Articles
Forest Academy in Brandon celebrated the invaluable role played by its school support staff today. UNISON organised the ‘Stars in Our Schools’ event to promote the wonderful work school support staff do every day, and to make sure the world knows just how vital they are to every school. Nearly 50 support staff were presented […]
School support staff were celebrated as “stars” during an event at Elveden Academy near Thetford today. Parents came in during a special assembly to present support staff with presents and VIP badges thanking them for their hard work, while children gave staff cards that they made themselves. One of the classrooms was turned into a […]
Colchester Institute has signed a voluntary charter, making a commitment to employees to ensure that they are protected if diagnosed with a terminal illness. UNISON rep Marisa Baker joined Colchester Institute Principal and Chief Executive Alison Andreas and University and College Union branch secretary John Pullen-Appleby to sign the TUC’s Dying to Worker charter at […]
NHS staff protested today against “totally unwarranted” proposals to introduce parking charges at the North Walsham and District Memorial Hospital. Over 1,000 people have already signed a petition online and in person against plans by Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, to introduce parking fees at North Walsham. And today around […]
The Princess Alexandra Hospital Trust has released a statement, calling its domestics decision to take six days of strike action ‘unprecedented’ and repeating its claim that no decision has been made about outsourcing its services. What is precedented is hospitals market testing their cleaning and catering services before selling them out of the NHS, leading […]
Staff at scandal-struck Aspire Academy in Harlow are voting on industrial action over concerns for their health and safety, UNISON announces today. The school for students outside mainstream education, part of the TBAP multi-academy trust, was the subject of a BBC Panorama investigation in March after the head teacher blew the whistle on serious financial […]
Hospital staff will mark Operating Department Practitioners Day tomorrow, paying tribute to an often overlooked part of the NHS team that play a vital role in keeping patients safe. An operating department practitioner (ODP) is a highly trained registered healthcare professional working in a range of critical care environments. ODPs prepare the operating theatre for […]
We’re going all out this May to build a stronger UNISON, recruiting more members so that we can win for workers in public services. And you can win again by getting your friends and colleagues to sign up on Easy Joiner, UNISON’s new online joining system. Using your phone, or any device with wifi connection, […]
Domestics at Princess Alexandra Hospital rallied today to keep their jobs in the NHS. UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis joined dozens of domestics for a lunchtime rally outside the hospital to express their opposition to the mooted privatisation of their jobs. UNISON warns that outsourcing would create a two-tier workforce and damage the hospital’s leading […]
Staff at City College Norwich are voting on taking part in national strike action over pay. Hundreds of employees at 14 further education (FE) colleges across England will take part in the ballot. The dispute is over a national pay offer from employers which UNISON has rejected and described as ‘derisory’. The vote on strike […]
Staff and parents fighting to stop the closure of a popular Bedford nursery tried to hand in a petition today to save the centre. But the chair of Sharnbrook Academy Federation (SAF), which runs Brook Day Nursery, refused to accept the 250-strong petition presented by UNISON. The nursery, based at the Sharnbrook Academy site, already […]
Workers at West Suffolk Hospital are taking advantage of the opportunity to fill gaps in their maths knowledge thanks to an exciting project backed by UNISON, the Workers Educational Association and their employer. Nearly a dozen hospital staff – both clinical and non-clinical – started Functional Maths classes this week. At the end of the […]
Haileybury Turnford School in Hertfordshire celebrated the fantastic work of its support staff this month. Staff enjoyed a lunchtime meeting with food and goodie bags, provide by UNISON Hertfordshire, earlier this month. UNISON organises Stars in Our Schools events across the UK to promote the wonderful work school support staff do every day, and to […]
Essex county councillors voted down calls yesterday to abandon their swingeing cuts to library services. An extraordinary council meeting was called after nearly 60,000 people signed petitions condemning a consultation on the future of libraries that will close at least 25. A further 18 libraries will close if no volunteer groups can be found to […]
Trade unions exist to redress the power imbalance between an employer and workers – to help improve pay and secure better conditions in the workplace. Individual employees operating on their own hardly ever achieve anything positive. Demands for better wages, a more secure contract, extra holiday or a decent pension are all too easily ignored […]