UNISON members reject changes to NHS Pension Scheme

The stance of UNISON health care members in Scotland rejecting the proposed changes to the NHS Pension Scheme has been emulated by members in the rest of the UK - following a consultative ballot of 337,000 UNISON members. A narrow 50.4% majority voted to reject the Government’s proposals on a disappointingly low 14.8% turnout: http://www.unison.org.uk/asppresspack/pressrelease_view.asp?id=2685

UNISONActive instant reaction: Don’t believe the hype – this is a budget by the wealthy for the wealthy

Today’s Guardian has a headline that the “Osborne budget is a Showcase for Coalition Values". Indeed it is. It is a budget based on the values of greed and avarice, displaying the economic sense of the proverbial dead parrot and ignorance of the devastating consequences of Tory policy on millions in this country.

Scottish Labour – redefining core values?

The weekend’s Scottish Labour Conference heard UNISON seek to redefine the party’s focus onto the basic issues of unfairness and inequality, somehow lost in the normal anodyne New Labour media-speak.

Hands off a nurse's right to strike

UNISON has responded robustly to the outrageous interference of the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) in the pensions dispute. On Thursday the NMC issued a statement (ahead of next week's ballot) implying that nurses taking industrial action would breach their professional code of conduct. Dave Prentis said “we have taken legal advice, and in our view, the NMC’s threatening statement was wrong. If members choose to take lawful industrial action they will not be in breach of the Code of Conduct". UNISON will be launching legal action on Monday:http://www.unison.org.uk/asppresspack/pressrelease_view.asp?id=2474

Dilnot Commission misses golden opportunity to bring fairness into crisis-ridden social care system

The National Pensioners Convention (NPC) has described the long-awaited Dilnot Commission report into the future funding of long-term care as a missed opportunity to bring much-needed fairness and simplicity into a care system that is in crisis.