General Secretary Blog: a brilliant branch building on their many strengths

It was great to visit Southampton district branch today, and meet up with a great group of activists who have taken their branch and our members through a very difficult period. Whether they’re old stewards returning to the fray or new branch activists, particularly women activists, recruited to support their colleagues, this is a branch […]

Over Two Hundred Protestors Tell Frimley “No Way WOS-ay”

On Friday 19 July, over two hundred members of staff from across Frimley and Wexham Park Hospitals stood together and showed the trust that privatising the NHS by the back door will not be taken lying down. Despite bucketing rain, staff turned out in droves to make sure their voices couldn’t be ignored. Frimley’s attempts […]

UNISON mourns the tragic loss of Lorna Mooney

The much respected campaigner and Deputy Regional Convenor died suddenly on 15 July 2019

Housing isn’t a crisis, but an emergency

National delegate conference backs a range of approaches to tackle the shortage of affordable housing in a passionate debate A passionate debate at UNISON’s national delegate conference saw the union put forward a range of measures to tackle the housing crisis – or, as one speaker put it, the “housing emergency”. The debate in Liverpool, […]

UNISON to fight backdoor privatisation of Frimley Health NHS Trust

Plans by Frimley NHS Trust to transfer the jobs of caterers, porters, security workers and administrative staff to a private company are a form of back-door privatisation that will be opposed, says UNISON. More than 800 workers could have their roles moved to a wholly owned subsidiary company being set up by the trust as […]

System of second class NHS workers must end

Private companies employing tens of thousands of staff in the NHS across England are coming under pressure to give their employees a wage rise as UNISON’s campaign for fair pay in the health service escalates. Workers at contracting giants – including Compass Medirest, Serco, Mitie and ISS – are today (Tuesday) calling on company chief executives […]

Environment Agency UNISON members set to take industrial action

UNISON Industrial Action at the Environment Agency Pay 2018 Following a ballot of members at the Environment Agency there was an overwhelming rejection of the derisory 1.3% pay increase that was imposed be the Agency. UNISON members will now be taking general action short of a strike involving “working to rule” and not showing normal flexibility; […]

There for You School Uniform Grant

Get help with school uniform costs this summer. There for You has set up a limited fund to help UNISON members on low income. To apply, download the application form from unison.org.uk/thereforyou or contact UNISONDirect on 0800 0 857 857. Download Application Form School Uniform Costs Leaflet

Public Inquiry into the Windrush Scandal Petition

Dear Friend We believe there should be an independent public inquiry into the Windrush scandal & the injustices faces by multi -generations & other communities who came to the UK from Commonwealth countries. We support this petition by the PCS Union which has been launched in my name on the union’s behalf. . The petition […]

Health and safety is clearly important… Right?

Every year, on 28th April, workers across the world mark ‘Workers Memorial Day’. This is time set aside to remember those injured, made sick or killed by hazards in their workplaces. The Health and Safety Executive report 144 worker deaths in their 2017/18 figures, with 1.4 million people suffering from a work-related illness. This year, […]

ULR Carol Wilkinson talks helping members overcome barriers to learning

How long have you been a member of UNISON? I  became a UNISON member 14 years ago when I started working in my daughters’ school as both teaching assistant and midday supervisor, when I moved to EDF Energy I transferred my membership and I was able to be more involved with helping our members within […]

Mindfull to Mindful Colouring Lunch & Learn

One of our brilliant SE Union Learning Reps recently ran a “Mindfull to Mindful Colouring Lunch & Learn” – read their account here: “My first lunch and learn session as a URL was for a colouring session linked to Mindfulness and mental wellbeing. I arranged for 2 sessions on consecutive weeks to give those attending […]

Hampshire branch delivers on Challenging Behaviour in Schools

For some time, Hampshire UNISON has been raising the subject of challenging and often violent behaviour towards school support staff across the county. A branch-wide survey was undertaken in 2017 which discovered that violent behaviour and challenging behaviour in schools was on the rise. School support staff work in incredibly challenging conditions, many of them […]

Winning Fair Pay in Adult Social Care

After a long wait, in the summer of 2018, both Independence Support Assistants and Higher Grade Social Workers working for Portsmouth City Council received grade uplifts. These regradings were well-earned but destabilised the overall pay structure. Through UNISON members working together and standing up for each other, Adult Social Care staff challenged and won fair […]

Outsourcing to Interserve stopped at Solent NHS Trust

UNISON has successfully campaigned to prevent the outsourcing of NHS catering staff working in Southampton and Portsmouth to private contractor, Interserve. In 2017, the Solent Trust Board decided to outsource the patient and retail catering services for the Trust as a whole. This affected both ward based catering services at hospital sites and staff in […]