Campaigns
Positively Public Briefings
Monthly briefings providing the latest campaigning, privatisation and good practice news. Link to another page on this siteAvailable here
National news

UNISON welcomes assurances over NHS reform

(09/05/08) Government pledges staff and patients will be the driving force for change

For safety’s sake

(08/05/08) Meat inspection to remain in public control

Everyday heroes

(06/05/08) Say ‘thank you’ to the special people who care for the UK’s sick children

Food for good

(01/05/08) UNISON calls for school (and hospital) meals to be sourced locally
News list >

Work-life balance

UNISON's 2002 launch of a work-life balance campaign aimed to inform members and promote the potential benefits of work-life balance for service delivery and staff satisfaction.

Documents & Links
Work-life balance: Rhetoric versus reality? An independent report commissioned by UNISON from the Work Foundation.
Link to a PDF document on this siteAcrobat PDF
Work-life balance campaign
Link to an external websitewww.unison.org.uk/worklifebalance/

The case for work-life balance tends to be made on two counts. First, that work-life balance improves individuals' health, wellbeing and job satisfaction. Second, that business can benefit from work-life balance because these policies improve productivity and worker commitment; reduce sickness absence; increase retention rates for talented workers; allow organisations to recruit from a wider pool of talent; and enable organisations to offer services beyond usual business hours.

The business case arguments have had particular resonance with the public sector, where a high proportion of the workforce is female and there is a drive to provide increasingly customer-focused services at more flexible times, requiring differentiated patterns of work.

UNISON commissioned this project from the Work Foundation to improve its understanding of work-life balance among members, to analyse the extent to which the growing awareness and popularity of work-life balance has translated into cultural change, and to develop recommendations about how organisations in the public sector need to move debates and practice forward.

CONTACT DETAILS
• The UNISON contact for the Positively Public campaign is Margie Jaffe.
Positively Public
1 Mabledon Place
London WC1H 9AJ
Email: positivelypublic@unison.co.uk
Recent documents
NHS @ 60
Document containing a mix of serious articles (including one by Dave Prentis), light-hearted features and potted histories to illustrate why it's essential that we continue to celebrate and defend the NHS as it turns 60
Link to a PDF document on this siteAcrobat PDF version
Machines, markets and morals

This pamphlet from the think tank Compass calls on the government to end the marketisation of the NHS and instead allow staff and users to shape the service democratically.Link to a PDF document on this siteAcrobat PDF (1709088 bytes)

PFI cost to the NHS
This study analyses the cost of using private finance to build the first 12 operational PFI hospitals by 2001-2002. It shows that PFI creates budget inflexibilities that increase pressures on the NHS to cut its largest cost: the jobs, working conditions and pay of staff, therefore impacting on the quality of healthcare services.
Link to a PDF document on this siteAcrobat PDF (70277 bytes)
The UK Public Library Service - facing the challenges
This factsheet highlights the challenges the public library service faces and UNISON's campaign to defend the service, which is very popular and valued by local communities.
Link to a document on this siteLibrary factsheet (366592 bytes)
Private Finance Initiative (PFI)
This fact sheet outlines the arguments against PFI.
Link to a document on this siteWord document (375296 bytes)
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