Are your Local Authorities Trades People and Council Tenants being put at greater risk of contracting COVID-19 during the National Lockdown? During the first lockdown local authorities across the country reduced the service they provided and carried out emergencies only repairs in occupied houses. Following the announcement from Boris Johnson of a further lockdown on January 5th, some local authorities have been slow to act and are continuing with non-essential works within occupied properties. The workers can visit numerous properties within a day, frequently exposing workers and the tenants to the serious risk of contracting COVID-19. Latest information indicates one in three people do not show any symptoms of the deadly virus. The new strain of the virus is 70% more transmissible and evidence suggests more variants are likely to develop. By signing this petition, you are supporting Unite the Union to help reduce the spread of infections amongst workers and tenants within your Local Authority. Checklist for Members and Reps (Re Construction Tradespersons entering properties and occupied premises) • Unite supports local authorities and housing associations responding to emergency situations and essential maintenance only in occupied properties. • Planned maintenance work can be undertaken in vacant (void) properties provided risk assessments are conducted and strict social distancing measures are enforced at all times. • All necessary PPE supplied to workers who must have it before commencing work and completing jobs safely. • Employers must consult with trade union representatives when producing a risk assessment and the results of risk assessments shared with and communicated to employees. All existing risk assessments need to be reviewed and updated. • Unite reiterates the requirement for dynamic risk assessment which Includes an agreed stop work process, where the assessment highlights a serious risk. Incorporates method statements, including induction processes, being delivered remotely, utilising modern technology to update and inform all employees and workers prior to any works commencing. • Safe systems of work to be reviewed and updated in light of the increased transmission of the new Covid-19 variant. This to include workplace and travel to work policies. • Involvement of Unite stewards and health and safety representatives in all safety discussions. Please see Unite coronavirus guide. • All employers must construct a stop work on health and safety grounds procedure. An employee who believes their safety is threatened can stop work, and work cannot be resumed until a solution is agreed. Develop these procedures with trade union representatives. • All employees afforded protection under section 44 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (the right to withdraw from a work area when faced with imminent risk to health/safety). https://unitetheunion.org/media/3094/legal-s44-100-advice-to-members-returning-to-workplaces-200520.pdf • The right to decline work due to the failure of the responsible entity/person to ensure social distancing on site with no detriment to the worker.

Official government NHS plans contain a proposal to close both the Royal Lancaster Infirmary and the Royal Preston Hospital and replace them with a so called 'super-hospital' on a single site elsewhere. This proposal represents a serious threat to the future of full hospital provision in Lancaster and the large area of North Lancashire and South Cumbria the RLI serves. Likewise, the people of Preston and Central Lancashire will also risk the loss of properly accessible full local hospital services. Any increase in travel distances, especially for emergencies, is not acceptable. Both cities and surrounding areas need and deserve their own hospitals, each with a full range of services, with proper investment to upgrade these. Keep up to date with our campaign here: https://www.facebook.com/LancasterSaveOurHospitals

Engie security staff at Blackburn and Burnley hospitals work around the clock to keep people safe at the hospital but are paid far less than our colleagues who do the same job for the NHS. We are often forced to take on unhealthy amounts of overtime that take us away from their families and impacts our health and wellbeing due to low pay. For too long outsourced companies have exploited their staff for private profit. By supporting Engie staff, you are taking a stand against this. Fair pay must be at the centre of all public services. As a vital part of the NHS team, Engie Security staff deserve the same pay and conditions as our NHS colleagues.

We all have a shared interest in getting the vaccine programme right. It’s our only shot at getting life back to normal. But that means learning the lessons from the failures of Test and Trace and PPE provision. The best way to deliver an effective rollout - and build public trust in the vaccine - is for local public health teams to run it. They know their communities best and are best placed to reach them. Outsourcing Test and Trace to private contractors has caused huge problems. We cannot afford the same mistake to be made with the delivery of the vaccine.

An estimated 400,000 seafarers from across the globe are stranded on ships, continuing to work but unable to be relieved, in a crew change crisis which threatens trade and maritime safety. Some seafarers have now been at sea for up to 18 months without a break. An equivalent number have been unable to join their ships to work, and many have not been able to claim any government financial support.

The future of the creative industries relies on immediate government action to support all of it’s workers. But current government schemes mean creative workers 60 and over can not get the insurance they need to safely return to work. If older workers in creative industries cannot return to, they will not only be excluded from work - but the entire sector will suffer. The experience and talent of older workers cannot be replaced, and is central to the recovery of the industry.

For those who do qualify, the current payment of £96.35 a week is not enough to pay the bills. 4 in 10 workers would be forced into financial hardship. At a time of increasing cases, fixing statutory sick pay can prevent the spread of the virus and ensure millions can get paid to quarantine safely at home. No one who self-isolates should worry about putting food on the table. No one should feel forced to go to work instead of recovering from the virus. Everyone has the right to decent sick pay.

The Sheffield City Region is the ‘low pay capital’ of the UK and has consistently ranked highly on COVID infection-rate charts. Now on the brink of a local lockdown, the lives of low wage workers in the city are in turmoil. This pandemic has shone a light on the people who really keep Sheffield going. It isn’t the billionaires, the bankers or the CEOs. It’s the healthcare workers, the carers, the cleaners, the transport workers, the refuse collectors and the fast food workers who feed people. The working class people struggling to get by. Working conditions in these industries are deteriorating quickly - adequate PPE is not available and social distancing is impossible. Fast food restaurants, shops and distribution warehouses are becoming epicentres for continuing the spread of the virus, resulting in multiple serious workplace outbreaks. If low wage workers have to self-isolate, most are forced to rely on Statutory Sick Pay, which is only £95.85 a week. Some won’t even receive that. Employers are risking the health of our communities by putting workers in the impossible position of choosing between health and paying the bills. Global corporations like McDonald’s and Amazon have the money to protect workers - but they choose to pay billions in dividends to shareholders instead.

Belinda Phipps is CEO of We Are With You- she earns around £140,000 per year. Meanwhile, ex-NHS staff working for We Are With You in Wigan and Leigh stand to lose £150,000 during the course of the NHS Agenda for Change three year pay deal (April 2018- April 2021). We will lose an average of £7,870 each during the course of Wigan Council's contract with We Are With You, with some of us losing out on as much as £10,974. This is simply wrong and across five years, will suck £230,000 out of the local economy whilst We Are With You directs funding towards costly rebrands and its London headquarters. We work hard for We Are With You in Wigan and Leigh to ensure that local people recover from addiction, regaining health, self esteem and becoming fully functioning members of our society. We work in this field because we care and because it's rewarding to support recovery, but we deserve to make a decent living. When we transferred over to We Are With You (formerly known as Addaction) from the NHS, we were promised the NHS rate for the job, but We Are With You have gone back on their word. "Supporting people to overcome drug and alcohol addiction is an incredibly tough job and makes a difference for every single one of us in Wigan. "We Are With You’s employees deserve the pay settlement they were promised when they moved from the NHS to We Are With You". Lisa Nandy, Wigan MP We deserve a decent wage for doing what is an important job for our communities. Please sign the petition to support us. #WeAreNotWithYou #KeepYourPayPromise #BelindaFibs #WeWontPayYou

Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust announced to staff in March 2020 that they believe the current model of provision for reproductive medicine at St. Mary’s Hospital is not sustainable. Commissioners are now carrying out a scoping exercise on the service’s future, and this could result in a recommendation the service is tendered and could be at risk of privatisation. Staff members working for the St Mary’s Reproductive Medicine service provide a vital lifeline to women and families seeking fertility treatment in Greater Manchester. The service also provides specialist care to women with complex medical conditions, cancer, and who are undergoing gender reassignment, which are not accessible elsewhere in the city region or offered by other providers. If privatised, we are concerned that these specialist services could be at risk. Unions are concerned that many other private sector providers have higher treatment charges and inferior services. Furthermore, staff are in many cases paid less than NHS workers in the private healthcare sector, with less annual leave, sick pay and other essential benefits. We cannot allow this vital service to fall into private hands and be run for profit, when its purpose is to serve the public of our city.

As care workers, we have gone above and beyond during the coronavirus crisis to care for your loved ones. A survey by UNISON North West found that 8 out of 10 of us would not receive our full normal pay if we were ill or had to self-isolate or shield due to COVID-19. As a result, many care workers said they may have to attend work while ill which would drastically increase the risk of spreading infection to vulnerable residents and service-users. As part of UNISON’s Care Workers vs COVID-19 Campaign, we have been calling on local commissioners and care providers to protect our pay when we are absent due to COVID-19. As a result, Salford Council and local NHS partners have introduced the 'Salford Offer' which provides additional funding to local social care providers to protect frontline care workers, service-users and the local community by maintaining the full normal wages for care staff that are absent due to COVID-19. The 'Salford Offer' is the very least that we deserve, yet despite the fact it will cost them nothing, there are a number of care providers in Salford that is refusing the support the 'Salford Offer'. Some of these providers have reported millions of pounds worth of profits over previous years.

Currently, hundreds of hospital cleaners, caterers and security guards working at Aintree University Hospital, Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Liverpool Women’s Hospital and Broadgreen Hospital are employed by private companies. We are employed by private contractors Compass Medirest, ISS and OCS and as a result, we are at a disadvantage compared with NHS employees. Like all of our health service colleagues, we’ve put ourselves at increased risk over the last few months keeping patients safe. We don’t want a medal, we just want to be treated equally with our colleagues who are employed by NHS. We deserve proper pay and working conditions so that we can deliver a high quality service for Liverpool patients. UNISON Liverpool Hospitals Health branch secretary Su Edwards said: “Our members do some of the most vital jobs within our health service. They cook patients’ food, keep the hospital clean and protect patients and staff. “Yet currently, these health service heroes are being treated like second class citizens. There is only one way that companies such as Compass, ISS and OCS can make a profit within the NHS and that’s by cost-cutting. This means that hospital staff employed by private contractors receive lower pay and worse working conditions than colleagues employed directly by the NHS. It is morally wrong. “But it’s not just hospital staff who are getting a raw deal. Compass, ISS and OCS prioritise profit over people- they bid for NHS contracts, then they cut costs and patients pay the price. If we brought these services in-house, we could deliver a higher quality service, with more staff on shift, better hospital food and safer hospitals.”