Key workers are getting this country through the pandemic. They headed out to work when the rest of the country stayed at home – putting themselves and their families at risk. It’s time to end the low pay and insecure work that leave many of these workers struggling, and make sure every key worker gets a payrise. The coronavirus crisis demonstrated how much we all owe to all our key workers - healthcare staff, care workers, retail and delivery workers, public transport workers, teachers and support staff, cleaners, energy workers and so many others. Can you write to your MP and invite them to the meeting? They've already been invited by a local leader, but need to know how many of us support this campaign. Every message makes a difference.

Key workers are getting this country through the pandemic. They headed out to work when the rest of the country stayed at home – putting themselves and their families at risk. It’s time to end the low pay and insecure work that leave many of these workers struggling, and make sure every key worker gets a payrise. The coronavirus crisis demonstrated how much we all owe to all our key workers - healthcare staff, care workers, retail and delivery workers, public transport workers, teachers and support staff, cleaners, energy workers and so many others. Can you write to your MP and invite them to the meeting? They've already been invited by a local leader, but need to know how many of us support this campaign. Every message makes a difference.

Key workers are getting this country through the pandemic. They headed out to work when the rest of the country stayed at home – putting themselves and their families at risk. It’s time to end the low pay and insecure work that leave many of these workers struggling, and make sure every key worker gets a payrise. The coronavirus crisis demonstrated how much we all owe to all our key workers - healthcare staff, care workers, retail and delivery workers, public transport workers, teachers and support staff, cleaners, energy workers and so many others. Can you write to your MP and invite them to the meeting? They've already been invited by a local leader, but need to know how many of us support this campaign. Every message makes a difference.

Like other rail companies and transport operators, Eurostar has been significantly impacted by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, with passenger numbers and revenue at a fraction of pre-Covid levels. The Eurostar provides a vital, low carbon, link between the UK and mainland Europe, and will be essential to the UK’s green economic recovery from Covid-19. Eurostar is a UK-registered company with its head office in London and the company supports over 3000 UK jobs. It would be disastrous, economically and environmentally, if the service were not protected. Eurostar is part owned by the French state owned operator SNCF, and it has received over £200m in support from shareholders during the pandemic. However, given that it is likely to be some time before passenger numbers return to pre-Covid levels, it needs further assistance to ensure it can survive during the pandemic. Unlike other transport operators, including airlines, Eurostar has not yet received any Covid-19 state support from the UK Government. RMT is calling on the UK Government to urgently agree to work with Eurostar and engage in coordinated action to protect the collapse of this vital transport link and ensure that thousands of UK jobs are protected.

The Linkbus network is funded by Nottingham City Council as these services ‘fill in the gaps in the network, running on routes that are not commercially viable, but that provide an essential public or community service’. Local bus services prevent social isolation, and enable people to connect with jobs, health services, education and their local economy, and RMT believes that these cuts would be detrimental to the local community and hinder the area’s economic recovery from Covid-19. The Linkbus services are used by a high number of disabled and elderly residents who would be particularly disadvantaged if the services were withdrawn. The draft budget, which includes the proposed cuts to the Linkbus network is being reviewed by the Council on 8th March 2021. A consultation on the proposed Linkbus cuts is open until 21st February and responses can be submitted here - https://www.transportnottingham.com/consultations/changes-to-linkbus-services/ Please sign this petition to protect these vital bus services.

Employees at AGH Solutions Ltd, a private wholly-owned subsidiary of Airedale NHS Trust responsible for facilities management, estates and procurement services are currently on unequal pay rates despite doing the same job. Workers who were transferred (TUPED) over from the Airedale NHS Trust into AGH Solutions (AGHS) in 2018 remain on the NHS “Agenda For Change” (AFC) contract, while many new starters are paid on lower pay rates. For the majority of workers on the AGHS pay Grade A, this means they receive nearly £1.00 per hour less in basic pay than the rest of their colleagues employed under the NHS AFC contract on Band 2. If you factor in unsocial hours pay on the weekends and nights the wage gap widens much further. “I don’t feel valued. I do the same job as a friend who gets paid more than I do for the same work. It’s not right.” - Shift Porter To outline the pay difference. A Domestic employed on the NHS contract receives a basic rate of £9.89 per hour. If they work between 8pm - 6am or on a Saturday they get paid £14.14 per hour, and if they work on a Sunday they get paid £18.29 per hour. 

In contrast, a Domestic employed on the AGHS contract only gets paid £9.00 per hour no matter when they work. The basic hourly pay gap and the fact that AGHS workers don’t receive unsocial hours enhancements makes a huge difference. This is all without comparing sick pay rates, holiday entitlement and pension plans, all of which are significantly better under AFC. The purpose of this petition, our campaign and the GMB dispute at Airedale Hospital is to end the pay disparity for the majority of workers employed on AGHS pay rates and stop the race to the bottom in our NHS. “GMB will continue to stand-up for key workers. This pandemic has highlighted the tremendous debt of gratitude we all owe our frontline NHS heroes, and at Airedale, with this campaign, we can begin to repay that debt” - Rachel Dix, GMB Regional Organiser

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.

The decision to cut rates means we are paid less than the National Minimum Wage for working overnight protecting vulnerable community members. We have worked on the frontline throughout the pandemic and risked our own lives to care for the community for low wages. We are being rewarded with a pay cut as the cost of living spirals. The decision is not cost effective in the long term and will worsen the conditions and quality of care for the community over time. At Christmas, Geoff Driver OBE, Lancashire County Council Leader, sent a message thanking us for the care we provide and acknowledged that we already put in lots of unpaid extra work. Yet he had led the council to cut our pay and with this acknowledgment seems to expect that we will work for free because we care about supporting the most vulnerable members of society. Lots of other North West Local Authorities acknowledged the vital work we undertake and refused to cut wages of their outsourced workers, we ask that Lancashire reverse their decision and show that they value us.

Today Leeds is the largest city in Europe without a mass transit system, but West Yorkshire used to have a dense, cheap tram network accessible to everybody. We deserve a London quality transport system, nothing less. The West Yorkshire Combined Authority's Mass Transit 2040 plan has suggested that it might create a mass transit network using 'BRT' or Bus Rapid Transit, rather than a tram or light rail system. This is inadequate. West Yorkshire had a world leading tram network in the 1950s, making travel cheap and accessible to everyone. Now travel is more expensive and congested than ever. We need a guarantee that we'll get a tram to every town, not just another bus service! So we need every mayoral candidate to commit to a tram network that will serve every part of West Yorkshire, nothing less. A new tram line in your town would make your journeys quicker, open up jobs, reduce local pollution, and bring investment to our community. We need a new low carbon public transport system to fight pollution and climate change in our region. if its good enough for Manchester, Edinburgh and London, its good enough for us. Help us make this the big issue of the West Yorkshier mayoral election this year! Lets bring a tram system to West Yorkshire

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

We are Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) staff. We are British citizens who serve overseas in countries such as Belgium and France, maintaining and caring for the cemeteries of our fallen heroes. We are proud of our role in ensuring that the 1.7m people of the Commonwealth forces who died in the First and Second World Wars, will never be forgotten. We now need your help. With just three weeks’ notice and despite our many years of loyal service, the CWGC has given us a stark choice: be repatriated back to the UK or face having our incomes halved. This is happening it us as we’ve been told that we will no longer be entitled to UK contracts after 31 December 2020, when the Brexit transition period ends. But switching onto new contracts means changing to our country of employment’s tax code and changes to pensions and other terms and conditions, which could see us lose up to 50% of our income. To be given just three weeks’ notice to making life changing decisions on whether to uproot our lives and that of our families in the middle of a global pandemic when jobs are scarce is terrifying. So is accepting losing up to half of our income. We are desperate. We now need the minister Ben Wallace to intervene on our behalf to protect our terms and conditions and put pressure on the CWGC to talk to our unions. Please help us by emailing the minister.

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.