GAZA -Sheffield events this week

Find out how you can help: click here

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Click here to watch a short video of Musheir and friends at work preparing essential food supplies.
Tuesday November 7th at 7.00p.m. Central United Reformed Church, 66 Norfolk Street, S1 2JB

Dates for your Diary – full details of these events to follow:

November 11th Sheffield:
Rally in Sheffield and, once more, travel to the National Rally in London will be organised for those who can attend.

November 19th:
A sponsored walk, raising funds for Gaza, in Graves Park, Sheffield. S8 8LL. This inclusive event is one that everyone in Sheffield is invited to join. We will walk together for Gaza.

November 26th:
“Coming Together for Palestine”, a cross-community event to mark the International Day of Solidarity with Palestinians (which falls on November 29th). This fundraiser for Gaza will offer food, a compilation of Musheir’s films and speakers. Details of how to get tickets will follow.

Use the QR code above to sign up for the newsletter/join the Coalition as an organisation, OR click here. Please pass to your friends.

Contact us on this email: spcagainstisraeliapartheid@gmail.com

SEE ALSO Sheffield PSC facebook

AND Sheffield PSC Instagram

SHEFFIELD TRADE UNION COUNCIL SAYS:

Beat the Cost of Living Crisis

-Support the Strikes!

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ALL WORKERS NEED A COST OF LIVING INCREASE NOW!

******

“Don’t tell us to not to demand a pay rise

when inflation has hit 14% RPI!”

“Sheffield TUC will continue to give maximum solidarity support to workers taking strike action in the face of an unprecedented cost of living crisis” said Martin Mayer Secretary Sheffield Trade Union Council. “This week it’s the turn of RMT rail workers, CWU Royal Mail workers, RCN Nurses and UNITE Shelter workers, and supporters will be joining picket lines and collecting money to support the strikes” he said.

RMT rail workers to stage 48-hour strikes from this week:

Tuesday 13th/ Wednesday 14th December and Friday 16th/Saturday 17th December

Until last week, rail workers had received no pay offer at all for 2022, and have had no pay increase for 3 years. Negotiations only delivered a 4% pay offer but that was conditional on huge changes to terms and conditions including Driver Only Trains on all services, closure of all ticket offices and other cuts, which the RMT has refused. RMT recently re-balloted its members for strike action and received an overwhelming mandate. Everyone knows it’s the Government that is holding back the Train Operators from settling this dispute, yet refuse to negotiate directly with the union. Where the Government is not involved, settlements have been reached e.g. ScotRail, Welsh Rail and the direct access train operators.

Royal Mail CWU strikes

Royal Mail members have had an unagreed 2 per cent pay deal imposed on them. This was at a time when RPI inflation was running at 11.8% (it is now 14.5%) and when Royal Mail had announced Group profits of £758 million – of which most was paid out in dividends  to private shareholders! In a national strike ballot over pay, Royal Mail CWU members voted by a massive 97.6 per cent majority to take action. CWU members have also voted by 98.7% on a 72.2% turnout for strike action in defence of the “Pathway to Change” national agreement. The Royal Mail company leadership has reneged on the Pathway to Change agreement’s Key Principles and has begun to impose changes without negotiation and without agreement, with serious adverse consequences for working conditions. CWU repos have faced bullying and harassment by management with many reps unfairly suspended, and the company is one of the first to use new Tory laws to allow agency workers to break strikes.

UNITE Shelter Workers are on 2 weeks solid strike

These dedicated social care sector workers do marvelous work helping the homeless struggle against a scandalous social housing crisis in the UK. But this well-respected charity has offered a paltry 3% to its workers in spite of a massive £14.5M reserve of funds that could easily finance a proper cost of living pay rise.

Commenting on the decision to go on strike, one member of Shelter’s staff said: “The work we undertake, particularly in frontline services, is so valuable and clients depend on our teams. But that shouldn’t mean they have to sacrifice a decent and dignified living because the work they are drawn to is in this sector. At the very base level, absolute bare minimum, those working for a housing charity shouldn’t be experiencing housing insecurity as a result of being unable to pay rent.” Another added: “I really care about the work and I think it’s recognised that I work hard – but I don’t feel right now my employer cares about me. I’m a single parent. I’m now in overdraft every month, I go around switching my lights off, I have turned my boiler down, I get stressed when the kids school wants me to pay for another school trip. The best acknowledgement my employer can give me for all my hard work is decent pay.”

 

RCN Nurses strike on 15th December (but not in Sheffield -nearest strike is in Nottingham)

The NHS is one of the best things about our country and it is falling apart due to massive austerity cuts over the last 12 years. Britain now has fewer hospitals and a huge loss of beds – Germany has three times the number of beds per head of population than we do. Severe staff shortages make the situation even worse, and a collapsed social care sector when too many sick and elderly people are stuck in hospital with nowhere else to go. Seven million people are waiting for NHS operations. Patients are stuck in the back of queuing ambulances. Nursing staff make up more than half of the NHS workforce, and they are pushed to breaking point. Care is not safe and patients are paying the price. For the first time in history, nurses are left with no choice but to go on strike. Unfair pay is forcing too many to leave. Over 25,000 nurses left last year alone. Without nursing staff, there will be no NHS. Nursing staff always speak up for patients – now we are speaking up for the nurses.

COST OF LIVING CRISIS, WAGE RISE AND STRIKES

“Workers cannot afford another cut to their living standards after 12 years of austerity and stagnant /falling real incomes,” said Martin Mayer. “The current cost of living crisis is causing severe hardship across our communities and with RPI inflation now nearly 15%, millions of households face hunger and unheated homes this winter. We totally reject the Tories’ notion that cost of living increases will damage the economy. Britain is the 5th wealthiest country in the world but the wealth is not distributed fairly. If working class communities are made poorer still, then the economy will suffer from collapsing demand for goods and services. We demand a proper pay rise now for all workers. If you are not in a union, join one now!” concluded Martin Mayer

UNISON: Sheffield Climate Justice march Saturday 6th November & SCCUG COP26 Coalition Calendar of Events

CALLING ALL TRADE UNION MEMBERS AT SHEFFIELD HALLAM UNIVERSITY! 

Please get involved in the campaign for Climate Change, and join the Sheffield march;

Saturday 6 November.

Assemble at Devonshire Green at 12pm

Global Day Climate Justice march

Climate Change IS a Trade union issue! Workers and their families are all affected by global warming. “There’s no jobs on a dead planet” said Sharron Burrow ITUC Gen Secretary. We have to fight for real action to combat climate change. That means public investment in 1 Million Climate Jobs. We know you can’t achieve that by leaving it the free market as the Tories are doing! We can rebuild our economy so that it’s greener AND fairer, and improves the livelihoods of ordinary working people. Here are some examples of what we can and should be doing NOW:

  • I million new zero-emission council homes – help to solve the housing crisis and reduce heating bills AND help the climate. House building creates jobs for construction workers but also making the furnishings and fittings that make a home
  • a World Class public transport system with new zero emission buses and electric trains – good green jobs for transport workers, bus and train manufacturers, AND lower fares and better connectivity, plus we reduce emissions and pollution
  • Publicly owned energy companies to generate clean green electricity – end fossil fuels and create zero carbon energy and end fuel poverty. We can’t rely on the private companies to do this
  • Insulate our homes and offices. A massive public investment programme will create good green jobs to retrofit our leaky homes – Britain’s housing stock is the least efficient in Europe!
YOUR UNION BRANCH IS SUPPORTING THE MARCH ON 6th NOVEMBER.
WE NEED MEMBERS THERE, TO STAND WITH US AND SHOW THE TRADE UNIONS ARE DEMANDING REAL CHANGE!

Please email l.m.wakefield@shu.ac.uk to let us know that you are interested and will be attending the event on the 6th November in Sheffield.

Here is a timetable of some of the events coming up in Sheffield in the run-up to 6th November.

 Everyone is welcome

The planet is on fire! It’s clear that we are facing a global catastrophe that is already impacting on everyone across the world. The COP26 ‘talks’ will no doubt prove as inadequate as the past 25 talks.

The COP26 Coalition is organising on an international, national and local level. We aim to highlight the common interest we have, the innovative solutions available and to use our collective power to compel governments here and around the world to act!!

Friday 22nd October: Film showing – ‘The Ants & the Grasshopper’

Ant and the Grasshopper

‘The Ants and The Grasshopper’ 2021    Director – Raj Patel

Sheffield Climate Coalition Umbrella Group (SCCUG) COP26 Coalition are delighted to bring back to Sheffield the film, ‘The Ants And The Grasshopper’ which received its International Debut here at DocFest 2021, as part of the lead up to COP26 being held in Glasgow this November.

Trailer:
https://youtu.be/WO8vc0f6DFY

The film will launch the Sheffield Global Climate Justice Summit (this summit will be held on Sat 23rd October – details to follow) which will be looking at how we can urge the world leaders, meeting at COP26 in Glasgow, to ‘centre’ the experience and needs of those most affected by the climate and ecological emergencies, in their solutions for addressing them.

Available to watch in person:
Date Friday 22nd October 7.30pm
Venue: Sheffield Quaker Meeting House St James Street Sheffield S1 2EW
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/film-screening-the-ants-and-the-grasshopper-in-person-tickets-179739173707

Available to watch online:
Anytime between 22nd and 24th October
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/film-screening-the-ants-and-the-grasshopper-online-screening-tickets-180010776077

We want this important film to be seen by as many people as possible and so we are making it free to view with a suggested ticket price of £3.50. If you are unable to afford this, please feel free to pay less, or nothing at all. Pay as you feel.

About the Film:

The documentary weaves together the most urgent themes – climate change, gender and racial equality, increasing inequality between rich and poor – with ideas that can be used to save the planet. It follows a Malawian woman, Anital Chitaya, whose gifts are to bring abundant food from dead soil, make men fight for gender equality, and ending child hunger in her village.  When needing to save her village from extreme weather, she faces her greatest challenge: persuading Americans that climate change is real and persuading us that we are all in this together.

The film makers reflected on this story for 10 years and through it came to a very different understanding of the world:

“Our reflection on patriarchy, privilege and power, is one that is raw, but a vital part of the transition away from a colonial world to a decolonised one… and point(s) to the way we’ll all have to confront our culpability for a world undergoing catastrophic climate change”

To follow the road to actions around COP26, please go to our Facebook page at @SCCUGCOP26Coalition

Friday 29th October – ‘Walk with Amal’ – ‘Staying Afloat’

Little Amal, a young refugee, has embarked on a remarkable journey – an epic voyage that is taking her across Turkey, across Europe. To find her mother. To get back to school. To start a new life. Will the world let her? Can she achieve what now seems more impossible than ever?

https://www.walkwithamal.org/

  • Amal enters Sheffield the traditional way, on a barge. As she floats into Victoria Quays, communities are out in force to greet her in the city.
  • As the day unfolds Amal discovers giant washing lines hung with messages of welcome across Tudor Square and a traditional Sheffield brass band with a twist, playing all the cities favourite songs.
    • This will be an opportunity for the Coalition to welcome Amal at the docks and to publicise November the 6th

1st November – National Banner Drop Day – Global Day of Action

On Monday 1st Nov, we invite you to Raise the Banners for Climate Justice! This is the day that World Leaders will meet in Glasgow for COP26.

After 26 years of UN climate talks (COPs), the climate crisis is escalating around the world. Justice won’t easily be handed to us by world leaders. We are the ones who have to demand it.

This action is for everyone – and a perfect way to get communities, schools, faith groups and neighbourhoods talking about climate change and to have their voices heard. Simply hang one outside of your front window of your house.

If you are coming to the demonstration on the 6th, you could bring the banners with you.

The aim is to cover the streets of Sheffield on November 1st – the beginning of the climate talks – with banners that have YOUR messages of climate justice!

Read the national COP26 Coalition’s short overview of their vision and plans for the day here.

Please add your name/organisation and where you will be dropping your banner to the document 1st Nov – Banner Drop Sheffield/S. Yorks – Areas Covered:

Take a picture and send it into our Facebook page @SCCUGCOP26Coalitiion on the day.

7th – 10th November – National People’s Summit for Climate Justice

 The COP26 Coalition is hosting the People’s Summit as an alternative to business as usual of false solutions and inaction at the COP negotiations. The Summit will be held both in-person in Glasgow and online.

Join us in imaging our future, combining our knowledge and building the  movement for climate justice from the ground up. You can now explore the initial programme and register at: www.cop26coalition.org/ps

LET’S HELP SAVE THE PLANET

From 18_26 September branches across the UK are organising a week of activities to call for urgent action to tackle climate change.

On Wednesday September 22, take part in the biggest global conversation about our future by joining Global Day of Action to Climate and Employment Proof our Work. Sign up to the ITUC Day of Action to Climate and Employment Proof Our Work.

 

On Thursday 23 September, join the UNISON Green Network webinar. Sign up to our network to receive green updates here and you will automatically receive a link to the webinar. You will also be able to access UNISON resources, including guidance on green bargaining and being a green workplace rep.

Find out more about the Fridays for Future youth climate strike on Friday 24 September here and, for Scotland, here.

 

 

Find out how your branch can take part in the UK Big Green week here, and in Scotland, at Stop Climate Chaos here.

 

 

To find out what is happening at the November UN Cop26 in Glasgow and how branches can take part, visit the Cop26 Coalition website, which also provides details of Cop26 Glasgow events from 31 October to 12 November, including UK-wide demonstrations on 6 November.

 

You have the chance to take in our green survey next week.  More news to come.

FREE UNISON COURSES

Try our free workshops and explore the skills you have, how to make the most of them and how to develop new ones.

Forthcoming courses for September and October. The courses are all online using Zoom or MS Teams platforms and free to UNISON members.  To book your place, contact the relevant person of the course you are interested in with your name, membership number (if you have it to hand) and your email address.

Dyslexia Understood:  20th September at 1.00pm – 2.00pm

Gain an understanding of dyslexia and look at workplace barriers for those with dyslexia.

Contact Rose Bent on r.bent@unison.co.uk to book your place

Your Skills Your Future: 21st September at 10.30am – 11.30am
Identify your existing, transferable, and potential skills for the purpose of personal or professional development.

Contact Rose Bent on r.bent@unison.co.uk to book your place

Caring for Adults (Open University): 22nd September at 9.30am – 1.00pm

​Suitable for those working in the care sector or those with caring responsibilities – a look at good communication, palliative and end-of-life care plus positive risk-taking.

​Contact Y&HMemberLearning@unison.co.uk to book your place

Interview Skills:  23rd September at 1.30pm – 2.45pm

Recognise different types of interviews you may encounter. Understand what employers look for in an interview and deconstructing interview questions.

Contact Rose Bent on r.bent@unison.co.uk to book your place

Hope Not Hate – Unconscious Bias:  24th September, choice of 10.00am – 11.30am or 1.30pm – 3.00pm 
This workshop’s purpose is for participants to explore how various structural biases and social power dynamics act in maintaining inequality and analyse the effect these have in the workplace.  
Visit  https://yorks.unison.org.uk/events/ to complete the form and register your interest

Confidence Building: 27th September at 1.30pm – 2.30pm

Exploration of what confidence looks like and ideas and tips for addressing your own confidence.
Contact Rose Bent on r.bent@unison.co.uk to book your place

Strategies for Stress: Looking after Your Wellbeing: 30th September at 1.00pm – 2.00pm 

Identify sources of stress and hindrances to your wellbeing.  Consider a range of strategies for keeping stress at bay and stress reduction tips.
Contact Rose Bent on r.bent@unison.co.uk to book your place

Managing Your Financial Well-Being Webinar with Lighthouse Financial: 4th October at 10.30am – 11.30am 

A look at financial well-being and how to work towards it and the impact of financial worries on our general wellbeing.

Contact Clarice Head on clarice.head@quilter.com to book your place

Pre-Retirement workshops

I am pleased to advise you that we still have spaces on the following Pre-Retirement On-Line Workshops.  These workshops are for UNISON members who plan to retire within the next 18 months.

The dates for this training are:

  • Pre-Retirement Workshop for Local Government Pension Scheme Members – 1 October 2021
  • Pre-Retirement Workshop for Local Government Pension Scheme Members – 3 October 2021

The online workshops are run by True Bearing Chartered who will make you aware of your choices and aid you in your decision making around retirement.

The workshops will be run via Teams and will take place from 13.00pm – 15.40pm.

By the end of the workshop you will be able to:

• Create your own route path from the world of work to the world of retirement

• Identify changes in both pensions and financial regulations which will affect your retirement decisions

• Identify the long term issues affecting your retirement

• Identify personal and lifestyle actions which will help to improve your retirement

• Start the process of planning for a successful retirement

To be eligible you need to have plans to retire within the next 12-18 months.

To apply please complete the online form at: Pre-Retirement Workshop for Local Government Pension Scheme Members | UNISON Yorkshire & Humberside

CV and Application forms:  4th October at 10.30am – 11.45am

Gain confidence to build, update and tailor your CV. Also understand what employers are looking for when screening CVs from job applicants.

Contact Rose Bent on r.bent@unison.co.uk to book your place

Poems for Change – 7 October 2021( 10 am – 1 pm)

A national online “Poems for Change” course for members on National Poetry Day – 7 October 2021 (10 am – 1 pm).

The workshop is free to members and the session will be delivered by Hydrocracker – who ran the previous popular workshop – via Zoom.

For more information:  Poems for Change poetry workshop

Get Online:  7, 14, 21 October at 6.00pm – 8.00pm (three Thursday evenings)

This course will ease you into the world of online communication. Learn how to access and use online meeting tools such as Zoom and Teams plus explore the fundamentals of some learning platforms.

Contact Rose Bent on r.bent@unison.co.uk to book your place

Assertiveness (bitesize): 11th October at 6.00pm – 7.00pm 

An opportunity to explore times and places you would like to be more assertive and to build the strategies to do so.
Contact Rose Bent on r.bent@unison.co.uk to book your place

Introduction to Mindfulness: 12th October at 1.00pm – 2.00pm

Understand what mindfulness is and the benefits of practising it regularly including some short mindfulness exercises.
Contact Rose Bent on r.bent@unison.co.uk to book your place

Dementia (Open University): 14 October at 9.30am – 1.00pm

​Define dementia with types and causes and how dementia affects the way a person behaves and functions.
Contact Y&HMemberLearning@unison.co.uk to book your place

Autism Understood: 14th October at 1.00pm – 2.00pm

Gain an understanding of autism and look at workplace barriers for those who are autistic.

Contact Rose Bent on r.bent@unison.co.uk to book your place

Introduction to Mindfulness: 19th October at 12.30pm – 1.30pm

Understand what mindfulness is and the benefits of practising it regularly including some short mindfulness exercises.

Contact Rose Bent on r.bent@unison.co.uk to book your place

21st Century Job search and the Hidden Jobs Market:  21st October at 1.30pm – 2.45pm

Understand how employers tend to promote their vacancies. Receive hints and tips on how to plan your job search.

Contact Rose Bent on r.bent@unison.co.uk to book your place

ONLINE and DISTANCE LEARNING

#Checktember

We’re joining National Numeracy for #Checktember! Boosting number skills is a great way to feel prepared to progress your career, so we’re encouraging everyone to try the #NationalNumeracyChallenge. Give it a go Click here

Skills Academy

Access to over 600 free online courses, full list here  Courses are CPD and ROSPA accredited. Find out more and register here:  https://learning.unison.org.uk/skills-academy/

Distance Learning

Accredited Level 2 fully funded courses in partnership with local colleges.  Due to changes in funding in some parts of the region these will be Bradford College (West Yorkshire area), The RNN Group (South Yorkshire area) and Leicester College (all other areas in the region).  To find out more and how to apply, contact Rose on r.bent@unison.co.uk

For further details of courses available please visit  Member learning Autumn 2021 programme

ATTACHMENT THEORY IN THE EARLY YEARS

29 June 2021, 9.30am-1.00pm

This is a brand new UNISON and The Open University workshop delivered by trained OU tutors and is aimed at people working in early years settings or those with an interest in attachment theory for young children.

Places are limited so this session is being offered strictly on a first come first served basis.

If successful in securing a place, members wishing to attend would need to agree time off work (flexi or annual leave) with their line manager.

The workshop will cover:

  • Attachment classifications and how they are assessed
  • The features of caregiving that influence attachment, and the significance of attachment for lifespan development
  • Why the attachment system is an adapted and adaptive mechanism

At the end of the session attendees will receive a certificate of completion from The Open University.

This workshop will be delivered using Microsoft Teams software.

To apply, please complete the web form via the link below:

https://learning.unison.org.uk/events/attachment-in-the-early-years/

SHEFFIELD STAND UP TO RACISM

Dear friends

Whilst Anti-racist campaigners everywhere welcome Chauvin guilty verdict we need to step up the campaign for action to charge police officers in Britain 

Campaigners for justice say the fact that similar charges have never been brought against police officers here in Britain is due to institutional racism and action is needed to eradicate it.

In response Sheffield will be joining the week of action across Britain to commemorate George Floyd’s death one year on, and the spirit of the #BlacklivesMatter movement with three events

Saturday 22 May 12 noon Town Hall: join #SayTheirNames protests – raising the names of those who have died in police custody and the disproportionate deaths during the Covid-19 crisis amongst black front line workers and communities.

https://www.facebook.com/events/310928563923616/?ref=newsfeed

Saturday 22 May, 5pm: One year on from George Floyd’s murder #BlackLivesMatter – We demand change online rally, register on eventbrite here.

Tuesday 25 May: on the anniversary of George Floyd’s #TakeTheKnee in solidarity with the BLM movement in the US and to oppose police racism here #UKisnotinnocent. SUTR wants to encourage every workplace, every college campus, every community in towns and cities across Britain to do something on that day to demand #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd and to say – whatever Boris Johnson and Co want to argue – the #UKisnotinnocent

 https://www.facebook.com/events/774387036609226/?ref=newsfeed

Sheffield Stand Up to Racism