South East Campaigner

 
View and download past editions of the South East Campaigner:

September 2017

April 2017

November 2016

July 2016

Surrey UNISON protest closure of children’s centres

On 22nd January Surrey UNISON, alongside parents, supporters, workers and campaigners will be lobbying Surrey County Council on their proposals to close 37 children’s centres across Surrey. There are currently 58 centres helping families with children aged 0-5 years. The council’s recent proposals state that children’s centres should give more help to the children that […]

ULR Emma Nand talks about making positive changes for her colleagues in the workplace

  How long have you been a member of UNISON? I joined as soon as I started work, aged 17, so about 15 years ago. I first started my working career in the NHS as a nursery nurse at the Southampton General Hospital, and then four years ago I transferred my membership over when I […]

Using learning activities for recruitment and retention in Grovember

A number of branches in the South East used UNISON’s member learning opportunities as a way to recruit new members and engage with existing members. Activists from Hampshire Local Government Branch offered members and potential members the opportunity to develop their professional skills and build their confidence, with a ‘Power to be you’ taster session. […]

Skills for the Future Survey

Help us to help you ! We are carrying out a survey to find out how you feel about your current level of skills and what skills you think you would want for the future. This will help us to develop future training courses to support you in your workplaces. This quick survey will take […]

Consultative ballot of school members in England to open in January

England’s school staff asked to vote on effect of reductions in school funding

Skills for the Future Survey

Help us to help you! We are carrying out a survey to find out how you feel about your current level of skills and what skills you think you would want for the future. This will help us to develop future training courses to support you in your workplaces. This quick survey will take only […]

Axing millions from youth work puts futures at risk, says UNISON

Young people’s futures are being put at risk as a result of the government axing £13.3m from youth services across the UK in just three years, according to a UNISON report published today (Monday). The report – Youth Services at Breaking Point – reveals that between 2016 and 2019*, nearly 900 youth worker jobs have […]

Doing something different to grow our union

November in UNISON was Grovember – an all out push across the union to grow our membership. Although UNISON is now the largest trade union in the UK, there are still many more public service workers who are yet to receive the benefits of membership. And of course, the more members our union has, the […]

UNISON supports food bank collection at Solent University

To help underline the increase with in-work poverty, UNISON at Solent University organised a food bank collection as part of the Grovember recruitment drive. The goal was simple – to do a good thing and provide help to those who need it whilst underlining that so many of those who were supported by food banks […]

Cuts to school support staff could leave vulnerable children in the South East at risk

School support staff regularly go home worried about pupils’ welfare, safety and emotional state after discussing issues such as grooming, gangs, domestic violence, bullying, loneliness, and sexual abuse with them, according to a survey released by UNISON today (Friday). The research suggests that across the South East 23% of school support staff involved in children’s […]

UNISON and Thinking Schools Academy Trust:  Working Together for Wellbeing

UNISON South East was delighted last month to organise two inspirational CPD day’s for over 250 people at the Thinking Schools Academy Trust (TSAT). With separate days at Portsmouth and Medway, this was a fantastic opportunity to bring together school support staff from across the trust’s 14 different schools. UNISON organisers delivered interactive, wellbeing-focused workshops […]

South East Schools Struggling to Cope with ‘devastating’ Special Education Needs Cuts

A new investigation by the Observer has laid bare the growing crisis with special education needs funding – and Hampshire County Council faces the largest overspend in the country; more than £10.5million. Read the full story here: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/nov/10/councils-face-crisis-special-needs-education-funding

UNISON celebrates becoming the UK’s biggest union

UNISON is marking becoming the UK’s biggest union by launching a month of recruitment activity today (Tuesday) to reach out to every worker in the country providing public services. The union has now more than 1.3 million people in its membership who work in education, local government, the NHS, the police service and the energy […]

#MeToo One Year On

New research from the Fawcett Society has found that one year on from the outpouring of #MeToo stories, there has been a significant shift in attitudes to sexual harassment. According to the research released on 2 October by the Fawcett Society, the majority of people (53%) say that since #MeToo what is seen as acceptable […]

Justice Select Committee Report Slams TR

The Justice Select Committee Report on Transforming Rehabilitation was published in June and UNISON responded on the same day to its findings. The Committee has delivered a damning Report on TR and its detrimental impact on service users, communities and staff. The Report bears out what UNISON has been saying for years, that TR has […]