Follow us on faceBook @ Oxford City Branch Of UNISON

New living wage set

UNISON has welcomed the new living wage rates, announced simultaneously in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Manchester this morning.

They new rates are:

• £8.45 an hour for the UK outside London;
• £9.75 an hour within London, to take account of the higher cost of living there.

These rates are based on the minimum income standard for the UK – how much someone needs to earn for a basic but decent life.

They differ from the government’s so-called ‘national living wage’, which is a rebranded minimum wage for over 25s.

The announcements came at the start of Living Wage Week, “a time each year to talk about making work pay, while remembering that millions of people in our country still work for poverty wages,” as general secretary Dave Prentis noted.

He welcomed today’s announcement of new rates as “an independent and verifiable level of pay which meets the most basic needs – quite literally, a wage upon which someone can be reasonably expected to live – and then campaigning for employers to pay it.

“UNISON has been proud to support and campaign for the living wage from the outset,” he said.

“And the living wage has become an integral part of our own campaigning, whether in the social care sector or the water industry.”

Join today

Essential cover if you work in public services

With cuts, redundancies, restructuring and outsourcing, now is the time to join UNISON.
Call free on 0800 171 2194

We're the UK's largest public service union, with over 1.3 million members. Join today and you'll receive our support – with membership costing less than you might think. Before you get to work, get essential cover.

The 2016 School uniform grants now available

School uniform grants

Families on low incomes can struggle to make ends meet, especially just before the start of the new school year. UNISON’s scheme helps members on low incomes deal with the cost of school uniforms.

The 2016 school uniform grant is now available. You can find an application form in the Resources section below – please ensure that UNISON has received this by July 15.

Workplace conflict, do you know the signs?

Trade union bill defeated by lords

David Cameron's trade union crackdown in disarray after resounding Lords' defeat. A great result in the Lords on the Trade Union bill. Government defeated on facility time, e-balloting, and political funds. Ministers may have to rethink. Well done to all our members who have been working on this. Let's keep the pressure up!

Get involved

Want to do something more?

Help your colleagues and other members becoming a UNISON rep or workplace contact. Being a UNISON workplace rep gives you the opportunity to:

• make a positive difference to people’s work lives
• learn new skills and meet new people
• help create a fairer society

Get involved in UNISON

Support when you need it

https://www.unison.org.uk/get-help/services-support/there-for-you/debtline-support/ 

How to join unison

How to join /unisontheunion/videos/

Trade Union Bill could breach people’s human rights

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has advised Parliament that a number of measures in the Trade Union Bill may breach the right to strike.

Article 11 of the Human Rights Act gives everyone the right to form and join a union, and to protest peacefully. Some provisions in the Bill could contravene the UK’s obligations, including restrictions on how much time public sector employees can spend on union work and also increasing the notice of industrial action from seven days to two weeks.

The EHRC has also produced a parliamentary briefing on the Bill.

Visit EHRC website

EHRC trade union bill Briefing

Draft Corporate Plan and Budget 2016-20

Draft Corporate Plan and Budget 2016-20

The consultation for the City Council’s draft Corporate Plan and Budget 2016-20 is now live on our consultation pages. These strategic statements present our commitments to our customers as well as shaping our work priorities.

The consultation will be open until 24 January 2016 and can be accessed on oxford.gov.uk/corporateplanandbudget2016-20

If you have any questions please contact Hamera Plume, Consultation Officer on 01865 252057 or hplume@oxford.gov.uk.

2016 AGM

Annual General Meeting

 1^st March 2016

3:00 pm till 4:00 pm

Long Room

Oxford Town Hall

Followed by Refreshments

At the AGM, branch members do the following:

• Ratify the election of Branch Officers
• Ratify the election of stewards
• Elect delegates to UNISON’s National and Local Government conferences
• Vote on motions
• Ask questions about the Annual Report and branch accounts.

Please let your line manager know as soon as possible if you wish to attend the AGM.  You are entitled to paid time off to attend the AGM (up to one hour) and reasonable time off for travel to and from the meeting.

If you would like to stand as a steward for your area, or would like more information, please e-mail chair@oxfordcityunison.com

Your voice will make a difference