General Secretary election – A statement by the Regional Convenor Team

The Eastern Region are pleased to announce that it has nominated Dave Prentis for re-election as General Secretary. The region backed Dave based on his impressive record of standing up for all of our members across the entire union.

How to join the campaign against the Trade Union Bill

As part of our campaign to stop the government’s Trade Union Bill the TUC is organising a lobby of parliament on 2 November 2015. We want MPs to hear directly from their constituents that: The Bill threatens the right to strike Employers will be able to break strikes by bringing in agency workers to cover for […]

Why we oppose the Trade Union Bill

This autumn, MPs and peers will discuss the trade union bill – which threatens the basic right to strike. For the first time, employers will be able to break strikes by bringing in agency workers to cover for strikers. This could have big safety implications, lead to worse public services, and will undermine the right […]

November is TUC young workers’ month

This year’s UNISON national delegate conference called on all branches to commit to running at least one activity during November to raise the profile of young workers and young union members. UNISON’s national young members forum has come up with a range of suggested activities that branches can run – but stress that it’s just as […]

Apprenticeships and UNISON – why the two go together

If you’re thinking about being an apprentice or are already an apprentice and are thinking about joining us take a look at our two new videos. In the first members with apprenticeships talk about what’s good about being an apprentice and in the second why they decided to join UNISON. Branches may find these videos useful […]

A brief guide to the progress of the trade union bill through parliament

The Bill has now had both its first and seconds readings in the House of Commons and now moves onto the committee stage.  So, what does this mean for our campaign against it? At the first reading the title of the Bill was read out. That was it. No speeches and no debate. At the […]

Tell the police in advance before you post on Facebook and Twitter, says the government

What if you had to give two weeks’ warning to the police and your employer every time you wanted to post something important on Twitter or Facebook? The Trade Union bill currently before Parliament suggests unions do just that when they take action. Ridiculous? Yes. But also very scary, as unions may be just the […]

Why student nurses need to be in UNISON – watch the new video

We all know about the need to join a union when starting work but what about when you’re just starting  training for your dream job?  That’s the question UNISON will be putting to thousands of students across the country as they begin courses to become nurses, ODPs and paramedics.  In this new video student members tell […]

Public sector pay cap is damaging recruitment and retention says report

A report for UNISON by the Smith Institute shows that the NHS and local councils across the UK are facing a growing staffing crisis as a result of the government’s imposed pay cap. The research was based on a survey of HR directors and managers in NHS trusts and local authorities, involving in-depth interviews concerning […]

UNISON urges the government to show compassion and accept more refugees

Dave Prentis, UNISON’s General Secretary has condemned the government’s insensitive attitude towards the refugee crisis in Europe and called on members to contact their MPs* to put more pressure on ministers to ensure that the UK does everything possible to help the thousands of families fleeing the violence in the Middle East and Africa. Speaking […]

Probation staff to take further strike action over pay

UNISON members working for the NPS (National Probation Service) and CRCs (Community Rehabilitation Companies) will be going out on second strike over pay for three hours on Monday 14 September. The strike will be followed by 2 ½ weeks of action short of strike with members working strictly to their contracted hours. The first UNISON […]

The right to strike is under threat. Here’s a quick video explaining why…

In a nutshell, the government’s Trade Union Bill would mean: employers were able to use agency temps to replace striking workers restrictions on pickets and protests that threaten freedom of speech attacks on union reps in the public sector more unnecessary red tape, tying up unions. Taken together, these will undermine our basic right to […]

Why you should reject the Further Education pay “offer”

Five reasons to reject the 0% “offer” Pay restraint hasn’t applied equally to all. The gap between high and low pay is rising.  The number of staff earning more than £100,000 has increased with some college principals earning footballer wages while the pay bill is shrinking. Work on the Living Wage has been sabotaged by employers […]

The Tory Trade Union Bill – Let us know what you think of it

The government’s latest attempt to prevent workers from campaigning for better pay and working conditions is set out in the recently published Trade Union Bill. Here are some of the things it will do: Impose such high turn out levels for strike ballots that if they were applied to elections would see most MPs not being […]

UNISON calls for better pay to recruit and keep staff in response to damning Care UK CQC report

Reacting to the damning CQC report on Care UK at Mills Meadow UNISON has called on the company to pay its staff in Suffolk a decent wage to improve staff recruitment and retention. UNISON Area Organiser Jennie Anderson said “We continually raise concerns about staffing levels with Care UK. It was inevitable that this would […]