Campaigns
Positively Public Briefings
Monthly briefings providing the latest campaigning, privatisation and good practice news. Link to another page on this siteAvailable here
National news

Private markets expose public services

(09/07/08) Union calls for independent review of influence of marketisation on services

Look at PFI's impact on pay, says UNISON

(08/07/08) Union welcomes response to call to examine PFI pay impact

'We'll fight tooth and nail for services'

(15/06/08) Local government: Union will 'keep campaigning against privatisation'

Minding the health gap

(12/06/08) Cutting poverty is key to tackling health inequalities, says UNISON
News list >

Work-life balance

UNISON's 2002 launch of a work-life balance campaign aimed to inform members and promote the potential benefits of work-life balance for service delivery and staff satisfaction.

Documents & Links
Work-life balance: Rhetoric versus reality? An independent report commissioned by UNISON from the Work Foundation.
Link to a PDF document on this siteAcrobat PDF
Work-life balance campaign
Link to an external websitewww.unison.org.uk/worklifebalance/

The case for work-life balance tends to be made on two counts. First, that work-life balance improves individuals' health, wellbeing and job satisfaction. Second, that business can benefit from work-life balance because these policies improve productivity and worker commitment; reduce sickness absence; increase retention rates for talented workers; allow organisations to recruit from a wider pool of talent; and enable organisations to offer services beyond usual business hours.

The business case arguments have had particular resonance with the public sector, where a high proportion of the workforce is female and there is a drive to provide increasingly customer-focused services at more flexible times, requiring differentiated patterns of work.

UNISON commissioned this project from the Work Foundation to improve its understanding of work-life balance among members, to analyse the extent to which the growing awareness and popularity of work-life balance has translated into cultural change, and to develop recommendations about how organisations in the public sector need to move debates and practice forward.

CONTACT DETAILS
• The UNISON contact for the Positively Public campaign is Margie Jaffe.
Positively Public
1 Mabledon Place
London WC1H 9AJ
Email: positivelypublic@unison.co.uk
Recent documents
Fair Wages: How to end the two tier workforce in public services and achieve fair wages
UNISON's fair wages campaign calls for a fair wages regulation in public contracting to safeguard the employment conditions and pensions of staff, regardless of who employs them. This briefing explains the campaign, why we need it, what successes have been achieved and what remains to be done.
Link to a PDF document on this siteAcrobat PDF version
Public risk for private gain?
The public audit implications of risk transfer and private finance
A new UNISON report shows that the government has failed to evaluate its own claim that extra costs of PFI are justified, because risks are transferred to the private sector. There are now more than 500 PFI deals worth £36bn, but the the true cost of these deals to the taxpayer is still unknown and private companies are reaping the benefits of this oversight, at the expense of the public purse. (NB: This is a 1.2MB download)
Link to a PDF document on this siteAcrobat PDF version
Our values, our NHS
Results of UNISON's NHS survey, which we will use as evidence to show the government what members value most in the NHS, and argue for a constitution that ensures these principles are protected and built on in future
Link to a PDF document on this siteAcrobat PDF version
PFI – Retention of employment model
Branch guide
The Retention of Employment (ROE) model is a new policy implemented by the Department of Health, covering staff employed in NHS Trusts in England, which are involved in Private Finance Initiative (PFI) schemes. This negotiating guide seeks to explain UNISON policy on ROE; who is affected by ROE; how ROE works; how branches can negotiate before ROE is implemented; how branches can safeguard the interests of staff after ROE.
Link to a PDF document on this siteAcrobat PDF version
Shaping the future
UNISON's vision for public services
The document reaffirms UNISON’s commitment to high quality public services as the basis of a fair, prosperous and democratic society. It argues that because UNISON members work in public services, UNISON has a “dual role” as an advocate for its members and for “the best possible public services, available to all who need them".
Link to a PDF document on this site Shaping the future - UNISON's vision for public services (986165 bytes)
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