UNISON Greater London Housing Associations Branch e-newsletter: Feb 2023

 

Welcome to the Branch Newsletter! 

Last Monday, we all heard the horrible news about the powerful earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria early in the morning. A week later there are still many people trapped under debris, and the ones who managed to escape from the buildings were left homeless and without any shelter or support in severe weather conditions. If you wish to help, please donate money to the Emergency Earthquake Fund. You can do that by visiting the website: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/turkey-emergency-earthquake-fund 

Barbara Zagrodniczek Branch Communications Officer 

Opportunity to represent the Branch at UNISON 2023 National Delegate Conference Date: Friday, 13th June 2023 – Sunday, 16th June 2023 Location: Liverpool 

In the last issue of the Newsletter we announced that we are looking for members who wish to represent the Branch at the National Delegate Conference. Due to an error in the provided email address, we would like to extend the deadline to 3:00pm on Friday, 24th February 2023. If you would like to attend, please send your details along with a supporting statement (max. 100 words) to AGM.Admin@unisonhablondon.org 

For those who already submitted the statement, we kindly ask you to re-send it to the above email address. We apologise for any inconvenience this causes. Travel, accommodation, and meals will be paid for by the Branch in line with our expenses policy. We look forward to your responses. 

Upcoming Events UNISON LGBT+ London Region to celebrate LGBT+ History Month (In person) Thu, 16th February at 6:30pm-9:00pm at Queer Britain Museum, 2 Granary Square, London, N1C 4BH 

The Regional LGBT+ Committee would like to invite you to celebrate LGBT+ History Month at the UK’s first ever dedicated LGBT+ museum. The regional UNISON LGBT+ committee will be holding its first LGBT+ History Month in person since 2020. We are really excited for this event which is open to all members. Karl Lewis, the LGBT+ Officer will be in attendance. Please get in touch if you want to find out more. 

Sign up for the event here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/unison-london-lgbt-history-month-receptionat-queer-britain-tickets-531844419977 

Branch’s AGM (Hybrid meeting) Wednesday, 8th March 2023 at 6:00pm-8:00pm (in person and virtual) 

Details will be circulated separately by email. 

Women’s Training and Networking Event (In person event) Friday, 10th March 2023 at 10:00am-4:30pm at UNISON Centre, 130 Euston Road, London, NW1 2AY 

It is an annual women’s training and networking event hosted by the Regional Women’s Committee. The event is aimed at all elected branch officers who are women, and branch women’s contacts. Attendance is free, but pre-registration is essential. The deadline to submit registration forms is 24th February 2023. If you are interested in attending, please get in touch with Barbara Zagrodniczek, Branch Communications Officer at AGM.Admin@unisonhablondon.org 

International Workers Memorial Day (In person event) Friday, 28th April 2023, Bow, East London 

Please save the date in your calendars. More details will follow soon. 

Branch Officers’ Reports (February 2023) 

Chris Milson – Branch Secretary 

Working people are continuing to stand-up all-over Britain, fighting for better pay and conditions, catalysed by the current cost of living crisis and a Westminster government that is proving deaf to their concerns. In UNISON, public service workers in local government, education, health, and other sectors either have been striking, or have strike dates booked in the coming weeks. 

The UNISON Housing Associations Branch stands in solidarity with all union members that take the difficult decision to go on strike for better pay and conditions. 

Your Branch Needs You The UNISON Housing Association Branch’s AGM is next month. We’ve had an eventful year and all officers of the Branch Executive will be talking about what they’ve done in their elected roles this year for the Branch and its members. If you can, please come along and hear about what we’ve been doing, and what our goals are for the coming year. 

You can also stand for election to join the committee – look out for the online nomination form we’ll be sending out shortly. If you care about your Branch, and believe that you, or another member you know, has something to offer in helping to run it – do please consider nominating them or yourself for an Executive Officer position. 

Barbara Zagrodniczek – Branch Communication Officer 

In October 2022 I edited and circulated the first issue of the Branch Newsletter. Five months later I am proud to see that more and more of our members are taking part in the surveys and are putting themselves forward to represent the Branch at different forums. 

I hope we will be continue sharing similar opportunities with you in the future. I continue to work on improving Branch communications. This is why I am pleased to announce that our Branch is now ready to start publishing the Newsletter on the Branch website. I hope that this will make it more accessible to those who do not always have access to their emails. 

Further to that, we are planning to update content on the Branch website. 

Conference and Meeting Reports Greater London Regional Council AGM – 

Report For those of you who may not be aware, the Regional Council is the senior membership body which oversees the work of the Greater London region representing and supporting members, and it is being elected by all Greater London branches. The Annual General Meeting took place on Wednesday, 8 th February 2023 at Holiday Inn in Bloomsbury. Our Branch was represented by John Gray, Joseph Ogundemuren and myself. 

The meeting opened with passionate speeches given by Dr Rosena Allin-Khan, MP and Shadow Minister (Mental Health) and Sara Gorton, UNISON Head of Health. Both speakers focused on the importance of changes in the UK health system and solidarity with the Ambulance Service. 

After that, similarly to the Branch AGM, the meeting followed a standard agenda – minutes from the last AGM, matters arising, reports and motions. 

Our Branch submitted two motions. The first one, ‘Cost of Living’, was submitted for consideration as a regional motion to the 2023 National Delegate Conference. At the AGM it was presented by John Gray and received a positive response. 

The second one, ‘Year of the Black Worker’, was written in collaboration with the Croydon Local Government Branch and put forward by Joseph Ogundemuren. 

Barbara Zagrodniczek

(This communication has been written by a dyslexic person. If you have any trouble with the meaning of any of the sentences or words, please do not be afraid to ask for clarification)

UNISON Greater London Housing Associations Branch Newsletter – January 2023

 

Welcome to the Branch Newsletter! I hope you had a nice break over the festive period and a good beginning of the year! We start this issue with a positive story about a member employed at Clarion Housing Group. 

As usual, we added information about future events and the opportunity to become a Branch delegate at upcoming conferences. We also wanted to share with you results of pay awards and AGM surveys. Barbara Zagrodniczek Branch Communications Officer 

Good news story for UNISON member just before Xmas A disabled Branch member employed by Clarion Housing Group was reinstated following an appeal against dismissal just 4 days before Christmas. The member was able to get his back pay reinstated before New Year. 

Clarion UNISON Convenor John Gray said “this shows the value of trade union representation at such hearings. Do NOT go to these hearings by yourself, but by law, only trade union stewards have the right to represent you at such hearings. Remember you will not get trade union representation unless you have at least 4 weeks membership. So join BEFORE any issue arises. Join UNISON now" - google Join UNISON online 24/7. 

URGENT NOTICE 

If you are a member of Clarion UNISON and have received an email from HR regarding pensions, please contact the Convenor, John Gray (his details in Microsoft Clarion Outlook). 

AGM 2023 Update In the last issue of the newsletter, we asked you to express your opinion on the way how the meeting should take place (in person, as a hybrid meeting or virtually). All members who took part in the survey responded that they prefer a hybrid meeting. 

We prepared a follow up survey to hear about your experience at the previous AGM and see how we can improve this year’s meeting. Please click on the link to fill in 1-2 mins survey https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/WZ8WKSP 

Opportunity to represent Branch at UNISON 2023 National Delegate Conference Date: Friday, 13 th June 2023 – Sunday, 16th June 2023 Location: Liverpool The Branch would like to send up to four delegates to this conference. The delegation will have to reflect on the proportionality of the Branch and UNISON guidance. 

If you would like to attend, please send your details along with a supporting statement (max. 100 words) to info@hablondon.org by 8:00am on Monday, 6 th February 2023. Travel, accommodation, and meals will be paid for by the Branch in-line with our expenses policy. We look forward to your responses. 

Upcoming Events Community and Voluntary Lunch and Learn: Examining charity accounts to submit pay claims Tuesday, 17 January 2023 at 12:30pm-1:30pm (virtual event) UNISON is running lunch and learn session for anyone involved in drafting a pay claim who want tips and pointers for how best to examine their employer’s accounts before submitting the claim. Please register here. 

Public Procurement Due Diligence | Business and Human Rights Roundtable Wednesday, 1st February 2023 at 6:30pm-8:30pm (hybrid event) On 1st of February there would be an upcoming hybrid roundtable discussion event in collaboration with UNISON-International and Doughty Street Chambers on Public Procurement and the vital importance of due diligence. You can participate via Zoom and in person. Please click here to reserve a spot. 

Branch Officer’s Reports 

(December 2022) Chris Milson – Branch Secretary It’s the festive time of year, which also means it’s time that many employers in the Branch are thinking about pay awards for next year. This year the Branch put together a pay claim survey which went out with the October Newsletter. Hundreds of you responded, and we’ve used the results to inform discussions about pay this year. 

Some of the statistics are startling: 

• When asked about their financial position relative to this time last year, a huge 72% of respondents said that they were worse off. 
• 41% of respondents said that they were relying on methods other than their main employment to make ends meet – including taking 2nd jobs, regular overtime, working unsociable hours, taking in lodgers, or using credit cards or loans. 
• More than half of respondents reported that conditions in their workplaces have become more challenging in the last year, with workloads and service users increasing, while the number of staff and the quality-of-service decreases – all of this causing stress and a negative impact on work-life balance. 
• 55% of respondents reported that morale at their workplace was either low – or very low – and that this had worsened compared to the previous year, and 
• 68% of respondents said they had either seriously or very seriously considered leaving their role in the past year. 

All of this illustrates the challenges that have been faced by staff within our sector this year, and the reasons we should all be negotiating with our employers for the best pay awards we can get in 2023. For now, I hope you have a good Christmas break and happy New Year. 

(This communication has been written by a dyslexic person. If you have any trouble with the meaning of any of the sentences or words, please do not be afraid to ask for clarification. Remember that dyslexics are often high-level conceptualisers who provide “out of the box” thinking).