Support staff across Saint Ralph Sherwin and Our Lady Of Lourdes Catholic Multi-Academy Trust are essential to the safety, learning and development of children in the Nottinghamshire Diocese.  They go above and beyond to ensure pupils are supported and secure in their schools. They take pride in their work and their expertise, but have made the difficult decision to strike to protect their pupils, their livelihoods and the schools they hold so dear. Workers have overwhelmingly rejected the insulting proposals that could slash their wages by up to 25%. If they go ahead as planned, they feel that the schools would no longer be the safe welcoming environments they have all worked so hard to foster. 94% and 98% of UNISON members that voted in their Trust specific ballot voted to strike and the first dates were held on 24th and 25th March making their voices heard and proving that schools can't run without them.  Following successful peaceful protests at both Trust headquarters over the Easter Break, further strike dates for April and May have been announced.

Critical Care NHS workers striking after Greater Manchester’s Northern Care Alliance cuts pay   NHS staff working at Salford Royal, Royal Oldham and Fairfield Hospital, Bury are in dispute with Northern Care Alliance Foundation Trust after the trust decided to cut their pay when they undertake overtime to cover staff shortages. The Trust fails to pay overtime in line with their terms and conditions of employment, NHS Agenda for Change.    NCA have engaged an alternative private employer, ’NHS Professionals’, to cover shifts which means staff that assist the Trust in covering staff shortages are now seeing a significant drop in pay as well as being able to avoid employer pension contributions. NHS Professionals last year posted pre tax profits of a staggering £11.4M.     Critical Care units across the Trust which cover Salford, Oldham, Rochdale and Bury are heavily reliant on covering shifts to meet safe staffing requirements or critically ill patients.  The specialist nature of the care required in critical care means most shifts are picked up by staff already working on the unit.     UNISON members are calling on the Trust to be given the right to choose whether to work the shift as Overtime or NHSP Bank rates. This choice would allow staff to be paid the correct pay for the crucial duties they are undertaking and no less for additional work they carry out whilst also being able to contribute to their pension. The worrying reliance on a private entity in the NHS is forcing UNISON members into financial hardship. A UNISON member said "I'm a highly trained and skilled clinical professional and I literally keep people alive. NCA has reduced my pay by £10 an hour for our extra hours rates that we rely on and I'm now struggling to make ends meet at home”.  After over a year of trying to resolve this issue with the Trust UNISON members have now voted 98% in favour of strike action. 

Removing this essential service will create new barriers to learning, participation, and employment at the college, undermining the ability of many to continue their courses or sustain their roles. We call on Milton Keynes College to halt the closure plans and work with staff, students, UNISON, and the wider community to find a fair, sustainable alternative that protects access to childcare.   UNISON will keep in touch as the campaign develops

Northern Trains is becoming part of a publicly owned Great British Railways, which is good news for passengers and rail workers.  But many rail workers are being left out of Great British Railways because they are outsourced to private companies.  Outsourcing companies cut costs to boost profits, resulting in worse pay and conditions for staff and a worse service for passengers. Northern Trains currently outsources station staff, cleaners and security guards to Carlisle, ISS and Amulet.  Carlisle is owned by the Tory donor and tax exile Lord Ashcroft and its treatment of staff is typical of the worst of outsourcing firms. ·         Imposing low pay: RMT members at Carlisle have been in a long-running dispute because the company won’t negotiate their pay, choosing to impose the minimum possible pay rates it can get away with. Our members have been forced to take industrial action in the form of strikes and refusing to scan tickets to try to get a negotiated pay rise.  ·         Bullying staff for taking legal strike action: Since the dispute began, Carlisle managers have tried to bully and intimidate our members into submission. Carlisle keep many of our members on zero hours contracts and threaten to cut their shifts or their holiday if our members take legal strike action.  ·         Passing the buck: Carlisle and Northern keep passing the buck between them, each blaming the other for the dispute, while hoping our members will be starved into giving up.  This treatment brings shame on Northern Trains.

Workers have called for formal union recognition so staff can negotiate pay, terms and working conditions collectively with Second Step management. While meetings have been productive, recognition has yet to be granted, leaving workers without a meaningful, organised voice in decisions that directly affect their livelihoods and the quality of services provided. We call on Second Step to recognise our union formally, commit to fair and inflation-reflective pay, and address the widening pay gap between Second Step roles and equivalent NHS and AWP positions. Fair pay and fair representation are essential not only for staff, but for the stability and future of the services our communities rely on. When workers are respected, services are stronger. We would like to highlight Kelvin Blake's conflicting position; on one hand, he is a councillor representing constituents who are struggling to buy food and access housing as their pay is not meeting the rate of inflation, and on the other hand he is the Chair of the Board of Second Step and his silence is deafening. As a Labour councillor his government have bought in the Employment Rights Bill – which among other things provides improved facility time for union reps and lifts many constraints on union activity – and yet Kelvin is silent about the industrial action happening in his constituency. This silence is palpable as Union reps struggle to engage with Second Step leadership in meaningful negotiations. We say to Kelvin: many of us are your constituents and we are asking you to make a statement in support of our campaign. This would be particularly impactful in your position as Chair of the Board. Stand with Second Step workers and support fair pay, fair conditions and union recognition. Sign to show your solidarity with our campaign and to support our message to Kelvin.  

These care homes have been run down and neglected over many years, but they are fantastic buildings, staffed by carers with decades of experience and they are the beloved homes to their residents and an important part of their communities.  UNISON Derbyshire does not believe care should be privatised or marketed and we call for these homes to remain in the public sector.  The homes at risk are: Briar Close, Borrowash Castle Court, Swadlincote The Grange, Eckington Lacemaker Court, Long Eaton The Leys, Ashbourne New Bassett House, Shirebrook Rowthorne, Swanwick Thomas Colledge House, Bolsover.

UCU members have been standing up against the continual cutting and restructuring of the last several years which has significantly damaged the University’s international standing, the quality of education of our students, and staff’s collective mental health. The pace of change is both unnecessary for achieving management’s stated goals of making the University financially stable and unsustainable. Staff cannot be expected to continue to carry out ever-increasing workloads.  It is also important because aggressive union-busting tactics such as what Sheffield’s management are proposing threaten all workers' ability to stand up to unjustified cuts and unjust management actions, now and in the future. An attack on one is an attack on all.  Please sign our petition and, if you can, contribute £5 (or more if you can!) to our fighting fund to help us ensure our members are supported through the holiday season and the months ahead.

We are calling on our members and the wider public to support this petition. These cuts will impact service delivery and could result in increased attendance times and reduced resilience, further causing the normal response to be diminished.

We should be investing in our public service not cutting, reducing or dissolving them.  

Dumfries and Galloway is consulting the public on a range of proposals. In the past 16 years, the Council has cut £13 million from its budget and is now seeking to cut a further £35 million in the next three years. Most of these cuts are aimed at the Education Department. Proposals include consultation on the closure of 58 nursery, primary and secondary schools, axing the instrumental music service, and cuts to essential education workers. Years of under-resourcing have already created workload, pupil equity, violence and aggression issues that are unsustainable in schools. Over 40% of learners now have some form of additional support need. The introduction of the presumption of mainstreaming and the failure to appropriately resource this in schools has led to an increase in violence and aggression against teachers and between pupils. If realised, the recent budget cuts would have ramifications for the quality of education in Dumfries and Galloway and will hit some of the poorest children, the hardest. We are seriously concerned about the potential for the widening of the poverty-related attainment gap in Dumfries and Galloway.

Britain’s buses are old, inaccessible and unsafe. Except in London. Why? London buses have two or three sets of doors to make getting on and off really quick, safe, and accessible for everyone. If you’re a disabled user or parent with a buggy, getting on the bus, and finding space to sit, can often be impossible.  We believe buses can be made more accessible with these changes: • two sets of doors for boarding/alighting • Separate dedicated places for wheelchair users and parents with buggies • Eye level displays for wheelchair users and bell buttons within easy access • Seats at bus stops to provide a rest space for passengers who struggle to stand • Automatic boarding ramps and back up manual ramps if not working • Reinstating bus conductors • A permanent board of representative passengers and user groups to co-design all aspects of bus design and the bus reform process with the Mayor London buses aren’t this bad, and neither are buses across the rest of the world. Why are we stuck with such poor quality buses? If London can do it, it’s time we got the first class buses we deserve.

Wales has the largest private sector delivery of care of the devolved nations. The ongoing profiteering from social care is the barrier to the improved care our nation deserves.  Billions of pounds of public money are stripped from Welsh care by private equity groups and property speculation on care homes.  Meanwhile, care workers continue to struggle to make ends meet with low pay and poor conditions, and those needing care are faced with a complex and fragile care system.  Care workers must be properly rewarded if we are to attract the thousands of workers we need to make care work.  And as citizens, we should expect public money to be spent on services and staff, not on lining the pockets of billionaires. Social care should serve people, not profit margins. Sign this petition to support our call on the next Welsh Government to create a National Care Service for Wales to ensure a high-quality, resilient service that prioritises the need of citizens in Wales.  “Does dim lle i elw ym maes gofal cymdeithasol” Pam mae hyn yn bwysig? Cymru sydd â'r ddarpariaeth gofal fwyaf yn y sector preifat o blith yr holl wledydd datganoledig. Y gorelwa ym maes gofal cymdeithasol yw'r rhwystr rhag y gofal gwell y mae ein cenedl yn ei haeddu. Mae biliynau o bunnoedd o arian cyhoeddus yn cael eu tynnu o sector gofal Cymru gan grwpiau ecwiti preifat a hapfuddsoddiadau mewn cartrefi gofal. Yn y cyfamser, mae gweithwyr gofal yn dal i gael trafferth cael dau ben llinyn ynghyd gyda chyflogau isel ac amodau gwael, ac mae'r rhai sydd angen gofal yn wynebu system ofal gymhleth a bregus. Rhaid i weithwyr gofal gael eu talu'n briodol os ydym am ddenu'r miloedd o weithwyr sydd eu hangen arnom i wneud i ofal weithio. Fel dinasyddion, dylem ddisgwyl i arian cyhoeddus gael ei wario ar wasanaethau a staff, nid ar lenwi pocedi biliwnyddion. Dylai gofal cymdeithasol fod yn faes sy’n canolbwyntio ar y bobl, nid ar faint yr elw. Llofnodwch y ddeiseb hon i gefnogi ein galwad ar Lywodraeth nesaf Cymru i greu Gwasanaeth Gofal Cenedlaethol i Gymru er mwyn sicrhau gwasanaeth gwydn o ansawdd uchel sy'n blaenoriaethu anghenion dinasyddion yng Nghymru.