Rebuilding trade union power

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 […]

‘You don’t improve library services by shutting them down,’ UNISON tells Essex County Council

Essex County Council’s aim to improve services while shutting down libraries “beggars belief,” UNISON says today in its response to the Council’s library closures consultation. UNISON, the union representing Essex libraries’ more than 400 staff, warns that the closures and reduced service would spell disaster for job seekers, Universal Credit claimants and some of the […]

Norfolk trade unionists send solidarity to Birmingham homecare strikers

Trade unionists in Norwich collected over £400 for striking homecare workers in Birmingham last week at a screening of inspirational new documentary Nae Pasaran. Nae Pasaran tells the true story of how workers in East Kilbride struck a blow against General Pinochet’s fascist regime by refusing to service Rolls Royce fighter engines for the Chilean […]

‘Ruinous’ central government cuts set to hit Norfolk nurseries

Three nurseries in Norfolk are set to close because of “ruinous” central government cuts to children services, UNISON warns today. All three nurseries run by Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust – two in Thetford and one in Bowthorpe, Norwich – face closure despite the Trust’s efforts to find the cash to keep them […]

One UNISON weekend – the programmes have landed

Preparations are well under way for our second annual Eastern Region ONE UNISON Weekend event. The weekend will consist of a choice between workshops open to all UNISON activists, training for newly elected branch officers or the new presentation and media skills course for more experienced activists and branch officers. The programme is hot off […]

Princess Alexandra Hospital’s move to outsource cleaners is ‘breathtaking,’ says UNISON

Bosses at the Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust in Harlow have made the ‘breathtaking’ decision to put their cleaning services out to tender, UNISON says today. The Trust has already begun market testing its domestic and estates services. It is now inviting private companies to bid on running the services and is expected to appoint […]

Essex says loud and clear: Don’t close our libraries

Hundreds of people marched through Chelmsford on Saturday telling Essex County Council to scrap plans to dozens of libraries. The Council has opened a consultation into the future of its 74 libraries, involving closing 25 immediately and condemning a further 18 to closure if community groups can’t be found to run them for free. More […]

Essex school support staff learning

We’re offering school support staff in Essex the chance to do some one-day training courses with the Open University. If you’re interested please fill out this short survey and return it to our organiser Tom Hemmings, whose details are in the file, so we can find out how best to deliver the training.

Young public-sector workers launch campaign against sexual harassment

Young trade unionists launch a campaign today tackling sexual harassment in the workplace. UNISON Eastern’s young workers committee is distributing thousands of postcards to UNISON members across the region, raising awareness of sexual harassment and advising people how to deal with it. The ‘Uncomfortable Yet?’ campaign includes a video and posters to display in hospitals, […]

Southend Hospital staff to enjoy same pay and conditions as the rest of the NHS

UNISON welcomes the news that staff at Southend Hospital will now enjoy the same pay and conditions as everyone else in the NHS. Southend University Hospital is the only NHS Trust in the UK outside the national agreement on pay, terms and conditions known as Agenda for Change. The local terms mean staff in Southend […]

‘You will eat, sleep and breathe nursing’

Myles Cooper works as an assistant practitioner at Hellesdon Hospital in Norwich part of the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust. In February 2018, he started his journey on the Nursing Degree Apprenticeship. How long have you been working at the Trust? Coming up to nine years now.  I first joined on a temporary contract […]

Victory! Suffolk County Council sees sense on unpaid leave

UNISON welcomes Suffolk County Council’s decision to abandon its push to make staff take unpaid leave. It comes after 95% of UNISON members rejected the plans in a consultation. UNISON members will now vote on a revised offer implementing the second year of a two-year national pay deal for local government workers and allowing staff […]

Council workers prepare to go back to the classroom

Workers at Stevenage Borough Council are getting ready to go back to the classroom this month to brush up on their education thanks to a project backed by UNISON learning reps. More than 50 people from the Council’s Cavendish Road waste depot will start IT and literacy classes in courses provided on-site by the College […]

Suffolk County Council must ditch unpopular pay cut

Suffolk County Council must abandon its bid to cut staff pay through mandatory unpaid leave, UNISON says today after its members at the Council overwhelmingly voted against the plan. The Council says it will implement the second year of a nationally agreed two-year pay deal, but in return staff must take one day of mandatory unpaid […]

National ambulance specifications – make your voices heard

UNISON Eastern is urging ambulance staff to make their voices heard over a bid to introduce a uniform fleet design for double-crewed ambulances across England. Following last year’s Lord Carter review into operational productivity in England’s ambulance trusts, NHS Improvement has opened a consultation on a specific van-conversion ambulance style to do away with “unwarranted […]