Unite have secured an important improvement in sick pay for library workers in Greenwich and Bromley.
Tag Archives: Unite
Sanctuary Housing Maintenance Workers Vote To Strike
100% In Favour:
The result of Sanctuary Housing’s London maintenance workers ballot for action was overwhelmingly supported by members who voted 100% in favour of action on a 60% turnout.
Wake up call Sanctuary lead rep commented, “Since we started the union 2 years ago we have come a long way. Over the last year in particular we showed that we have got a voice. The result of this ballot shows how angry members are. 100% of members voting for strike action should be a wake up call for management.
Patience has run thin Many things have contributed to this result including the way we are treated on a daily basis. Our patience has run thin, we want an inflation proof pay increase, we want parity of conditions with office workers, we want our travel time to be part of core hours and importantly we also want our union to be recognised!”
Unite membership up dramatically Sanctuary workers have been forced into balloting for action as management have continually refused to negotiate with them. Members are particularly upset at the way their genuine concerns have been brushed aside or ignored. Our last piece of correspondence took management 3 months to respond to and then they had the cheek to ask us to bring our concerns to them as soon as possible! No wonder members see industrial action as the only viable option.Unite members at Sanctuary have seen their numbers rise dramatically over the last 18 months and with their confidence to push back at management. Our members will now start a process of intense discussion with their work colleagues to ensure maximum support for the strike. They will also be visiting other regions to spread the word and encourage their fellow workers to join them in their fight.
Sanctuary do not recognise any union Sanctuary workers will be striking over pay, disputes relating to travel time, parity with office staff, a four day week and recognition of their union.Sanctuary do not currently recognise any trade union which is why Unite members at Sanctuary have included this vital issue as part of their claim.Sanctuary claims to have 13,000 employees, manage over 120,000 properties and house or care for over 250,000 tenant and service users. This makes it one of the biggest employers in the sector. Our members are determined that Unite raises its profile and becomes the genuine voice of workers.
Unite Protests at NHS London Trusts
Unite, the UK’s leading union, is undertaking a series of demonstrations and marches in London next week as part of its campaign to increase pay and end unsafe staffing afflicting NHS workers.
The demonstrations and marches coincide with strike action being taken by over 2,800 Unite NHS workers employed in four NHS trusts.
When: Wednesday 13 September, 12 pm
Where: Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel Road, London, E1 1FR
There will be a further demonstration on Thursday 14 September at Guys and St Thomas’ Hospital, Westminster Bridge Road, SE1 7EH beginning at 12 pm. Speeches will take place from 12:30 and then at 13:00 demonstrators will march to Trafalgar Square.
The workers at the Royal London Hospital, which is part of the Barts NHS Trust, are in dispute because they did not receive the £1,655 lump sum payment that was part of the NHS pay settlement for 2022/23.
The workers, who primarily undertake soft facilitator roles (cleaners, housekeepers, caterers, porters, etc.), were previously employed by outsourcer Serco and only transferred back to the NHS in recent months. The trust has refused to honour the lump sum payment. Unite has also rejected the government’s pay deal as it amounted to a further real terms pay cut for NHS workers.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Our NHS members are making a stand to ensure that they are paid fairly and that the chronic problem of staff shortages, which is placing patients in danger, is no longer swept under the carpet.
“It is intolerable that our members at Barts, who are some of the lowest paid staff in the NHS and who are living hand to mouth, have been denied the one-off payment they fully deserve.”
The striking workers are employed at Barts Health NHS Trust, Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Trust, East London Foundation Trust and Guys and St Thomas’.
The Barts workers will be on strike from 13-14 September and then from 16 – 22 September. Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Trust workers will strike from 13-14 September. East London Foundation Trust workers will strike on 13 September and Guys and St Thomas’ workers on 13-14 September.
Unite members are increasingly alarmed about staff shortages affecting patient care and management’s failure to resolve the problem. A recent survey of Unite NHS members revealed that 48 per cent said during the past year staffing levels in their areas regularly reached a point where “patient care has been compromised and unsafe”. For workers in frontline roles, these figures rose to 57 per cent.
Unite national lead officer Onay Kasab said: “The forthcoming strike action will cause disruption, delays and cancellations at the affected hospitals. The NHS, however, is in crisis every day due to chronic staffing shortages.
“NHS employers and the government have had years to tackle the staff shortages and low pay that are forcing people out of the NHS but have failed to do so.”
Westminster libraries workers to strike in pay dispute
Members of Unite employed by Westminster City Council across the borough’s libraries will begin strike action this Wednesday (6 September) in a dispute over pay.
The workers have rejected the national pay offer of a flat rate increase of £1,925. The offer is below the rate of inflation and amounts to a real terms pay cut.
The workers will initially take 4 days of strike action on 6th, 8th, 13th, 15th September. Strike action will disrupt services across the borough.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Our members provide critical frontline council services. Despite the essential roles our members undertake their employer thinks it is acceptable to propose what amounts to yet another real terms pay cut, at a time when they increasingly can’t make ends meet.
“Unite never takes a backward step in supporting its members and is dedicated to enhancing their jobs, pay and conditions. Unite will be providing members across Westminster’s libraries with its complete support.”
A survey of Unite members in local authorities, has highlighted how years of pay freezes and below inflation pay deals has resulted in workers facing desperate financial choices. The survey found:
Nearly half (48 per cent) have struggled to afford heating, electricity and water bills
30 per cent have struggled to afford food and clothing
Almost a quarter (23 per cent) are skipping meals to save money
17 per cent have struggled to meet rent and mortgage payments
Six per cent have been forced to use food banks.
Councils are not legally bound to follow the local government pay increase and can pay a higher rate to workers if they wish to do so.
A total of 23 local authorities have voted for industrial action in the dispute which will escalate next month and throughout the autumn.
Unite regional officer, Lui D’Cunha said: “The proposed strike action will inevitably cause major disruption to Westminster libraries but this dispute is a direct result of local government employers failing to value workers and properly reward them for their hard work.”
Unite Meeting London & Eastern
There was a meeting of workplace reps from the London & Eastern Region that took place at the Royal National Hotel in London on Wednesday 24th May 2023, at which Sharon Graham, the General Secretary of Unite, gave a presentation to explain the direction that she feels the union should be going in.
Since Sharon Graham was elected General Secretary of Unite some twenty months ago, she has made it her goal to make some major changes to the way things get done.
She has launched a no-holds-barred investigation into the Birmingham hotel project where overcharging to the tune of around £30 million took place.
Another way she is trying to get things done is by setting up sector-wide combines. In the London bus sector, this had already been set up, and we have quarterly meetings for both stewards and convenors from all London bus operators. There is now a nationwide combine for bus operators set up, which has had several meetings. The process is in place to set up a docks combine. Other combines are in the pipeline.
Collective bargaining has always been the best way to achieve results and if efforts can be co-ordinated across a whole sector and not just involving one employer, there is hope that greater goals can be reached.
Leverage campaigns have been very effective in the past, and Sharon was involved in a number of these before she was elected GS, and these are set to continue when necessary.
All in all, it was an excellent meeting; interesting, thought-provoking, and motivating too.
Unite Report On Energy Bills
Unite has just published research into the costs of renationalising the entire UK energy network:
“Taking public control of the UK’s energy network could reduce bills, reduce inflation, and pay for itself in a few years, reveals new research by Unite the Union.
“Unite Investigates “Renationalising Energy – costs and savings” considers how a publicly run energy network could use the massive profits of Britain’s energy giants to reduce household bills and fund the transition to a green future with secure jobs.
“The report reveals that companies made £45 billion profit from the UK domestic energy system in 2022. If that money had been kept in public hands, it could have been used to save each household £1,800 on their energy bills.”
Save Debt Advice Day Of Action
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