Earlier this year, we set ourselves a target – to keep on growing our union. We’re not resting on our laurels, we owe it to every UNISON member and every potential UNISON member to keep on growing and building our collective strength. Over the past month, activists and staff alike have been working on our […]
General Secretary’s blog
UNISON General Secretary Christina McAnea’s blog.
If this government had any backbone at all, they’d be standing up to Trump and his hateful ideology, not rolling out the red carpet for him.
This result was a cry of frustration at a political class that seems to lack the answers to the biggest issue facing the UK.
Normally the departure of a Prime Minister who looks set to go down in history as a failure would be a moment for cheer. Yet working people should fear what comes next. The next Prime Minister will be chosen by the hard right of the Tory Party, who want more austerity, increased privatisation and fewer rights for working people.
Victories like these for Birmingham care workers and probation services being brought back in-house, show what UNISON can achieve
These workers are united and their strike action is strong. Now it’s up to AFG to pay them what they’re owed.
UNISON will always stand up to those who seek to privatise our NHS – or any public service. The ideological push to dismantle the health service and put it into the hands of those who care more about profit than decent care will always be resisted. Right now, the incredible domestics of PAH are on the frontline of that fight. And our whole union stands with them.
For those working in local services, these elections decide who runs the local councils who employ them or manage their services. A change in council leadership can mean the difference between jobs maintained or lost. It can mean greater support for a service – or its abolition. It can make the difference between privatisation or services coming back in house. It can make the difference between decent pay or poverty pay.
Keeping our members safe at work is one of the most important tasks that trade unions can do. Today, let’s remember how far we’ve come in that fight – and how much more there is to do.
There’s a huge amount of work to do, but I know that our union is up to the task – and that every time we build our union, we make it easier to support, defend and represent our members in the decades to come.
Our union, the union we have built together, is perfectly placed to lead and win that fight. And I know that our incredible health activists, at this conference and around the country, will be at the forefront of that.
Twenty years on from the bold, landmark decision to establish a National Minimum Wage, it is time for a new landmark – a real Living Wage for all, regardless of age, that everyone in work can afford to live on. Doing so would meet the original aim of the National Minimum Wage – a decent salary for all. And that is what our union will continue to fight for.
This week, MPs will focus once again on trying to resolve Brexit, and rightly so. But when a government is elected, we expect it to be able to govern – not blame all of society’s problems on someone else. Whatever happens with Brexit in the days, weeks and months ahead, we need to see proper attention given to the real, daily problems that working people face – and action taken.
We’re balloting our Environment Agency members on industrial action. Our members are dedicated and hard-working and devoted to their jobs, keeping us all safe. They feel – with much justification – that the Agency has taken advantage of this dedication.
It will take all of us who care about equality and fairness playing our part to overturn these structural inequalities in our society. Yet the work our union and others have done already shows we can achieve real change.