“I am writing to tell you of a bad experience in the workplace,” begins the letter from a UNISON member. She’s asked to remain anonymous as she’s scared of what her company would do if they knew she’d been in touch.
She’s 61 years old and a qualified nursing assistant who’s been with the same company for several years. She works 30 hours a week, two full nights and one short day for the minimum wage of £6.50 an hour.
She earns enough to get by, but not enough to save for the tough times that came when earlier this year her partner died from pancreatic cancer.
“Losing him was bad enough,” she explains, but the three days leave she took to grieve and to plan and attend his funeral, along with problems with her housing benefit, left her unable to cope financially.
In spite of her years of service, during which time she was “never late for work and hardly ever off sick”, her employer refused to pay her compassionate leave. This left her worrying about how to pay the rent and, as she explains, “it has caused a lot of stress when you least need it.”
Her boss’s attitude was, “If you don’t like it, there is the door.”
On top of her grief she feels “angry and insulted” as well as “sad and depressed” at the “unbelievable and inhumane” treatment.
Luckily, UNISON was able to help. A small grant of £120 meant that she was able to pay her rent. Along with help from her family and friends it helped tide her over.
She’s thankful for the help she received, but most of all, she says, “I hope things will change some day.”
Hers was one of over 4,000 cases that UNISON’s charity There for You responded to last year. The charity was set up to help members and their families in financial difficulties.
This help includes:
- Small grants – including school uniform and winter fuel grants
- UNISON debtline – a free, impartial and confidential debt advice service provided in partnership with Payplan, who are experts in helping people in financial difficulty
- Credit unions: a network of 40 credit unions to help members save and tackle debt
- Wellbeing breaks: these can include family holidays, get well breaks, breaks for a carer or following bereavement.
To find out more, go to unison.org.uk/welfare, email us at thereforyou@unison.co.uk, write to us at UNISON There for You, UNISON Centre, 130 Euston Road, London NW12AY, or give us a ring on 202 7121 5620.
