EHRC report - UNISON response

UNISON, the UK’s leading public sector trade union, today reiterated its call for action to tackle the persistent gender pay gap, after a new report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)*, revealed the extent of pay discrimination in Britain.The union also warned that fairness will nosedive as a result of public spending cuts, hitting women, ethnic minorities, and the disabled hard. Bronwyn McKenna, UNISON Director of Organising and Membership, said:“More than 40 years after laws were passed to protect women, it is a disgrace that mothers without qualifications can still expect a 58% loss of earnings over their lifetime.“Women need action to stamp out stubborn pay discrimination. Boosting transparency, having regular gender pay audits, and updating the law to make it easier for women to challenge their pay, would be giant leaps towards fairness.“But just as women need more protection, the coalition government is consulting on watering down existing equality rules. This would be a huge step backwards.“The state of fairness in the UK will nosedive as the affects of public spending cuts hit home. Women will bear the brunt of the cuts, as the main groups of people working in, and making use of, public services. Vulnerable groups such as ethnic minorities and the disabled are also well represented in the public sector workforce, and will suffer as jobs and services they rely on disappear."UNISON is calling on the government to think again about its damaging hard and fast cuts plan, which not only threatens our economic recovery, but could turn back the clock on fairness in our society."*EHRC report ? How fair is Britain?

TUC calls for Robin Hood Taxes across Europe

Commenting on the publication today (Thursday) of a European Commission report on the future taxation of the financial sector, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:
'The Commission has responded to public pressure. This is a much more positive approach to financial transaction taxes (FTTs) than we have seen in the past.
'But European Commission support for a global FTT should not let the EU and member states off the hook of implementing their own transaction taxes.
'IMF research shows that not only is this perfectly feasible but that 16 G20 countries already have some form of FTT. European governments like France, Germany and Spain - and of course the UK - should over-rule the over-cautious Brussels bureaucrats.'
The Commission report is to be given to European finance ministers next week.

At The Guildhall

West Midlands UNISON Battle Bus At The Shirehall

Fighting fund to beat the cuts

UNISON will set up a special fighting fund to campaign and organise against the coalition government's cuts agenda, the national executive council agreed today.General secretary Dave Prentis said: "This is the biggest challenge our union has faced."The government has made a political choice to take a sledgehammer to our public services and to slash spending. UNISON is determined to show that there is an alternative to this vicious cuts agenda."It is not just a question of public service workers – just as many private sector jobs are at risk, and every single family will be affected by cuts to our vital local services."But this is our core work – it is the reason our union is here: to defend our members; to organise and to campaign for public services. This fighting fund will support our local branches and regions in the campaign over the next five years."The NEC heard a wide ranging report on the campaigning, organising and mobilising work the union has carried out over the summer under the Million Voices for Public Services banner.This included political interventions at the party conferences and in local elections; providing a range of communications and campaign support tools for local activists; mobilising campaign activity around the regions to support the ETUC day of action and gearing up for the TUC lobby and rally of Parliament on 19 October, the eve of the coalition government’s comprehensive spending review announcement.During autumn, the union will build a series of local campaigns across the UK that inspire and engage activists and members in alliance with PCS and other unions, service users and community groups leading up to the TUC national demonstration in March 2011 and the elections in May.The executive also heard that:
UNISON is recruiting well, with this year showing the strongest August recruitment rate for seven years;
with inflation running at up 5%, members are increasingly facing a real-terms pay cut as employers seek to impose pay freezes. Negotiation and organising around pay is continuing in all sectors;
UNISON has launched a major campaign against government proposals to restructure the NHS and has sought a judicial review;
equal pay continues to be a major issue for the union. An increasing number of settlements are being agreed with employers and a number of long-running cases are due to settle in the near future;
the presidential charity for the year will be a Make a Child Smile scheme, which is administered by UNISON Welfare. Regions and branches will be encouraged to raise funds to take children from disadvantaged families on days out to give them a day to remember;
the NEC agreed to send best wishes to Swindon local government branch, which is taking industrial action against employer proposals remove unsocial hours payments.

David Cameron's speech - UNISON response

UNISON General Secretary, Dave Prentis, said:“David Cameron is attempting to rewrite history. His party bitterly opposed the recovery package devised by Labour and followed by governments throughout the world. He is turning his firepower onto public services to pay for that crisis, and jeopardizing the recovery in the process.“There has been no more flesh on the bones of the Big Society idea, it is still the big cop out.”

Hutton response - UNISON response

Dave Prentis, UNISON General Secretary, said: “Our key priority is to make sure that our members’ pension schemes, that they pay into all their working lives, remain sustainable and affordable and that there is no damaging race to the bottom. We will seek to maintain, using all means possible, the agreements reached two years ago to make our public service schemes sustainable and also protect existing members of the scheme.“This is an interim report, and UNISON will continue making the case for public sector pensions throughout the course of the review. “It is only right that the report recognises that public sector pensions are not gold-plated. We are pleased that Hutton recommends keeping a defined benefit scheme, but we are adamant that the final salary scheme should be retained.“There is a real danger that taking a career average to calculate pensions will see the low paid getting less in their retirement – especially as the government has switched from using the RPI to using the CPI to calculate pensions. “Public sector workers already pay a sizeable amount into their pension schemes year in, year out. Many of our members would struggle to pay more. Council workers, including home carers, librarians, social workers and dinner ladies, pay in 6.4% of their wages, while NHS workers pay an average of 6.6%. “Plans to make public sector staff work until they drop will hit the low paid hard. For many public sector staff, working longer is not an option. Many nurses, home carers, paramedics and refuse collectors are already forced into early retirement because of the physical nature of their jobs, and the damage it does to their health. “It is time the government turned their attention to the private sector, where two thirds of employers don’t provide a single penny towards their employees’ pensions, forcing taxpayers into picking up a massive long-term benefits bill.”

Osborne speech - UNISON reaction

UNISON General Secretary, Dave Prentis, reacting to Chancellor George Osborne’s speech to the Conservative Party Conference, said:“The Chancellor’s fine words about all being in this together are not being matched by action. He was clearly setting the scene for the huge cuts in public spending to pay for the banks’ failure that he will announce in the comprehensive spending review. It’s nonsense to claim that draining our schools and hospitals of funds will liberate them.“He talks of fairness, but all his announcements are about capping and cutting benefits. And his rhetoric, about asking the richest to pay their fair share, rings hollow because he fails to spell out either how he will do that or what that “fair share” means.“He may have made the right noises for his own Party conference, and played to petty ignorance about people on benefit, but the British people will take no comfort from this speech and have reason to fear what is round the corner. “Public spending cuts will hit the poor, the sick and the vulnerable and will have a devastating impact on local economies and local small businesses that rely on the public sector for survival.”

Date set for UNISON NHS legal hearing

A legal hearing into the merits of, and permission for, a judicial review, will be heard on 13-14 of October, 2010, following an application made by UNISON, the UK's biggest union for health workers.UNISON lodged an application for judicial review against the Secretary of State for Health, over the lack of public consultation on the NHS White Paper - Equity and Excellence:Liberating the NHS.Karen Jennings, UNISON head of health, said:"UNISON believes we have a very strong case, and we look forward to putting our evidence before the court."The government's white paper outlines the biggest overhaul of the health service in its history. The government cannot just bulldoze ahead with sweeping changes to the NHS without asking people what they think - this public right to consultation is enshrined in law."

UNISON General secretary's speech to conference

Speaking to delegates at Labour Party Conference today (27 September), UNISON General Secretary, Dave Prentis, said:“On 6th May our whole world changed. Last Saturday we elected our new leader, and today we begin the task of defending all that we hold dear. Our public services facing an attack, the like of which we’ve never seen. A dishonest coalition of vandals, bent on destruction. Using the financial crisis to plunder our welfare state - take a chainsaw to our public services.“Planning cuts on an unimaginable scale, our National Health Service, our schools system broken up. Local government to be handed over to powerful contractors. Big corporations cream off the profitable parts while vulnerable users and communities, the poor, left to fend for themselves.“And everything they do, justified by a tissue of lies: they’re saying it was labour’s over-spending that caused the deficit, they’re saying labour wasted money on public sector non-jobs featherbedded public sector workers. Gold-plated pensions. They’re setting private sector workers against public sector workers.“We have to challenge those lies. The truth is this isn’t about public versus private. It’s about haves against have-nots. The truth is it was public spending that prevented us falling into a deeper depression. The truth is it is this coalition’s cuts that will throw whole regions, and maybe the whole economy, back into recession.“And if you want to talk about ‘non-jobs’, instead of slandering NHS staff, teaching assistants, and community workers, what about the casino bankers? What about the hedge fund gamblers? What did they do to protect our country? What did they do to deserve the bonuses and bailouts they’ve had?“It is they who should be doing more for less. More for their country, less for themselves. Conference, we should be proud of our record, proud of the improvements made to public services. Yes, proud of the valuable jobs we created.“But we didn’t get everything right. We were at our best when we worked together. Social partnership, in schools, hospitals and many local authorities, delivered huge gains. But too often this was drowned out by the argument. Too many top-down reorganisations, wasting resources and sapping morale. “Why was it so hard to get our labour government to understand, that our members’ concerns about privatisation weren’t about dogma; they weren’t about resistance to change. We had a problem with privatisation, because we saw what it meant on the frontline: on hospital corridors, in school kitchens, in care homes, it means poverty pay and punishing hours, it means casualisation and understaffing, it means corners cut on training and investment and our members know it means a bad deal for the public.“We sent mixed messages about public services - ‘any willing provider’, PFI, privatising care services, eroding Labour’s support. If Labour seemed to have no faith in our own public services it’s little wonder that the wider public became confused.“That’s why we want to work with Ed to forge a new shared agenda for better public services. And we want to work with labour councillors to find alternatives to cut-price privatisation. Engaging and developing in-house staff to deliver more efficient and responsive services to the public. And it’s why we need to be clear in our opposition to this coalition’s attempt to tear down all that we have achieved.“It doesn’t mean being in favour of waste, or always defending the status quo. But the public need to know which side off the street we are on. They should be in no doubt that labour is on the side of ordinary families who want a national health service they can rely on, a good local school for their children, proper care for their older relatives.“Conference, we know this country faces tough choices but that means getting tough with those who have had it easy. So let’s ask those who can afford it to pay their share. Let’s see real action to stop the tax evasion and avoidance by the rich and let’s have a Robin Hood tax on the banks, to pay for the damage they’ve done. “Fairness is what our people are crying out for. Together we must show there is an alternative we must work with labour councillors to protect services and communities. No support for those who privatise. We must work to kick the Tories and Liberal Democrats out of councils next may. We must work with Ed to win back this country.“Trade unions and Labour, standing together. One movement standing up for the fairer Britain our people are crying out for. David Cameron, your honeymoon is over, Labour is back.”

Social workers send out SOS - Give us new contract so we can practice safely

Stressed out social workers are today sending out an SOS to MPs and the public to back their campaign for a new contract for social workers. The contract has been drawn up after UNISON, the UK's biggest public sector union, and leading social work journal Community Care, joined forces in support of social workers. Alarming new evidence about the effects of spiraling caseloads on social workers and their clients prompted the union and the magazine to act. Social workers want the government and their employers to sign up to the contract because they cannot practice safely if they can't give enough time and attention to the people who need their help.Recent research* by both UNISON and Community Care revealed a bad situation getting worse. Social workers are struggling to keep track of the rising numbers of cases. They are bogged down by too much bureaucracy and don't have workable IT and admin back-up. As part of the campaign, UNISON and Community Care will be launching an E-petition while social workers will be sending the contract to their local MPs to get their support, and using social media to get the message out to as many people as possible. Helga Pile, UNISON national officer for social workers, said: "Children at risk, young people in care, frail older people, mental health patients, and the terminally ill are just some of the people who suffer when social workers don't have time to deal with their cases properly. Leaving people's needs to escalate, costs more in the long run and can lead to terrible tragedies."We're taking this campaign out there because social workers want the government and their employers to provide the minimum conditions for safe practice. A manageable caseload, the right to have their professional concerns heard and acted upon, the right to a minimum level of professional supervision and to keep their skills up-to-date - these are basic requirements that social workers should be able to expect. They know better than anyone how badly things can go wrong when workloads spiral out of control."SOS - the contract social workers needIn order to practice safely, and effectively, social workers should have a new contract with the government and with employers, that gives them: 1. The right to a manageable workload with a reasonable number and mix of cases. In high risk areas like child protection, mental health and older people's teams, we believe the Government should publish a recognised benchmark that practitioners can use to raise the alarm when caseloads are becoming too high.2. The right to have time off or get paid to compensate when excess hours are worked. 3. The right to raise professional concerns when workloads become unmanageable to the highest level of their organisation, for example to an elected member, board member or trustee. 4. The right to a minimum of monthly professional supervision from a qualified social worker of at least one and a half hours and more frequently for newly qualified social workers. 5. The right to 10% of working time to be available for continuing professional development and related activities like reflective practice, mentoring colleagues, supporting students and peer support.6. The right to a functioning IT system and adequate administrative support so that social workers can use their time on activity that requires their expertise.7. The right to safe working practices, which address the high risks social workers are exposed to from lone working, threats and attacks.8. The right for support to deal with stress and traumatic cases.9. The right to management training and realistic limits on the numbers of social workers any one manager is expected to supervise.10. The right to a clear definition of respective roles between assistant practitioners and qualified social workers so that there is clarity about who is responsible for cases* Research by UNISON and Community Care has found that caseloads are rising. A recent poll of over 600 readers found that more than four-fifths (82%) said their caseload has increased over the past year. 90% of social workers said high caseloads were getting in the way of them practising good social work. In another poll, three-quarters of members said the time they had to spend with each client was not sufficient to meet their needs. OFSTED's national social work practitioner survey from July 2010 painted a similar picture.The serious case review into the death of Khyra Ishaq uncovered the fact that her social worker had 50 allocated cases.UNISON is the biggest union representing social workers, with more than 40,000 social worker members. Community Care is the leading print and on-line publication read by social work practitioners.

Labour Leader - UNISON Response

UNISON General Secretary, Dave Prentis, has welcomed the election of Ed Miliband as Leader of the Labour Party, announced in Manchester today. He said:“Congratulations to Ed on being elected leader of the Labour Party. UNISON backed Ed Miliband because of the way he listened and understood the needs of ordinary working people. We look forward to working together to challenge the coalition government and its regressive cuts agenda. “Under Ed’s leadership, Labour must offer an alternative economic strategy, promoting growth and recovery, together with fairness. This means protecting the poor, the sick and the vulnerable from the fall-out of this banker’s recession. “Protecting public services, and defending them against sweeping privatisation, must be central to this vision of a fairer society. “As a priority, Ed must re-connect with Labour’s lost voters, including public sector workers, many of whom have been turned off in the past because they believed that Labour had deserted them.”

UNISON warns government that threats to axe school body could lead to strike action

UNISON will be consulting members on industrial action and demanding the government carry out an Equality Impact Assessment over leaked threats to axe the School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB).The UK’s largest public sector union is outraged at the possible removal of the body, which took years to set up. The body was designed to bring fairness and consistency to the pay of half a million workers in English schools, including teaching assistants, special needs staff, nursery nurses, school secretaries, caretakers, technicians and dinner ladies.Christina McAnea, UNISON’s Head of Education and lead negotiator, said: “This displays the utter contempt this coalition government has for low paid workers, trade unions and in particular for the staff in schools delivering essential education services. We have been asking them since May to talk to us about this. "They say publicly they want to maintain an education partnership with all the unions representing school staff, yet we hear this news through the media. "School support staff are predominantly low paid women who are committed and passionate about their job and this government demonstrates their utter contempt for them by refusing to even meet the unions to discuss this. “If these threats become a reality UNISON will consult its members on industrial action and demand that the government carry out an Equality Impact Assessment. “This news comes on top of a pay freeze this year, which the government wants to see imposed for a further 2 years. George Osborne and Danny Alexander make much of their pledge that those earning under £21,000 will get a flat rate increase of £250 for each year of the pay freeze, but this is nothing less than an outright lie as they will not guarantee this for school staff. If school staff aren’t public sector workers I don’t know who is. “Local Authorities are facing equal pay claims of hundreds of million pounds from school staff and the SSSNB was set up to help bring fairness and consistency as well as local flexibility into pay in schools. Now they face years and huge expense battling this out in courts.”

Ken Livingstone Labour Mayoral Candidate - UNISON reaction

UNISON General Secretary, Dave Prentis, today welcomed the selection of Ken Livingstone as Labour’s London Mayoral candidate for 2012. He said:“UNISON backed Ken for Mayor and I am delighted he has been selected to challenge Boris Johnson in the return match in 2012.“Ken has a great record in defending public services and improving the pay and living standards of low paid workers and we look forward to working with him. Ken’s drive and commitment to London and Londoners will be needed in the economic challenges that face the capital in the coming years.”

Lib Dems ditch the poor along with election promises

Speaking at a TUC protest rally at Salthouse Dock in Liverpool during the Liberal Democrats Conference, Dave Prentis, General Secretary of UNISON, the UK’s largest public service union, will say:“Who can trust the Liberal Democrats now? They have ditched the poor, the elderly and the vulnerable along with their election promises. Their thirst for power has led them to sell-out their own supporters.“They must face up to the responsibility, that their assaults on public sector workers, will see hundreds and thousands of people out of a job. The impact of those cuts on local people who rely on those services will be devastating.“Here is Liverpool, 36% people employed in the pubic sector, relying on those jobs to keep their families off the poverty line.“And we don’t swallow the myth that the private sector are there, ready and willing to pick up the slack. That they will be able to create jobs for all those people losing them. The opposite is true.“We know that the jobs of hundreds and thousands of private sector jobs hang by a thread, because they rely on the public sector.“They rely on the spending power of council workers in their local shops, hairdressers local cafes and restaurants. As councils up and down the country cut jobs, we will see our high street shops empty and boarded up. Local shop keepers losing a lifetimes work and the dream of running their own shop. Their life savings gone.“And what about local businesses with council or hospital contracts – everything from paper and pens to food, computers, hospital beds and equipment? Those jobs will be seriously hit by the Lib Dem cuts to the public sector. Another dream hitting the Lib Dem wall.“But the Lib Dems – just like their friends the Tories – have the blinkers on and will not look at the alternatives. They are risking a double dip recession because they would rather cut jobs than deal with the tax dodgers and the fat cat bankers still raking in their bonuses.“They would rather cut benefits to the poor than ask the rich to pay 50% tax on earnings over £100,000.“They would rather spend time hunting down every penny over-paid in child tax credit, than go looking for the billions hidden away in a tax haven somewhere.“And yes, we should have a Robin Hood tax – a tax on banking transactions that would raise as much as £30bn a year – so that those who got this country into a mess – help pay to get it out.“That is why we must unite to fight these cuts. In every village, town, city across the country - unions must help bring together those fighting for their communities and the services that the poorest, the elderly and most vulnerable rely on.”

Labour Leadership ballot UNISON is supporting

ED Miliband

Please make sure you use your vote and make Ed Miliband your first choice please remember to put the figure 1 not a x

Pay freeze causing untold misery

Commenting on statistics showing that take home pay has increased by 1.3% - well below the level of inflation - Dave Prentis, General Secretary of UNISON the UK’s largest public service union, said:“The squeeze on pay is adding to the country’s economic woes with consumer spending power and confidence plummeting. Increasingly we see empty and boarded up shops littering the nation’s high streets.“The pitiful 1.3% pay increase across the economy is bad enough, but for more than a million local government workers their pay is completely frozen this year. With inflation at 3.1% and with the increase in VAT and national insurance kicking in next March, the picture looks bleak.“Public sector workers face a further 2 year pay freeze which will cause untold hardship to working families. Unless this Government starts to think about the damage that a pay freeze will cause, we will see more hard working people losing their homes and falling into impossible levels of debt.”

UNISON, the UK’s largest public sector union,

Attacked the Taxpayer’s Alliance (TPA) for wasting millions of pounds of public money, by demanding answers from public bodies to spurious questions. The attack follows their latest line of questioning on union facility time to 1,200 public organisations. The union calculates answering would have cost taxpayers at least a million pounds as well as taking up valuable time and resources – equivalent to more than 100 nursery nurses, teaching assistants or home carers or 50 nurses or social workers.Far from costing taxpayers money, trade union involvement has a very positive impact on the workplace. Research commissioned by the Department for Business in 2007 suggested that effective and engaged union representation saves the public purse between £170m and £400m a year by improving retention, training take-up, health and safety, and dispute resolution; and as much as £3.6bn a year through general productivity gains.Dave Prentis, General Secretary of UNISON, said:“The Taxpayer’s Alliance is digging up another tired old chestnut. Taxpayers expect their money to be spent providing services, not answering spurious questions from the TPA to prop up their own political interests“Attacking trade unions who work with employers to create an efficient, more motivated workplace is just plain daft. The TPA is not working for the taxpayer. The reality is they are Conservative funded and are costing taxpayers millions of pounds, and tying up valuable management time, for their own ends.“There are more than 6m public sector workers and all these staff have the right to be represented. If trade union stewards are going to represent staff properly, they need time away from their usual jobs to do it. What’s more, collective bargaining saves cash. If councils or the NHS had to negotiate individually with all their staff, they would be forced to spend a fortune on consultants or mediators. “Public services are facing savage cut backs and workers have a right to have their voices heard and rightly expect their union reps to be there to help them when they need them most. “Far from causing industrial strife, paid facility time has contributed to the lowest levels of strikes on record. In short - trade union facility time makes good business sense. The TPA question makes no sense.”

Use your vote on June 4th

(1/6/09) This Thursday, every union member will be given the chance to stop the BNP and the politics of hate by voting in the European elections."We love Britain precisely because of its tolerance and diversity," said UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis."The British National Party and its allies are a threat to everything that makes us proud of this country we love," he warned.
UNISON branch members set up a sign up board to keep out the BNP in Chard, Somerset.The BNP's record is clear: its 2001 manifesto wanted mixed race relationships to be outlawed and for any black person who commits a crime to be thrown out of the country, even those who were born here. Nick Griffin, the leader of the BNP, was found guilty of inciting racial hatred in 1998. He denies that the Holocaust ever took place and believes that Jews are conspiring against white British people. Griffin has previously described the BNP as "a strong, disciplined organisation with the ability to back up its slogan 'Defend Rights for Whites' with well-directed boots and fists. When the crunch comes, power is the product of force and will, not of rational debate."The BNP is working hard to conceal its extremism because it knows that people in Britain totally reject the politics of racism and hatred. But a vote for the BNP is a vote against everything that makes this country great, said Mr Prentis."We are determined to vote on 4 June: please join us in voting for a great Britain."Use your vote on June 4

Pandemic Flu - Guidance for unions


Download a PDF version of this page

Updated May 2009

Introduction
Pandemic influenza is very different from, and far more serious than, the usual seasonal influenza outbreaks that happen every year. A pandemic is an outbreak that may affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide, leading to a large proportion of them becoming ill. Pandemic flu occurs when a new influenza virus emerges that is very different from ordinary seasonal flu and, because it is new, people have very little or no immunity to it. There are normally around two to three such pandemics every century. The most recent pandemic was in 1968 and affected mainly the young and the elderly. An earlier outbreak in 1918 caused an estimated 20-40 million deaths worldwide, most of which occurred among people aged between 20 and 45.
Pandemic influenza is likely to develop through genes from a number of human and animal flu viruses joining together to form a new strain of virus. Most animal flu viruses such as avian and swine flu can, in some circumstances, be transmitted to humans. Some of these are harmless to humans while others can be fatal. However, because they are not passed from human to human they are not spread as quickly as human influenza viruses and so are much easier to contain. If however they develop in a way that made it easier to be passed from person to person a pandemic is more likely.
Once a virus is very easily passed from person to person then it is likely to spread very quickly. It can be transmitted through touching anything that is contaminated with the virus, or from casual contact between people. Depending on the type of virus illness develops anything between two days to a week after infection.
In April 2009 a new strain of influenza broke out in Mexico and by the end of the month the World Health Organisation had assessed the risk of a pandemic as level five - indicating human-to-human transmission in at least two countries. This is the highest rating below an actual pandemic (level six). The Mexican outbreak appears to be a new version of the H1N1 strain of influenza type A. H1N1 is the same strain which causes seasonal outbreaks of flu in humans on a regular basis. But this latest version of H1N1 is different: it contains genetic material that is typically found in strains of the virus that affect humans, birds and swine
It is estimated that from the initial outbreak of a new influenza virus strain, once it is in the UK, it could spread to all major cities within two weeks with a peak around 50 days from initial entry in the country. Influenza pandemics occur either in a single wave or several waves that can be weeks, or even months, apart.
The fatality rate for previous pandemics has varied from 0.2% to 2% with between 25% and 50% of the population being affected during the outbreak. The government’s “worst case” guess is that the 50% of the population could become ill over a period of 3-6 months with a maximum of 750,000 deaths as a result. However this is the worst of the likely outcomes and, in reality any pandemic would probably be much less severe. Nevertheless, the TUC supports the government view that contingency plans should be put in place to ensure that, in the event of a pandemic developing, its effects are minimised as far as possible. That means that plans must be flexible enough to cover all possible eventualities.
Why pandemic influenza is an issue for trade unions
The possibility of an influenza pandemic is more than just a public health issue. It will have a major effect in the workplace. Large numbers of people are likely to be absent at any one time. In the event of schools closing (which is a high possibility) many workers with children will find it impossible to go to work. Likewise, those who have partners or dependents who become ill may also not come to work. This would have a major impact on all aspects of health and social care, as well as on the economy as whole. The TUC believes that trade unions and employers, working together, can make a significant difference in ensuring that the effects of a pandemic are minimised, that the workforce are educated and informed on transmission issues, and in helping ensure there is no panic. Unions will also have a major part to play in ensuring that those workers who are ill as a result of infection stay at home and do not come in to work either through misplaced loyalty or employer pressure.
In addition, it is important that the effect of any pandemic does not hit those who are more vulnerable hardest, such as the low paid, those who don’t have permanent employment or sick pay schemes and those who have dependents.
The government plan
The government has produced a detailed plan for dealing with an influenza pandemic. It outlines the roles of various government and public bodies as well as the contribution of the voluntary sector and community networks. Much of the plan has been piloted in special government exercises or simulations, but the real effect will not be known until an actual pandemic breaks out. It is only then that we will be able to assess the likely number of people who will be affected, the mortality rate, the effect on emergency services and the economy, and how people will react.
Clearly this will be much more than just a health emergency. Although priority must be given to ensuring that medical treatment is made available as quickly as possible to as many people as possible, efforts must also be made to ensure maintenance of essential services and continuity of basic functions such as transport, energy, finance, law and order, and food supply.
The government will have to make very difficult decisions on matters such as whether or not to close schools and group childcare activities. The decision on this will have a major impact on the ability of not only industry, but also the health service and social services to function. Decisions will also have to be made on access to either vaccinations when they become available, or anti viral medicines. It is unlikely that current flu vaccines will be effective against any new strain and a new vaccine is likely to take several months to develop. The government maintains stocks of sufficient anti viral medicines to cover over 50% of the population. Given that anti-virals are most effective in relieving the symptoms of those infected and are intended to be given to those newly infected, and not as a preventative measure this is likely to be sufficient, although it is not known whether the anti-virals stocked will be effective against the particular strain of influenza which appears.
In addition to the national framework for responding to a pandemic, the government has also produced an ethical framework against which decisions on such issues should be made.
Why you must act now
It is important that employers do not wait until the outbreak of pandemic flu before considering what measures they need to take. At the same time, it is also important that people do not take panic measures. Although the government response is based on the “worst case scenario”, with the closure of schools, major problems with transport and distribution, and very high levels of sickness, it will be impossible to predict the actual full effect of a pandemic until the beginnings of an outbreak. That is why forward planning must be flexible, practical, and based on realistic assessments of likely risk.
This does not necessarily mean starting from scratch. Many employers will already have general plans for a major incident so planning for an influenza pandemic can often be incorporated into general emergency planning. As media attention to the risk of pandemic influenza increases, employers will become susceptible to approaches from unscrupulous companies who will attempt to sell them anti viral medicine or protective equipment, much of which may have no practical effect or even prove counterproductive.
What unions can do
Trade unions should ensure that their employer has in place either a separate policy for dealing with pandemic influenza, or a general policy covering major disasters or incidents that also covers major public health incidents such as pandemic influenza. It should not be left to employers alone to decide on what is an appropriate response. Unions must also be involved, as any effective policy must have the confidence of the whole workforce.
When considering your employer’s response to pandemic influenza the following are some of the areas that you may wish to address.
Are the employer's proposals reasonable and practical?
Many employers will have either overly elaborate plans or will simply add “pandemic influenza” onto an existing emergency plan without making any real changes. To be of any use the employer must actually go through the process of considering what effect all the different possible scenarios would have on their staff and how they operate, right up to the worst likely situation of up to 50% of the workforce being off, disruption to transport, and the disruptions to other services that could also arise (such as banking, the internet, supplies etc.)
Among the things that unions should look at are:
Do the employer’s plans underestimate the possible absence rate in the event of a major pandemic, as a consequence of employee infection and/or if the schools close.?
Have they looked at issues around supply of materials or services?
Have all departments been involved in drawing up the plan?
Does it treat all staff equally?
Have they considered the operation of functions such as cleaning and catering, if these are not done “in-house”?
Dealing with sickness absence
Some employers are planning for absenteeism rates of up to 50%. This is on the basis that it will not only be those who are ill that are unable to come into work, but also those looking after family members who are ill or those with children in the event of schools being closed. In addition, in the event of a severe pandemic, some staff will be afraid to come into work for fear of contracting the virus. There may also be difficulties with public transport.
While it is impossible to predict the likely rate of absenteeism during a pandemic, trade unions should ensure that employers are committed to equal treatment of all those who are absent. Those who are unable to travel because there is no public transport, or those who have got dependents who they cannot leave, should be treated no differently from those who are themselves ill. It is important that they are not disadvantaged in terms of issues such as pay, compared to those staff who are able to work from home.
Many employers will simply say that they will look at such cases sympathetically but most workers, especially those on low pay, will want to know in advance where they stand, so policies should be agreed beforehand.
Trades unionists will have to ensure that employers do not encourage staff to come in when they are ill and may themselves have to try to ensure that staff do not attempt to come to work through misguided loyalty to their employer or their client or their work colleagues. It is important that all staff who are ill remain at home until fully recovered. The HSE and government advice is clear. “Advise your staff to stay at home if they are sick with flu-like symptoms and send home any employees who are displaying flu-like signs/symptoms.”
It is likely that increased sickness absence may put pressure on other employees to work longer hours to cover for those who are off. Employers will still be covered by the Working Time Regulations and it will not help if those employees who remain at work find their health being undermined by excessive pressure.
In the event of a pandemic breaking out, unions will want to get involved in discussions with their employers over issues such as staff taking leave.
Does the employer's plan include remote working?
One of the obvious responses employers are likely to make to a major health crisis is to ensure that staff are given the opportunity of working from home. This should generally be encouraged, but it means that there must be arrangements made to ensure that systems are in place to enable them to do so. That means looking at issues around IT, including broadband capacity and the management and coordination of work. Another issue for trade unions is the fact that many workers, such as cleaners, are simply not able to work from home. The TUC is concerned that this may mean that there will be two tiers of staff with those unable to work from home, but who still have domestic responsibilities, being treated differently from those who can work from home if they need to care for a dependant and remote working arrangements should ensure that no staff are disadvantaged through not being able to work at home because of the nature of their job.
Personal protection
Some employers have decided that one of the steps they should take to prepare for a pandemic influenza outbreak is to keep stockpiles of gloves, masks, and hand sanitising liquid. The TUC does not recommend the use of gloves or masks in most workplaces for a variety of reasons. Gloves do not prevent infection as people will still touch their skin with the gloves and then touch another surface or person.
Latex gloves carry significant risks of producing an allergic reaction and were they to be used during an outbreak there would be problems of disposal.
There is also no evidence that, outside health care situations, the general use of facemasks has any actual effect on protecting people or reducing the speed of a pandemic’s development. Although the evidence from the recent SARS outbreak suggests that people will seek to use them regardless of any advice on their effectiveness, they are not generally recommended by health professionals. In addition, there is evidence that some people think that if they wear a mask, even if they are ill, they can still come to work and this could actually lead to increased risk. This is not however the case in health care and where there is likely to be close or frequent contact with symptomatic patients and the use of gloves and masks may be required.
In May 2009 the HSE issued advice that stated “it should not be necessary for workers to wear masks routinely when in contact with the general public. However, there may be some situations when it will be advisable for a worker to wear a mask. Such a situation will depend on the nature of the work and where it is to be carried out.
Employers should carry out a risk assessment and, amongst other things, gauge:
If workers are likely to encounter members of the public who are displaying symptoms, for example, in a healthcare setting it is highly likely that contact with the public (patients) will include persons who have symptoms of influenza;
Where contact with people displaying symptoms is likely, whether any measures can be taken to minimise contact;
The duration and frequency of contact with members of the public.”

The use of hand sanitising liquid is slightly different. It may be that some public organisations will make it available at key entry areas or where there is likely to be contact between people. Public transport systems may use some form of sanitising spray in the event of an outbreak. However, care should be taken to ensure that any products used are fully safe to use and are not likely to exceed their sell-by date within the next few years if they are buying future supplies for storing..
Many employers will also plan to step up their cleaning regimes in the event of an outbreak. However, they should bear in mind that it is likely that the number of cleaning staff may be reduced as a result of illness. Damp rather than dry dusting should be carried out during a pandemic to avoid the generation of dust and it is recommended that the cleaning of surfaces be carried out using a freshly prepared solution of detergent and hot water followed, where necessary, by a chlorine based disinfectant solution.
There may also be proposals to switch off air conditioning systems in large open plan offices or workshops as a way of preventing the virus spreading. The HSE do not recommend this. They state, “the overall effect would be to create more static air which may result in discomfort and ill health effects. The main advantage of air conditioning is that it has a dilution effect on stale/contaminated air and also provides a more comfortable environment overall. Therefore continue running any air conditioning system already provided for the workspace.”
The main type of personal protection that employers are considering is the pre-purchase of anti viral medicines. A number of large employers have already secured sufficient supplies for all their staff and, in some cases, are giving staff the opportunity to purchase supplies for family members in the event of an outbreak.
The TUC has grave concerns over this. It believes that, in the event of an outbreak, the limited stocks of anti-virals that are available should be distributed on the basis of need and effectiveness, and in accordance with an ethical framework. While there is a case for those within the health and social care field and emergency services to be offered treatment as a priority, large corporations keeping supplies simply in order to keep their staff at work could have serious implications for other sectors. In addition the strategy is unlikely to be effective as employers would have to continue giving the medicine to individuals throughout the outbreak. This is not what anti-virals are intended for, nor is it the best use of stocks during a pandemic.
The Department of Health also does not recommend the stockpiling of private supplies of anti-virals by employers, while the employer’s organisation, the EEF have advised their members “There are specific arrangements for healthcare professionals, but the advice for the vast majority of companies is not to buy stocks of Tamiflu or Relenza. Both drugs are antiretrovirals, not vaccines. They are only effective on people who are in the early stages of the virus, so you could give them to all of your staff today but by next week they would be unprotected. Realistically the H1N1 strain is going to be around for months, not days. In any case, the UK has 34 million doses of the drugs – more than enough to go around; anyone who needs treatment will get it promptly simply by calling their GP or NHS direct. Bear in mind that Tamiflu and Relenza are prescription drugs, it is therefore illegal for anyone who is not medically qualified to give them to another person.”

Personal hygiene
This is one area which employers can start taking action on straight away. One of the ways in which any virus is likely to spread quickly is through hand to face contact, coughing and sneezing. Employers and union activists can download material from the Department of Health in order to educate people on the importance of hand-washing and the use of handkerchiefs now, rather than waiting for a pandemic to break out. Many people will simply think that the best way of preventing the spread of the virus is to stay at home while showing symptoms. While this is true, many people can be infectious without showing symptoms. This is why unions should support general hygiene campaigns, as a way of slowing the spread of any pandemic should it develop.
Education and Training
Safety representatives are urged to ensure that their employer notifies all their staff of what arrangements they have made to prepare for an outbreak of pandemic flu, including what role they expect individual staff to take. Staff should be given information about pandemic flu and the need for personal hygiene. This should be done in a non-patronising way and with the full involvement of stewards or safety representatives.
Further information
The HSE has a web page on pandemic influenza which includes advice on what to do in the event of a pandemic being declared:
http://www.hse.gov.uk/biosafety/diseases/pandemic.htm
The Department of Health pandemic influenza website, which includes the current contingency plan is at:
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/PandemicFlu/index.htm
Advice is also available on the Health Protection Agency Website:
http://www.hpa.org.uk/infections/topics_az/influenza/pandemic/default.htm
The Faculty of Occupational Medicine advice is at
http://www.facoccmed.ac.uk/library/docs/panflu09.pdf