Category: General secretary’s blog

Blog: Let’s make 2024 a success

Happy New Year to everyone in UNISON and here’s to a successful year for you and your families.

I have high hopes for 2024 – 12 months of campaigning for UNISON’s Year of LGBT+ workers and for a national care service, securing pay deals across all public services and a general election that will push the chaotic Tories out of Westminster and bring in a new government.

A new government is a must for our members and for our public services. Our NHS, schools, local councils and emergency services are on their knees and stuck in a state of crisis. The current government’s legacy is one of slashing jobs, squeezing budgets, and falling living standards for millions of working people. We need a Labour government that will rebuild our public services, put workers first with a new deal for working people and create a national care service.

Campaigning for that change in government will be a big part of our mission this year, but we won’t let election fever take over our daily task of fighting for our members’ pay and conditions. Day in, day out, our activists and organisers are supporting members in workplaces across the UK, and our teams in head office are mounting legal challenges, influencing politicians, preparing campaigns and helping members when they need us most.   

We’ll also be celebrating our Year of LGBT+ workers in UNISON style – continuing to be loud and proud against homophobia and transphobia, and ensuring that UNISON always remains the best trade union for LGBT+ public service workers.  

And later this year, there’s something that every working member can get involved with. From 22 April to 17 May, voting will be open for your representatives on UNISON’s service group executives (SGEs) – the lay leaders who decide on campaigns, pay claims, strike ballots and industrial action. Ahead of that member ballot, from next Monday (8 January) until 9 February, branches can nominate their preferred candidates.

Our SGEs are so important in UNISON. They’re powerful groups of activists that keep UNISON with you throughout your working life, campaigning for fair pay and conditions, safe and healthy working conditions, job security, work-life balance, equal pay and against discrimination.

So if you want some more new year’s resolutions, here’s two for you – have your say in UNISON’s SGE elections and get involved in our Year of LGBT+ workers activities that will be taking place throughout 2024.

From everyone in UNISON, we hope you have a happy, healthy and successful 2024.

The article Blog: Let’s make 2024 a success first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Blog: Let’s make 2024 a success

Happy New Year to everyone in UNISON and here’s to a successful year for you and your families.

I have high hopes for 2024 – 12 months of campaigning for UNISON’s Year of LGBT+ workers and for a national care service, securing pay deals across all public services and a general election that will push the chaotic Tories out of Westminster and bring in a new government.

A new government is a must for our members and for our public services. Our NHS, schools, local councils and emergency services are on their knees and stuck in a state of crisis. The current government’s legacy is one of slashing jobs, squeezing budgets, and falling living standards for millions of working people. We need a Labour government that will rebuild our public services, put workers first with a new deal for working people and create a national care service.

Campaigning for that change in government will be a big part of our mission this year, but we won’t let election fever take over our daily task of fighting for our members’ pay and conditions. Day in, day out, our activists and organisers are supporting members in workplaces across the UK, and our teams in head office are mounting legal challenges, influencing politicians, preparing campaigns and helping members when they need us most.   

We’ll also be celebrating our Year of LGBT+ workers in UNISON style – continuing to be loud and proud against homophobia and transphobia, and ensuring that UNISON always remains the best trade union for LGBT+ public service workers.  

And later this year, there’s something that every working member can get involved with. From 22 April to 17 May, voting will be open for your representatives on UNISON’s service group executives (SGEs) – the lay leaders who decide on campaigns, pay claims, strike ballots and industrial action. Ahead of that member ballot, from next Monday (8 January) until 9 February, branches can nominate their preferred candidates.

Our SGEs are so important in UNISON. They’re powerful groups of activists that keep UNISON with you throughout your working life, campaigning for fair pay and conditions, safe and healthy working conditions, job security, work-life balance, equal pay and against discrimination.

So if you want some more new year’s resolutions, here’s two for you – have your say in UNISON’s SGE elections and get involved in our Year of LGBT+ workers activities that will be taking place throughout 2024.

From everyone in UNISON, we hope you have a happy, healthy and successful 2024.

The article Blog: Let’s make 2024 a success first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Blog: the clock ticks 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 Ministers 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 ticks to the next general election 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: The final hammer blow to our crumbling social care system

The government has put the final hammer blow to our crumbling social care system. The home secretary’s announcement of new immigration plans will sacrifice migrant care workers and risk a total collapse of the UK’s care system, just to appease extremist Tory backbenchers.

The health and care visa was introduced in 2020 to plug workforce gaps, but because headlines of soaring immigration numbers are compounding Rishi Sunak’s polling problems, he’s playing roulette with our essential services.

Had he, or his ministers, spoken to any employer in the care sector, they would know that any plans to curb the migrant care workforce will cause utter disaster. Not allowing migrant care workers to bring any dependants with them to the UK, will do exactly that. Potential recruits will be put off coming to the UK, and the ones already here may have to send dependants home when their visas come up for renewal.

Staff vacancies will soar from the current number of 152,000, and I don’t see a queue of British workers waiting to take up those posts. We will see care homes closing and care companies going bust.

UNISON had just released findings of appalling abuse of the migrant workers propping up social care, in its report Expendable Labour. These new plans will leave migrant care workers vulnerable to more abuse, as they can only come to the UK isolated, with no close family with them.

Finally, everyone in the UK can see what little regard this government has for the people who rely on social care, for care workers and their employers. But why would government ministers be so careless with people’s lives and so reckless with one of the biggest industries in the UK?

Maybe it’s because its workforce is predominantly low-paid women, doing work they view as low value and low intelligence. This was made clear yesterday by the home secretary in his announcement in the House of Commons.

While migrant care workers won’t be allowed to bring family with them to the UK, he said that international students coming to the UK on postgraduate research programmes could bring dependants, because, as he said, “we always want to attract the global brightest and best”.

I find the stirring of culture wars and spouting of anti-immigrant rhetoric sickening. I’ve clashed with characters from the far right on TV recently and when they talk about ‘British culture’, I’m left confused. Because I always thought we were a country that strived to be caring and welcoming. But what’s more callous than putting our older and vulnerable citizens at risk and being hostile to the people who come here to care for them.

The article Blog: The final hammer blow to our crumbling social care system first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Blog: The final hammer blow to our crumbling social care system

The government has put the final hammer blow to our crumbling social care system. The home secretary’s announcement of new immigration plans will sacrifice migrant care workers and risk a total collapse of the UK’s care system, just to appease extremist Tory backbenchers.

The health and care visa was introduced in 2020 to plug workforce gaps, but because headlines of soaring immigration numbers are compounding Rishi Sunak’s polling problems, he’s playing roulette with our essential services.

Had he, or his ministers, spoken to any employer in the care sector, they would know that any plans to curb the migrant care workforce will cause utter disaster. Not allowing migrant care workers to bring any dependants with them to the UK, will do exactly that. Potential recruits will be put off coming to the UK, and the ones already here may have to send dependants home when their visas come up for renewal.

Staff vacancies will soar from the current number of 152,000, and I don’t see a queue of British workers waiting to take up those posts. We will see care homes closing and care companies going bust.

UNISON had just released findings of appalling abuse of the migrant workers propping up social care, in its report Expendable Labour. These new plans will leave migrant care workers vulnerable to more abuse, as they can only come to the UK isolated, with no close family with them.

Finally, everyone in the UK can see what little regard this government has for the people who rely on social care, for care workers and their employers. But why would government ministers be so careless with people’s lives and so reckless with one of the biggest industries in the UK?

Maybe it’s because its workforce is predominantly low-paid women, doing work they view as low value and low intelligence. This was made clear yesterday by the home secretary in his announcement in the House of Commons.

While migrant care workers won’t be allowed to bring family with them to the UK, he said that international students coming to the UK on postgraduate research programmes could bring dependants, because, as he said, “we always want to attract the global brightest and best”.

I find the stirring of culture wars and spouting of anti-immigrant rhetoric sickening. I’ve clashed with characters from the far right on TV recently and when they talk about ‘British culture’, I’m left confused. Because I always thought we were a country that strived to be caring and welcoming. But what’s more callous than putting our older and vulnerable citizens at risk and being hostile to the people who come here to care for them.

The article Blog: The final hammer blow to our crumbling social care system first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Blog: Taking demands to world leaders at COP28

The UN’s climate change conference, COP28, is under way in Dubai and we’ve sent UNISON’s own observer, NEC member Tony Wright, to the conference. You can read more about his role here.

Back home in the UK, we’re also preparing to take part in the International Trade Union Confederation’s (ITUC) Global Day of Action. Events are planned in Aberystwyth, Bournemouth, Brighton, Cardiff, Durham, Edinburgh, Leeds, London, Portsmouth and Sheffield.

We no longer have to look very far to see the damage being caused every day by climate change – it’s here in the UK. And while the Westminster government is busy giving ever more tax breaks to the biggest polluting companies, and allowing them to make record-breaking profits from soaring energy bills, the global COP process is all about getting governments to stop burying their heads in the sand and to take action.

Without all governments stepping up to this existential emergency, there is no doubt, we will run out of time to protect our planet. This is a fundamental trade union issue, because the jobs, health and finances of UNISON members are all affected by climate change.

World leaders are now in Dubai to make key decisions on how countries will commit to tackling the climate emergency. But at its core, there must be a just transition. It has to promote and protect human rights and fundamental labour rights. Also, it must guarantee intergenerational and gender equity, racial justice and respect for the rights of indigenous peoples, impacted communities and migrants.

As UNISON is part of the ITUC observer delegation, we have clear, joint demands of world leaders:

  • Only a just transition to a low-carbon economy can secure the future and livelihoods of workers and their communities
  • Just transition plans should be co-created with workers and their trade unions to guarantee decent work, social protection, training opportunities and job security for all workers affected by global warming and climate change policies
  • Plans must be underpinned by the fundamental Labour rights of freedom of association and collective bargaining and facilitated through social dialogue between workers and their unions, employers and governments, as established by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

Trade unionists across the world are mobilising around these core principles. And while we know the COP processes won’t hold all the solutions, we must do all we can to tackle the climate catastrophe head on. We can all do our bit, too, which is why we’re encouraging all members to find an event to take part in on the Global Day of Action on 9 December.

Follow our Green UNISON campaign online and look out for our special reports back during COP over the next few weeks.

The article Blog: Taking demands to world leaders at COP28 first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Blog: Taking demands to world leaders at COP28

The UN’s climate change conference, COP28, is under way in Dubai and we’ve sent UNISON’s own observer, NEC member Tony Wright, to the conference. You can read more about his role here.

Back home in the UK, we’re also preparing to take part in the International Trade Union Confederation’s (ITUC) Global Day of Action. Events are planned in Aberystwyth, Bournemouth, Brighton, Cardiff, Durham, Edinburgh, Leeds, London, Portsmouth and Sheffield.

We no longer have to look very far to see the damage being caused every day by climate change – it’s here in the UK. And while the Westminster government is busy giving ever more tax breaks to the biggest polluting companies, and allowing them to make record-breaking profits from soaring energy bills, the global COP process is all about getting governments to stop burying their heads in the sand and to take action.

Without all governments stepping up to this existential emergency, there is no doubt, we will run out of time to protect our planet. This is a fundamental trade union issue, because the jobs, health and finances of UNISON members are all affected by climate change.

World leaders are now in Dubai to make key decisions on how countries will commit to tackling the climate emergency. But at its core, there must be a just transition. It has to promote and protect human rights and fundamental labour rights. Also, it must guarantee intergenerational and gender equity, racial justice and respect for the rights of indigenous peoples, impacted communities and migrants.

As UNISON is part of the ITUC observer delegation, we have clear, joint demands of world leaders:

  • Only a just transition to a low-carbon economy can secure the future and livelihoods of workers and their communities
  • Just transition plans should be co-created with workers and their trade unions to guarantee decent work, social protection, training opportunities and job security for all workers affected by global warming and climate change policies
  • Plans must be underpinned by the fundamental Labour rights of freedom of association and collective bargaining and facilitated through social dialogue between workers and their unions, employers and governments, as established by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

Trade unionists across the world are mobilising around these core principles. And while we know the COP processes won’t hold all the solutions, we must do all we can to tackle the climate catastrophe head on. We can all do our bit, too, which is why we’re encouraging all members to find an event to take part in on the Global Day of Action on 9 December.

Follow our Green UNISON campaign online and look out for our special reports back during COP over the next few weeks.

The article Blog: Taking demands to world leaders at COP28 first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Blog: The shocking treatment of migrant workers harms us all

UNISON has gathered evidence of appalling exploitation of migrant workers by unscrupulous care bosses.

Care is one of the biggest industries in the UK, but also one of the most precarious. It’s broken, on the brink of collapse and only being propped up by the work of migrants.

Workers from abroad have sold everything they own to come here and care for people. But instead of receiving decent pay and conditions, and being treated with dignity and respect, the UK government is letting employers get away with terrible practices that should be consigned to history.

Our report, Expendable Labour details shocking treatment of migrant care workers in the UK care system.

We found the ultimate abuse of workers. Brought over here on false promises of a better life and charged dodgy fees that cost them their homes and savings. Some find they’re either overworked on 80 hours a week, or given too few hours to survive off. Given inadequate training, living in poor conditions and threatened with deportation if they speak out.

To top it off, ministers are demonising migrant workers by blaming them for all the country’s woes. They’re complicit in allowing the abuse to continue and in a raging culture war that’s now targeting low paid migrant workers.

Rather than focusing on fixing social care and ensuring decent pay and care for those who need it, the likes of Robert Jenrick, Minister for Immigration, are happy to see the care system completely collapse. His suggestions of capping visas for care workers and his desire to prevent them from bringing children or other dependent family members with them, will only make the problems in care worse.

Any increase on the current 152,000 care staff vacancies spells deep trouble for the whole sector.

So we’re calling on the government to take urgent action to stop that from happening.

Immigration reform and the creation of a national care service are the answer.

Visa extensions would allow care workers more time to seek employment with a new sponsor, and a national care service would ensure decent pay, terms and conditions to prevent abuse and exploitation.

Fixing social care ultimately means guaranteed support for those who need it. But it would also help to grow our economy. And what better way to do it, than through a national care service that everyone can be proud of.

The article Blog: The shocking treatment of migrant workers harms us all first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Blog: The shocking treatment of migrant workers harms us all

UNISON has gathered evidence of appalling exploitation of migrant workers by unscrupulous care bosses.

Care is one of the biggest industries in the UK, but also one of the most precarious. It’s broken, on the brink of collapse and only being propped up by the work of migrants.

Workers from abroad have sold everything they own to come here and care for people. But instead of receiving decent pay and conditions, and being treated with dignity and respect, the UK government is letting employers get away with terrible practices that should be consigned to history.

Our report, Expendable Labour details shocking treatment of migrant care workers in the UK care system.

We found the ultimate abuse of workers. Brought over here on false promises of a better life and charged dodgy fees that cost them their homes and savings. Some find they’re either overworked on 80 hours a week, or given too few hours to survive off. Given inadequate training, living in poor conditions and threatened with deportation if they speak out.

To top it off, ministers are demonising migrant workers by blaming them for all the country’s woes. They’re complicit in allowing the abuse to continue and in a raging culture war that’s now targeting low paid migrant workers.

Rather than focusing on fixing social care and ensuring decent pay and care for those who need it, the likes of Robert Jenrick, Minister for Immigration, are happy to see the care system completely collapse. His suggestions of capping visas for care workers and his desire to prevent them from bringing children or other dependent family members with them, will only make the problems in care worse.

Any increase on the current 152,000 care staff vacancies spells deep trouble for the whole sector.

So we’re calling on the government to take urgent action to stop that from happening.

Immigration reform and the creation of a national care service are the answer.

Visa extensions would allow care workers more time to seek employment with a new sponsor, and a national care service would ensure decent pay, terms and conditions to prevent abuse and exploitation.

Fixing social care ultimately means guaranteed support for those who need it. But it would also help to grow our economy. And what better way to do it, than through a national care service that everyone can be proud of.

The article Blog: The shocking treatment of migrant workers harms us all first appeared on the UNISON National site.