Covid-19 – Union Newswire

Dudley NHS staff gain Mitie victory

More than 300 hospital workers in Dudley represented by UNISON are celebrating victory after their employer, Mitie, committed to paying the lump sum COVID bonus due to them at the end of last week.

The one-off payment is worth at least £1,655 for full-time health workers, including porters, domestics, sterile services and catering staff working in the NHS.

Mitie applied for funding for the pay deal from the Department of Health and Social Care and has written to UNISON to say that its application for funding had been successful.

Staff had taken three days of strike action over the company’s previous refusal to honour the payment, already given to health workers employed directly by the NHS in June.

The sum was part of a deal agreed for all staff on NHS contracts and Agenda for Change pay scales, but Mitie said it could not afford to pay up.

UNISON has now called off further strike dates due to take place today and on Wednesday.

UNISON West Midlands regional organiser Ollie Hopkins said: “This is a victory for the hundreds of low-paid health workers employed by Mitie in Dudley.

“They worked through the pandemic in the most challenging conditions imaginable. It is only right they receive the same COVID bonus payment as directly employed NHS staff.

“Workers took the tough decision to make a stand and show their strength of feeling. The high-profile strike action created pressure that focused the minds of Mitie executives and has ended the dispute.

“But Mitie generates huge profits and had the ability to pay its staff all along. It could have easily avoided this strike.

“UNISON and Unite have called off further action. Mitie must now get this money into the pockets of its workers immediately.”

The article Dudley NHS staff gain Mitie victory first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Dudley NHS staff gain Mitie victory

More than 300 hospital workers in Dudley represented by UNISON are celebrating victory after their employer, Mitie, committed to paying the lump sum COVID bonus due to them at the end of last week.

The one-off payment is worth at least £1,655 for full-time health workers, including porters, domestics, sterile services and catering staff working in the NHS.

Mitie applied for funding for the pay deal from the Department of Health and Social Care and has written to UNISON to say that its application for funding had been successful.

Staff had taken three days of strike action over the company’s previous refusal to honour the payment, already given to health workers employed directly by the NHS in June.

The sum was part of a deal agreed for all staff on NHS contracts and Agenda for Change pay scales, but Mitie said it could not afford to pay up.

UNISON has now called off further strike dates due to take place today and on Wednesday.

UNISON West Midlands regional organiser Ollie Hopkins said: “This is a victory for the hundreds of low-paid health workers employed by Mitie in Dudley.

“They worked through the pandemic in the most challenging conditions imaginable. It is only right they receive the same COVID bonus payment as directly employed NHS staff.

“Workers took the tough decision to make a stand and show their strength of feeling. The high-profile strike action created pressure that focused the minds of Mitie executives and has ended the dispute.

“But Mitie generates huge profits and had the ability to pay its staff all along. It could have easily avoided this strike.

“UNISON and Unite have called off further action. Mitie must now get this money into the pockets of its workers immediately.”

The article Dudley NHS staff gain Mitie victory first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Blog: Give your ?? to our unions

It’s Valentine’s Day tomorrow, which also means it’s Unions Week. Whatever your relationship status, you can still show your endless love for your trade union.

Besides me shamelessly trying to fit a few love puns and song titles into this blog, you’ll find here my message about how important unions are to me, to everyone’s working lives and to the whole of society.

I’ve spent my whole working life in the trade union movement, because I know that trade unions make life better for working people. Unions help boost pay by up to £60,000 over a working life, while workers in unionised workplaces also have better pensions and much safer workplaces.

On any given day, there could be a new reason why someone needs their trade union. It might be for a national pay deal, a local re-banding claim, for better protections in the workplace, as during COVID, or for support with a grievance or disciplinary.

Trade unions will always be needed, and right now that need is growing stronger every day that this Westminster government stays in power. As long as the Tories are in Parliament, working people’s lives and living standards are being hammered. It’s been so clear in their attacks on workers’ rights and trade union rights that they don’t have workers’ best interests at heart.

Getting to meet so many of our members and activists is the best part of being general secretary. And I’m proud that UNISON gives public service workers a union for life – from school uniform grants, representation for student nurses and our young members’ forum, right through to our support for retired members.

So, this Unions Week, remember that UNISON loves you just the way you are. And why not take the opportunity this week to show your love for UNISON, by telling more of your friends and work colleagues all the good reasons to join us.

The article Blog: Give your ❤️ to our unions first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Blog: Give your ?? to our unions

It’s Valentine’s Day tomorrow, which also means it’s Unions Week. Whatever your relationship status, you can still show your endless love for your trade union.

Besides me shamelessly trying to fit a few love puns and song titles into this blog, you’ll find here my message about how important unions are to me, to everyone’s working lives and to the whole of society.

I’ve spent my whole working life in the trade union movement, because I know that trade unions make life better for working people. Unions help boost pay by up to £60,000 over a working life, while workers in unionised workplaces also have better pensions and much safer workplaces.

On any given day, there could be a new reason why someone needs their trade union. It might be for a national pay deal, for a local re-banding claim, for better protections in the workplace – as during COVID – or for support with a grievance or disciplinary.

Trade unions will always be needed, and right now that need is growing stronger every day that this Westminster government stays in power. As long as the Tories are in Parliament, working people’s lives and living standards are being hammered. It’s been so clear in their attacks on workers’ rights and trade union rights that they don’t have workers’ best interests at heart.

Getting to meet so many of our members and activists is the best part of being general secretary. And I’m proud that UNISON gives public service workers a union for life – from school uniform grants, representation for student nurses and our young members’ forum, right through to our support for retired members.

So, this Unions Week, remember that UNISON loves you just the way you are. And why not take the opportunity this week to show your love for UNISON, by telling more of your friends and work colleagues all the good reasons to join us.

The article Blog: Give your ❤️ to our unions first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Blog: The clock is ticking to the next general election

I remember the feeling of horror, four years ago today, as I watched the disaster of Boris Johnson re-entering Downing Street with a big majority.

The cold and wet winter general election campaign was centred around his many slogans that promised a lot but would deliver very little.

“We will put you first” was the biggest joke of all. I could never reconcile these words with what I saw from the self-centred politician on the screen in front of me. Johnson’s chaotic handling of the pandemic proved this to be a lie.

Had that really been his guiding principle throughout the pandemic, the UK wouldn’t have one of the highest COVID-19 death rates in Western Europe, his government wouldn’t have enabled the deaths of so many care home residents, and essential workers would have had proper PPE, not unusable stock from dodgy crony contracts.

What about the promises for the NHS and investing in our public services? Well, “50,000 more nurses” might have been recruited, but vacancies are stubbornly high. Demand is rising so high that staff are struggling to care for too many patients. Many of these new recruits were from overseas, but now the government wants to either kick them out and make it harder for more to come here.

Their manifesto harped on about “supporting workers and families“. But the only people doing that are trade unionists, while the Tories have been introducing draconian measures to stop us getting the best for working people. New laws that they have no mandate for.

And the big one, “get Brexit done“. That happened, but far from “unleashing Britain’s potential“, we’ve seen our living standards plummet, sluggish growth, a stagnant economy and crumbing public services.

We’ve endured three Conservative prime pinisters since the 2019 general election, countless secretaries of state and ministers, and they are now terminally infighting over a cruel and unworkable immigration policy.

While the clock ticks to the next general election, the public are watching, arms folded, waiting for their chance to vote them out.

The article Blog: The clock is ticking to the next general election first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Blog: Your experiences are vital to the COVID Inquiry

It’s been grim watching so far, but today will get much grimmer as the Cummings circus arrives at the UK COVID-19 Inquiry.

We’re expecting more explosive talk, axe-grinding and score-settling. A lot of noise that risks drowning out the most important parts of the inquiry – the experiences of those who suffered.

In the UK, millions fell sick with COVID, and over 230,000 died with it, leaving millions more grieving relatives and friends. We all lost days without our loved ones beside us, when lockdowns separated us.

And the people who went to work every day to look after COVID patients, to protect others from catching it, to keep hospitals, care homes, councils, prisons, transport, and schools running, risked their own lives to protect others.

Recounting and recalling the hundreds of days of the pandemic is difficult. But without your experiences, the government and civil service won’t learn from the mistakes of the past.

Ever since the start of the pandemic, I’ve heard heart-breaking stories from our members. Care workers were calling us, desperate for PPE and terrified to go to work.

Healthcare assistants told me they worked well beyond what was expected of them to help mortuary staff, and an exhausted and overwhelmed public service workforce has been left deeply betrayed by the people in Number 10 who flouted the rules.

UNISON’s COVID Inquiry team remains focused on amplifying your voices throughout the inquiry. And our head of health, Sara Gorton, is preparing a written statement on behalf of UNISON, and will be our expert witness when the inquiry takes oral statements.

We’re putting this effort into the inquiry, because UNISON’s collective experience is the most valuable insight into how the pandemic ravaged through the UK.

But we need your help too. Please take the time to share your experience – you can do this directly, through the UK’s COVID-19 Inquiry website here.

The article Blog: Your experiences are vital to the COVID Inquiry first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Blog: Your experiences are vital to the COVID Inquiry

It’s been grim watching so far, but today will get much grimmer as the Cummings circus arrives at the UK COVID-19 Inquiry.

We’re expecting more explosive talk, axe-grinding and score-settling. A lot of noise that risks drowning out the most important parts of the inquiry – the experiences of those who suffered.

In the UK, millions fell sick with COVID, and over 230,000 died with it, leaving millions more grieving relatives and friends. We all lost days without our loved ones beside us, when lockdowns separated us.

And the people who went to work every day to look after COVID patients, to protect others from catching it, to keep hospitals, care homes, councils, prisons, transport, and schools running, risked their own lives to protect others.

Recounting and recalling the hundreds of days of the pandemic is difficult. But without your experiences, the government and civil service won’t learn from the mistakes of the past.

Ever since the start of the pandemic, I’ve heard heart-breaking stories from our members. Care workers were calling us, desperate for PPE and terrified to go to work.

Healthcare assistants told me they worked well beyond what was expected of them to help mortuary staff, and an exhausted and overwhelmed public service workforce has been left deeply betrayed by the people in Number 10 who flouted the rules.

UNISON’s COVID Inquiry team remains focused on amplifying your voices throughout the inquiry. And our head of health, Sara Gorton, is preparing a written statement on behalf of UNISON, and will be our expert witness when the inquiry takes oral statements.

We’re putting this effort into the inquiry, because UNISON’s collective experience is the most valuable insight into how the pandemic ravaged through the UK.

But we need your help too. Please take the time to share your experience – you can do this directly, through the UK’s COVID-19 Inquiry website here.

The article Blog: Your experiences are vital to the COVID Inquiry first appeared on the UNISON National site.

UNISON takes COVID-19 inquiry call to TUC Congress

“In many ways, it took the pandemic to expose the true cost of austerity.”

So said UNISON president Libby Nolan as she moved the union’s motion on the COVID-19 public inquiry at the TUC Congress in Liverpool yesterday, saying that the most fitting memorial to all the working people who died during the pandemic would be for lessons to be learned and acted upon.

She pointed out that the hearings in the inquiry, which only started in June, had revealed that the “government has failed in their preparedness and response.”

Ms Nolan, a cardiac nurse from Swansea, described how, “as a nurse, I used bin bags to cover my uniform and a Tesco carrier bag on my head to cover my hair.

“We knew this government wasn’t ready. This lack of PPE [personal protective equipment] caused unnecessary exposure and a huge amount of fear.”

She said that many unions reps are still dealing with members whose lives have been changed by the pandemic. Masks are returning to wards as COVID-19 cases rise, planned vaccinations are to be brought forward and testing scaled up once more.

Noting that the “UK had one of the worst death rates”, Ms Nolan reminded congress that the country also featured among those with the highest COVID-19 deaths among health workers.

“Let’s always remember the dead and fight for the living,” she said, invoking the slogan for International Workers’ Memorial Day.

Congress applauded the important evidence that the TUC has submitted to the inquiry so far, “demonstrating that austerity seriously damaged the UK’s resilience”.

Delegates also agreed that the TUC should continue to:

raise issues of direct relevance to union members, their families and communities;
support trade unionists to share their experiences with affiliates, so that these can be built into TUC evidence, and direct to the inquiry through the Every Story Matters process;
highlight the equalities impact of the pandemic;
hold decision makers to account.

The article UNISON takes COVID-19 inquiry call to TUC Congress first appeared on the UNISON National site.

UNISON takes COVID-19 inquiry call to TUC Congress

“In many ways, it took the pandemic to expose the true cost of austerity.”

So said UNISON president Libby Nolan as she moved the union’s motion on the COVID-19 public inquiry at the TUC Congress in Liverpool yesterday, saying that the most fitting memorial to all the working people who died during the pandemic would be for lessons to be learned and acted upon.

She pointed out that the hearings in the inquiry, which only started in June, had revealed that the “government has failed in their preparedness and response.”

Ms Nolan, a cardiac nurse from Swansea, described how, “as a nurse, I used bin bags to cover my uniform and a Tesco carrier bag on my head to cover my hair.

“We knew this government wasn’t ready. This lack of PPE [personal protective equipment] caused unnecessary exposure and a huge amount of fear.”

She said that many unions reps are still dealing with members whose lives have been changed by the pandemic. Masks are returning to wards as COVID-19 cases rise, planned vaccinations are to be brought forward and testing scaled up once more.

Noting that the “UK had one of the worst death rates”, Ms Nolan reminded congress that the country also featured among those with the highest COVID-19 deaths among health workers.

“Let’s always remember the dead and fight for the living,” she said, invoking the slogan for International Workers’ Memorial Day.

Congress applauded the important evidence that the TUC has submitted to the inquiry so far, “demonstrating that austerity seriously damaged the UK’s resilience”.

Delegates also agreed that the TUC should continue to:

raise issues of direct relevance to union members, their families and communities;
support trade unionists to share their experiences with affiliates, so that these can be built into TUC evidence, and direct to the inquiry through the Every Story Matters process;
highlight the equalities impact of the pandemic;
hold decision makers to account.

The article UNISON takes COVID-19 inquiry call to TUC Congress first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Energy bills see schools pull back on ventilation and CO2 monitoring

A UNISON survey has revealed that, amid fears over rising energy costs, there has been a significant drop off in good ventilation practices in schools in the absence of government messaging on COVID and other viruses.

The survey was conducted among UNISON members working as school support staff across the UK between 4–9 November. This included teaching/classroom assistants working in classrooms, of whom 1,644 responded.

The results showed that:

on CO₂monitoring, only 26% said that their schools was still actively monitoring levels in all classrooms. Nearly 50% (49.7%) of respondents said their schools were no longer actively monitoring CO₂ levels in all classrooms;
on ventilation, only 16% of respondents said the school was ensuring good ventilation in all areas, while 38% replied that the school had stopped taking action to ensure good ventilation, and 46% said that their school was ventilating rooms much less than last year;
on the main reason their school was no longer actively monitoring CO₂ levels or ensuring good ventilation (multiple choice options), 44.6% of respondents stated it was because their school “no longer thought COVID was an issue” and 42% that their “school is worried about energy costs and heating bills (ie more heating is needed when windows are opened)”.

UNISON is concerned that this drop off in ventilation is increasing the risk of illness and absences in schools, with particular concern for immunosuppressed pupils and staff.

It also comes at a time when statistics from the Department for Education (DfE) show that attendance rates are still below pre-pandemic levels.

The DfE has now announced that it is sending more CO₂ monitors to schools – enough for one per classroom – alongside a reminder of the importance of ventilation. It is also reopening the bidding process for schools to apply for air filters.

While this is a welcome step, UNISON is concerned that the criteria being used by the DfE on CO₂ levels in schools is being set at such a level that the overwhelming majority of schools will still not be provided with air filters.

The joint unions, including UNISON, recently wrote to the children’s commissioner for England on this, saying: “In July we wrote to the former secretary of state for education, James Cleverly MP, calling on the government to use the summer break to invest in measures such as ventilation in all schools to help reduce the chance of yet another wave of COVID absences this term.“

UNISON is restating its call for the government to provide suitable/appropriate air filters to all schools as soon as possible this winter, and for an urgent announcement from government on the extension of the energy support scheme, which is currently only confirmed until the end of March next year. Removing fears over energy costs will be crucial to supporting ventilation.

In the meantime, the union is also urging schools to follow UNISON guidance on improving ventilation to help reduce illness and absences this winter.

If members have any concerns on ventilation in their schools, please immediately contact your branch for support. If you don’t know how to contact your branch, you can find out here.

The article Energy bills see schools pull back on ventilation and CO2 monitoring first appeared on the UNISON National site.