Events

Notice of Lambeth UNISON Annual General Meeting 2026

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NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2026

This is notification that Lambeth UNISON Annual General Meeting is happening on 3 March 2026. The meeting will be a rolling AGM, with a day time session from 1-3pm and a late afternoon session from 5pm – 6:30pm. You only need to attend one. 

The purpose of the AGM is to bring the branch committee and its officers to account:

  • to report on the branch’s finances;
  • to report on the branch’s activity during the past year;
  • to receive a report on the annual assessment.
     
    It is also to make decisions for Lambeth UNISON in 2026:
  • agree policies and plans for the year;
  • to elect branch officers and branch representatives to external bodies for the coming year
  • Elect conference delegates for Local Government Conference and National Delegate Conference
     

Do you want to write a motion for the AGM?

Motions at our AGM become branch policy and help guide us in campaigns we will run over the next 12 months.

Motions should be no more than 250 words (not including the title) and in numbered paragraphs and submitted by noon on 6 January.
      .
Email motions to our branch chair Gary Whiting (gwhiting@lambeth.gov.uk) and copy in the vice chair Dan Jeffery (DJeffery@lambeth.gov.uk) 

Do you want to stand for an elected officer position?

Nominations are now open for officer posts on our branch committee
Deadlines for nominations are open from Tuesday 9th December to Monday 06 January 12noon.


Lambeth UNISON is run by a branch committee, made up of officers elected at AGM, convenors elected by members in each directorate of the council, and stewards elected by members in teams/workplaces.  The branch committee meets monthly and is the leadership of the branch. For an overview of the different roles and their responsibilities, please check out (https://www.unison.org.uk/about/our-organisation/activists/branch-roles/)

All officer posts are open for nominations. For information on how to nominate please read below.

Branch Secretary                In charge of day to day running of the branch, overall strategy, campaigns, etc (5 days facility agreed)
Assistant Branch Secretary     Supports the Branch Secretaries in their duties and helps with campaigning work.
Branch Chair                        The branch chair facilitates branch and committee meetings, and may also be a senior negotiator.
Branch Vice Chair               Chairs meetings when the branch chair is unavailable
Branch Treasurer                 Responsible for finances in collaboration with the secretary
Deputy Branch Treasurer   Assists the branch treasurer
Publicity Officer                    Helps produce newsletters, manage social media accounts, press releases and so on.
Membership Officer             Assists with recruitment and retention, managing our membership database.
Health and Safety Officer##  Watch that badly fixed light! Is work making you stressed? Health and safety is the name of the game.
Environmental Officer         Helps keep the branch up to date on green issues and develops campaigns and policy (will be a very important role in years to come!)
Equality Officer                    Is responsible for equalities issues, assisting self-organised groups and being a union lead on equalities at work
International Officer            Keeps an eye on the news, is informed about international issues and feeds campaign ideas into the branch (e.g. anti-fascism in USA, solidarity with trade unionists in Colombia, anti-war campaigning in the Middle East)
Welfare Officer                     The lead person for assisting members with any welfare issues and providing access to UNISON’s welfare fund.
Learning Coordinator#      Works with employers and co-ordinates the work of union learning reps in supporting members with lifelong learning and skills for life
Education Officer                 Helps arrange training courses and education programmes for members, stewards, health and safety reps and branch officers.
Returning Officer                 Oversees elections for the AGM and any by elections that may be held for officer posts or convenor roles.
Branch Auditor                     Checks over our finances and ensures we have complied with UNISON regulations.
Deputy Branch Auditor       Helps the branch auditor carry out their duties
Young Members Officer**  Coordinates campaigning and organising work among younger members – are you under 30 and interested?
Labour Link Officer++         A crucial role in liaising with local Labour Parties and coordinating delegates from UNISON to Labour to advocate for our unions agenda.
** must be under 30 at end of their term of office (early 2026)  
++must be a Labour Party member who pays into the Affiliated Political Fund
# must be a trained ULR        (training provided)
## must be a trained safety rep (training provided)

All posts are open to job share 

To apply please email your name, membership number, employer and which role you are interested in standing for. You will also need to find another member to second your nomination.

To apply please fill in this form and email our returning officer Paul Fitzgerald (PDFitzgerald@lambeth.gov.uk) if you want to be nominated for any of these position.

If you want to be a delegate to and UNISON conferences or regional committees please fill in this form and return to our returning officer Paul Fitzgerald (PDFitzgerald@lambeth.gov.uk) 
Call Lambeth UNISON at 020 7926 2858 for more details or to answer any questions

Time Table for 2025 AGM

Tuesday 9 DecemberNominations period opens up for branch officer posts. 
Tuesday 6 January 12noonDeadline for AGM Motions. Deadline for nomination of Branch Officers, Conference and other delegates
Tuesday 13 JanuaryCirculation of motions and nominations received for AGM and reminder of dates
Tuesday 20 January 12noonDeadline for amendments to motions for AGM and deadline for nominations for stewards
Tuesday 20 JanuaryJanuary Branch Committee
Friday 6 February 5pmCopy Deadline for Annual Report
9 – 13 FebruaryLay up and printing of AGM report
17 FebruaryFebruary Branch Committee – compositing of motions and amendments for AGM
Friday 20 FebruaryBranch Officer Ballot & Final Agenda Distribution date. AGM booklet electronic distribution
Tuesday 24 FebruaryDeadline for Emergency Motions to AGM (motions will be accepted on issues after this date, contact branch secretaries for details)
Friday 27 FebruaryCopying of additional papers for AGM
Tuesday 3 MarchLambeth UNISON AGM in two sessions: Day time for Council staff and then after work for Schools and private sector members

Lambeth Assembly – building a better borough 12 April

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Local trade unionists and residents have called a meeting on 12th April to coordinate campaigns against the huge cuts going through Lambeth but also discuss building our vision of a better borough.

Lambeth Council has announced “the worst financial crisis Lambeth has faced”. The Labour Party won the election telling us “no return to austerity” but our services are getting worse not better.

The Council is facing £99 million in cuts. Government housing policy has driven soaring costs of temporary accommodation, this combined with long term underfunding leave councils at breaking point. The proposals include job losses, closing children’s centres, cuts to Early Intervention and Prevention, youth and play services, cuts to adult day centres, and losing £1million from local libraries. (25% of the budget)

Now disability benefits are being slashed to promote ‘growth’. Join us to demand Lambeth Council and the Labour Government improve local services:

• Rebuild public services • Restore real wages and benefits • Tax the rich!

Saturday 12th April

11am – 4pm

St Matthews Tenants Hall, SW2 1ND

Join local trade unionists, residents, climate campaigners and anti-war activists alongside others to build the campaign against local cuts and for a better borough based on fully funded local services, care for the environment and anti racism. Get tickets from Eventbrite here

SPEAKERS TO BE CONFIRMED

Co-sponsored by Lambeth UNISON

Leaflet for 12 AprilDownload

Council and School Pay campaign 2024

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Local government staff keep communities safe, clean and accessible, often for little to no recognition.

Within our 2024 claim, we asked the employers for a pay increase of £3,000 or 10%, whichever was greater. The offer of £1,290 falls far short of this. (The local government employers have made an offer of a flat rate increase of £1,575 for workers in the inner London area and £1,491 for workers in outer London.)

Following a consultation of member, our NJC committee, made up of leading activists, decided that we would proceed with an industrial action ballot.

The ballot opens on Wednesday 4 September and closes at 10:00 on Wednesday 16 October.

Voting for, and taking, industrial action will send a clear message to employers that you need a better pay rise.

We will continue to every means possible to make the employers improve their offer. Read our latest joint union letter to the employers here.

Industrial action FAQs can be found below.

Find out how the offer stacks up against our claim using our pay calculator.

Calculator

Notice of Annual General Meeting 2024

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The Lambeth UNISON 2024 AGM will be held on Tuesday 20 February

Two AGM Sessions, both at Lambeth Town Hall

  • 1pm-3pm (Council Workers)
  • 4.30 – 5.30pm (Schools and Private Sector)

The purpose of the annual general meeting is to bring the branch committee and its officers to account:

  • agree policies and plans for the year;
  • to elect branch officers and branch representatives to external bodies for the coming year
  • to report on the branch’s finances;
  • to report on the branch’s activity during the past year ;
  • to receive a report on the annual assessment.

 If you would like to submit a motion or an agenda point to the AGM agenda, please email the full text of your motion to Ruth Cashman rcashman@lambeth.gov.uk or to UNISON, Room G.3. Lambeth Town Hall, 1 Brixton Hill, London SW2 1RW

Please see below if you would like to stand as, or nominate a candidate to be an Officer of the Branch. If so write to our nominations officer Paul at PDFitzgerald@lambeth.gov.uk If you have any questions about roles and responsibilities or particular officers do not hesitate to contact us.

Please see below for important deadlines.

12 December 2023: Nominations for Officer and delegate elections close
9 January 2024: Motions and rule change deadline, motions will then be circulated a few days later.
23 January: Alternative motions deadline. Due to nature of the AGM we cannot accept amendments, instead members are asked to write alternative motions.
6 February: AGM papers distributed
16 February: Deadline for emergency motions.

Officer posts at the UNISON branch

Branch Secretary                In charge of day to day running of the branch, overall strategy, campaigns, etc (5 days facility agreed)
Assistant Branch Secretary     Currently three roles for overseeing policy, casework and campaigns
Branch Chair                        The branch chair facilitates branch and committee meetings, and may also be a senior negotiator.
Branch Vice Chair               Chairs meetings when the branch chair is unavailable
Branch Treasurer                 Responsible for finances in collaboration with the secretary
Deputy Branch Treasurer   Assists the branch treasurer
Publicity Officer                    Helps produce newsletters, manage social media accounts, press releases and so on.
Membership Officer             Assists with recruitment and retention, managing our membership database.
Health and Safety Officer##  Watch that badly fixed light! Is work making you stressed? Health and safety is the name of the game.
Environmental Officer         Helps keep the branch up to date on green issues and develops campaigns and policy (will be a very important role in years to come!)
Equality Officer                    Is responsible for equalities issues, assisting self-organised groups and being a union lead on equalities at work
International Officer            Keeps an eye on the news, is informed about international issues and feeds campaign ideas into the branch (e.g. anti-fascism in Brazil, solidarity with trade unionists in Colombia, anti-war campaigning in the Middle East)
Welfare Officer                     The lead person for assisting members with any welfare issues and providing access to UNISON’s welfare fund.
Learning Co-ordinator#      Works with employers and co-ordinates the work of union learning reps in supporting members with lifelong learning and skills for life
Education Officer                 Helps arrange training courses and education programmes for members, stewards, health and safety reps and branch officers.
Returning Officer                 Oversees elections for the AGM and any by elections that may be held for officer posts or convenor roles.
Branch Auditor                     Checks over our finances and ensures we have complied with UNISON regulations.
Deputy Branch Auditor       Helps the branch auditor carry out their duties
Young Members Officer**  Coordinates campaigning and organising work among younger members – are you under 30 and interested?
Labour Link Officer++         A crucial role in liaising with local Labour Parties and coordinating delegates from UNISON to Labour to advocate for our unions agenda.
** must be under 30 at end of their term of office (early 2023)  
++must be a Labour Party member who pays into the Affiliated Political Fund
# must be a trained ULR        (training provided)
## must be a trained safety rep (training provided)

All posts are open to job share 

Why are we being balloted for strike action?

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Since 2010 the Conservative government has slashed funding for local government, including keeping our wages down. This means in the last 13 years we have lost around 25% of our pay in real terms. Essentially we are all working a day for free.

Despite Sunak’s promise to halve inflation by the summer, inflation is still sky high. Food and energy bills in particular are much higher than they were two years ago, with no sign of the prices reducing.

If pay had kept up with inflation (not even a pay rise just keeping up with inflation) we would all be on much better wages.

Last year Local Government workers were offered a flat rate increase of £1925 (£2355 in inner London). Well below inflation for every member of staff.

Although Lambeth UNISON members rejected this pay offer as being yet another real terms pay cut, UNISON members nationally voted to accept it.

This year the joint trade unions that negotiate wages for local government (UNISON, GMB and Unite) put forward a 12.6% pay increase for all staff. This was rejected by the employers, instead we were offered the same amount as last year (£1925/£2355). UNISON representatives rejected this outright and moved to a strike vote.

This is now a fight. It is a fight for not just decent pay but also the future of local government, of public services in general. The money is out there to provide decent, well funded public services like health, education and social care, as well as invest in new modern social housing. But the Conservative government don’t want to properly tax the super rich or the corporations that are making huge profits. The four major super markets made £4bn profit last year. The oil companies are making millions of pounds profit a week. There are 3 million millionaries in the UK, and 177 billionaies with a combined wealth of £600bn (this increased by 150bn in the last two years alone).

We need every UNISON member to vote. UNISON is recommending a YES vote for industrial action. A vote for action is a vote for dignity at work, for a future for the public sector. It is a vote to say that we are not going to take it any more and we will resist and fight to defend our standard of living, for ourselves, out families and our communities.

Whether you work in social care, libraries, parks, crematoriums, leisure centres, housing, ICT, HR, civil planning, education, community safety or any of the other hundreds of crucial jobs that local government workers do – this is your fight. Together we can win.

The UNISON ballot is from 23 May until 3 July. It is a postal ballot. If you do not get your ballot papers or you lose them call UNISON Direct to order a new one 0800 0 857857.

New members who join before 21 June will be eligible to vote.

If there is a YES vote for industrial action then you will be expected to take strike action, that means no crossing picket lines and no working from home.

Any questions please contact your UNISON rep, convenor or branch officer.

Win the ballot: Fight for Pay meeting

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Dear Colleague

This is an invitation for you to join thousands of other London council UNISON members at this meeting on Pay!

A groundbreaking event is taking place on Tuesday 21 March 6.30-7.30 pm when UNISON members from other London councils will be signing up for the first ever London Wide UNISON council & school workers meeting.

Barnet UNISON  Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86358706964?pwd=aFQyZmFsVXVqL2tNTk02dTlQd2pFZz09

Meeting ID: 863 5870 6964

Passcode: 869860

The Cost-of-Living Crisis is unrelenting, and more and more workers are under pressure to keep up with increases in costs such as Food, Heating, Rent, Mortgages, Child Care, etc.

Council and Schools workers’ pay has fallen so low over the last 13 years that everyone is now working at least ONE day a week for free.

At the same time energy companies are announcing massive levels of profits whilst many of our members are afraid to turn on the heating.

UNISON Council and School workers now have the opportunity to add their voice to the hundreds of thousands of other trade union members who have already taken strike action over the issue of low pay such as: Transport workers, Royal Mail workers, BT workers, Teachers, Junior Doctors, Train drivers, Cleaners, Teachers, College workers, Border Control workers, Civil Servants, Barristers.

All these trade union members managed to deliver a BIG YES vote in their strike ballot.

In London we need to send a message about the hardship of living on low pay in London. To do that we need to organise across London councils in order for our members’ voices to be heard loud and clear in Parliament.

When is the Strike Ballot to start?

The strike ballot papers will start being sent out to members home addresses from 23 May to 4 July.

What can members do?

It is important that all UNISON members’ email Lambeth UNISON branch at jablake@lambeth.gov.uk with their correct postal address and contact details including their telephone/ mobile number and email address.

It is critical to the success of the strike ballot that Lambeth UNISON has the correct details and has your permission to contact you about the strike ballot.

 Phone banking.

We know from other trade unions the importance of speaking to members about voting and sending back the ballot papers. We are looking for help to be on the Lambeth UNISON phone bank. If you would like to volunteer, please email us at shannah@lambeth.gov.uk