Articles
Regional convenor honoured at TUC congress in Brighton
UNISON members at Colchester Hospital celebrated the recent 68th Birthday of the NHS by celebrating the amazing contribution support staff make to the NHS and how as One Team so much has and can be achieved. Many staff, patients and visitors wanted to show their support for One Team by telling us why support staff mean […]
We all know that violence against NHS staff is a problem. But for every case that gets reported or makes the news how many others are never heard about? UNISON has been asked by BBC Radio 5 Live’s Investigates programme to help them discover what it’s really like for NHS staff experiencing violence at work. […]
Add your name to a letter supporting EU workers and fellow UNISON members The UNISON-supported HOPE not hate campaign is backing a call from the British Future think tank to Conservative Party leadership candidates asking them to make a clear commitment that EU migrants currently living in the UK are welcome to stay. […]
On 23 June we will take part in a referendum that will determine whether or not the UK remains in or leaves the European Union. UNISON has held a branch consultation and concluded that to leave would put our employment rights, public services and the economy at significant risk. This is not to suggest that UNISON is an uncritical supporter […]
Representatives from the ambulance branch have been in negotiations with mangers from the ambulance trust in a bid to resolve the problem of frontline staff having to work excessive hours. After what branch secreatry Fraer Stevenson described as “a year of broken promises” the branch members agreed to be balloted on industrial action if the matter […]
The government’s plans to scrap NHS bursaries will leave student nurses, midwives and allied health professionals with over £52,000 worth of debt. The fear of debt will discourage many people from becoming healthcare professionals, exacerbating the current recruitment crisis. This will have disastrous repercussions for patient safety. UNISON and the NUS have commissioned a report […]
And it looks nothing like the government’s original bill The Trade Union Act received Royal assent on 4 May but a whole raft of measures the government wanted to bring in that would have had the potential to weaken trade union organising are not in the Act. Gone are the abolition of DOCAS in the public […]
An 8% increase for the chief executive but nothing for everyone else Suffolk County Council has awarded its chief executive a salary increase of £13,450, taking her salary to £170,000 a year. The decision was made to reflect her “hard work in serving the residents of Suffolk” according to a spokeperson quoted in the East Anglian Daily […]
The government has announced that it will not continue with its plans to ban union members in the public sector from paying their subs by deductions from their wages. Instead check-off (also known as DOCAS) can continue where unions pay the costs incurred by employers. This follows the three defeats over the bill the government suffered in the […]
Last weekend branch representatives from across the region came together to hold their annual healthcare policy weekend in Brentwood. As has become all too frequent the backdrop to the event was the government’s continuing underfunding and undermining of the NHS. Topics discussed included pay, the introduction of seven day working and the government’s intention to do […]
Easton & Otley College sign new recognition agreement with UNISON Norfolk and Suffolk county branches have succesfully negotiated a recognition agreement with the newly formed Easton & Otley College. The negotiations were led by Norfolk county branch secretary Jonathan Dunning with support from local stewards Donna Paul (pictured far right)) and Josie Finch and Suffolk county branch secretary […]
Members working for the East of England Ambulance Trust have reacted with fury after the chief executive set out changes to their working conditions that he described as ‘controversial, unpalatable and even draconian.’ Branch secretary Fraer Stevenson said the Trust had spent 10 months promising to reduce enforced overtime for ambulance crews. “We have crews […]
The Trade Union Bill is now in its report stage in the Lords. We need to keep the pressure on before it returns to the Commons. UNISON members have made a huge difference already – speaking to employers, councillors, MPs, peers and government ministers to tell their stories, making compelling arguments and keeping up the […]
The Queen Elizabeth Hospital at King’s Lynn has signed a formal apprenticeship agreement with the local UNISON branch. The agreement is a declaration of intent between the Trust and trade unions to work together in partnership around apprentices. The agreement sets out the Employer’s processes around designing structured apprentice job roles, apprentice pay and conditions, […]