UNISON has reaffirmed its commitment to the One Team campaign for the health service, in the face of the government’s ‘divisive’ actions during the NHS pay dispute, the union’s national executive council (NEC) heard on Wednesday.
Health members in England have been voting on the government’s latest pay offer. The ballot closed at 3pm on Friday 14 April.
By the time delegates meet for the national health conference next week, results will be through and next steps will be debated.
In her NEC report, Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said that, ahead of conference, the health service group executive had discussed the Westminster government’s commitment to the Royal College of Nursing to consider a separate pay spine in England ‘for nursing staff exclusively’.
‘That’s obviously of huge concern to us,’ she said. ‘The committee reaffirmed our union’s One Team values and agreed that any move to break up the Agenda for Change pay system in this way would present significant risks – including around equal pay – and cause unnecessary local tensions.
‘The committee agreed to oversee development of a robust Unison response, focusing on the measures actually needed to support proper pay and career progression for nursing staff, and highlighting the dangers of dismantling the harmonised pay spine.’
In associated work, McAnea reported that the service group’s flagship healthcare assistant re-banding programme, ‘Pay Fair for Patient Care’, is going ‘from strength to strength,’ with projects now active in every region.
And she noted the union’s launch of its National Care Service campaign, just one day after the government confirmed it was to halve its investment in the social care workforce. ‘The campaign couldn’t be more vital,’ she said.
The Unison NEC received updates on other pay campaigns across the union, including:
– the upcoming industrial action ballot for local government members in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and consultation over a new offer in Scotland,
– a strike ballot in higher education,
– and upcoming strike action at the Environment Agency and CQC.
Council members took the opportunity to send messages of support to health members in Northern Ireland, whose strike actions recently brought the government to the negotiating table, and to the junior doctors of the British Medical Association (BMA), who were currently on strike.
- Away from pay disputes, McAnea told the council that Unison has put the wheels in motion for a potential judicial review into the Home Office’s recent decision to renege on three commitments it made following the Windrush Review.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman has confirmed that plans to strengthen the powers of the immigration watchdog, set up a new national migrants’ advocate, and run reconciliation events with Windrush families would all be scrapped.
McAnea said that any action the union takes will depend on the responses it receives from the government to its objections, and further legal advice.
She added: ‘We’re still investigating and trying to get more information. It seems appropriate given our long history of supporting people involved in Windrush, and (former Unison general secretary) Dave Prentis’s personal involvement in this, that we as a union pursue this as far as we can.’
It was fitting that the NEC also approved the president and vice presidents’ award of Unison honorary membership to Doreen and Neville Lawrence, the parents of Stephen Lawrence.
As president Andrea Egan told her colleagues, the honour reflected the Lawrences’ work for social justice and fight against discrimination in the UK, including their work on these issues with Unison itself, and also marked the fact that 2023 is Unison’s Year of Black Workers.
In other business, the NEC agreed to extend the union’s financial appeal – from regional to national – for the staff at the Orchard Day Nursery in Merseyside, who lost their jobs when the owners controversially closed the centre in March.
- Unison members working in health have spoken out against government plans to X-ray children seeking asylum in the UK in order to confirm their age.
Chair of Unison’s science, therapy and technical occupational group Gemma Jones said the plans ‘break the code of conduct of radiography staff and their legal duties for radiation protection by instructing them to expose vulnerable individuals to ionising radiation without consent and without any medical need, for a procedure that is not reliable to determine age.’
Jones also said the proposal ‘seeks to make healthcare staff complicit in the government’s cruelty.’
The Society of Radiographers has also criticised these plans. Speaking to ‘The Independent’ newspaper, their president Ross McGhee said staff should refuse to carry out the tests.
The society have issued a statement condemning the measures as showing ‘a lack of compassion to those in need, as well as disregard for radiation safety and a blatant lack of understanding and respect for the work of radiographers and the health service.
‘The NHS is in the midst of a workforce crisis, while our patients are dealing with the stress of growing waiting lists. The focus of this government should be on addressing these fundamental issues facing patients, healthcare workers and the nation as a whole,’ said the society.
These proposals accompany the government’s plans to dismantle the UK’s asylum system through its Illegal Migration Bill.
The provisions within the Illegal Migration Bill would narrow the ability to claim asylum in the UK to a vanishing point. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has declared the bill would amount to a ‘virtual ban’ on asylum.
Unison believes the UK government is engaging in a cruel trick with these measures. Any asylum seeker making their way to the UK will be regarded as ‘illegal’ and ‘inadmissible’ unless they use an approved route. Yet approved routes are capped and extremely restricted.
Unison is not alone in challenging the Illegal Migration Bill. The union is joined by the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the UNHCR, the European Union, the Refugee Council, and Liberty, among others.
For the first time, Unison members are now able to self-identify as a migrant worker.
The Unison migrant worker network is an informal network of Unison members with a first-generation immigrant background including overseas and migrant workers, EU settled status workers and workers who have subsequently naturalised as British citizens or who have indefinite leave to remain.
A leaflet promoting Unison’s migrant workers network, as well as a free immigration helpline for members and their families, is available to download .
Unison migrant worker members can access expert migrant rights advice and support for themselves and their families via a Unison funded partnership with the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI).
Members can access the advice service via Unisondirect who can then arrange an appointment for the member with a JCWI advisor.
