OCS staff at Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Trust do the same job as their NHS colleagues but their terms and conditions are substantially worse. They don't get enhancements or overtime rates. Sign this letter now to send a message to the trust board that they deserve full parity with NHS staff.

Unite the Union in Scotland undertook the biggest exercise in getting workers views from the sector on how a potential National Care Service in Scotland should work from them. From that survey, it was clear that the issues that were being experienced by a majority of workers couldn't wait until the creation of a National Care Service and had to be challenged immediately.

Our bus services are broken. But they could be world-class. The Liverpool City Region Metro Mayor has the power to fix our buses by bringing them back into public control. Right now, private bus companies do what they like, dictating prices, routes, and timetables. You’ve seen the results: catastrophic cuts, skyrocketing fares, and buses that never turn up on time. It’s not just a bad deal for passengers — drivers are overworked and underpaid, leaving the bus companies struggling to run a reliable service as staff shortages bite. No wonder our drivers are sometimes forced to go on strike! Public control would mean affordable fares and more frequent buses. All with a smart ticket where daily spending is capped. And why not? It’s what they have in London! It would also put staff pay and conditions in public control, delivering a better deal for drivers and more reliable buses for you. Local politicians are there to represent YOU! Let them know you think buses should be in public control.

Workers are facing the biggest squeeze on living costs in living memory and employers need to prioritise support for workers above profits! Inflation and the cost of living is at a 30+ year high, these workers have been left with no alternative but to take strike action. Venator is a highly successful company with more than enough wealth to be able to afford a pay rise for these workers. At a time when the company are denying these workers a decent pay rise they are paying their CEO/President, Simon Turner, a total renumeration package of £8.53million. Can you please help show them and their employer that you support their fight for a fair pay award? Please send an email to Simon Turner, calling on him directly to get round the table and negotiate a fair settlement.

We are calling on the government to: - Cancel the imminent increase in the energy price cap keeping energy costs stable for every family - Bring the Big 5 energy companies back into public ownership, like in France, where government-owned energy companies were forced to cap prices. - Introduce a free basic energy component for all households and a social tariff for vulnerable households - Bring forward planned increases in social security, universal credit and pensions, and in the National Living Wage, and ensure they are at least in line with inflation. And in the long term, we need the government to deliver the high wage economy that they promised and a fair, secure and zero carbon energy system for the future. Sign the petition today to join our call for the government to take meaningful action to help with this cost of living crisis.

Every worker should be able to afford a decent standard of living. But millions of low-paid workers live wage packet to wage packet, struggling to get by – and they are now being pushed to the brink by eye-watering bills and soaring prices. For too long workers have been told that businesses can't afford to pay them more. But again and again the evidence has shown that firms are still making profits and increasing jobs – we can afford higher wages. And higher wages are good for the economy – more money in the pockets of working people means more spend on our high streets. It’s time to put an end to low-pay Britain.

Members of PCS union working for Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS) in Liverpool are taking strike action over pay and conditions. Can you support their campaign? The Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) helps employers make safer recruitment decisions by processing and issuing record checks for people working with children and adults in vulnerable or sensitive situations. HGS deliver a contract for DBS running the contact centre and back-office functions. Highly rated, poorly paid HGS staff provide an essential service, dealing with around a million calls from the public, and 6 million DBS certificates every year. As key workers they worked throughout the COVID lockdowns, helping other key services keep running safely. But now their employer is offering only a meagre pay award, taking wages just above the minimum wage. HGS are also refusing to improve on other minimum legal terms and conditions. It's not like they can't afford to. Internationally, HGS are a hugely profitable firm, and their owner tops the rich list with a personal wealth of £24.5bn. When prices are rising so quickly, HGS' refusal to agree a fair pay rise will cause real hardship for their staff. One of our members said “We don’t want to disrupt the service we provide to the public but we want to be paid a fair wage to get by on. With double digit inflation I’m finding it really difficult to pay for food and pay the bills. While the company are making record profits and the owner is the richest person in the country, this is not right.” Can you help raise the pressure on HGS to come back to the table and do right by our members? Please send an email to the company's UK CEO now.

The practice of ghost clinics or double-booking patient clinics for commercial gain risks both patients and clinicians in their prospective roles. Patients can be put at risk from a rushed eye examination that may miss vital signs of an eye condition or overall eye health. Practitioners are put in a compromising position between carrying out their employer's request and/or breaching GOC standards which could lead to them losing their registration and be unable to practice. The application of ghost clinics is often aimed at those with less employment rights like new starters, newly qualified or locums (self-employed), who feel pressurised to accept the practice. Many practitioners are left feeling stressed, missing their rest breaks and working additional hours just to cover the double appointments booked whilst feeling they are letting patients down. This also affects everyone who rely on companies within the optical sector to look after their eye health, so help support those in the sector trying to eradicate this practice and also for the benefit of your own wider health by signing this petition.

The Problem - The public paid millions to keep buses going during COVID. - That funding ends October 5th: 1 in 3 services could be cut! - Cuts could leave just 4 buses across the whole of South Yorkshire after 10pm and no buses in Barnsley after 7pm! The Cause - For decades, private bus companies have been putting short-term profits over the needs of people and planet. - Now our bus network is unsustainable without massive public support. The pandemic has made this even worse. - But even when the public offer to pay private companies to run services, they're now refusing to play their part! The Solution How do they get away with it? The public has almost no say over the network, leaving big business free to call the shots. 1) We need the Government to extend its funding to keep our buses on the road. 2) We need to speed up plans to bring buses into public control, so routes & timetables are set in the public interest. 3) We need a publicly owned operator to make sure essential services get run, even if private operators refuse!

Local people have not been able to access aquatic physiotherapy services to manage long-term conditions and access rehabilitation following surgery or injury for the last two and a half years. Musculoskeletal out-patients have only recently been moved to the Lewisham and Greenwich pool which is operating at maximum capacity and is approximately one hour away from Orpington via public transport. No aquatic physiotherapy provision has been made for neuro in-patients or patients from external groups who hired the pool before it closed. Aquatic physiotherapy allows people to develop skills to self-manage conditions, maintain a good quality of life and reduce dependence on long-term medication. When a patient is able to effectively self-manage by having access to aquatic physiotherapy this reduces their attendance at GP and secondary care services, which is beneficial to both the patient and the local healthcare system. This short video will help you understand the value of aquatic physiotherapy. https://youtu.be/Y8hYIqGEkLQ Aquatic physiotherapy is beneficial for people with a range of long-term conditions including: · Parkinson’s · Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) · Rheumatoid arthritis · Hypermobility · Multiple sclerosis · Fibromyalgia · Cerebral palsy It is also used to optimise rehabilitation of people who have had joint replacements, strokes, brain injury, deconditioning due to periods in ITU/illness and many common musculoskeletal conditions. Furthermore, it can be used to enrich people’s quality of life, health and wellbeing in life limiting or palliative conditions. Mr Lofthouse, patients who rely on aquatic physiotherapy, whose symptoms and conditions are worsening all the time that the hydrotherapy pool is closed, need the pool to reopen. Please begin a meaningful consultation with your staff and service users in the community to reopen the hydrotherapy pool and explore the business model of other aquatic physiotherapy services across the country who operate a successfully by hiring their pools to other users.

Earlier this year, the Government rushed through changes to its guidance on how it deals with ticket office cuts and closures. RMT believes that this was done in order to make it easier to close ticket offices. Despite the massive implications for passengers, the Government says it will not consult publicly on changes to the guidance. It has now been widely reported that the Government and rail industry are looking to close nearly one thousand ticket offices across the country. The Government and rail industry say that staff will be ‘repurposed’, yet they have failed to give any commitment that staffing levels will be maintained. We believe these plans are not about improving the passenger experience, but rather cutting jobs and protecting the profits of the train companies. In a recent survey of RMT members, nearly 90% of station and ticket office staff said plans to close ticket offices and make all staff ‘multi-functional’ would have a detrimental impact on the passenger experience and on passenger accessibility. We know that closing ticket offices will worsen the passenger experience and safety, security and accessibility. The impacts may be particularly severe for disabled and elderly passengers and those requiring additional support. Elderly and disabled people, and people on low incomes are less likely to have access to the internet and are excluded by the push to online and electronic ticketing. These plans ignore the much wider role that ticket office staff provide in addition to sales, including providing a wide range of advice and expertise and navigating the complex ticketing system to ensure passengers are not overcharged. The ticket office provides a point of safety and security, and at many stations access to facilities such as toilets and waiting rooms relies on the presence of staff. The planned closure of ticket offices are part of a wider industry attack on jobs and services. Yet at the same time, the private rail companies take in excess of £500m in profits annually and many rail bosses take home pay £1 million+ pay packets. Closing ticket offices is about protecting private profit, not passengers.

Most people using the service are terminally ill. They deserve a specialist, knowledgeable team to manage their claims. The closure risks long delays and a lack of specialist knowledge to support claims. • 40+ jobs are at risk leaving staff in fear of redundancy with little chance of redeployment in the local area. • Over 1000 combined years of experience helping the growing number of victims of asbestos-related lung diseases and other industrial disease will be lost. • Excellent working relationships with asbestos support groups, unions and charities will end. • Sufferers of terminal illnesses and their families will have to wait longer to receive payment and peace of mind at the most difficult of times. Industrial disease continues to have a devastating effect on workers and families across the country. Britain has the highest rates of asbestos cancer in the world, and Barrow has the highest rates in Britain. The thousands of people suffering work-related illnesses every year deserve a dedicated service. Save Phoenix House! This campaign is just one concerning 50 DWP sites facing closure, for more information see www.pcs.org.uk/campaigns/campaign-dwp-jobs-services-communities