The government must replace hundreds of police community support officer (PCSO) and other police staff jobs axed across the east of England since the start of austerity, UNISON said today. The union warns that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s pledge to recruit extra police officers is not enough on its own to halt the rise in […]
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A year after opening its doors, UNISON’s Bedfordshire Resource Centre held a special open day to celebrate its first birthday on Friday. There were balloons, banners and a whole array of information displayed on the incredible work UNISON does for its members, public-sector workers and the wider community. New membership forms were given out and […]
National Delegate Conference is often referred to as UNISON’s parliament. It’s the place where thousands of our members come together from every branch in the country to debate the issues affecting public service workers and decide how UNISON will respond for the next year. First-time delegate Laura Wilkes (Suffolk Area Health) reports on an “empowering […]
The National Assembly of Women has celebrated the Princess Alexandra Hospital domestics’ fantastic victory against privatisation on the front page of its journal, Sisters. Inside, UNISON regional organiser Caroline Hennessy tells the history of the dispute and explains why the domestics were fighting to keep their jobs in the NHS. You can read Sisters Summer 2019 […]
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 […]
Cambridgeshire health chiefs are threatening to shut down a vital service preventing thousands of over-65s going to hospital unnecessarily, UNISON warns today. The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), responsible for planning and commissioning local NHS services, is planning £33 million of cuts next year to plug part of its £192m government funding deficit. […]
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 […]
Bedford Hospital must abandon any efforts to outsource its domestic services for the good of staff and patients, UNISON says. The hospital informed domestic staff last week that it plans to market test its cleaning services, the first step towards them being sold out of the NHS. UNISON warns that outsourcing services would hit patient […]
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 […]
Closing a nursery in Sharnbrook near Bedford would be a ‘body blow’ for the local community, UNISON warns. Sharnbrook Academy Federation, which runs the nursery attached to Sharnbrook Academy as well as four other Bedfordshire schools, has announced it will close Brook Day Nursery after failing to find an alternative provider. Brook Day provides a […]
NHS staff who regularly do extra hours can celebrate a landmark court victory ensuring their extra work is taken into account when their holiday pay is calculated, UNISON says today. The Court of Appeal has found in favour of a paramedic and 12 of his colleagues who all work for the East of England Ambulance […]
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 […]
Domestics at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow today called off six days of planned strikes after their employer dropped plans to outsource their jobs. The Trust had been market testing its cleaning and catering services with the aim of putting them out to tender, claiming just last week that it would take until at least […]
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 […]
Domestics at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow will take six days of strike action to stop plans to kick their jobs out of the NHS. UNISON warns that plans to move 220 cleaning and domestic staff at the hospital out of the NHS would damage the Trust’s excellent infection control rates and hit staff pay and […]