Winter has arrived and, although we know when it’s due, it can be a huge shock of cold snaps and stormy weather.
Parts of the UK have just been battered by Storm Arwen which disrupted power supplies to as many as one million households with some community hospitals and care homes relying on generators to keep operating and to keep COVID-19 vaccine services open.
Three people have been killed, homes and cars have been damaged and it has caused the worst damage to the electricity network for 15 years.
The weather conditions have made power restoration extremely challenging, and tens of thousands of homes are still without energy supply. That’s because, when the wind, rain and snow have died down, energy and environment workers must urgently deal with a sudden deluge of issues and faults on the networks.
It’s the work of our energy and environment members, on the ground, that means power can be restored and customers can be made safe and warm again.
Whether they work on the network doing labour-intensive work, or they’re office based, or working in call centres, we could not get our energy supply back on without them.
Energy and environment workers have been moving across the UK to work where they are needed most, and they are dealing with the huge pressures of knowing that people are suffering and scared.
It is easy to take for granted that we will always be able to switch the lights on, to heat up our oven and turn on the heating, but extreme events like these show that it can very quickly be taken away from us.
I am so proud of the efforts of our UNISON members, especially all the work they are doing to support vulnerable residents.
As we face warnings that the UK must prepare for more extreme weather, this should be a reminder that our safety and our health rely on these workers and that our communities, businesses and economy can only be up and running because of their skills, experience, dedication and commitment.
