UNISON Champion - June Poole RIP

I was shocked to hear the sad news that UNISON stalwart, June Poole, has passed away after a short illness. We were supposed to meet yesterday at the UNISON centre in London for a Board meeting of the Welfare Trustees.This meeting was cancelled out of respect for her.

My sympathies are with her family and her many UNISON friends and comrades.

June was a real UNISON grassroots "activist", who was not only a longstanding member of her branch, Rochdale Local Government, but took part in numerous regional and national committees as well as campaigning on disability issues, women rights and for Labour Link.

She will be best remembered as a "tireless worker for
 UNISON’s welfare organisation ‘There for You’".
I got to know June when we were both members of UNISON Community Service Group Executive. She became its Vice Chair. Earlier this year we both stood together on the same centre left ticket for the two UNISON Community National Executive Council seats. I managed to get in but June narrowly missed out by only 61 votes.  She would have made an absolutely brilliant NEC member.

June was a no nonsense, feisty, instinctive trade unionist, who stood up for workers and for their interests. While she did not suffer fools, she cared for members and there was no side to her. She did however have an infectious "wicked" sense of humour.

Our Labour movement family has lost one of its own.

UNISON will be letting people know the funeral details as soon as they are available.

(hat tip great picture to UNISON North West Region)

Nicholas Russell 1968-2014 Labour Movement & Disability Activist

I was shocked to hear of the sudden death at age 45 of Labour movement and disability rights activist Nicholas Russell.

Nick was a former member of UNISON London Labour Link committee, Chair of SERTUC disabled workers network and was also a Councillor in Waltham Forest.

I think it is fair to say that every single meeting I ever went to with Nick, he would champion the rights of the disabled.

He was the grandson of Philosopher and Nobel Prize winner, Bernard Russell, and was like him, also a strong supporter of CND. He once described to me this support as "the family tradition".

My condolences to his fiancee Georgina, his family and close friends. His brother John and sister-in-law, Jane have posted a tribute to Nick here and have invited all those who knew or worked with him to the funeral at the North Chapel, City of London Cemetery, Alderbrook Road, E12 at 3.15pm Thursday 4 September.

(picture of Nick running the Co-operative Party stall, London Labour Party Biannual Conference, Old Town Hall Stratford, 2010)

A Right to Die? Not yet

When I heard the news on the car radio last week that Tony Nicklinson had died of natural causes, I am sure that like everyone else, I was relived that his suffering had finally finished and he had got his wish to die. Tony was paralysed from the neck down after suffering a stroke in 2005.

He had described his life as a "living nightmare" and had gone to Court to be allowed the right to die. This was refused and the Court said this was a decision for Parliament to legislate about and not the Courts.

I must admit that in recent years I had been coming around to being in favour of giving people the right to commit suicide in such circumstances. However, earlier this month I heard the disabled campaigner Baroness Campbell (see photo) being interviewed on Desert Island Discs. Baroness Campbell has the incurable disease Spinal muscular atrophy. Her condition also means that she is prone to severe chest infections and often needs emergency care. At least twice when she has been in A&E the doctor has said to her husband that they "assumed" she did not want to be resuscitated.

That was one of the reasons why she is opposed to the "right to die". She told the interviewer Kirsty Young, that "when society values me as much as it values you" then we could have this change. Not until then.

Health & Safety in the Voluntary and Community Sector

My next workshop was led by the Head of UNISON Health & Safety, Hope Daley. Hope had a tough job to remain positive and upbeat about safety in the face of Government attacks on workplace safety measures and cuts in funding for those bodies who are suppose to protect us.

While cuts in funding for our sector means that many employers are taking risks with their employees and our clients. Staff numbers are being cut to the bone. Support services are being down graded. For example "Waking night" staff are being replaced by so called "sleep overs" which means that staff in residential projects will face working a 8 hour late shift, then have a disruptive nights sleep (possibly being awoken several times during the night) and then do a 8 hour early shift. 

I made a brief contribution that health and safety is an organising issue. The "cuts" show that you can not trust the Government, the law or your employer to protect you at work. The only friend you have at work is your union. The best way to make you safer is to help build trade union density and organisation. Recruit a work colleague to the union and volunteer to be a safety rep.

Hope stressed the importance of using Worker Memorial Day (April 28th) and National Inspection Day (which takes place on the Wednesday of European Health and Safety week). She also used the opportunity to promote the new UNISON guide to "Disability and Health & Safety" which was published in December. I had to leave before the end to go to a Service Group Executive meeting.