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.

Our members don’t want to strike, particularly not in the middle of a global pandemic. They just want a wage they can live on, but Kingdom management's refusal to engage in meaningful talks over the 2020 pay award, harmonisation of sick pay, as well as enhanced pay for working nights, weekends and overtime has left them with no other option. These are low paid guards, who provide security 24/7 for the Royal Berkshire Foundation Trust. The £12p/h for security officers and £13p/h for supervisors they are seeking is modest and affordable. For Kingdom to exploit the pandemic to drive down pay is totally unacceptable. Please Show your support for Kingdom security guards at the Royal Berkshire Hospital. Add your name to our email to the Managing Director, urging him to get back around the negotiating table with Unite and pay his staff fairly. *The Unite members first went out on strike on 14 December for five days. The second strike action started on the 4 January for a further 20 days. More action is planned.

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.

Without the nursery, many posties, especially women, would not be able to work. The nursery has been a vital support to many in its 22-year history, enabling local people to take jobs at Mount Pleasant. Protecting Kiddycare Nursery also protects jobs for local people.

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.

Over the last few months, we've been raising concerns about worker surveillance technology and how it is on the rise – often without workers being aware. This week, we got the clearest indication yet that it is going mainstream. We learned that the Productivity Score feature in Microsoft’s Office 365 allows employers to monitor their staff: looking at how many emails you have sent, how many meetings you've attended and how often you interact with colleagues on instant messaging. This kind of surveillance is an intrusion on our privacy and is deeply troubling for productivity, with workers feeling they are being watched, and others able to game the system. With many people working from home, at least some of the time, this is putting monitoring into our homes, blurring the line between our work and private lives. Workers need to be consulted when new technology is used. We need guarantees about what monitoring is going on, and how. We are calling on employers to consult workers before any monitoring software is used (this is the law in our view) and for Microsoft to disable this feature by default – and we need your help

In July 2020 QUB Management took the decision to remove dozens of workers in the Students' Union from the income supports provided by the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (JRS). This decision was taken with next to no consultation and has left hardworking employees with no income. The decision from the university to end payments appears to us on the surface, to be premature and based solely on saving costs as the government required further employer contributions from the beginning of August. For many of us, this loss of income has had a substantial financial impact, leaving us unable to afford essentials such as food, housing, electricity and gas. Not all workers are students and are ineligible for student supports or for state benefits such as Jobseeker’s Allowance whilst still formally employed. Those who are full-time students are ineligible for any state support at present. Recently, the government has announced further plans to aid employers and workers in this time of economic uncertainty, particularly those affected by necessary closures and restrictions on operations to control the spread of COVID. The government has announced that there is no shortage to the funds available in order to secure ongoing employment for workers during the pandemic. Further, Queen's University has no shortage of funds to support their hardworking staff throughout a crisis. Without our efforts, the Speakeasy and other SU facilities would not run. We contribute so much to the student experience and in return, we are asking for the university to provide us with a basic income, give us some job & financial security and afford us the respect that we deserve.

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 British aviation industry is in crisis. The dramatic decline in the numbers of people travelling because of Covid-19 has been devastating for the industry. Airports and airlines continue to haemorrhage the costs of maintaining and operating their runways and fleets, with no income in sight. Aviation workers deserve a government lifeline. They are a highly skilled, highly trained workforce that will be vital to the nation’s Covid response and recovery. Urgent Government support is needed for nearly one million people who are employed in this sector, from pilots, to cabin crew to ground staff, air traffic controllers, engineers, fire crew, security, caterers and cleaners. Aviation workers urgently need a dedicated package of support to protect their livelihoods before it’s too late. We also need a clear, coordinated Government policy for a greener recovery that involves the views of both workers and trades unions. At a time of continuing uncertainty about the regulation of the industry, post-Brexit, it is essential that the response to the pandemic does not leave aviation businesses in a worse position to compete in a new trading environment. Only a coordinated, clear plan based on a dedicated relief package to protect livelihoods will give aviation workers the stability they need through this crisis.

The overnight Caledonian Sleeper services run between London and Scotland with staff working 15 hour shifts on average. Work related fatigue is widespread amongst Caledonian Sleeper staff. Fatigue is a serious issue which can cause long-term health effects, including depression and anxiety, headaches and digestive problems and risks passenger and staff safety. Even a risk assessment commissioned by Serco found that staff fatigue was a significant problem that the employer needed to address. RMT believes that a key cause of staff fatigue is a lack of berths (cabins) for staff rest periods. For months, RMT has been seeking to engage with Serco to agree a resolution to these issues. Yet, Serco has shown a complete lack of willingness to act on this issue. RMT also believes that the staff fatigue has been compounded by the additional pressures of Covid-19. In an attempt to negotiate a safe and fair resolution to this dispute, RMT has suggested that Serco temporarily make an additional two berths available for staff rest periods, which would bring the total number of berths available for this purpose to three, with the aim of reducing staff fatigue, and suggests that this arrangement would be reviewed every twelve weeks or sooner, in light of Covid-19. Due to the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, the Serco Caledonian Sleeper franchise is being funded with public money, in the form of an Emergency Measures Agreement. Yet, Transport Scotland has, so far, refused to intervene on this matter, even though millions of pounds of public money is being used to prop up Serco Caledonian Sleeper. RMT members took part in industrial action in October 2020 in defense of staff and passenger safety and further industrial action is scheduled for December 2020. Unfortunately, RMT believes that there is no willingness on the part of either Serco or Transport Scotland to resolve this dispute. Yet, RMT is demanding nothing more than a safe working environment for all of Serco Caledonian Sleeper’s hardworking employees and a safe environment for passengers. Therefore, RMT is calling on Transport Scotland and the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity, Michael Matheson MSP to immediately intervene and instruct Serco to settle this dispute. Please show your support by signing this petition and supporting staff safety on the Caledonian Sleeper.

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.