Dear Member
Hi Everyone! We hope you’re all keeping well. We’re half way through the working week already and as ever it’s a busy one! We continue to engage with employers throughout this crisis; challenging them when it is necessary. We want to hear from you if you are having any difficulties at work as a result of this crisis. Remember, that you have rights at work and we are here to protect those rights and represent your interests. Many of our members have gone above and beyond throughout this crisis and that’s amazing but we’re clear that your goodwill should not be exploited- let us know if you have any concerns.
Due to some technical difficulties, we are aware that our retired members have not received many of our daily updates, we do apologise. We have fixed the problem and our retired members are now receiving updates. However, if you know of a retired member who you don’t think is getting updates, please let us know and we will ensure we have the correct contact details for them on file. For any retired members who would like to look back at previous updates, they are available through the website http://www.wirralunison.co.uk/
In yesterday’s email we included information about what to do if you or someone you know is struggling, further to that information here are some phone numbers, you may find of use:
National Debt Line: 0808 808 4000
The Samaritans: 116 123
Child Line: 0800 1111
NSPCC: 0808 800 5000
National Domestic Abuse helpline: 0808 2000 247
NB: None of the above numbers are emergency services. If there is an emergency or you or someone you know is in immediate danger call 999.
Care Workers:
Wirral Care Workers (Online) Rally
Thursday 16 April 6:30-7:30pm
Health or Hardship – A Choice No Worker Should Have to Make!
- Why Care Workers are Key Workers, and need to be treated as such
- Celebrating and Explaining the Real Living Wage
- What we are doing about gaining Full Sick Pay for Care Workers
- Why PPE and Testing is so important to Key Workers
Speakers Include:
Angela Eagle MP
David Jones Branch Secretary Wirral Unison
Kevin Lucas Unison North West Care Workers Campaign
This Rally is open to all Wirral Care Workers, both members and non-members.
Email Dave or Lois for the link to access the rally. If you’ve already requested the link and not yet received it, please bear with us, we will make sure you get it.
The Real Living Wage
Following our successful campaign to achieve the Real Living Wage for Wirral Care Workers, we have started to discuss how this this will be implemented with the Council and providers. We will keep you updated with our progress.
Homeworking Equipment
We have continued to press the Council on the progress for members accessing equipment to enable them to safely work from home. The Council will be asking everyone who is currently working from home to complete an online DSE assessment which is accessible through self-serve. Following this, the Council will issue an equipment assessment form the purpose of which is to identify what additional homeworking equipment may assist our members to work safely from home during this time. We would strongly encourage you to complete both the DSE assessment and the equipment assessment form to ensure your safety whilst working at home.
Children’s Services
We are aware that some of our members in children’s services have received a briefing about alternative accommodation for children. The purpose of this is to inform the Council’s consistency planning for appropriate provision of placements for some children and young people. The council have asked who may be interested in being redeployed into this service if required. In the coming days we will be consulting with the relevant officers about how this will be managed, ensuring that staff are adequately supported and protected.
Safety
Wirral Unison is keeping a log of any health and safety incidents that may occur as a result of the Coronavirus. If you are involved in any incidents that affect your safety or welfare, please contact us with the details. We want to ensure that all members receive the protection that prevents or minimises the risk of any incident but also receive the correct support following any incidents that do happen.
PPE
We are all aware from the news that there are continued challenges across the country regarding the provision of PPE. Although some progress has been made in this area and the Council has assumed an oversight of PPE for the Care Sector, please contact us and let us know if you are having any problems accessing the appropriate PPE and we ill take this up on your behalf.
Please feel free to share this email with your work mates and if they’re not in a Trade Union, encourage them to join. Equally, if you’re reading this email because someone has shared it with you and you haven’t joined up yet, click the join link on the home page of this website!
We hope you all have a lovely evening, stay safe and keep well. We’ll be back in touch with more updates tomorrow.
In solidarity!
Lois and Dave
Dave: davidnjones@wirral.gov.uk 07880199539
Lois: loisfounds1@wirral.gov.uk 07384512521
Published on: April 16, 2020