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.

EIS members at Lenzie Academy have identified serious health and safety concerns in the school, presenting a risk to pupils and staff.  These include: • Major roof leaks and water ingress • Water near electrics • Asbestos-related risks • Mould and damp • Heating failures (rooms too cold / too hot) • Broken fire doors • A non-working secure entry system • Damaged flooring causing trip hazards • General disrepair A new school is planned — but not until at least 2029. Pupils need a safe building now. What teaching staff want • Make the building safe • Fix urgent risks quickly • Share clear timelines • Keep staff and pupils protected EIS members at Lenzie Academy are in dispute with East Dunbartonshire Council over their employer's failure to meaningfully consult with union representatives regarding serious health and safety concerns. In a recent consultative ballot, EIS members at Lenzie Academy voted 95% Yes to taking industrial action in pursuit of improved safety.

This is about whether people live or die when the worst happens. These plans would slash Oxfordshire’s guaranteed night-time fire cover from seven to five fire engines, close local stations, remove a specialist rescue vehicle and force firefighters onto unsafe 12-hour shifts. That means slower response times, weaker back-up – and more lives, homes and businesses lost.   The cuts hit the people who most need protecting: children, older people, disabled people, low-income families in flats and HMOs, and rural towns and villages already a long way from help. Night-time fires, road traffic collisions and floods are exactly when you need more cover, not less – but this plan strips it away and hides the damage behind county-wide averages.    If we don’t stop this, Oxfordshire will be left with a brittle, hollowed-out fire and rescue service: exhausted crews on overlong shifts, families in Kidlington losing their homes, retained stations closed instead of supported, and experienced firefighters leaving for good. Once stations, fire engines and skills are gone, they are incredibly hard and expensive to get back.

The National Coal Mining Museum for England, based at Caphouse Colliery in Wakefield, is a national treasure.  What makes the Museum so unique and special is that it is not just a Museum of objects, it is a working pit.  In addition to exhibitions, the public is able to travel 140m underground and hear about the 180 years of mining history from ex-miners.  The stories are real, the experience is authentic and the memory of the unique, immersive experience stays with people forever. There is currently a strike at the Museum.  At the time this petition went live, the workers have been on strike for 3 months over a dispute that would cost the employer less than £10k to resolve.  Rather than resolve the dispute, the employer has made a series of pay offers, each one is worse than the previous.  It has been reported in the public domain that the Museum is paying £1200 a day (£33,600 a month) for a private security firm to stand at the gate.  To date, £100,800 of taxpayers money that should be used to advance the charity’s purpose has been handed over to this private company. The operational leadership of the Museum is undertaken by a Chief Executive but the overall responsibility and governance of the Museum rests with the Board of Trustees.  They have completely failed to lead the senior leadership team of the Museum and resolve the dispute.  The Trustees have:- 1)  Failed to ensure that the charity is carrying out its purposes for the public benefit.  To try and ensure visitors continue to visit the Museum even when there is no underground tour, they have allowed the Chief Executive to schedule activities that do not further or support the Museum’s purposes.  Spending charity funds on the wrong purposes is a very serious matter; in some cases trustees may have to reimburse the charity personally. 2)  Failed to act in the Museum’s best interests.  By not intervening to resolve the dispute when it was made clear that the Chief Executive was either not competent or unwilling to, they have failed to make balanced and adequately informed decisions by not thinking about the long term as well as the short-term future of the Museum.   3)  Failed to manage the Museum’s resources responsibly.        i)   By handing over more that £100k of taxpayers money to a private security company rather than resolve a dispute for less that £10k shows that the Trustees have failed to act responsibly or reasonably.  They have failed in their duty of prudence. Prudence is about exercising sound judgement.       ii)   They have failed to avoid exposing the Museum’s assets, beneficiaries or reputation to undue risk 4)  Failed to act with reasonable care and skill.  This includes the fact that some Trustees listed on the Museum’s website and on Companies House are not giving enough time, thought and energy to their role.  A number do not even attend or actively participate in the trustees’ meetings. 5)  Failed to ensure the Museum is accountable.  This includes the fact that the Museum is not always complying with the law and it is currently, not well run and effective For these reasons, THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE AND THE TRUSTEES MUST RESIGN FROM ALL THEIR PAID AND UNPAID ROLES WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT.