For years now, public service workers have seen their pay held back by government in the name of austerity. First a freeze then a cap saw public sector pay rise by just 4.4% between 2010 and 2016 while the cost of living rose by 22%.

Public sector workers need a pay rise!

That’s no way to treat people like you, hardworking people who play such a vital role in looking after us and holding our communities together – keeping us safe, healthy, educated, and cared for.

But the tide may be turning. The government is now under real pressure to scrap the 1% cap on public sector wages and UNISON is leading the fight to get you the pay rise you deserve. More and more people are listening and supporting our Pay Up Now! campaign.

Now it’s up to us, in UNISON, to keep that pressure on until we get:

• an end to the pay cap;
• government money made available for an immediate pay rise for all public sector workers;
• an end to government interference in bargaining arrangements for all public sector pay.
  

We can’t miss this opportunity. They won’t pay up if we don’t all speak up. So, please get involved in our campaign and help us win. Together we can do it.

Why not use our pay calculator to give you an idea of how your pay has fallen behind the cost of living over the last seven years.

Check out the PayUpNow Salary Calculator here!...

 

Colne Bridge Fire

In February 1818, 17 children who were all female and aged between 9 and 18 and working on the night shift at Colne Bridge Mill, near Huddersfield were killed in a fire.

The fire was accidently started by a 10 - year old boy who had been sent, with a naked candle, by a foreman, to fetch some ‘rovings’ (fibrous strands of cotton) from an unoccupied dark room.  26 people were working on the night shift that night, 17 of the 20 girls working died.  There were 9 survivors - 2 men, 2 boys, 2 women and 3 girls.  Sarah Moody (aged 11) saw the fire through the floorboards and her and another girl reported the fire to the foreman, 20-year old James Sugden who told them to go back to their workstations.  11-year old Sarah Moody didn’t (and survived).  The other girl did as she was told and died.  Sarah’s two sisters Mary (13) and Elizabeth (17) also died.  Children working nights at this time was not unusual (boys worked 12-hour shifts in mines until the middle of the 19th Century).

Outcry from the deaths led to many campaigns about both health and safety and restrictions on children’s working hours and occupations.

Throughout the 19th century battles took place across Britain about the ‘hell-holes’ that were workplaces in a country where an increasing number of male agricultural workers and women/children were recruited into new factories, mills and mines.  These was no idyll for working class children as portrayed in books about rich people’s children with maids and nannies. Children as young as 5 or 6 were employed down mines, and in mills and factories. They were working in the most barbaric conditions as the ‘fruits of their cheap labour’ built huge mansions for the rich who lived in luxury with dozens of servants (many of them also children).  Events that affected working people and their children are often forgotten.

A commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the deaths in Colne Bridge fire is to be held at 11.00am on Saturday 10th February 2018 at Kirkheaton Parish Church, Church Lane, Kirkheaton HD1 0BH, where the children’s memorial is sited.  Huddersfield TUC and Kirklees UNISON have given their full support to the commemoration of the Colne Bridge Mill fire.

(A pre-service reception will be held between 10.00am and 11.00am at the Beaumont Arms, opposite Kirkheaton Parish Church).  Soft drinks can be purchased from the bar.  (The alcohol licence takes effect at 11.00am)

The Mayor of Kirklees, Christine Iredale, will make a short speech and then Kathy Butterworth, great, great, granddaughter of mill survivor, Sarah Moody, will unveil a plaque dedicated to the children who died which will be displayed on a stand at the front of the church (and will then later be transferred and sited inside the Beaumont Arms).  When the service is over wreaths will be laid at the memorial and the grave by representatives of Kirklees UNISON and the Fire Service.

(Kirklees UNISON has sponsored the free buffet which will be held in the Beaumont Arms at approximately 12.15pm - all Kirklees UNISON members are welcome).

 

All UNISON members in the Council who go directly from home to their first call and/or leave their last call and go directly home, please contact Dean Pye (Steward) at the Huddersfield Branch Office on 01484-511826, for a legal case form to lodge their case for potential back pay.

 

Anyone who does sleep-ins as part of their work please contact Dean Pye (Steward) at the Huddersfield Branch Office, on 01484-511826, if you think you are not being paid correctly for the hours you are at work.  (For a “sleep- in” your total pay must be at least £7.50 per hour – however it is made up, even if you slept the whole shift and were not disturbed.)

 

Kirklees UNISON run a monthly lottery.  The price of each lottery number is 25p per week per number. 

The monthly prizes in the draw are:

1st prize =          £175
2nd prize=          £150
3rd prize =          £  75
4th prize =          £  50
5th prize =          £  30 x 5

This lottery is only open to Kirklees UNISON members. You can have as many tickets per week as you want.

If you want to join the lottery please contact the Kirklees UNISON branch office on
01484 511826

 

Kirklees UNISON
Casual Cleaner

We currently have a requirement for a Casual Cleaner in our busy town centre office (Huddersfield) to cover for holidays and sickness absences. 

The hours worked will normally be early weekday mornings.  The rate of pay is £8.86 per hour.

Please contact the Office Manager, Georgina Bottomley for further details on 01484 511826.

 

These two courses are a fantastic free opportunity for UNISON members who have been away from learning for a long time.  The courses are run in a friendly and supportive environment with the support of a Workers Education Association tutor experienced in working with Adults.

Return to Learn (all UNISON members)
This course consists of 12 study group sessions run in the evening for two and a half hours and one residential weekend.  The course is designed to help you gain skills and confidence to study, learn or do something new.  This course will start this Autumn at two venues :

Monday evenings at Barnsley Town Hall
Thursday evenings at Orange Box in Halifax Town Centre.

Women’s Lives
This course consists of 10 study group sessions run in the evening for two hours and one residential weekend.  Women’s Lives is a course designed for women who have been out of education for some time and have had few educational opportunities in the past.  This course is for women with busy lives, families and other commitments.  Many women are used to looking after other peoples’ needs.  This is an opportunity to set time aside for you!  This course will run this Autumn from the following venues:

Wednesday evenings at Huddersfield New College, Huddersfield
Tuesday evenings at Swathmore Centre, Leeds
Wednesday evenings at The Circle, Sheffield

If you would like further information about any of these two courses please ring Michael Pogson on 01484 511826.

 

Kirklees UNISON’s Self Organised Groups are held monthly, as follows:

BLACK MEMBERS
First Wednesday of each month 1-2pm

WOMEN’S
Last Monday of each month 4-5pm

DISABLED
First Wednesday of each month 4-5pm

LGBT
Third Wednesday of each month 4-5pm

All the meetings are in the Kirklees UNISON Branch Office at 4 New North Parade, Huddersfield, HD1 5JP. For more information please telephone Sabahat Rafiq, Equalities Officer at the Branch Office on 01484 511826

 

Granville Williams and Sue Williams being presented with Kirklees UNISON commemorative plates at the last Branch Committee meeting for their work with ‘With Banners Held High’.

 

Vacancies exist in the branch for the following Branch Officer positions:

• Membership Services’ Officer
• Vice-Chairperson
• Young Members' Officer
• Assistant Treasurer

Nomination forms for the above positions can be obtained from the UNISON Branch Office and must be proposed and seconded by existing, full members of Kirklees UNISON.

The branch are very keen to have these positions filled and would encourage nominations.  Anyone with a query about the roles should contact the Kirklees UNISON Branch Office.

 

Kirklees Learning Group is a partnership between Kirklees Council and the Joint Trade Unions (UNISON, Unite and the GMB) with the aim of improving the literacy and maths skills of Kirklees employees.

Through the Learning Group we are able to offer courses up to level 2 (GCSE / O Level equivalent) in both Maths and English functional skills. The courses are delivered by Kirklees College at both Dewsbury and Huddersfield sites and usually run for a period of 15 weeks. These courses are free and, in most instances, Kirklees employees will be able to attend these courses in work’s time. If you are interested in improving your Maths and English skills, then please contact Michael Pogson (Lifelong Learning Co-ordinator) via the Branch Office on 01484 511826.

 

UNISON is looking to promote two more self-organised groups within our Kirklees Branch. 

They are Disability and Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgender Groups.  (The branch already has functioning Black Members’ and Women’s Groups.) 

We are hoping to get these groups ‘up and running’.  These groups are there to support people who have issues within their workplace and also for networking. The benefits are very rewarding so join up now.

Contact Orvil Smith or Sabahat Rafiq (Equalities Officer - job share) on 01484 511826 for further details and information.

 

This Branch has a commemorative plate to recognise the miners who were on strike during the 1984/5 Miners’ Strike.

The plate (priced £20) can be bought by any Kirklees UNISON member. On the back of the plate you can have a 'personalised' inscription of two lines. Or you can have no inscription on the back at all.

To obtain a plate (priced £20) please contact the branch office on
01484 511826.

 

Do you have an NHS dentist?

Get £500 of dental cover with the NHS plan exclusively available to UNISON members and their families. Get money back each time you visit your NHS dentist, meaning no more costly treatment bills. Plus, as an exclusive offer, join today and get immediate cover.
Find out more

 

Discounted car insurance for UNISON members is available from LV (Liverpool Victoria) Insurance. Last year 10% of new UNISON customers at LV paid £186 per annum or less for their car insurance.

Breakdown cover is also available to UNISON members for £72 per annum.

Telephone 0800 756 8154 (car insurance) or 0800 756 8692 (breakdown cover) for a quotation. (Textphone 18001)

(Motorbike Insurance, Classic Car insurance and Caravan insurance – 0800 032 0535)

 

All Kirklees UNISON members are reminded that there are free Badminton and Table Tennis facilities for Kirklees UNISON Members at Huddersfield Leisure Centre, Springwood, Huddersfield between 12 noon and 1.00pm on Wednesdays.  Rackets/bats etc can be provided.  Please contact Leslie Bhola (01484 – 221000) if you require further details or merely turn up on the day.

 

UNISON’s own holiday centre at Croyde Bay, North Devon has now got a 50% low-paid members’ discount available for its chalets and hotel (subject to availability).

If the total household income for a household for a single person/couple is less than £18,000 per annum (before deductions) or, for a family living in the same property, is less than £28,000 per annum, then you will be able to get a 50% discount.  (This offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer.  Evidence of income must be provided to confirm eligibility).

To find out more telephone - 01271-890-890 or go to www.croydeunison.co.uk.

 

DISCOUNT FOR UNISON MEMBERS IN ASSOCIATION WITH VAUXHALL

0% APR representative/flexible finance, plus Vauxhall lifetime warranty (100,000 miles).

Also discounts on Vauxhall insurance and genuine Vauxhall accessories.

All these offers are available for all eligible family members too!

Please contact the Branch Office on 01484 511826 for details.