No April Fools for UNISON

With the exception of a bird flying into the office and briefly terrifying staff...

An extraordinary achievement at South Bucks saw a Conservative Council agree to recognise UNISON after two decades of dismissing trade unions. Ruth Smith, a Regional Organiser in the Reading Office, led an effective campaign to increase membership by 55%. This followed plans to merge two councils, South Bucks and Chiltern where one recognised UNISON and the other did not. Restructure and harmonisation of terms and conditions were seen as an opportunity to make a positive impact. The result is that staff at both councils now benefit from full recognition of their trade union.

April saw a month of high recruitment across the board and Heatherwood and Wexham Park Branch, supported by Liz Woodhouse, managed to secure more new members in the first four months of 2013 than they usually recruit in a whole year.

To explain more about recruitment, Caroline Raine and Kieran Pearson have kindly volunteered their services for this video filmed at the JR Hospital in Oxford.

Finally, University of Reading Branch now have a Twitter: @readingunison and Facebook page: University of Reading Unison.

Keep Calm and Carry On - Recruiting

March was a busy month for the Thames Valley Team. We've been out meeting members and recruiting staff across the region from Slough to Reading University.  

Branches have been phenomenally active through talking to staff, hosting meetings and even giving out cakes and prizes in some places. We've also had a string of successful surveys, advice surgeries and consultation exercises, ensuring that our members are being fully representative.

Our priority is now keeping up the momentum for the remainder of the year.

New additions to the team this year:

Michele Spiller
Elizabeth Woodhouse
Pol O Ceallaigh
Kelly Horsburgh
Stuart Melvin
Sophia James 

UNISON here when you need us

Campaign Organisers - Welcome to the Team!

We would like to welcome 4 new Campaign Organisers to the team:

Amina Khatun - working in Milton Keynes
Mathew Egan - working in Oxfordshire Local Government
Anya Greig - working in Oxfordshire Health
Kieran Pearson - working in Reading

Never Trust a Tory with your NHS!

UNISON and Reading Labour leafeting & talking to the public in Reading's High Street on 3rd Sept about the dangers the NHS bill poses to our NHS.

Thames Valley Team Staff Supporting the Southampton Council Workers on their march 13/07/11.

The Rally in Southampton was a great success in showing the council that we will not go away, they are dismissing our members and re-engaging them on worse terms and conditions. This is not the end of the fight in Southampton. The fight goes on!