Dave Prentis is UNISON’s general secretary – the highest elected post in the union. He speaks up for UNISON members, campaigns for public services and leads the union.
Read Dave’s blog for views on issues UNISON is working on and information on what he’s doing.
We should be rightly proud that we’re the biggest and best union in the country. We should celebrate our quarter of a century of incredible achievements. Yet we must also take this as an opportunity to look at how UNISON – and all of us within it – can do more, and do better, for all our members in the next 25 years.
Join us in raising their voices and your voices. Share the videos on social media. Support our campaign to champion public services, and continue the fight for public services and everyone who works in them.
No-one goes to work not expecting to return home that day, yet official figures show that at least 20,000 workers die each year from work-related injuries and illnesses. The National Hazards Campaign believes that these official statistics are wildly inaccurate so the true figure is likely closer to 50,000 worker deaths every year.
This Tory government have sought to trash early-years support by failing to support it nationally or provide the necessary resources to local authorities. Now that government needs to hear the message loud and clear – it’s time to fund early-years properly.
UNISON and our members need to be round the table and involved in the decisions about the future of public services in Northamptonshire. By ensuring that, we’ll achieve better outcomes for everyone – and that’s something, after so much hardship, that’s sorely needed.
It’s time the legal status of the Windrush generation was confirmed once and for all – but the stain their treatment leaves on the already ugly record of this government will take a very long time to fade.
As your general secretary, I always will always fight for the NHS because NHS workers fought for me – they never gave up. As UNISON general secretary, neither will I.
UNISON was Rodney’s union – the house he helped build, and whose values he championed. Today we remembered his work, his incredible achievements, but most of all – his humanity, decency and friendship.
Now that Blaenau Gwent have become the first Welsh signatory to the charter, we hope this incentivises other councils to follow suit.
So wherever you live, wherever you work and whatever you do – please join us on May 12th to speak up and step up for the public services you work in and your whole community relies on. Bring your friends and family along to stand with you. Help make this a noisy, colourful passionate and uplifting display of our unity and strength as a union and a movement as we march through the centre of London.
If the pay offer is accepted, every NHS worker’s wages will go further, and the lowest paid would get a significant income boost. Meanwhile, starting salaries for nurses, midwives and other health professionals would also become more attractive to people considering a career in the NHS. That’s something which benefits all of us.
These attacks are completely unwarranted. In the past five full financial years, United Utilities has earned £1.6 billion in profits, whilst over a billion was paid out in shareholder dividends over the same period. In 2016/17 their two most senior staff – CEO Steve Mogford and CFO Russ Holden – were paid more than £4 million between them.
This International Women’s Day it is important that we stand up for equality in every workplace; for decent work and freedom from violence and harassment for women everywhere. Child marriage is child labour and together we can end it.
In the years ahead, apprenticeships look likely to become a much bigger part of the world of work, so it’s vital we ensure that employers are delivering apprenticeships that meet the high standards our union expects.
Thank you to all public servants working through the cold and the snow to support everyone who needs you. You are the pride of our union, our communities and our country.
