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(21/02/2008) "Decent employers have nothing to fear from Andrew Miller’s private members bill. It is not a threat to jobs, it is intended to stop unscrupulous employers from exploiting vulnerable workers.
(21/02/2008) UNISON, the UK's leading public sector union, said today we need more investigation into the concept of well notes before they are introduced. We welcome the recognition that more needs to be done to get people on long term sick back into work.
(21/02/2008) UNISON, the UK's leading public service union, today challenged the government over plans to force UK immigrants to pay added charges for the public services they use.
(21/02/2008) Dave Prentis, General Secretary of UNISON, the UK's largest public sector, today branded British Gas as greedy and their 500% profit increase obscene, he said:
(20/02/2008) Customers should not be paying massive energy bills, when energy companies are making windfall profits, said UNISON and GMB, the largest unions in the energy sector today. The unions are calling for an Inquiry into the energy market ahead of the expected windfall profits to be announced by Centrica and British Gas tomorrow (21 February).
(19/02/2008) UNISON, the UK's largest pubic sector union, is today warning Coventry City Council to “face the fact that equal pay is not a take it or leave it piece of legislation, but the law of the land”. The union is calling on the council to stop wasting residents' money fighting equal pay claims made by the union on behalf of 250 low paid women council workers.
(15/02/2008) An all graduate profession will not deliver better patient care and is not the future for nursing warned UNISON, the UK's largest health union, today (15 February). UNISON's response to the latest DOH and Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) consultations* on nurse training found that the overwhelming majority of nurses see their place as by the bedside.
(14/02/2008) UNISON, the UK's largest public sector union, is today calling on NHS Employers to banish the agony of needlestick injuries (NSI) for good, by making safer needles compulsory across the health service. The call comes in the wake of the tragic death of gifted nurse, Juliet Young, who contracted HIV from a needlestick injury while working at the Maudsley Mental Health Hospital in London.
(13/02/2008) Commenting on the joint Healthcare Commission and Royal College of Psychiatrists report into assaults on nurses working on mental health wards, Gail Adams, UNISON Head of Nursing, said:
(11/02/2008) Next week leading public service trade unionists from southern African nations will visit UNISON to draw up plans to help HIV/AIDS workers. The HIV/AIDS pandemic has a sharp Southern African focus – two thirds living with the disease globally are from the region. UNISON has secured £350,000 of government funding for the three year project, following an 18 month self funded initiative.
(01/02/2008) UNISON, the UK's largest public sector union, has today issued a legal challenge against Monitor, the independent regulatory body for NHS Foundation Trusts. The union is seeking a Judicial Review and calling on Monitor to change its rules over the amount of private work being carried out by Foundation Trusts.
(31/01/2008) UNISON, the UK’s leading public sector union, is today writing to the Home Secretary in an appeal to grant Arnel Cabrera indefinite leave to remain in the UK.
(30/01/2008) Commenting on the annual Green Budget from the Institute of Fiscal Studies, Dave Prentis, General Secretary of UNISON, the UK's largest public sector union, said:
(30/01/2008) The six trade unions - ACM, ATL, GMB, UCU, UNISON, UNITE* - representing 250,000 further education staff have today (30 January) submitted a pay claim for 6% or £1,500, whichever is the greater. The catch-up claim covers FE workers in England including lecturers, learning support staff, cleaners, managers, caterers, librarians, security and lab technicians, and would establish a £7.38 an hour minimum wage.
(29/01/2008) A report published today by the CSCI states that elderly people in the UK are at the whim of a postcode lottery in terms of the care they receive in their old age. This increasingly leaves the elderly and disabled faced with two stark choices, to move, or to fund their own care.
(28/01/2008) Commenting on today's Office for National Statistics figures showing that spending on housing-related costs have risen by more than £15 a week over the past 2 years, Dave Prentis, General Secretary of UNISON said:
(24/01/2008) Commenting on the increased funding, linked to efficiency gains, announced by Local Government Minister John Healey, Heather Wakefield, UNISON Head of Local Government said:
(22/01/2008) UNISON and the National Right to Fuel Campaign are demanding that Ofgem launches an immediate inquiry into obscene extra profits of £2.5 billion that energy companies are awarding themselves at huge cost to household consumers.
(18/01/2008) Police staff in England and Wales have today voted to accept a 2.5% pay offer, backdated to 1 September 2007. UNISON, the police staff union had recommended acceptance of the offer as the best that could be achieved through negotiation. The deal covers 71,000 police staff (including 11,500 Police Community Support Officers).
(17/01/2008) UNISON, the UK's largest public sector union, is today calling on the Government to tackle the obscene profits being made by PFI companies at the public's expense.
(14/01/2008) UNISON, the UK's largest public sector union, is today calling for urgent meetings with health ministers to implement a recruitment drive for NHS cleaners. The union welcomed the deep clean initiative announced last year but warned at the time that it should be used to “kick-start better routine day-to-day cleaning of hospital wards and departments”
(14/01/2008) UNISON, GMB and TGWU-Unite have agreed an annual pay claim of 6% or 50p an hour – whichever is the greater – for more than one million local government workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
(10/01/2008) UNISON Deputy General Secretary, Keith Sonnet, will deliver a tough warning to Birmingham City Council to pull back from its plans to sack its 22,000 workforce and re-employ them on inferior pay and conditions.
(09/01/2008) UNISON is today warning that sub-standard poultry meat inspection and appalling conditions experienced by battery hens could lead to contaminated chickens entering the food chain.
(09/01/2008) UNISON has kicked off its campaign to tackle the gender pay gap with a record 33,000 equal pay claims lodged against public sector employers. The union has been battling for equal pay for years and, to date, has chalked up significant pay increases for many thousands of low paid women workers.
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Sixth form colleges accept pay offer
(15/11/07) UNISON members say Yes in overwhelming vote
Ban bullying at work
(07/11/07) All workers have the right to be treated with dignity and respect, says UNISON
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Reclaiming
the night
(30/08/07)
UNISON members
march for safer
streets
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Pay talks restart
(20/08/07) Local government
strike ballot in employers'
hands
Standing firm
(16/08/07) Manchester health
workers vote yes to strike
action
|
UNISON to Ballot NHS Staff on New Pay
Offer
(02/08/2007) UNISON, the UK's largest health
union, is to ballot its 450,000 health
workers on an improved NHS pay offer
announced today. The new package gives extra
help to the low paid and, for staff in
England where the pay offer remains staged,
additional money targeted at training plus a
£38 contribution towards professional fees.
There is also a commitment to review future
pay and conditions.
(02/08/2007) Local government trade union
leaders met today and called for an urgent
meeting with Communities Secretary Hazel
Blears, as they moved closer to taking
industrial action over pay.
(30/07/2007) UNISON deputy head of health,
Mike Jackson, reacting to the King’s Fund*
report into the implementation of Agenda for
Change, said:
(30/07/2007) The UK’s largest public sector
union warned today that the planned
reorganisation of councils into ‘unitary
authorities’ should be driven by
considerations of quality over quantity. One
of the major driving forces behind the
government’s go-ahead for creating nine new
unitary councils announced last week is the
call for ‘efficiency savings’.
(30/07/2007) UNISON, the UK’s largest public
sector union, wants headteachers to end the
exploitation of school support staff after
official Government figures reveal low pay
and unpaid overtime is becoming the norm.
Some teaching assistants and technicians are
paid as little as £5.05 an hour.
(23/07/2007) UNISON, the UK’s largest public
sector union, today welcomed plans for the
biggest expansion in house building since
the second world war, published in the
Government’s green paper.
(23/07/2007) UNISON, the UK's largest health
union, today (23 July) launched a new
report* looking at social enterprise schemes
in the NHS. Social enterprise is the latest
delivery model to be championed by the
Government as it looks to extend diversity
of provision and competition within the
health service.
(23/07/2007) After two years of hard
campaigning, it was announced today that
UNISON members have overwhelmingly agreed to
a package of proposals in the new Local
Government Pension Scheme (LGPS).
(19/07/2007) Talks aimed at resolving the
dispute over NHS pay broke up yesterday (18
July) without agreement. A full day of
discussions between unions, employers, and
the government failed to reach an agreement
moving the prospect of strike action in the
NHS closer.
(19/07/2007) UNISON, the UK’s largest health
union, today welcomed the Healthcare
Commission report into Independent Sector
Treatment Centres (ISTCs) in England. It
confirms the findings of the Health Select
Committee last year – that there is simply
not enough evidence being submitted or
gathered to enable the government or members
of the public to judge whether ISTCs are
meeting NHS standards.
(18/07/2007) Commenting on the shocking
announcement that 600 staff are to lose
their jobs at Scarborough and North East
Yorkshire NHS Trust, Karen Jennings, UNISON
Head of Health, said:
(16/07/2007) The three unions representing
more than 1m council workers, UNISON, GMB
and the T&G section of Unite, have today (16
July) written to the employers formally
registering a dispute over this year's
miserly 2% pay offer.
(16/07/2007) UNISON has become the UK’s
first major trade union to be awarded the
prestigious ‘Investors in People’
designation, the standard of good management
practice. It is a quality benchmark of how
the union manages its own 1200-strong
workforce.
(13/07/2007) UNISON, the union for meat
hygiene inspectors, is urging the Food
Standards Agency (FSA) not to break up
Britain’s publicly-owned meat inspection
service. |
Top Health Union Welcomes Brown's Listening As ‘Sea
Change’
(11/07/2007) Prime Minister Gordon Brown today set out
his parliamentary programme and pledged to put public
services – health and housing – at the very heart of his
administration. Signalling a fresh approach, Mr Brown
outlined plans for a widespread consultation and review
on his policies, a move very much welcomed by the UK’s
largest health union, UNISON.
(11/07/2007) Talks scheduled for later this week has
been called off by local government unions – UNISON, GMB
and TGWU-Unite – because council employers made it clear
today that they were still not in a position to improve
on a 2% pay offer.
(10/07/2007) Local council workers from across the
country carried out a mass lobby of Parliament today by
calling upon the Government to help stop continued and
unlawful practices of unequal pay between men and women
across UK local authorities.
(10/07/2007) Commenting on the Northern Ireland health
minister’s decision to overturn the UK Government’s
decision to stage this year’s pay award, Mike Jackson,
UNISON deputy head of health, said:
(05/07/2007) UNISON, the UK’s largest public sector
union, is the only union to be supporting one of this
summer’s biggest rock concerts, Live Earth, at Wembley
Stadium on July 7th.
(05/07/2007) New Health Secretary Alan Johnson has
agreed to urgently reopen discussions on health workers
pay, following the call for talks last week by the UK’s
largest health union, UNISON.
(05/07/2007) Gerry Gallagher, 52, of Durham
Constabulary, has been elected Vice President of UNISON,
the second highest lay position in the union. He has
been a member of the National Executive Council (NEC)
since 2000, and a member of UNISON since 1988.
(05/07/2007) Sue Highton, 54, a nurse from Sheffield,
has been elected as a Vice President, the second highest
lay position, for UNISON.
(04/07/2007) The UK's largest homecare workers union,
UNISON, today welcomed a new report that exposed the
huge increase in the amount of councils that have
restricted eligibility for pensioner home care and hiked
up charges during the past year.
(04/07/2007) Reacting to the new Health Secretary's
statement to Parliament today, UNISON Head of Health,
Karen Jennings, said:
(02/07/2007) Norma Stephenson, 51, a health care
assistant for Tees, Esk & Wear Valley NHS Trust, has
been elected President of UNISON, the highest lay
position in the union. She was previously Vice-President
and will hold the position for a year. |
Public Sector Moves Towards Mass Industrial Action: ‘Prepared to
Strike’ Says Prentis
(22/06/2007) Growing anger by workers across local councils and
health organisations at this year’s miserly 2% pay offer led to a
decision this morning by Britain’s largest public sector union to
co-ordinate strike action between the two services and other trade
unions.
(21/06/2007) The leader of the UK’s largest health union has slammed
Tory leader David Cameron’s second speech on health policy this week
as a “backward” and divisive step.
(20/06/2007) The UK’s largest public sector union, UNISON, praised
the significant role of migrant workers in Britain’s public services
and called on the government to shift attitudes that criminalise
workers rather than those who exploit them, at its national
conference today in Brighton. The UK’s largest public sector union,
UNISON, praised the significant role of migrant workers in Britain’s
public services and called on the government to shift attitudes that
criminalise workers rather than those who exploit them, at its
national conference today in Brighton.
(20/06/2007) Attempts by EU leaders to rehash the EU constitution
have been slammed by Britain’s biggest public sector union.
(20/06/2007) Cuddly public overtures to health workers by Tory
leader David Cameron have been rejected by Britain’s biggest health
union for their brazen “opportunism”.
(20/06/2007) Britain’s largest public sector union, UNISON, is
calling on workers to serve as trustees on occupational pension
schemes and has become the first in the country to set up its own
training scheme for shareholder activism.
(19/06/2007) UNISON, the UK’s largest public sector union, is
calling on the government to consider levying windfall taxes on
those companies making exorbitant profits, at its annual conference
starting in Brighton today (19 June).
(19/06/2007) Commenting on the NHS Confederation’s Mori Ipsos
research released today (19 June), Karen Jennings, Head of Health
for UNISON, the UK’s largest health union, said:
(19/06/2007) Local government workers today called for widespread
consultation to establish whether a ballot for strike action should
take place over local government pay. The call from UNISON (the UK’s
largest public sector union) came at its annual local government
conference in Brighton, in response to an annual pay increase offer
amounting to less than £1 a day for many.
(17/06/2007) UNISON General Secretary, Dave Prentis, today (Sunday,
17 June) unveiled phase 1 of the union’s latest campaign aimed at
raising its profile and attracting new members. Lions, tigers and
bears are used in adverts delivering a powerful message about the
strength and security that UNISON offers.
(15/06/2007) Hundreds of UNISON and Unite members working in the NHS
Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) service will today (15 June) hold lunch
time protests at Blood Centres across England, to protest against
swingeing job cuts and closures.
(09/06/2007) Dave Prentis, General Secretary of UNISON, the UK's
largest public sector union, will today (9 June) call on Gordon
Brown to seize a “golden opportunity for a fresh start” in a speech
to the Compass Conference in London.
(09/06/2007) UNISON's Deputy General Secretary Keith Sonnet, will
today (9 June), deliver a rallying call to delegates at the Compass
Conference in London, calling for action not words to end global
poverty and disease.
(31/05/2007) UNISON's Labour Link (political committee) today voted
unanimously to nominate Gordon Brown MP as Labour Party leader.
(31/05/2007) UNISON is urging the Government to put an end to
endemic poverty pay that undermines its equalities gains.
(30/05/2007) UNISON, the largest public sector union in the UK,
today called on Environment Secretary David Miliband to protect
British Waterways from being sold off to private contractors.
(23/05/2007) Work to begin developing a national pay and grading
structure for professional and support staff in schools in England
has been welcomed by UNISON, the UK’s largest school staff union.
The announcement was made today by Schools minister Jim Knight MP.
(21/05/2007) A leading US-based health foundation has given top
marks to the UK health system in comparison to other large
English-speaking countries and Germany. The Commonwealth Fund, based
in New York, put the UK at the top of the league (replacing Germany)
due to the fact that nobody is excluded by inability to pay; that
the NHS delivers the correct and safest form of treatment more often
than others; and that high levels of internal efficiency have driven
down treatment costs.
(21/05/2007) The UK’s largest public sector union has responded to
today’s revelations that the Home Office are devising plans to place
council workers, health and charity staff under a legal obligation
to provide the police with information about service users whom they
believe could commit a violent crime.
(18/05/2007) Government figures today show that more patients than
ever before are receiving faster accident and emergency treatment in
our hospitals. For the year up to March 2007, 98.2 per cent of the
18.9 million people who attended England's A&E departments were
seen, diagnosed and treated within four hours of arriving at A&E
departments.
(16/05/2007) UNISON has held its scheduled meeting of its national
Labour Link Committee today (16 May 2007) and decided that it would
be premature to reach a decision about which candidates to nominate
in the forthcoming Labour Party leadership and deputy leadership
elections before the close of nominations tomorrow.
(16/05/2007) Today's Healthcare Commission report shows that 11% of
hospital patients shared a room or bay with a patient of the
opposite sex. This is after last week's Department of Health inquiry
found that 31 NHS trusts out of 172 has failed to eliminate mixed
sex hospital wards.
(16/05/2007) UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis has today
addressed business leaders at the CBI conference in London and
warned that his union will continue to fight against “services on
the cheap” that ignore good working practices.
(14/05/2007) Representatives of the political committees of UNISON
and the GMB met in London today to consider the leadership and
deputy leadership of the Labour Party.
(10/05/2007) Today’s report into OFWAT - the UK’s water regulator –
released by the Public Accounts Committee, has been welcomed by
UNISON, the leading union for utility sector workers.
Tagging for Elderly – UNISON Reaction
(19/04/2007) UNISON, the UK’s largest health and social care union,
today slated Malcolm Wicks’ suggestion that the frail and elderly should
be tagged as a disgrace.
(18/04/2007) The ambulance service is relying heavily on the goodwill
and commitment of staff to keep up with the huge increase in demand over
the last decade, said UNISON, the union representing 20,000 ambulance
workers. The union warned that the service is suffering from staff
shortages and in some areas the situation is close to reaching breaking
point.
(16/04/2007) UNISON, the UK’s largest health union, is calling on the
Government and MPs from all parties, to throw out amendments made by the
Lords to the Mental Health Bill, which will limit new powers to doctors
only. The Bill gets its second reading today (16 April) and the
amendments exclude experienced mental health workers from making key
decisions about the treatment of patients in their charge.
(12/04/2007) UNISON, the UK’s largest public sector union, has secured a
landmark victory in what is believed to be the first age discrimination
case to go before an Employment Tribunal.
(11/04/2007) Commenting on the launch of plans to help extend patient
choice, Mike Jackson, Senior National Officer for health in UNISON, the
UK's largest health union, said:
(10/04/2007) Commenting on sickness absence in the public sector, Dave
Prentis, General Secretary of UNISON, the UK's largest public sector
union said:
(04/04/2007) Today’s news that private contractor Patientline has
increased hospital telephone call charges from 10p to 26p per minute has
provoked a sharp rebuke from UNISON.
(02/04/2007) Working parents now have the right to more paid time off
following the birth of a child. From today, maternity and adoption leave
increases from six to nine months paid leave for mothers. The same
rights apply for same-sex couples and adopters.
(30/03/2007) The majority of UK health workers are working unpaid
overtime the annual NHS staff survey shows today. And despite a range of
initiatives from health trusts and the Department of Health around a
third of health workers are experiencing violence or abuse from
patients.
(30/03/2007) UNISON, the UK’s largest health union, is gearing up for
industrial action following a meeting of leading health activists this
week.
(28/03/2007) Commenting on Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt’s
ministerial statement on NHS finances, Karen Jennings, UNISON Head of
Health said:
(27/03/2007) Dave Prentis, General Secretary of UNISON, the UK’s largest
public sector union, today warned that, “There is now increasing
awareness in government circles that the denigration and demoralisation
of public service staff has contributed to a feel-bad factor that now
threatens the credibility of the government in the eyes of the
electorate”.
(21/03/2007) “Year on year Gordon Brown has delivered a stable economy
but he urgently needs to give more attention to the legions of
demoralised health and public sector workers. About 2 million low paid
public sector workers are being hit hard by the double whammy of rising
living costs and the squeeze on their wages.
(20/03/2007) Ending NHS and public sector pay cuts are this year’s
top-line recommendations to Chancellor Gordon Brown from the UK’s
largest public service union, UNISON, on the eve of the 2007 Budget.
(15/03/2007) UNISON, the UK’s largest public sector union, today
welcomed the cap on election spending proposed in the Hayden Report
calling it a much needed brake on all parties.
(13/03/2007) “Nurses and health professionals must have fair and equal
treatment across the UK” said UNISON, the UK's largest health union
today (13 March). Commenting on the decision by the Scottish Minister of
Health, to implement the full 2.5% Pay Review body award without
staging, Karen Jennings, UNISON Head of Health said:
(13/03/2007) Today's draft Climate Change Bill should be more ambitious
to ensure that the UK reduces its carbon emissions by at least 3% each
year, with annual targets set to enforce reductions, the leader of the
UK's largest public services union said today.
(13/03/2007) Police in Zimbabwe have raided the offices of the Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), beating up and detaining staff whilst
claiming to look for 'subversive' material.
(07/03/2007) “A missed opportunity to close the growing gap between the
rich and the poor” is the verdict of UNISON, the UK's largest union with
1.4 million members, on the 17p increase in the national minimum wage
announced today (7 March).
(06/03/2007) A UNISON special conference today (at Alexandra Palace,
London) voted to continue negotiating on a package of proposals on local
government pensions. The Conference recognised that substantial
improvements in benefits for all its members and families had been made.
(05/03/2007) The CBI’s advice to Chancellor Gordon Brown to squeeze
public sector pay increases to a paltry 1.9 per cent provoked an angry
response from Dave Prentis, the leader of UNISON, the UK’s largest
public sector union.
(02/03/2007) Cutting and merging heath and social care inspection
watchdogs will damage patient care, the UK’s largest union, UNISON,
warned today.
(02/03/2007) Boat and barge owners who use Britain’s inland waterways
and canals are setting sail this weekend to protest at the severe budget
cuts to British Waterways, the Government agency charged with care and
protecting 2,000-plus miles of national canal and waterway networks.
(01/03/2007) UNISON, the UK’s largest health union, today described the
decision to stage the pay rise for nurses, midwives, paramedics and
other health professionals as a “real let down”.
(01/03/2007) Unions representing nurses, physiotherapists,
radiographers, paramedics, occupational therapists and other NHS
professionals expressed their disappointment at the staged, 2.5% pay
increase announced today (1 March). |