s launch of a consultation on the introduction of a separate pay spine for nurses in England, UNISON acting head of health Helga Pile said:
“The NHS needs greater funding to be able to offer decent pay for all staff. That’s the way to recruit and retain the workforce that’s needed.
“Pitting different groups of staff against each other for a larger slice of what’s available is the wrong approach. It would divert time and resources from the real problems, damage team morale and tie employers up in years of equal pay claims.
“Nurses – along with all other NHS staff – are righ...
Source: UNISON Health and safety news - January 11, 2024 Category: Occupational Health Authors: Dan Ashley Tags: News Press release nhs pay nurses pay spine Source Type: news
Supreme Court can stop bad bosses punishing staff who strike
The Supreme Court has an opportunity to close a loophole that allows rogue employers to mistreat staff who take part in legal strike action.
In a two-day hearing that begins on Tuesday 12 December, the union seeks to overturn a Court of Appeal decision that it says leaves the UK operating outside international law and employees without proper protection at work.
The union is acting on behalf of care worker and UNISON member Fiona Mercer, who originally brought a case in 2019 against the Alternative Futures Group (AFG), a charity in north west England.
While UK law prevents employers from sacking workers involved in strikes...
Source: UNISON Health and safety news - December 11, 2023 Category: Occupational Health Authors: Dan Ashley Tags: News Press release Fiona Mercer supreme court Source Type: news
Rosebank decision makes achieving net-zero much harder, warns UNISON
Commenting on the announcement that Rosebank, the UK’s largest untapped oil field, has been given the go-ahead by regulators, UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea said:
“This is yet another setback in the battle against climate change. It confirms the government‘s total lack of commitment to achieving net-zero.
“There is no guarantee the new oil will benefit the country. It’ll still need to be sold on the international market, not only to UK consumers.
“Serious investment and a proper focus on renewable energy and decarbonised gases like hydrogen is the best way to lower emissions, reduc...
Source: UNISON Health and safety news - September 27, 2023 Category: Occupational Health Authors: Fatima Ayad Tags: News Press release Christina McAnea Energy Source Type: news
Government must invest in social care to drive the economy, says report
A properly funded social care system would power growth, unlock jobs, boost business and save the NHS money, says a Future Social Care Coalition (FSCC) report published today (Monday).
The report, entitled Carenomics, lays bare how the fragmented and underfunded care sector, which currently has 152,000 job vacancies, is ‘stifling’ the economy and having a negative effect on the labour market.
The analysis warns that the government’s levelling up agenda and other measures to transform the UK cannot be achieved without substantial new investment in social care.
Carenomics uses extensive evidence to outline the ec...
Source: UNISON Health and safety news - September 17, 2023 Category: Occupational Health Authors: Fatima Ayad Tags: News Press release Christina McAnea social care Source Type: news
UNISON ’ s response to Labour ’s new Green Prosperity Plan
The Labour party announced their new Green Prosperity Plan in a speech by leader of the party, Sir Kier Starmer, in Edinburgh on Monday.
Outlining the key elements of the party’s plan, the Labour leader called it “the race of a lifetime,” and added “the prize is real.”
The plan aims to make the UK a global green leader through a just transition to net zero. Sir Kier added: “We’re going to throw everything at this: planning reform, procurement, long-term finance, R&D, a strategic plan for skills and supply chains. A new plan for a new settlement … all pulling together for a simple, unifying priority: ...
Source: UNISON Health and safety news - June 21, 2023 Category: Occupational Health Authors: Simon Jackson Tags: Article News Christina McAnea green green economy green unison Green UNISON Week Source Type: news
Blog: We must stop this managed decline of local government
UNISON’s campaign for fair pay continues with full force today as we open our industrial action ballot of over 360,000 local government workers in England and Wales.
Once again, we’re up against restrictive anti-trade union laws that mean we need a big turnout and a big ‘yes’ vote to take strike action. So we’re doing all we can to get out the vote and beat those ballot thresholds.
Pay in councils and schools has fallen by 25% in real terms since 2010. And the employer’s below-inflation pay offer for 2023, goes nowhere near to making up for it, or to dealing with the rising cost of living. In fact, it represen...
Source: UNISON Health and safety news - May 23, 2023 Category: Occupational Health Authors: Christina McAnea Tags: General Secretary's blog Christina McAnea local government NJC pay Source Type: news
The increasing pressures of raising a family
UNISON has renewed its commitment to campaign for fully-funded childcare in the wake of a new report showing the extent to which working parents are struggling.
2023 Working Families Index, published last week, found that significantly more parents are reporting it is ‘financially harder to raise a family’.
60% of respondents reported that making ends meet and raising a family has become more difficult ‘over the last three years’. This represents a significant increase from just 45% in 2019.
Childcare costs in the UK, which are some of the highest in the world, are a significant factor. Over half of parents surveye...
Source: UNISON Health and safety news - May 22, 2023 Category: Occupational Health Authors: Janey Starling Tags: Article childcare equalities Source Type: news
UNISON calls for tougher taxes on energy profits
UNISON is calling for oil and gas giants to be taxed properly in order to raise more money for the public purse, after BP announced profits of £4 billion in the first three months of this year.
The union believes this money belongs in the pay packets of public sector workers, rather than the pockets of shareholders.
UNISON has launched a petition calling for chancellor Jeremy Hunt to “make oil and gas giants – not ordinary households – pay the price” by closing loopholes that allow these companies to access special subsidies and tax breaks.
According to a survey run by the union earlier this year, 93% ...
Source: UNISON Health and safety news - May 3, 2023 Category: Occupational Health Authors: Janey Starling Tags: Article News cost of living Source Type: news
UNISON urges better protection for domestic abuse victims
Pictured above: the North West regional women’s committee, domestic abuse group. Back row (l to r): Jessica Aitchison, Dawn Warriner, Christine Collins, Teresa Connally. Front row (l to r): Rachel Wright, Paula Craig and Lesley Lancelott.
One third of women report domestic abuse at some point in their lives. With almost 80% of UNISON’s 1.3 million women identifying as women, domestic abuse is most definitely a trade union issue, delegates at the annual women’s conference heard last week.
“Often the first sign of domestic abuse in the workplace is when women are called out for their work levels dipping, for havi...
Source: UNISON Health and safety news - February 20, 2023 Category: Occupational Health Authors: Demetrios Matheou Tags: Article News 2023 National Womens Conference domestic abuse unison women Source Type: news
NHS dispute widens to cover most parts of England
The growing NHS dispute over pay and staffing will now cover ambulance services and other NHS organisations across most parts of England, says UNISON today (Friday).
Announcing its re-ballot results of thousands more health workers, UNISON says staff at another four English ambulance services and five NHS organisations, including NHS Blood and Transplant, will now be able to strike. This is a significant escalation of the dispute.
Following the re-ballot of staff at ten NHS employers in England, the union said ambulance staff at four services in England – South Central, East of England, West Midlands and East Midlands ...
Source: UNISON Health and safety news - February 17, 2023 Category: Occupational Health Authors: Anthony Barnes Tags: News Press release nhs pay nhs strikes Source Type: news
