National

Below you will find details of national issues, with the most current first, that have a direct bearing on the work of Chorley Trades Council:

Karen Reissman campaign latest

Karen Reissman legal defence fund

donations to :

Karen Reissman Legal Defence Fund,

unity trust bank : sort code 08-60-01 acc nbr 20215859

send to the Treasurer : Kath Crotty, 181 St. Mary’s Road.

Moston. Manchester M40 0BN

Manchester Community and Mental Health UNISON

UNISON members voted on Friday to suspend their indefinite strike of community mental health teams and will return to work on Monday. Their campaign to reinstate Karen Reissmann, and the issues this raises, will now become a national UNISON campaign.

The strike is only suspended not ended. Further strike action by the branch is planned for the New Year as part of this national campaign. The dispute is not over. We are fighting in a different way.

Dave Prentis, UNISON general secretary, who is arranging a meeting with Alan Johnson, Secretary of State for Health, has sent a personal message to all the strikers. He says “UNISON will not be silenced and we shall continue to campaign through all available channels to obtain Karen’s reinstatement.”

UNISON is supporting a claim for unfair dismissal at an Employment Tribunal, early day motion by UNISON sponsored MPs and looking to a national lobby of parliament in the New Year.

Crucially trust managers as part of the return to work have agreed that there needs to be an urgent review of Change in Mind. It was issues around the implementation of Changes in Mind which started the serious disagreements with UNISON and we are incredibly pleased that it has been agreed to start a review immediately and deal with the on-going issues which have so worried staff and users alike.

They have also agreed that there will be no victimisation of any striker on return to work. This includes no referrals to the NMC.

Initially the trust managers had insisted that they needed to refer Karen Reissmann to the NMC because she had been sacked. UNISON remained firmly of the belief that this was punitive and unnecessary. There was never any suggestion of concern about her patient care. If she had been referred she would have been unable to work as a nurse even for an agency until the case had been processed which even if quickly dismissed could have taken months.

Strikers told UNISON that they were not prepared to return to work whilst this threat still existed. On Thursday in difficult negotiations into the evening, the threat was withdrawn and management agreed that “as the dismissal for gross misconduct was not related to patient safety a referral to the NMC will not take place”

“I would like to thank all those colleagues who have supported my case. I have been overwhelmed by the support I have received so far. It has helped to keep me strong and well. I know we are all committed to an on-going national campaign to obtain my reinstatement and ongoing campaign against the cuts in our mental health teams. Neither me, nor my colleagues nor our supporters are going away” said Karen.

UNISON has not been beaten but is stronger than ever. We have 7 more stewards. Strikers are feeling good not bad. Thanks partly to the 1000’s of people who have given incredible support over the last 6 months. We have raised almost £200,000 in hardship and money is still coming in. We have had thousands of messages of support. People really understand and feel that solidarity is still very much alive and very well in UK today. Trust managers have come out of this badly damaged. They have no credibility with anyone in Manchester or the NHS nationally. Hardly anyone who knows about the case (and many, many people do know) support the sacking of Karen or the way they have run this trust.

The user group has said they have no confidence in the trust board and have called for all of them to resign. They have also called for a user-led public inquiry into this trust. UNISON will ballot its members to see if they support the users and if agreed will support the users to set up their own inquiry.

Campaign to reinstate Karen Reissman

Karen Reissmann.a leading UNISON activist and psychiatric nurse with more than 25 years experience, was sacked for the ‘crime’ of speaking out against cuts and privatization in the NHS.

Our Trades Council joined the campaign to support Karen: how can we allow a dedicated nurse to be treated in such a disgraceful manner!.

What can you do?

Raise the issue at your next branch meeting, and invite strikers to come and speak by ringing 07972 120 451

Send a donation to the strike fund, payable to ‘Manchester Community and Mental Health UNISON’, to the office, Manchester Community and Mental Health Unison, Cholton House, 70, Manchester Road, Manchester M21 9UN.

Send a protest to Alan Johnson, secretary of state, Send an e-mail to johnsona@parliament.uk

Defending Council Housing

We have affiliated to the national organisation Defending Council Housing who share our belief that council tenants are best served when council-housing stock remains under Local Authority control.

Anti-Facism and Anti-Racism

We believe in equality for all and are regularly represented at anti-facist and/or anti-racist meetings and have provided printed and vocal opposition to organisations espousing racist, fascist or anti-Semitic statements.

Equal Pay for Women

It is 25 years since the Equal Pay Act was passed and on average women’s earnings are only 80% of that of a male in an equivalent job. This cannot be allowed to continue and pressure must be put on employers to eliminate this gap and end gender inequality.