On Monday 20th February UNISON members joined the “1 Day Witout Us” celebration.
1 Day Without Us was a UK wide initiative that emerged following the EU referendum, to celebrate the contribution of migrants. It coincided with UN World Day of Social Justice and was also marked by a mass lobby in Westminster to ensure EU migrants’ rights were not used as bargaining chips in the Brexit negotiations.
Locally we had very positive events in various hospitals (RVH, Antrim and Craigavon) as well as an ICTU joined event outside city hall in Belfast.
The theme of International Women's Day 2017 is Peace, Solidarity and Sustenance #IWD17NI
Every year we celebrate International Women's Day to mark political, economic, social and cultural gains of women while highlighting the continued fight for equality.
When Elizabeth Cameron’s name was called out she froze for a second and stared ahead of her. Then she looked around as though she couldn’t believe her ears.
She had just been announced as one of two national winners of the inaugural Our Health Heroes Awards, held at UNISON Centre in London last night.
The awards were organised by UNISON, Skills for Health and the National Skills Academy for Health.
They were part of UNISON’s One Team for Patient Care campaign, which aims to recognise and celebrate the work of the thousands of support staff who keep our NHS running.
A young survivor of domestic violence was Margaret McKee’s first disciplinary case as a union rep. What happened with that case influenced the course of her union activity, indeed her whole life, and ultimately led to her being awarded the prestigious TUC Women’s Gold Badge this summer.
So who is Margaret McKee, and what did she do to deserve the Gold Badge?
Margaret has been a catering assistant at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast for 37 years. On the day of her first disciplinary hearing as a rep, she was walking to the meeting with her young colleague.
UNISON is growing increasingly concerned at a trend of care home closures in Northern Ireland.
That concern has been heightened by Deloitte’s announcement yesterday that three care homes in the Care Circle Group – Braefield in Connor, Slemish in Ballymena and Kingsway in Dunmurry – have gone into administration.
This came after last week’s decision by Belfast Trusts to close Pine Lodge Residential Care Home and follows the closure of several care homes runs by Four Seasons in the last year.
UNISON activists received special recognition at the TUC Congress in Brighton this week.
Darren Barber, branch secretary at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn, Norfolk and regional convenor for UNISON Eastern, was honoured with the TUC organising award.
When he started at the hospital, union membership was at an all-time low. But now, membership has grown from 365 to 810 and the number of active UNISON stewards from two to 14.
With continuing pressure on NHS managers in England to both tighten their belts and privatise, the poor state of the pound and the uncertainties created by Brexit, it’s crunch time for the health service.
Although health is a devolved issue, the NHS is also suffering financially in Scotland, Wales and particularly Northern Ireland as a result of Westminster’s austerity policies.
A key difference between the devolved nations and England is that the latter falls under the Conservative government’s department of health – and at the sharp end of the cuts.
