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.

Private companies control bus services in South Yorkshire. They dictate prices, routes and timetables and the result has been catastrophic - passenger numbers have plummeted, prices have risen and services have shrunk. Send a message now to take back control of our buses!

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.

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.

Private companies control bus services in South Yorkshire. They dictate prices, routes and timetables and the result has been catastrophic - passenger numbers have plummeted, prices have risen and services have shrunk. Send a message now to take back control of our buses!

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.

Taxi drivers differ from the wider self-employed workforce, in that there has been no real reprieve even when local and national lockdowns are ceased. The trade heavily relies on other sectors, in particular the hospitality industry. Any lingering restrictions on these sectors leaves a devastating impact on earning opportunities for taxi drivers. While other sectors have been able to view the ceasing of lockdowns and easing of restrictions as an opportunity to regroup, this has not been the case for the taxi trade. For those that work in the trade the downturn has been consistent since March. A greater acknowledgement of the unique impact on the taxi trade is required from government, to ensure that these people are not forgotten about. Please sign the petition and join our call for the Welsh Government to step up and provide the additional financial support that our taxi drivers desperately require during these difficult times.

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.