Author Archives: Neil

From James Lyon, Daily Mirror – 7 November 2012: According to the Commons watchdog, 181 of 650 MPs are failing to pay the rate which was raised this week to £7.45 or £8.55 in London Almost one in three MPs are paying staff less than the Living Wage – despite their party leaders calling for the cost of living pay rate to be adopted across Britain. Both Labour’s Ed Miliband … Continue reading →

Rally and photo opportunity Monday 12 November Assemble 12.30pm Old Palace Yard, Westminster, London   The coalition government is trying to scrap the agricultural wages board with just four weeks of consultation.   Without the AWB to negotiate pay and fair housing, wages will fall to the lowest legal wage possible. Bad employers will see this as the opportunity to cut pay and raise housing costs.   Unite has called … Continue reading →

After a number of campaign wins with IPSA, we have developed a short survey to collect members’ views about the workplace issues we should be campaigning on in the future. It only takes a couple of minutes to complete and if you leave your email address at the end you will be entered into a random draw to win a bottle of champagne: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/69GBYM8

Branch members were once again out in force for the International Brigades Memorial Trust (IBMT) Commemoration in July at the Jubilee Gardens in London. Click here for a video of the event, which shows Chair Max Freedman laying flowers at the memorial on behalf of the branch. The branch is affiliated to the IBMT and we encourage members to also sign up as individual members, which can be done here.

Summer Recess is a good time to look at what courses you could be going on to build your skills. The courses below are being run by Capita in August and are free for MPs’ staff to attend. Book by filling out the forms available on the w4mp website. As always, if you work in the MP’s constituency office and would prefer a regional course so you don’t have to … Continue reading →

This year World Pride takes place in London, to coincide with the London Olympics. To celebrate this and show the Unite Parliamentary Staff Branch commitment to the LGBT community, Unite 1/427 branch would like to invite colleagues to a DRINKS RECEPTION on Thursday, 5th July from 6.30pm to 8.00pm in the Jubilee Room   PLEASE RSVP to sarah.mcguire@unitepsbranch.org http://www.unitetheunion.org/resources/equalities_2011/lgbt_equality.aspx

Working for Members of Parliament, we are considered to be employees of “micro businesses”, which employ fewer than ten staff. Following the Beecroft Review, the Government is currently consulting on whether a system of ‘compensated no fault dismissal’ should be introduced for such micro businesses, and what the consequences could be, including the wider impact on both employer and employee confidence. As a union branch, we already see too many … Continue reading →

Sorry but we have had to cancel our social for the evening of Thursday 10 May in the Jubilee Room. House staff who are members of PCS will be on strike for their pensions that day. We ask branch members to respect picket lines and speak to their bosses about working from an alternative location. We will be rearranging the social for another time and will post details up here … Continue reading →

An advice surgery for branch members will be held 1pm Thursday 24 May in the meeting rooms on the 1st floor of Portcullis House. We will do them by short appointment so if you’d like to drop by and discuss an employment issue or just get general advice just email lauren.edwards@unitepsbranch.org before Wednesday 23 May.  Telephone surgeries will be arranged for any branch members who work in constituency offices. 

It’s that time of the year again, when we can put in for volunteer places at various festivals through the Workers Beer Company. As a volunteer behind the bars you get free entry to the festival, a couple of drinks when your shift is over, and when you are not working (shifts are usually six hours long) you can enjoy the music and the atmosphere of the festival. The money … Continue reading →