Dave Prentis is the former general secretary UNISON.
Read Dave’s blog for views on issues UNISON is working on and information on what he’s doing.
Dave Prentis
As the biggest local government union in the country, we will always fight for local services – and for the funding that’s needed to provide them. So it was fantastic to see so many people getting behind the heartbeat of our local communities, local government workers, on our first Local Service Champions Day yesterday. There’s […]
We stand with the Kurdish community and other minorities already suffering in the region who will be the victims of this further destabilisation.
Recently the fight has gone to the courts. Yet today the High Court ruled against them. This is a terrible blow for the millions of women who will have been hoping for a very different outcome.
The NEC declared this week Green UNISON Week and up and down the country our branches have responded. From canteen stalls, solidarity selfies, new volunteers for branch green reps, tree planting and using lunch hours to join climate strike rallies.
These are just some of the incredible UNISON women leading the way not only in our union, but across our labour movement. Their successes are something that we should be proud of and shout loudly about – as we encourage others to follow in their footsteps.
The government will play every trick in the book and even plan to break the law if it means getting the result they want. We cannot let them succeed.
Privatisation demeans, damages and destroys. Privatisation was never a necessity, nor will it ever be. The toxic mix of privatisation and austerity was a political choice, but there is an alternative to this wanton profiteering.
On staffing, on medicine and even on food, the NHS risks being pushed off the cliff edge – we can’t let Boris Johnson’s no-deal wreck it
The planned closure of Parliament, at a time of constitutional crisis, is the sort of manoeuvre more suited to a corrupt tin-pot dictatorship
Today I saw people from different backgrounds with different talents and different skills coming together to support public service workers
At a time of real uncertainty for public services with a No Deal Brexit looming on the horizon, these victories make me so proud of our union, and what we can achieve together.
At this time of real insecurity, it’s time the government provided much needed funds across the whole public sector, before further long-lasting and avoidable damage is caused
I was brought up in a council house in inner-city Leeds. I know that council housing is vital to our country’s future, because like millions of people it’s part of my own life story and I know what a huge difference it can make to any family.
Like Tolpuddle, Burston and other fantastic labour movement events, Durham is about both our movement’s past and our future. As the Durham Miners’ motto says “the past we inherit, the future we build”.
I know that our Labour Link will remain vital in fighting for our union’s politics within Labour. Influencing, convincing and fighting for that radical Labour government our members need. But it’s not just Labour people I’ve been speaking to this week.