ALL unison members including the retired can vote.
Just put a cross against the name (Christina please!), put the ballot paper in the free Stamped Address Envelope and pop into any Royal Mail letter box.
Take part in the most important UNISON election which is probably one of the biggest individual elections in UK. Some 1.3 million ballot papers have been issued.
The walk was gentle with a few ups and downs, mostly on good paths. Along the way, we spotted herds of deer, plenty of red kites, and lots of unseasonal ladybirds! There was a cafe at the start and a pub waiting for us at the end.
I’ll share more pictures on Facebook. Check link for route
By coincidence the area chosen was one I had been to previously in 2022 and it was an estate owned by 2 housing associations, L&Q and Sovereign Network. Shaban's ward colleague, Rita had a work commitment and could not make it.
The canvass was largely very positive and Shaban was well known in the estate as an active Councillor, and being born and bred in Canning Town and as a local shopkeeper.
There was a refurbishment scheme going on which was causing problems and concerns to residents which generated a lot of case work.
I am always interested in Housing communal notice boards and L&Q seemed better than Sovereign but I noticed that their estate inspections seemed over due, but at least they were publicised unlike Sovereign. Sovereign was also criticised by residents for not responding to emails. Newham Housing has I admit very similar issues.
As Labour Group Chair I am planning to visit all Newham wards in the next few months.
When he was younger, Peter had also served his county as a infantry soldier in the British Army in a dangerous conflict zone. In more recent times he had worked as a residents liaison officer in a housing estate I know well, which was going through a "very difficult" emergency block decant. He was very much a supportive but no nonsense, housing professional.
He will be sadly missed. I had hoped to go to his funeral but was not able to due to a clash. Yvonne Green, the London UNISON convenor and other union activists were there in Birmingham today and I was able to watch the Committal on line.
His family have requested donations to Cancer Research and London UNISON have agreed to donate £150 in his memory.
Rest in Peace Peter
Every year there is a national count of people sleeping on our streets. I believe that at least 5 London Boroughs were holding their annual count on Tuesday/Wednesday morning. Newham Council however also does local counts every 2 months
After the briefing we were divided into several different groups and given maps and information sheets for a particular area in Newham to visit between 12 midnight and 3am. The aim was to simply count the number of people in that area who were bedded down and sleeping on the streets. If people were awake and wanted to engage, we would take their details and give an information sheet about a local drop in day centre where they can have hot food, shower and clean their clothes. Also we would arrange for outreach advice workers to visit them at their location from 5am onwards the following morning.
I was a driver for one of these groups, there was a outreach team leader and two other volunteers from a local housing charity with me and we visited 7 locations in our designated area, which were known "hot spots" for people sleeping on the streets. The weather was dry and quite mild for the time of year.
We found one young man sitting on the floor outside a community centre behind a wheelie bin who denied he was sleeping there but later he was seen sleeping on the floor. As we returned to my car another young man approached us and said he was homeless and asked if we could help. We took details and gave advice and arranged for him to see the early morning outreach team.
Next outside a public building, were two young men preparing to go to sleep near a very busy and noisy road but content to speak to us and we also made arrangements for them as well to speak to the outreach team and visit the day centre.
All the other sites had no one visible. We returned to Newham Dockside and reported back. I was then able to get back home by 2am.
I do not know what the final "count" was in Newham or elsewhere but I believe the figures are fed back to the Government to inform their policy on rough sleeping. I will post further on the results and any resulting action that will be taken to address this crisis.
Dear Member,
We’ve seen how she has delivered for you, for this branch, and for our union – growing UNISON in strength and influence.
Christina has the experience, skills and commitment to keep improving how our union works for you, not for any narrow political faction.
Her pledges are clear: fight for fair pay, pensions, jobs, rights and services; put resources where you need them most; spend subs wisely; hold governments to account; and keep equality at UNISON’s heart.
Regards
John Gray
Branch Chair
Greater London Housing Assocations
At 2pm I met local Labour Party activists and the Newham Labour Mayoral Candidate for May 2026, Forhad Hussain, to carry out a "street surgery" in my ward, West Ham. This involved knocking on resident doors, introducing ourselves and asking if they had any issues with the Council that they wanted to discuss with us. Forhad went down very well with residents. We made around 36 contacts and left cards for those who were out.
The overall response was very good. People were generally pleased to see us and while some gave us the benefit of their very firm views about local problems with parking, street cleansing and also national policies, they were also willing to engage and listen to possible solutions and ways forward.
Afterwards, we had coffee (and gossip) at a local cafe.
A good day.
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