Celebrating the Live of Osmond "Peter" Daley

 

Today was the funeral of long standing London UNISON activist Peter (as I knew him) Daley. Peter was also a member of the UNISON Housing Associations Branch committee for many years and a firm supporter of the forces of light and reason in the Region. 

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

National Rough Sleeping Count: Newham October 2025

 

On Tuesday evening at 11pm I went to the Newham Dockside headquarters with fellow volunteers and outreach workers for a briefing by Council officers on this years National Rough Sleeping Count in Newham. 

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. 

Re-elect Christina McAnea UNISON General Secretary - ballot starts 28 Oct 2025

 This message was sent out today to all of our 3,000 UNISON branch members.

Dear Member,
 

Our branch has nominated Christina McAnea for re-election as General Secretary.

 

 

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

A Labour Movement Day

 

This Labour Movement Day started at 9.30am with a virtual UNISON pre delegation meeting to the TUC London, East & South East TUC  (LESE) Regional Council. I had to leave it early to cycle to my Labour Councillor surgery in Stratford Library. After which I came back home to join the actual LESE meeting and listened to a very good panel debate on the rise of the far right. 

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.

"𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀"

 

"Everything I’ve achieved as general secretary has been alongside dedicated UNISON members. We’ve delivered real change and together, we can keep our union strong".

Ballots arrive from 28 Oct. All UNISON members can vote include Retired.

LHG Policy Day 2025: Building 1.5m homes - who should they be for?

 

I cannot make this policy day due to a clash, which is a shame, since it is such an important and topical subject. Hopefully there will some form of report back to members.

Labour Housing Group Policy Day 2025 Saturday November 15th 1.30 – 5pm (1pm Registration) Venue: Friends’ Meeting House, 6 Mount St, Manchester M2 5NS (an in-person event) LHG is pleased to invite you to join us at our annual Policy Day, which will this year be hosted in Manchester on the theme:“Building 1.5m homes: who should they be for?” Topics  Devolution and building homes: developing strategic spatial plans and good collaboration    Breakout groups 1: Strategies for different areas A - Building social housing: progress and challenges in the North West B - Building homes to free up family homes / meet older people’s needs Breakout groups 2: Strategies for different groups   C - Building homes to meet needs of younger people & families D - A key issue for the NW: homebuilding in small towns?   Building New Towns and extensions              Delivery of social housing at pace Invited speakers:  Andrew Western MP (chair)  Mayor Steve Rotherham, Liverpool CR plus NW group Paul Dennett, Deputy Mayor, GMCA  Matt Turmaine MP  Issy Waite, Labour Students and LHG EC  Josh Dean MP Maya Ellis MP Cllr Scott Brereton, Hyndburn Markus Campbell-Savours MP  Lucy Powell MP Mayor Tracy Brabin Manchester Social Housing Commission   Deadline for registering:  Monday 10th November

Click here to register

Useful Resources and Links Read all of the latest housing commentary and analysis on our Red Brick blog Catch up with our recent podcast on tackling the crisis in temporary accommodation Read our report: ‘Housing is a Human Right’, a joint publication with the Labour Campaign for Human Rights

Time running out for UNISON Labour Link National Elections: Vote by Monday 27 October

"Dear Branch Labour Link Member

You should should have received a ballot paper to your home address (with SAE) inviting you to vote in the UNISON London Labour Link elections. You can vote either online or by post (obviously only once).

Voting closes on the 27th of October at 5pm.

If members have not received their ballot by the 30th of September, they can contact the ballot helpline on 08000857857.

UNISON Housing Association branch Labour Link has nominated our Committee member and active Shop Steward, Lady Lola Oyewusi to represent the Greater London region on the National Labour Link committee.

Lady Lola is a strong advocate for the Greater London region and has a proven track record.

Lady Lola will work tirelessly for our members, holding the government to account on vital issues such as the Employment Rights Bill, ensuring it’s implemented in full, on welfare rights, Palestine and in responding to the threat from Reform UK and the far right.

Lady Lola will work for fairer workplaces and communities where our members thrive and our rights are protected, no matter who’s in power.

If you wish to contact Lola with any questions please email her omololly2002@yahoo.co.uk

Yours faithfully
John Gray
Branch Chair and Labour Link Officer"

Outside London please consider voting for Tracey (Northwest region), Wendy (Yorkshire and Humberside region) and Fatima (South East Region)

How to write a motion webinar

 

Well done to our UNISON Community National officers (Community members work in Housing Associations or Charities) for organising a webinar on how to write a motion at our annual conference. 

Despite my many years of experience in the Labour movement I still get motions that I have written, ruled out of order, often due to basic mistakes. Motions that I have been involved in have been accepted by standing orders committees but not been prioritised and debated.  Which with hindsight I now realise were because they were unconvincing or even a bit boring. 

So I will be attending this training next week, every day is a school day and hope that my comrades in UNISON Community will also attend, so we can have some great and meaningful debates at our conference next year.  

(picture of my Community NEC colleague, Denise Thomas moving a motion at this year's Community conference)

UNISON Community Conference: How to write a motion webinar

Dear John, On Friday 27 February 2026, UNISON National Community Conference and Seminar will begin in Solihull.     Democracy is at the heart of our conferences, and they are an opportunity for you and your branch to set the direction of the union. To facilitate this democracy, every UNISON branch with community members has the opportunity to submit a motion to community conference by 12 noon on 6 November.     On Monday 20 October, we will be running two webinars on how to write a motion for conference. We’ll go through:  what a motion is what it is used for good practice for writing a motion and how to draft your own motion. To register for the webinars, please use one of the links below:      Monday 20 October, 12:30 – 13:15     Monday 20 October, 18:00 – 18:45   UNISON Community Conference and Seminar is for the 85,000 UNISON members who work for voluntary, charitable, and not-for-profit organisations, including housing associations, major charities, and those providing social care from the third sector.     Further information on UNISON community can be found using this link.    To find out more about this conference, you can follow this link.    We hope to see as many of you as possible on Monday.    Best wishes,    Michael Doolan  Assistant national officer – community     James Randall  National officer - community

Join an online campaign rally with Christina: UNISON General Secretary elections

 

I have just signed up for the Greater London Rally on Thursday at 6pm and submitted a question.

"Have you signed up to one the campaign rallies yet? Come along to hear how UNISON is safe in my hands and how we'll keep winning for members. Submit your questions and sign up at: http://votechristina.org.uk/rallies"

Surgery, Canvass then Forest Walk

Busy day. Cycled down to my Newham Council advice surgery in Stratford Library then joined Forest Gate North ward colleagues for a local door knock. Which went well, I experienced a mostly very positive approach to Labour, which I think is down to the excellent local Councillors, Rachel and Liz. It was nice to get back campaigning after a couple of weeks off due to Conference and annual leave. The cleaning and communal repair standards of the housing blocks we visited was mostly good. 

Afterwards, since it was such a pleasant, warm and sunny day, Gill and I walked from home to Chingford through Epping Forest. We took the train back home and then had delicious pub grub at the nearby Holly Tree, where we came across other Labour folk including the very quiet and retiring, Cllr Alan Griffiths. 

A good day.