Library news

• Making sure there are no outsiders

  17-11-2019 11:38 via unison.org.uk
  
  “Parents cannot opt out of knowing that I exist.” That was one of the comments as UNISON’s LGBT conference discussed inclusive education and it was met with loud applause.
  Speaker James Anthony is from the West Midlands, where protests outside Parkfield Primary School in Birmingham, against the teaching of the No Outsiders scheme, have made national headlines.
  The protests at Parkfield have been primarily among Muslim parents, who have been misled about the nature of the teachi
  
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• Libraries turning into drug-infested sex dens

  14-04-2024 11:33 via publiclibrariesnews.com
  
  Editorial
  wow is this true pic.twitter.com/vPA0sv5aZa— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) April 11, 2024
  In a shocking expose from the ever-balanced and fair Fox News, we discover that American public libraries are drug-infested sex dens. This must come as something of a surprise to their users. Also, to their library staff too, it seems, as many have taken to Twitter to ask where these libraries are (including, suspiciously, wanting their precise addresses, presumably for private research
  
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• Pay is key to persuading staff to stay in the NHS

  11-04-2024 01:12 via unison.org.uk
  
  Commenting on new analysis analysis by researchers at the University of Bath published today (Thursday) showing the extent to which NHS are looking for work outside the health service, UNISON head of health Helga Pile said:
  “When some NHS workers are earning just a penny more than the minimum wage, it’s little wonder many don’t feel like staying.
  “Supermarkets are paying higher rates and can offer staff discounts and much less stressful jobs.
  “But a p
  
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• Why insourcing isn’t always a win

  10-04-2024 17:37 via unison.org.uk
  
  On the final day of UNISON’s health conference, delegates heard a series of debates on defending the NHS against privatisation.
  Tam Hiddleston for the service group executive warned that, while “we invariably think of insourcing as a positive,” some insourcing “is about private operators being brought into the NHS.”
  UNISON needs to be very careful to monitor “any wider implications for Agenda for Change pay and conditions,” he continued.
  Chris from Londo
  
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• Delegates support calls on wellbeing and health and safety

  10-04-2024 11:31 via unison.org.uk
  
  Delegates to UNISON’s health conference debated a series of motions under the collective heading of health, safety and wellbeing, on Monday and Tuesday afternoons.
  “Let’s commit to fostering a workplace where every woman feels valued,” said Susan Parkinson (pictured above).
  Moving a motion on women’s mental health at work for the national women’s committee, she explained that women experience higher levels of mental health problems than men.
  Karen Buckley from
  
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• Let more NHS staff work flexibly to help solve staffing crisis

  10-04-2024 08:26 via unison.org.uk
  
  NHS managers should do more to allow staff to work in flexible ways, including having more control over shift patterns or doing compressed hours*, says UNISON today (Wednesday).
  Data from a new UNISON survey** shows a significant proportion of healthcare workers are not being given the alternative work patterns they’ve asked for.
  The survey found two-thirds (65%) of women employed in healthcare across the UK who’ve asked for different work arrangements had their requests&nb
  
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• Health conference: Divided we fall

  09-04-2024 18:13 via unison.org.uk
  
  The debate on Agenda for Change pay merged into terms and conditions as business continued into the afternoon at health conference in Brighton.
  Paying to work
  First up were a group of motions that explored the various ways in which health workers are losing out financially in the course of their work. This included paying for their own uniforms, DBS checks, paying for hospital parking – with one delegate even saying her employer asked for staff to pay for their key-fobs.
  Elsewhere motions
  
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• Health: ‘The government treats us like April fools’ on pay

  09-04-2024 17:02 via unison.org.uk
  
  Business at health conference turned to pay on Tuesday morning.
  First, conference discussed an emergency motion on NHS pay 2024-25. The motion pointed out that once again, the government has failed to conduct annual pay reviews in a timely fashion.
  Moving the motion, James Anthony of the SGE said: “Like clockwork, in April, everything goes up. Bills council tax, everything. Except, like clockwork, NHS pay.
  “Once again the government treats us like April fools.”
  He highlighted t
  
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• Health workers deserve better than this government

  09-04-2024 12:33 via unison.org.uk
  
  Speaking to delegates gathered at UNISON’s annual health conference in Brighton today (Tuesday), UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea said:
  “The government’s promised but not delivered on the NHS. Its legacy will be crumbling hospital estates, outdated equipment, appalling waiting lists and NHS staff at their wits’ ends.
  “Investment’s been drained for 14 years, capacity’s tumbling and workforce stress is ratcheting up.
  “It’s no
  
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• Opinion: Every day, UNISON is fighting for our NHS

  09-04-2024 12:28 via unison.org.uk
  
  I’ve just delivered my speech to UNISON’s health members at their annual gathering in Brighton. I spoke about the immense pressures on NHS staff – caring for more patients, with fewer staff, in less time. But I also spoke about the support UNISON gives them to find their voice and help drive through the campaigns that matter most to them.
  It’s always important for me to remind our members that UNISON is standing by them, backing them up and fighting their corner. That&rsq
  
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• Blog: This is what neglecting our NHS looks like

  09-04-2024 12:28 via unison.org.uk
  
  I’ve just delivered my speech to UNISON’s health members at their annual gathering in Brighton. I spoke about the immense pressures on NHS staff – caring for more patients, with fewer staff, in less time. But I also spoke about the support UNISON gives them to find their voice and help drive through the campaigns that matter most to them.
  It’s always important for me to remind our members that UNISON is standing by them, backing them up and fighting their corner. That&rsq
  
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• Christina McAnea leads applause for successful UNISON strikers

  09-04-2024 12:17 via unison.org.uk
  
  There’s power in the union – particularly if that union is UNISON. That was the message at the heart of a speech this morning from general secretary Christina McAnea to UNISON’s national health service group conference in Brighton.
  “Look at all you’ve achieved in the past 12 months”, she told delegates.
  “Forty-two re-banding deals done across England and Scotland in our Pay Fair for Patient Care campaign. £70 million in back pay – a
  
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• Conference stands with Palestinian health workers

  09-04-2024 11:35 via unison.org.uk
  
  Health conference reopened in Brighton yesterday afternoon with a speech from campaigns and advocacy advisor for Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), Richard Pyle (pictured, below).
  Detailing the harrowing situation on the ground in Gaza, he opened saying: “2024 marks 40 years since the founding of MAP – we had hoped to celebrate the organisation’s achievements.”
  Instead, the organisation is responding to one of the gravest situations Palestinians have ever faced.
  He told
  
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• A new deal for health staff

  08-04-2024 18:22 via unison.org.uk
  
  Tuesday afternoon at health conference saw a group of motions on professional and occupational issues.
  Top on the agenda was a motion calling for ‘A new deal for healthcare assistants’. It called on the health SGE to continue to build on the work of the highly successful Pay Fair for Patient Care campaign.
  The campaign focusses on winning significant sums of pack pay for members by fighting for rebanding for healthcare assistants (HCAs) at a local level.
  The motion, moved by Annette
  
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• Health workers in South West celebrate double lump-sum victory

  08-04-2024 17:21 via unison.org.uk
  
  Hundreds of hospital workers in the South West are celebrating victory after NHS and Sodexo respectively committed to paying the lump sum bonuses due to them.
  The one-off payment, part of a deal agreed for all staff on NHS contracts and Agenda for Change, is worth at least £1,655 for full-time health workers.
  Wiltshire
  Staff at Wiltshire’s six community hospitals had taken two days of strike action (pictured above) over the company’s previous refusal to honour the payment,
  
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• Barriers for disabled staff in the health service need to be lowered

  08-04-2024 17:01 via unison.org.uk
  
  Annette Heslop (pictured above) for the nursing and midwifery occupational group moved a motion on ensuring reasonable adjustments for healthcare students on clinical placements.
  Equality law gives disabled workers the right to reasonable adjustments where they experience substantial disadvantage. However, as students are not classed as employees, some struggle on clinical placements to access reasonable adjustments.
  Ms Heslop said that, in such a situation, it was no surprise that students drop
  
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• UNISON will continue to strengthen the Race for Equality campaign

  08-04-2024 16:40 via unison.org.uk
  
  In a motion on equipping branches to tackle race discrimination in the NHS, the health service group executive stressed that UNISON is continuing to strengthen its Race for Equality campaign that was a centrepiece to the union’s Year of Black Workers in 2023.
  Maria Alberts for the service group executive told delegates: “Racism does exist in the NHS”.
  She cited Too Hot to Handle, a report that “shines a light” on the lack of safe and effective means to report and th
  
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• LGBT+ equality is top priority at health conference

  08-04-2024 13:11 via unison.org.uk
  
  The opening debates at UNISON’s health service group conference, which began this morning in Brighton, emphasised the union’s equalities work.
  In the conference’s opening motion, the national LGBT+ committee addressed the Year of LGBT+ Workers and its importance in embedding LGBT+ equality in health.
  Moving the motion for the committee, Adam Williams (pictured above) took the opportunity to stress the great work that has been done by the union on LGBT+ equality, but pointing ou
  
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• UNISON health conference opens in Brighton

  08-04-2024 13:00 via unison.org.uk
  
  UNISON’s annual national health service group conference opened in Brighton this morning, with union president Libby Nolan (pictured above) saying that it had been a “really tough year for us…We say that every year, don’t we?”
  Sending “solidarity” to ambulance workers, she noted that, as ambulances queue outside A&E departments, unable to hand over patients to hospitals because of waiting times, they are bearing the brunt of the crisis in the NHS.
  E
  
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• NHS staff have been shown porn and offered money for sex at work

  08-04-2024 01:34 via unison.org.uk
  
  NHS staff including ambulance workers,111 call handlers, porters, nurses and cleaners have been shown pornographic images, offered money for sex and assaulted at work, according to research published by UNISON today (Monday).
  In a survey released to coincide with the first day of UNISON’s annual health conference in Brighton, one in ten (10%) healthcare workers reported experiences of sexual harassment.
  This included being touched or kissed, demands for sex in return for favours and d
  
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• Thank you Aunty Hilary

  07-04-2024 15:29 via publiclibrariesnews.com
  
  Editorial
  A quiet week this week, and all the better for it, really. Whether this is because things naturally go quiet over Easter or because I was internet-free for a week while on a cruise I can’t say. Probably a mixture of the two. So, let me know if I have missed anything via emailing me ([email protected]) or getting me via Twitter @publiclibnews. I’ve also just relaunched the Public Libraries News Facebook page to cover the stranger and more humorous stories in the sector
  
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• Mental health absences adding to NHS staffing crisis

  07-04-2024 09:07 via unison.org.uk
  
  NHS staffMore than three in ten (31%) NHS employees have had to take time off work with mental health issues in the past year, according to a UNISON survey published today (Sunday).
  As the staffing crisis in the health service continues, the union says the findings – based on more than 12,000 health workers across the UK – show the effects of burnout among employees and mean many more could quit altogether.
  Panic attacks, high blood pressure, chest pains and headaches are among physi
  
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• Pay rise for thousands of NHS staff already overdue

  05-04-2024 01:11 via unison.org.uk
  
  The government has let down hundreds of thousands of “demoralised” NHS staff after yet again failing to honour the due date for their annual pay increase, says UNISON today (Friday).
  The union has written to health secretary Victoria Atkins to say government delays are to blame for workers not receiving their 2024/25 wage rise, which was due on Easter Monday.
  With the cost-of-living crisis far from over, the government’s silence on NHS pay means health staff remain in the dark
  
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• The meaning of LIF

  29-03-2024 15:02 via publiclibrariesnews.com
  
  EditorialThere’s a lot of good news for various library services in England this week, with the announcement of the third round of the Libraries Improvement Fund. 43 library services received a share of £10.5m funding with £245,417 being the average amount given, ranging from £499,999 for Camden to a humble £50,000 for Bradford.Looking at what the money is being spent on – well, let’s say makers of moveable shelving units are celebrating as are the norma
  
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• Opinion: Thames Water makes case for renationalisation … now!

  28-03-2024 18:09 via unison.org.uk
  
  By UNISON’s head of environment, Donna Rowe-Merriman
  Shadowy overseas private equity firms have sucked all the good out of Thames Water and saddled it with billions of pounds of debt. So reports that it is scrambling to find extra cash, after handing out millions of pounds to shareholders and bonuses to top bosses in recent years, are hardly surprising.
  Even its shareholders won’t keep it afloat, having refused to pay £500m by the end of the month, saying regulatory requirement
  
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• The business model for Thames Water has failed

  28-03-2024 14:21 via unison.org.uk
  
  Commenting on reports that Thames Water is scrambling to find extra cash as it handed out millions of pounds to shareholders and bonuses to top bosses in recent years, UNISON head of environment Donna Rowe-Merriman said: “It’s clear the business model for Thames Water has failed and the company is unviable.
  “Even Thames Water’s own shareholders refuse to keep it afloat.
  “Yet again, staff are facing an uncertain future with jobs at risk and no hope of much-neede
  
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• Law change on flexible working does not go far enough, says UNISON

  28-03-2024 01:01 via unison.org.uk
  
  Commenting on a survey by conciliation service ACAS published today (Thursday) that shows most workers are unaware of a change in the law making it easier to request flexible working, UNISON head of equality Josie Irwin said:
  “This law change is a welcome move but doesn’t go far enough. Giving everyone the right to work flexibly from day one in a job would be beneficial for staff and employers alike. It would also help bring workplaces into the 21st century. Bosses have not
  
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• Water companies must be regulated better and policed to improve public health

  27-03-2024 16:08 via unison.org.uk
  
  Commenting on the Environment Agency report today (Wednesday) that record levels of raw sewage were pumped out into rivers and the sea last year, UNISON head of environment Donna Rowe-Merriman said:
  “These sewage spillages are a major health risk and are causing untold damage to wildlife and the environment.
  “Water companies are dumping waste at whim and sticking two fingers up to every public health law that’s ever existed. Their selfish actions risk turning the clock back to
  
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• Government’s approach to care visas allows dodgy employers to exploit migrant staff

  27-03-2024 10:00 via unison.org.uk
  
  Commenting on the publication of a report from David Neal, the previous inspector of borders and immigration, on the social licensing scheme for care worker visas, UNISON head of social care Gavin Edwards said:
  “The government doesn’t understand social care. If ministers had even a basic grasp of the sector, they would have reformed it long ago. But instead, the inept approach to the awarding of care visas has given dodgy employers total freedom to exploit overseas sta
  
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• NHS can’t provide quality care until staffing crisis resolved, says UNISON   

  27-03-2024 01:01 via unison.org.uk
  
  Responding to findings published today (Wednesday) by the National Centre for Social Research that public satisfaction with the NHS is the lowest level on record, UNISON head of health Helga Pile said:
  “The NHS cannot provide the quality care people need until the staffing crisis is addressed. Patients are suffering because of government inaction.
  “Low pay and burnout are to blame for nurses, paramedics and other health workers quitting the service.
  “When th
  
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