The pandemic has caused a childcare crisis for millions of parents, with working mums in particular struggling to cope. Over 36,000 working mums responded to our survey with Mother Pukka. Nearly two-thirds said they didn’t have enough childcare for the school summer holidays and most said they’d find managing this year’s summer break harder than ever before. Parents are at breaking point and need flexibility at work now more than ever. Flexibility, such as predictable hours to plan around, term-time only or compressed hours, job-sharing, or working from home allows parents to balance family and work effectively. Pandemic or no pandemic, flexible working is a win-win for employers and workers. It makes a huge difference to working people’s lives and makes workers more productive and happy at work. But current flexible working rights are way too limited – at the moment workers only have the right to request flexibility after 6 months in the job. Employers can turn down requests for a huge range of reasons and if your boss doesn’t care, then having the right to ask doesn’t mean much. Millions of low paid parents in insecure jobs, don’t even get the right to ask. On top of this, parents have no statutory right to paid leave to look after their children. This has to change. Working mums have borne the brunt of this crisis -they’ve picked up the lion’s share of caring responsibilities – often at the expense of hours, pay, and their careers. If ministers don’t act now, we risk turning back the clock on generations of progress on gender equality at work. Secretary of State for Business, Kwasi Kwarteng, sets the rules here. He could bring legislation to build up our rights to flexible work. We’re calling on him to help make work more flexible for everyone.

In order to ensure the sustainable change needed across Brewdog, workers deserve a collective voice through their union.

Scotland’s care system already relies too heavily on homes that are run for profit. Edinburgh can buck that trend by supporting Council-run care homes that focus on providing quality care not the making of money. I urge you to back UNISON's campaign to Save Our Care Homes.

PCS members have been in dispute with DVLA management and the Department for Transport (DfT) since January over covid safety in the workplace. With the highest numbers of workplace cases, management were slow to act and showed scant disregard for members health. After 8 days of strike action PCS negotiated a deal to end the dispute and put in place clear safeguards for those in work. At the 11th hour the draft agreement was scrapped by management without a clear explanation why. Further strike action is now underway. We believe government ministers stopped the DVLA management signing the deal. We need to apply pressure to the Secretary of State to settle this dispute. Please sign the email to him. It’s your right to be heard and only pressure from union members and our friends and family will work now.

Cutting funding will have a devastating impact on these subjects, resulting in course closures, job losses and severely affecting efforts to widen participation. Universities in areas with a higher number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds would be particularly vulnerable to the proposed cuts. We cannot allow these cuts to strip away their access to arts subjects. The UK is a world-leader in the creative and performing arts. These subjects should not be the preserve of a privileged few. We need to mount a quick and effective fightback against this government’s attacks on the creative and performing arts. Join us and tell Prime Minister Boris Johnson that the arts should be for everyone - and that the cuts should not go ahead. This campaign is supported by University and College Union (UCU), Equity UK, BECTU, Writers Guild of Great Britain, Musicians’ Union, Unison and Unite https://mcusercontent.com/ebd004a8047907dc47d269fd1/images/c695fc2c-48f6-c2c8-3057-e9aabe03bdfb.png

Latest Government figures revealed a staggering 385,000 people have been living with symptoms of long Covid for a year or more. And spiralling infection rates mean many more people are likely to contract long Covid. Symptoms include fatigue, brain fog and shortness of breath, and it’s more common in key workers, women and those living in the most deprived areas. Our research reviled wide spread discrimination and disbelief at work 1 in 20 people with long covid have been forced out of their jobs. This is not acceptable. We must stand in solidarity with everyone who has long Covid. We demand the Government urgently address the discrimination people with long Covid face.

GMB union members and workers at Yeovil District Hospital are demanding respect and fair pay. Simply Serve Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Yeovil District Hospital Foundation Trust. NHS workers in non-clinical roles (e.g. Porters, Cleaners, Housekeeping, Admin, Catering,) who were transferred from the Trust into its wholly-owned subsidiary, Simply Serve Limited (SSL), remain on the NHS “Agenda For Change” (AFC) contract, while new starters are paid on the lower SSL rates, despite doing the same job. It is not acceptable for staff to do the work of NHS workers, but not be be recognised and paid as NHS workers. GMB demand equal pay for equal work. It is fair, it is reasonable and it is right. Join GMB, sign the petition and support the campaign for Pay Justice in our NHS!

Simply Serve Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Yeovil District Hospital Foundation Trust, which pays staff less than the standard NHS pay, terms and conditions. It is not acceptable for staff to be employed to do the of job NHS workers, but not be paid as NHS workers. Tell the Board of Directors: Direct your wholly-owned subsidiary, Simply Serve Limited, to meet the GMB demand for harmonisation for all staff with the NHS Agenda for Change contract; or better still, dissolve the wholly-owned subsidiary to harmonise all staff with the NHS Agenda for Change contract!

Every day since March 2020, these workers have put themselves at risk; at risk of getting infected and at risk of infecting their family. To discover the subsidiary you set up and oversee has been paying many of these workers on less than the standard NHS pay, terms and conditions is unacceptable. Tell the Board of Directors: Support and direct your wholly-owned subsidiary, AGH Solutions, to meet the GMB demand for harmonisation for all staff with the NHS Agenda for Change contract; or dissolve the wholly-owned subsidiary to harmonise all staff with the NHS Agenda for Change contract.

NHS workers (e.g. Porters, Cleaners, Catering, Security) who were transferred from the Trust into its wholly-owned subsidiary, AGH Solutions (AGHS), remain on the NHS “Agenda For Change” (AFC) contract, while many new starters, and indeed all staff (including those who were TUPED) that register on Bank (i.e. overtime shifts), are paid on the lower AGHS rates, despite doing the same job. The GMB demand for equal pay for equal work is fair, it is reasonable and it is right. Every day since March 2020, our members have put themselves at risk; at risk of getting infected and at risk of infecting their family. We clapped for them, we labelled them heroes and yet here in our community, some of our local heroes face the indignity of being treated less than; to be employed as NHS workers, but not paid as NHS workers. We have reached the stage where members are being asked to consider industrial action because the Board of Directors of both AGHS and Airedale NHS Foundation Trust have allowed us to reach this point. The Trust outsourced their responsibility to AGHS and in turn AGHS created a two-tier workforce that made it permissible to pay people different wages for the same work. We are simply demanding that this be corrected, that the Trust recognise its responsibility to these NHS heroes and end unfair wage practices.

Equity member Ace Ruele, established actor and motion capture specialist, faces the threat of deportation from the UK to Jamaica, a country where he no right of residency or citizenship. His case has all the hallmarks of yet another grossly unfair, racist decision dramatically affecting the life of Windrush era family. Ace was born in the UK and raised here, but despite having indefinite leave to remain this was revoked following a difficult, short period in Ace’s life when he was engaged in criminal activity. Since this, he has built a successful film career and strong family life and works with a number of organisations, including the Metropolitan Police, advising and guiding young people away from the risk of offending. Ace could be deported at any minute, tearing his family apart and ruining a career he has forged following his unstable early life. His current residency status of limited leave to remain in the UK is temporary and requires renewal every 30 months at a cost of £2,389. It is, quite simply, a gross injustice to leave Ace in this situation, and we call on the Home Office to: 1. Reverse its decision, and provide Ace with the status of indefinite leave to remain the UK. This will allow him to continue his significant, positive contribution to the UK’s cultural and creative life and raise his family, confident that his future is secure. 2. Abandon its cruel, racist policy of threatening to make UK citizens stateless, including through deportation to countries they have no right of residency or citizenship to. 3. Significantly speed-up the process of providing compensation to those eligible for payment under the Windrush Compensation Scheme. The Home Office is currently aggravating the experience of Windrush-era UK citizens by unfairly and unnecessarily delaying their lawful compensation. You can read more about the background of Ace’s case here: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/ace-reule-home-office-deportation-b1841799.html

Labour-controlled Ealing council is ‘actively helping’ outsourced service provider Serco ‘hound’ a senior Unite the Union rep on strike over union-busting from his civil enforcement job. A council officer has written to Serco requesting that Patrice, Unite rep, who has performed his job for two decades, be removed from duties for bringing the council into ‘disrepute’. The officer justified the decision because the Unite rep stated on social media that Ealing council would lose revenue from Parking Charge Notices during ongoing strikes by more than 40 Serco civil enforcement officers. Despite the statement being factually accurate and containing no mention of parking policy motivations, the council is wrongly claiming that the union rep ‘conveys the council as a purely revenue generating authority’. LEARN MORE: https://www.unitetheunion.org/news-events/news/2021/april/serco-civil-enforcement-strikes-set-to-bring-ealing-election-day-parking-chaos/ #IStandWithPatrice