campaign

Picket line outside the Central Hill Day Centre

Lambeth Council halts closure of day centre on Central Hill! Big win for the campaign

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Today UNISON was informed that the new Green Administration in Lambeth – led by Martin Abrhams – took an excellent step to pause the closure of the Central Hill Day Centre.

The Council’s new position is “This announcement includes a pause to all closure activity and any voluntary or compulsory redundancy processes while the Council undertakes a detailed review of the proposal and alternative options.”

Furthermore the Council has agreed ot start referrals to the day centre, a major source of contention during the dispute as referrals had been paused for over 18 months which led to the centre being ‘under utilised’ which was one of the main reasons for closing the centre.

The announcement was made on the Love Lambeth website.

Staff took 4 days of strike action, and were in the middle of a week of strike action when the announcement was made. Joint Branch Secretary Simon Hannah said; “This is a real win for UNISON members fighting for proper public services. I’m so proud of everyone that took action and fought for what is right. Public services don’t have to be destroyed in the name of austerity.“

UNISON’s formal statement is below

UNISON strike action Forces pause on dementia day care closure

UNISON members have secured a victory in the fight to save a vital dementia care service in Lambeth after industrial action forced the council to pause plans to close the adult day care centre on the central hill estate.

The centre, run by Lambeth Council, provides essential support for residents living with dementia and their families. With around 2,000 people currently living with dementia in the borough, a figure expected to rise as the population ages, the proposed closure raised serious concerns about the future of local care provision.

The council’s plans would have resulted in the loss of 10 jobs. Throughout consultations, UNISON repeatedly called on the employer to explore alternative options to protect both the service and staff. However, members felt that these concerns were not being adequately addressed.

UNISON members organised a protest outside Lambeth town hall, sending a clear message that the loss of jobs and vital community services was unacceptable. Members then voted in favour of industrial action and took four days of strike action in support of their campaign.

The action has now delivered a breakthrough. Following the strike, the employer has agreed to pause the closure process and undertake a review of the decision. UNISON will be involved in that review, ensuring that the voices of the members are heard.

As a result of this progress, the remainder of this week’s planned industrial action has been suspended.

UNISON welcomes the pause and the commitment to review the decision.

Care workers get organised! Protest 4 September

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Care and Support Workers Organise (CASWO) are planning a day of action on Saturday 4 September during Professional Care Workers Week. CASWO is a cross union campaign made up of care and support workers from across the labour movement. Care and support workers have risked their lives during the pandemic to continue to care for the society’s most vulnerable. They have been at the sharp end of the government’s policy failures and have had to endure PPE shortages, lack of adequate testing in care homes and continued poverty pay.           

CASWO are demanding:

  • £15 per hour minimum wage for all care and support staff    
  • Full recognition as key workers making it easier for carers to access genuinely affordable housing
  • For the social care sector to be bought under democratic ownership

We fully support CASWO’s demands, and we encourage all our members to take part in the day of action. If you are a care worker or just believe that care workers deserve better, then we urge you to join the demo! Care and support workers need our solidarity as they have given so much over the past 18 months. They don’t just deserve our gratitude and applause but a meaningful pay rise and better working conditions.  

The action will start at 11.30am on Saturday 4 September outside the Department for Health and Social Care with a full list of speakers to be confirmed. Other demonstrations will take place at the same time in Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow and Preston, making it a national day of action!

Make sure to spread the word about the demo at your workplace and support this vital campaign.

Also, please click the link below and sign CASWO’s petition calling on Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and members of The London Assembly to include all care and support workers in ‘Key Worker’ housing schemes across London.

https://www.change.org/p/sadiq-khan-access-to-affordable-housing-for-care-and-support-workers?recruiter=68104092&recruited_by_id=3ec5fd55-2918-491c-a040-ac18d302aebc&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=petition_dashboard

Make sure to follow CASWO on both Twitter and Facebook.

Twitter: @CaSWO_

Facebook: @CareAndSupportWorkersOrganise

Smash the pay cap! What you can do to win 5%

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For too long public sector workers have been underpaid.

Our wages have fallen behind as prices and the cost of living increase.

In real terms we have lost 14% of our salary since 2010.

Now there is a campaign to break the public sector pay cap.  UNISON and other public sector unions have put in a 5% pay claim.

But we all need to get behind this campaign to win it.

What you can do to help.

Petition

Please sign this Parliamentary petition to get it debated in Parliament. We need 100,000 signatures (currently on 73,000!) https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/200032

 

Write to your MP and Councillors

You can write to your local councillors using UNISON’s easy to use website

Write to your Councillors

To find your MPs contact details please visit
http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps/

Wear badges and stickers

We have loads of badges and stickers in the union office in International House, please pop over to pick some up. If you are not allowed to wear them at work then wear them on outdoor coats, put stickers on the back of your mobile or the back of your ID badge.

Put posters up at work

We also have posters for union notice boards. Get in touch with us at the union office to get some.

Come on the rally outside Parliament on 17th October

There is a rally outside Parliament. Meeting at the Department of Health at 17:30 and marching down Whitehall for a rally at 6pm. Expect big name speakers like Jeremy Corbyn.

Lambeth UNISON will be heading there after our Branch Meeting earlier in the day.