We want this to become a regular feature for our branch, sharing news and thoughts from our members all across the patch. If you’ve recently taken part in a UNISON training course, conference or have something else that you think other union members would be interested to hear about then please write to the branch at wahbunison@gmail.com and let us know about it.

Other ways of keeping up with branch news is on Facebook Wiltshire and Avon Health Unison

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Branch Communications Officer

 

Wiltshire Health and Care on Strike – Show your support!

A strike day has been announced for UNISON members working for Wiltshire Health and Care (WHC) following a successful ballot where an overwhelming majority (95%) of respondents backed strike action. The dispute is over WHCs decision to not pay the lump sum bonus agreed by the 2022/23 Agenda for Change pay negotiations to its staff.

The strike will start at 7am on Tuesday the 12th of December and will last for 24 hours. Pickets will take place at Chippenham Community Hospital and Warminster Community Hospital. If you can visit a picket line to show your support please do so. The Branch Executive has also agreed to use the branches Industrial Action Fund to top up the strike pay of members going on strike.

If you would like more information about the pickets, how to support the strikers or other information please email wahbunison@gmail.com

 

2024 Branch Annual General Meeting Dates Announced

The dates and times for the 2024 branch annual general meeting (AGM) have been announced and will take place over several days in multiple locations and online over Microsoft Teams. The venues for the in person meetings are below and full information will be in your AGM notification so please reserve the date for your nearest venue or for the online meeting if you are unable to attend. It is a requirement of the union that enough of our members attend the AGMs to hear the reports and approve the decisions made there so please make every effort to attend one of the meetings. If you are a Representative then you must also submit your nomination form to the AGM with signatures from two other members. There are also a number of positions on the Branch Executive available, if you are interested in helping out the branch more as a Representative or part of the Executive team please email wahbunison@gmail.com for more information.

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The dates and times are as follows:

Double Tree by Hilton, Swindon: Friday 16th February – 18:30

Vassal Centre, Bristol: Monday 26th February – 12:30

Warminster Civic Centre: Friday 8th March – 18:30

Teams: Wednesday 21st February – 18:00

Teams: Thursday 29th February – 13:00

 

Executive agreed to donations to charities to aid Palestinians

The Branch Executive met in November and agreed to donate £500 to Medical Aid for Palestine and Red Cross, as suggested by UNISON National and agreed to use the branch banner at future anti-war protests and support calls for a ceasefire.

 

Workers Summit Report

This report was submitted by Tracy Belcher, a UNISON Rep at GWH and Richard Gurney, our Assistant Branch Chair.

Workers’ Summit Conference, London, 23rd September 2023

This was very well attended by members from various unions: over 100 union branches and 600 people present.

The Summit was quite a contrast to some of the more routine, top- table dominated gatherings that sections of the trade union movement seem to specialise in, and there were plenty of contributions from the floor. The one thing that struck us was the unity and support of everyone that was there -we are all striving for the same thing, fairness and equality. The slogan of the summit was “Link the fights, reject bad deals, fight to win” and there were inspirational speakers who had been out on strike to fight for what they believed in and had won. Bus drivers in the Midlands, Traffic wardens in Camden & St Mungo’s workers explained that their indefinite strikes had just won significant pay increases. It had not been easy but the unity this had made between the workers was just there to be seen. There was real discussions about what strategy works to help win the disputes, and discussion about how to organise effectively.

The NHS is under enormous pressure but the one thing that came across was how the members there were very passionate about the NHS and its very protection. NHS Workers Say No had helped organise the Summit, which is a network of NHS staff in a number of unions (Unison, RCN, Unite GMB and others) and it was clear that we are all fighting for better pay, but in essence we are fighting to save our NHS.

 

National Delegates Conference Report

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This report was submitted by Andy Cork, our Branch Secretary.

National Delegates Conference 13 – 16 June 2023 Liverpool

I attended the 2023 National Delegates Conference which this year was in Liverpool.  This year I had made the mistake of volunteering to act as a teller on behalf of the SW contingent.  For the uninitiated a teller counts and verifies votes cast during conference should there be a card vote.  Often a card vote is one of the more exciting parts of a conference as this typically means that there is a more controversial motion being debated at conference.  Generally, it has to be said, there is very little controversy with the motions that are debated which occasionally can lead to long debates about a subject that no-one is objecting to.

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This year there was only one card vote.  This was, unsurprisingly, on the proposal that the outgoing National Executive Council (NEC) had made regarding Branch funding.  The motion was to change the way that the Union uses its funding to build effective Industrial Action campaigns.  Branch funding is one of those topics that is always fiercely debated at conference; it is one area where the branches can exercise some independence over the NEC.  The issue has a number of components but is largely about where the union’s financial reserves are held.  Unison has financial reserves of around £256m.  This is made up of a number of elements, but part of that reserve is held by branches amounting to £63m.  There is additional parts to the reserves, principally Industrial Fund reserves.  The branch element is around £13m.  This means that branches, on average, have reserves of £52,000 and £10,000 respectively.  Needless to say this average amount is not evenly distributed across the branches with some branches having very large reserves and some branches, especially the smaller branches, having very little reserve and financially struggling as a result.

There have been many attempts by the NEC to try and address the issue of the amount of money held by branches and for this to be more fairly managed.  This is traditionally opposed by branches who see it as attempts by the centre to interfere with their independence.

This year the proposal was to a) restrict the amount of reserves that a branch could hold to about £110 per member and b) to ensure a minimum level of reserves in a branch.  Unlike in previous years there was no plan to actually transfer any excess out of a branch but to allow the reserves to drop to the agreed top level.  Very few branches were actually affected by this proposal – ours was not affected by it.

However, when it came to the vote the proposal was lost after a card vote.

Sadly, this is the last time that UNISON will hold its National Delegates Conference in Liverpool.  Unfortunately, the conference venue was used for a weapons industry conference and UNISON policy is opposed to the sale of arms.  It was too late to cancel the arrangements made for Liverpool, but in the past Liverpool has been a very welcoming city to hold a conference.

Another helpful motion was the decision to raise the age for Young members.  Currently the cut off is 27 but this is proving a considerable barrier to the young members SOG.  The decision was to raise the age to 30.

 

2023 National Retired Members’ Conference

This report was submitted by Norma Thompson and Janine James, our Retired Member Officers.

3 – 4 October 2023, Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC)

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Norma Thompson and Janine James attended the Retired Members Conference.

The UNISON’s National Retired Members Conference was held at Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) starting at 12 noon Tuesday 3rd, finishing 4pm Wednesday 4th of October 2023 the conference took place over two days.

Around 500 delegates and visitors gathered for the conference.

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The meeting of the Black Caucus was well attended. This meeting was run by black retired members to talk about issues affecting black retired members.

Delegates to the National Black Members Conference: Two retired members were nominated as delegates to represent the National Retired Members Committee at the National Black Members Conference in January.

Norma Thompson

Parmodh Sharma

 

Meeting for women members (caucus meeting) attended by Janine, Norma.

All delegates and visitors may attend all sessions of the conference but voting on motions is restricted to delegates only. Delegates should attend all sessions of the Conference.

Panel debate: The theme of the debate was the Cost-of-Living Crisis and Pensioner Poverty, which was covered by three speakers. Topics covered included poverty, State pensions, loneliness /social isolation mentioning Black and Asian pensioners are more likely to be impoverished. Attended by Janine and Norma.

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Day 2

The Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh opened the conference on its second day. She welcomed everyone on behalf of the city and welcomed us to the Edinburgh International Centre. She spoke about her connections and the work that she does. She is proud that Unison supports the retired members.
Motions

There were 26 motions on the agenda.

All motions relating to the cost-of-living crisis were carried unanimously by delegates.

At the conclusion of the conference, delegates were asked to vote on 2 of the 16 motions, composite A and B.

Later this year Questionnaire will be sent out to branches on how retired members operates, which will then be distributed to secretaries.

After retirement, not enough Black members are joining. Information should be included in communications to hospitals and other workplaces. Whom should you get in touch with if you plan to retire soon.

Christina McAnea, General Secretary spoke at the retired members conference on Wednesday afternoon.

Social care was one of the ‘‘glaring policy issues ‘‘that the general secretary was particularly focused on since it ‘‘matter not just to our retired members but to all members. ‘‘

To aid the union ‘‘in demanding a commitment from your local MPs and candidates, to deliver transformational public services that our country can be proud of, ‘‘she has been pleading with delegates in the upcoming general election. Naturally, 160,000 UNISON members are employed in the social care sector.

We know that many of us will need social care at some point in our lives, or that we will have loved ones or family who do, ‘the speaker stated. “That’s why we launched a campaign for a national care service.

UNISON Year of Black Workers and Windrush.

The general secretary of UNISON also discussed the organization`s Year of Black Workers, emphasising how, on the 75th anniversary of the Windrush immigrants’ arrival at Tilbury, Essex, the union remembered the ‘‘pivotal role ‘‘those immigrants had on ‘‘the birth of our NHS ‘‘since so many of them took jobs in the fledgling health service.

Recall how they have been handling our friends and families.” It would be a service that would put “pride into care, improve the experiences of those who need it, allow their family members to stay in their careers, and put more money into the pockets of a predominantly female workforce.

In 2024 the Conference will be held in Llandudno, Wales.