Universities members vote to accept proposals on USS pension scheme

UNISON members at universities across the UK have narrowly voted to accept employers’ proposals to end a dispute over changes to the Universities Superannuation Scheme pension scheme.

The union’s higher education service group executive agreed this morning to call off a planned ballot for industrial action, following the vote which saw 52% of members accept the proposals from Universities UK in an above-average turn-out.

The consultation of 1,300 members took place over Easter.

However, UNISON head of higher education Donna Rowe-Marriman said the dispute highlighted “much of what is wrong with higher education”.

She added that “poor governance had led to poor decision making” which, if left unchallenged would have led to “our members becoming poor pensioners”.

For the future, said Ms Rowe-Merriman, “UNISON will be seeking improvements in engagement on any future decisions that affect our USS members.”

The University and College Union has also announced that its members have voted to accept the deal.

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‘The greatest fight in the long and illustrious history of our NHS’

“This isn’t just a time to learn from the past, but time to shape a new future,” general secretary Dave Prentis told delegates at the UNISON health conference in Brighton today.

This summer markis the 70th anniversary of the National Health Service – what Mr Prentis called “the greatest achievement of our union and our movement. It’s something to fight for, a beacon for the world, the envy of the world.

“It’s lasted 70 years and it’s our duty to ensure that it lasts another 70 years,” he said. πIt’s the greatest institution our county has ever known.

“So whenever politicians tell you that new public services are too expensive, too complicated, that there are other priorities – point them to the NHS and compare.”

But he added that health members today “face so many challenges”, including lack of resources, constant reorganisation, growing waiting lists, rising privatisation and fragmentation and the constant demand “to do more with less.”

As a result, he said, “there is more stress on the NHS’s most valuable resource – its staff.”

UNISON members will be taking to the streets on 12 May to Step Up for Public Services at the TUC national demonstration, and again on 30 June, in an NHS anniversary march to celebrate and defend the health service.

And the union continues to fight for the funding the health service needs.

“Austerity was always a failed dogma, but now more than ever it is fraying at the edges. You see every day how it has let down patients and staff,” Mr Prentis said.

“It’s so bad that even some Tories say the NHS needs more money. But [health secretary] Jeremy Hunt won’t give it up lightly.

“We’ll have to campaign, convince and cajole. We’ll have to wring every penny out of him.”

The good news, he added, is that “we know our campaigning does have an effect. After years of hard work, at long last, we’ve squeezed an extra £4.2bn of new money from this Tory government for pay for NHS workers.

“Now UNISON members will decide – as they always do in our union – what comes next.”

The general secretary reminded conference that the SS Windrush arrived in Tilbury Port just two weeks before the NHS was established –  the histories of the NHS and the Windrush generation who helped to make it prosper were ‘inseparable’.

Mr Prentis has just written to home secretary Amber Rudd, demanding that she confirm the legal status of the Windrush generation and their children, endeportations of people in their communities, and also ensure that Albert Thompson receive the cancer treatment that he has so far been denied.

“The driving force of our union is the creation of a fairer and more equal society. And that means fighting for the values that underpin our NHS,” he said.

“Our fight is not just to keep the NHS strong. It’s to build on what makes it great and make it greater still. This will be the greatest fight in the long and illustrious history of our NHS.”

 

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70 years of the NHS, 25 years of UNISON

Opening UNISON’s annual health conference today (Monday) in Brighton, UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis said:

“The NHS was born seventy years ago, with that proud godfather – Aneurin Bevan. It’s a beacon to the world and the envy of the world. 

“Our NHS, born amidst the rubble of war, opposed by churches, charities and doctors, was a ray of hope in that bleak time.

“And even then, amid that devastation it was possible to build something great, the greatest institution our country has ever known.

“So whenever right-wing politicians say that new public services are too expensive, too complicated, and that there are other priorities, point them to the NHS.

“And as we celebrate the NHS, I can think of no better guest for this conference than Aneira Thomas – the first baby born in the NHS at a minute past midnight on 5 July 1948.

“Her life and her families’ lives are bound up in our NHS. Lives saved and lives changed, like thousands more.

“And as part of the birthday celebrations, we must never forget the Windrush generation. Those who came from across the Commonwealth, to help rebuild our country, and build our NHS.

“To work hard, raise children, pay taxes and make Britain their home.

“The SS Windrush arrived in Tilbury Port just two weeks before the NHS was established, and these two anniversaries and histories are inseparable.

“This remarkable generation served us all and made our country a better place, but now we have to repay that service by supporting so many of them in their hour of need.

“No one can fail to be horrified on hearing Albert Thompson’s story. He’s been denied treatment for cancer, unless he can pay up front, despite having lived here for 44 years.

“He’s said he feels like he’s been left to die – abandoned by this cruel, vindictive government.

“That’s why I’ve written to the Home Secretary Amber Rudd to demand that Albert Thompson receives the immediate treatment he needs and deserves.

“To call on her to stop the deportations, respect those who have given decades to our communities, and confirm the legal status of the Windrush Generation and their children once and for all.

“A fairer and more equal society needs a decent health service, but our fight is not just to keep the NHS strong, it’s to build on what makes it great and make it greater still.

“But we see a lack of resources, growing waiting lists, reorganisation after reorganisation, staff continually being asked to do more with less, privatisation on the rise and more stress on the NHS’s most valuable resource – its employees.

“NHS buildings are being sold off, and wholly owned subsidiary companies, or “subcos”, risk becoming the new normal, with services hived off to new companies, undermining pay and conditions, a real case of bargain basement economics.

“Staff want to work in our health service – not for an offshoot, a tax loophole, or a subco.

“We owe it to everyone who works in and relies on the NHS to oppose subcos, as we have opposed every privatisation and every sell off in the past.

“There are those who say that subcos are necessary. That with the NHS pushed to the brink, trusts need to cut whatever corners they can to make ends meet.

“But if you want decent services, shorter waiting lists, better care –then don’t cut corners, don’t outsource to the privateers and don’t set up subcos.

“This year is a big one for our union too. Aside from 70 years of the NHS, it’s also 25 years of UNISON.

“As we celebrate our past and look ahead to our future, let us work together. Keep up the great work and keep up the fight for the values of our NHS.”

Notes to editors:
– The full speech by the UNISON general secretary, Dave Prentis, is available upon request to the press office.

Media contacts:
Clare Santry M: 07944 191479 E: c.santry@unison.co.uk

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NHS pay consultation launched at health conference

UNISON has launched a consultation of health members at the health group conference in Brighton today. Members in England must decide whether to accept a three-year pay deal which comes with an extra £4.2bn worth of funding.

Over a million hospital porters, 999 call handlers, healthcare assistants, nurses, midwives and other health staff across England are being offered long-overdue pay rises, in what would be a major shake-up of the NHS pay structure.

Roz Norman (above), the chair of UNISON’s health service group executive, told delegates at conference that the hard work of activists in the Pay Up Now campaign played a crucial role in forcing pay to the top of the political agenda.

“The consultation has launched today and runs until 5 June – we want everyone to take part,” she said.

“And if the proposals are accepted, the extra funding for English health budgets will go through the Barnett formula into budgets in Scotland, Cymru/Wales and Northern Ireland.

“We can then enter talks in each country about whether and how to implement the agreement in a way that would work for them.”

The Brighton delegates will be debating the pay proposals on Tuesday (17 April).

UNISON led the detailed pay talks with other health unions, employers and the government that  have resulted in the current proposals.

The union believes it is a better deal than would be achieved through the pay review vody, and is recommending that members accept it.

If they do so, the proposals would end the 1% pay cap by giving all staff meaningful pay increases.

And they would deliver the essential changes the unions have sought to make Agenda for Change fairer and better for all members.

These include substantial increases to starting salaries, significant pay rises on promotion and faster progression through most pay bands.

What will it mean for you? Find out with the pay calculator

The union is writing to all health members, asking them to find out more about the proposals and, when they are ready, cast their vote.

And UNISON head of health Sara Gorton has written to health activists, urging them to help their members in that process.

“I appreciate that this is a complex set of proposals for members to get their heads around, which makes the work of activists so important,” she said.

“The health team will work with them and their regions to ensure that as many members as possible understand these proposals, find out what it means for them, and use their vote to have their say on pay.”

Among the things activists can do include:

• run workplace sessions, meetings and walkabouts;
• host ballot boxes in the branch – using a laptop, mobile phone or any other device connected to the internet and online voting;
• organise recruitment drives – new members can be enrolled onto the voting register provided they are in RMS by 25 May.

The main elements of the pay proposals are:

• a fully-funded break away from the 1% pay cap, so pay rises won’t be paid for through cuts to jobs or services;
• meaningful increases for staff at the top of their pay band – for most this would be worth 6.5% over the three years, plus a lump sum worth 1.1% in year two;
• major increases for staff below the top of the band by deleting pay points and making it quicker to get to the top;
• ending poverty pay through an immediate move to a new, above living wage minimum , with further increases for the lowest-paid staff by the end of the deal;
• improvements to starting salaries to help the NHS attract the new recruits we need to reduce the pressures on existing staff;
• removal of band overlaps to ensure proper pay rises on promotion.

If the proposals are accepted, members will have additional money in their pockets from July.

If they are rejected, UNISON believes the treasury is likely to take the £4.2 billion off the table – leaving unions to wait for the PRB and the government to recommend and implement a pay award.

Members could then be faced with a difficult choice about whether to take industrial action to improve it.

Ms Gorton said: “In an ideal world, the 12%-14% knocked off the real value of NHS pay over the last decade would have been restored for all.

“But the proposal on offer is a negotiated settlement, so was always going to contain a mixture of what UNISON wanted combined with the demands of employers, government and other unions.

“The question for NHS staff is whether there’s enough in the whole package to offer something better than the alternative, which would mean relying on the pay review body to deliver a better award than what’s on offer, and for the government to fund it.

“Getting the funding for these proposals doesn’t mean that we’re going to let ministers off the hook for their record on the NHS,” she added.

“Unions strive to achieve the best deal for members, whichever party is in power, and have worked hard to break the hated pay cap.

“Our aim is to make the whole pay system fairer and the NHS a more attractive place to work for prospective staff. This would help ease the pressure on existing employees struggling to cope with increased demand.

“Also because the offer is funded, staff pay increases won’t come at the expense of jobs and patient care.”

The ballot closes at 5pm on Tuesday 5 June 2018.

Find out more and use our pay calculator to see how your pay would increase.

Make sure you have your say. To cast your vote all you need is your UNISON membership number and date of birth.

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NHS trusts are spending millions outsourcing staff to private companies, says UNISON

NHS trusts across England are spending millions of pounds outsourcing staff to new arms-length private companies, says UNISON today (Monday).

Using a Freedom of Information (FoI) request, UNISON has revealed that NHS trusts are shelling-out huge amounts of money on consultants. These companies are advising trusts on the setting up of wholly owned subsidiaries, to which staff are then outsourced.

UNISON says that these new companies appeal to NHS trusts because they can reduce their VAT payments, and cut the pay and pensions for any new staff recruited. The health workers that are being transferred tend to be the lowest paid within the NHS, such as porters and cleaners.

Only 21 out of 31 NHS trusts that UNISON approached complied with the FoI request – published to coincide with the start of its annual health conference – but the amount spent by just 15 of them is already in excess of £3.2 million.

Topping the list of high-spenders is Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in Birkenhead, which spent more than £661,000 establishing a wholly owned subsidiary.

The Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust and Gloucestershire Hospitals Foundation Trust have both already spent a minimum of £400,000 setting up subsidiaries. Meanwhile, Airedale NHS Trust in Yorkshire spent an estimated £343,000 outsourcing staff.

To put some perspective on the amount spent by some of these trusts, UNISON has found that the £3 million outlaid to date on transferring staff could have paid the annual salary of around 200 extra hospital cleaners*.

UNISON head of health Sara Gorton said: “The amount of public money being frittered away on transferring NHS staff to private companies is a disgrace, especially at a time when there’s such a huge squeeze on resources.

“These wholly owned subsidiaries are creating a two-tier workforce where new staff are likely to be far worse off in terms of their pay and pensions. There is also no evidence that these new companies improve efficiency or productivity.

“Porters, cleaners and other staff chose to be part of the NHS team, not to be contracted out and treated like second-class employees.”

Notes to editors:
– * Based on an NHS cleaner currently on band 1 (spine point 2) who is earning an annual salary of £15,404. UNISON believes this is of particular concern with research showing that a lack of cleaners is associated with a greater incidence of MRSA.
– Last year Oxford University published a paper on the incidence of MRSA and its links to cleanliness on wards. The report said: “…we can draw on the findings of a study that introduced an extra cleaner to two matched wards for six months each, using a crossover design, and found a 27% reduction in infections with MRSA, with the benefit disappearing after removal of the cleaner (S. J. Dancer et al., 2009). This is directly relevant to our finding that outsourced cleaning employs fewer staff.”
– ** Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust is involved with three subsidiary companies – Salisbury Trading Ltd (providing linen services in the trust), Sterile Supplies Limited (a joint venture with Steris – formerly Synergy – that provides sterilisation and disinfection services), and Wiltshire Health and Care LLP (formed with the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust and Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust).
– The 10 trusts that failed to respond to the FoI request are: Guy’s and St Thomas’s NHS Foundation Trust; Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust; Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust; Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust; City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust; Bolton NHS Foundation Trust; University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust; North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust; the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust; Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust.
– The information on Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust is freely available on its website and so no FoI was necessary.
– UNISON’s annual health conference will be held between Monday 16 April and Wednesday 18 April at Brighton Centre, Kings Road BN1 2GR. The event is open to the media. If you would like to attend please email press@unison.co.uk with your name, job title, the media outlet you work for, and a passport-sized photo. No flash photography is allowed at any UNISON conference or meeting.
– UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis will address delegates on Monday morning. Also on the first morning, there’ll be speeches looking ahead to the 70th birthday of the NHS in July from Aneira Thomas, the first baby born in the NHS, and Patrick Vernon, the director of Black Thrive, who’ll speak about the contribution made by the Windrush generation.
– Debates at the conference will highlight the problems many healthcare workers face such as abuse and violent assaults, growing workload pressures and the outsourcing of staff to arms-length private companies. The consultation on the NHS pay offer will also be launched at the conference.

Media contacts:
Clare Santry T: 0203 627 2446 M: 07944 191479 E: c.santry@unison.co.uk
Liz Chinchen T: 0203 740 5475 M: 07778 158175 E: press@unison.co.uk

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Are you ready for the weekend of action to save schools?

Education staff, parents and children across the UK will be taking part in a weekend of action against cuts to school funding.

Since 2015, £2.8 billion has been cut from school budgets. The average primary school has lost £45,400 in funding and the average secondary school has lost £185,200 (find out how much your local school has lost here).

The impact of the cuts is starting to show in the classroom: the latest data reveals that class sizes have grown in 73% of local authorities in England, while secondary schools have had to let go, on average, more than five staff members over the last two years.

That’s why UNISON members and many others will be coming together to take action on 21 and 22 April – from leafleting at school gates and in high streets, to holding stalls and community meetings.

Find out if there is an event happening near you, or start your own one.

Jon Richards, UNISON’s head of education, said: “This weekend is a chance for everyone to get involved to help save schools. There’s no hiding from it any more, the cuts are damaging our schools which means they are damaging our children’s futures.”

Download resources for your event.

The weekend of action is being coordinated by the School Cuts campaign, a coalition of unions, parents, schools and campaigning organisations, that is raising major concerns over the pressures on schools as real-terms funding cuts begin to bite.

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How to… write a press release

It’s more than a century since the first press release – issued by the Pennsylvania Railroad after a fatal train crash. And while the world and the media that reports on it may have changed a little since 1906, a release remains the best way for organisations to attract the attention of journalists and producers.

Before you get started, think about who might need to know what you’re up to before any release is issued. Alerting the regional organiser who looks after your branch, so they can keep national media colleagues in the loop, could help avoid any nasty surprises in future – and keep everyone happy.

Writing a release isn’t rocket science, but if you want to be noticed and covered for all the right reasons, then there are a few simple guidelines.

Keeping it short and snappy is a given – both for sentence length and the overall release. Go for simple rather than complicated language, save any opinion for the quote, and make sure there’s someone around to check your prose for grammatical mistakes or typos.

As a general rule, watch your language. Union jargon has no place in a press release, so talk about people, employees and staff – or social workers, nurses, teaching assistants, police and community service officers or public servants – rather than ‘members’.

While unions would be nowhere without their members, if you’re trying to influence the wider world, using the ‘m’ word won’t help. Journalists – and their readers and viewers – will assume we’re just talking to ourselves and ignore, or even worse, hit delete on your release.

There are several things to think about and get right if you want to write a press release that hits the mark. There’s the embargo. Then there’s the attention-grabbing headline, the all-important first paragraph and the subsequent ones that explain what it’s all about. Closely followed by the quote – the part of the release most likely to be used – and finally details of how the media can get in touch with you if they want to follow up on your release.

The embargo

The embargo is the date you’d like the story to appear. Of course, journalists can write their story before then – it just means their copy can’t go live or appear in print before that point.

Embargos encourage media types to write about your initiative, safe in the knowledge that none of their rivals will be ahead of them. If your story has a lot of detail, an embargo is a useful way of giving all the media enough time to prepare content and interviews.

An embargo can be for any time of the day – or night. Perhaps the most often used is 00:01hrs, which means media can cover the story at any point from one minute past midnight. If you don’t want an embargo, just write ‘for immediate release’.

The attention-grabbing headline

The job of a headline is to grab the interest of the journalist and get them to read on. A strong one explains the story in a clear and interesting way. If it’s a local story, and relates to a specific town or area, then say this in the headline.

Just remember to keep your headline short and simple. Don’t assume knowledge, try to be too clever or write one that’s much more than a single line long.

Once the headline has grabbed the interest of the journalist, producer or planner, you’ve got to keep their attention and give them the information they need to decide whether to cover your story, add your quote to a story they’re already writing, or simply ignore it.

The difference between success and failure at this point can be a winning first paragraph. This needs to set out the story’s core elements and make the media feel it’s something they should care about.

The five Ws – who, what, where, when and why – are what you should be focusing on here. Don’t think you have to squeeze them all in, you can touch on those you don’t use elsewhere in the release. Focus on short sentences that are to the point and sum up what your release is all about.

With the headline and first par under your belt, now you’re on a roll. Continue with one, two or three paragraphs that give further information that enables the media to cover the story.

It’s important not to assume knowledge at any point in your press release. If you do, and they need to call for clarification, you might lose a busy journalist – and you don’t want to do that.

Keep paragraphs short, sharp and direct, making sure they are factual and offer no opinion – save that for the quote.

The quote

So far you’ve been focused on getting across facts. Now is the time for some opinion, with the quote using powerful language to help lift the release.

And if you’re reacting to a story that you know lots of other organisations are likely to be commenting on, this could be the part that tips the balance in your favour.

Quotes should be attributed to a named individual rather than a spokesperson, and should include their job title.

In press releases, the media is looking for quotes from senior, expert or well-known people. Regularly using your most senior figure in releases helps to build this recognition, and gives the media the feeling that what this person says is important and should therefore be reported.

Avoid repeating what you’ve said elsewhere in the release. Don’t talk about ‘we’ or ‘UNISON’ and concentrate on succinct sentences that express your point of view.

In the loop

In the notes to editors section at the end of the release, make sure you give the media all the additional information they need – along with the details of any sources. The easier you make their job, the more likely they are to cover your story, cover it well and come back for more.

So that means a line or two explaining when a strike ballot is live, when a survey was carried out, or whether there are case studies to give the story legs and colour.

Never ever issue a release without a phone number and email address. And make sure the person listed is going to pick up their phone out of hours. If no one is available locally, add the contact details for the regional or national media office, checking with them first of course.

And before you send a release out, send a copy to the national or your regional media colleagues. This is so they can advise on style and content, and proof it for you too. Keeping them in the loop is also important, as they may well get calls about your release.

Always get someone else to read through what you’ve written. It’s easy to make mistakes. We all do.

Now you’ve got to send the release out. If you forward it to one of the union’s 13 regional media teams, they can send it out for you on Gorkana. This is a media database that all the press officers and journalists subscribe to. It’s a fast, easy and fail-safe way to make sure your releases are hitting the mark.

Never send your release as an attachment. It won’t get opened. Similarly, don’t add big attachments – reports, for example – that will clog up already-full inboxes. The media won’t thank you. Include survey data, pictures or reports as hyperlinks in the notes section of the release.

If you’re going to send it in a group email, put the names in a BCC so the journalists can’t all see who else has received your masterpiece.

Timing is all

And finally – timing. Press releases are meant to be news, so don’t issue releases about things that have already happened.Two days in advance is generally a good guide – so issue on a Tuesday, embargoed for Thursday.

Make sure you start work on them in good time, especially if it’s a release that involves more than one organisation. Releases written by committee can take an age to get signed off.

If you think there’s a real story in your release, ring the journalist and push it to them. ‘Selling it in’ essentially means calling journalists and convincing them to cover your release. The media are usually so busy that they may not even have noticed your email. So your call could make all the difference. But pick your stories – don’t call them for everything.

To make your pitch short and effective, have one or two sentences summarising your story clearly in your mind, or even written down in front of you. Most importantly, don’t forget to introduce yourself and say where you’re calling from.

If done well, press releases are useful tools to gain great media coverage for UNISON, on behalf of all the members the union represents. That coverage can also help influence the thinking of politicians and other key opinion formers, and encourage public service workers who are not yet in UNISON that ours is the union to join.

Visit the UNISON media centre

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