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How to use Zoom Guide

Austerity, Health and Safety, Local, News, UNISON Campaign

How to download Zoom: Zoom can be accessed by computer, tablet, or smart phone.

To access Zoom via smartphone or tablet, open the AppStore (Apple) or the Play Store (Android), search “Zoom Cloud Meetings”, select and install.

To access Zoom via computer, follow the link below and download the “Zoom Client for meetings” https://zoom.us/download#client_4meeting

How to join a meeting:

Open Zoom using your chosen electronic device. You should be given three options – join a meeting, sign up, or sign in.

You may wish to sign up, but you do not have to sign up to join the meeting.

Select “Join a meeting”, enter the “Meeting ID”. This should have already been provided to you. Alternatively, if you have been provided with a link, select this link and you should be automatically directed to the meeting.

If the meeting requires a password you should have been provided with this already.

How to change your name: We would like you to display your name so we can identify people properly.

On a phone, tap the screen, select “Participants”, select yourself (at the top of the list), select rename.

On a computer, hover over the main video/audio display area, select “Participants”, hover over yourself (at the top of the screen), select rename.

If you want to speak: You will need to raise your virtual hand. I will then select people in turn to speak. When it is your turn, I will unmute you.

On a phone, please tap your screen, select “More”, and select “Raise Hand”

On a computer, hover over the main display area, select “Participants”, at the bottom of the participants list there should be a “Raise Hand” button, select this button.

If you are hosting the meeting, ask people to practice putting their hands up here. Pause the meeting to ensure everybody knows how to use this feature.

Using the chatroom: Members can type messages to each other during the meeting using the “Chat” feature. You may wish to use this to ask questions.

On a phone, tap your screen, select “Participants”, select “Chats” in bottom left hand corner.

On a computer, hover over the main display area, select “Chats”.

Making decisions: If we need to take votes on decisions during the meeting, you will be asked to vote by raising your virtual hand. Votes will be taken by simple majority. See above “If you want to speak” for how to raise your virtual hand.

Branch ZOOM meeting “COVID19: Your Health and Safety Rights at Work”

Austerity, Health and Safety, Local, News, Report, UNISON Campaign

Barnet UNISON Branch ZOOM meeting “COVID19: Your Health and Safety Rights at Work”

After five weeks of lockdown and ongoing media speculation about when lockdown will end Barnet UNISON has secured Simon Hester former Health and Safety Executive Inspector as our Guest Speaker for our first ZOOM Branch Meeting on Wednesday 6 May at 6pm. 

To join the Barnet UNISON Zoom meeting click on the link below.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88063991632?pwd=MjRnbUErVVp0MEsxNDFubWtRUzd6QT09

Meeting ID: 880 6399 1632

Password: 147747

 

Need help using ZOOM click on our guide below 

How to use Zoom Guide

Care Workers vs COVID-19 petition

Uncategorised

Dear UNISON members, your family and friends

Below is a UNISON Care Workers petition with four simple demands I hope you can support and share widely.

1. Protect Our Health – Priority testing for care workers to limit the spread of disease to vulnerable patients and service users. Guarantee all essential training and personal protection equipment (PPE) to all frontline workers (e.g. goggles, masks, hand sanitisers, thermometers) in line with Public Health England guidance.

2. Protect Our Pay – Full normal pay for all those required by government guidance to self-isolate or who become ill because of COVID-19, in order to prevent unnecessary spread of infection. This includes all staff on zero-hour contracts, bank/relief contracts or multiple contracts.

3. Protect Our Employment – Ensure no-one is dismissed or laid-off for staying at home to care for themselves or their family. Absence due to COVID-19 should be excluded from absence management triggers.

4. Protect Our Families – Carers leave on full-pay for workers caring for a dependent who has COVID-19 or for whom childcare is unavailable.

Click on this UNISON link to add your name to the petition

https://action.unison.org.uk/page/58242/petition/1

Best wishes

John Burgess, Branch Secretary, Barnet UNISON.

Your Rights at Work: Forced to take annual leave during the lockdown?

Austerity, Health and Safety, Local, Report, UNISON Campaign

An emerging issue being raised by some of our members across a number of employers is the issue of forced annual leave.

It has come to our attention that staff are being asked to take annual leave during the current lockdown.

Workers have a statutory right to take annual Leave.

For many workers during the current national crisis their home has become their workplace.

It is important for the mental health and well being of all workers that they have time away from their workplace.

During the lockdown workers are unable to go away on holidays

Barnet UNISON position is that unless a worker requests to take annual leave during the lock down the employer should not be using this crisis to force workers to take annual leave.

What does the Government say?

“Workers who have not taken all of their statutory annual leave entitlement due to COVID-19 will now be able to carry it over into the next 2 leave years.”

“There is also an obligation on employers to ensure their workers take their statutory entitlement in any one year – failure to do so could result in a financial penalty.

The regulations will allow up to 4 weeks of unused leave to be carried into the next 2 leave years, easing the requirements on business to ensure that workers take statutory amount of annual leave in any one year.

This will mean staff can continue working in the national effort against the coronavirus without losing out on annual leave entitlement.

The changes will also ensure all employers affected by COVID-19 have the flexibility to allow workers to carry over leave at a time when granting annual leave could leave them short-staffed in some of Britain’s key industries, such as food and healthcare.”

Read more here
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/rules-on-carrying-over-annual-leave-to-be-relaxed-to-support-key-industries-during-covid-19

Barnet UNISON advice

If you are having any annual leave issues with your employer please contact the union at contactus@barnetunison.org.uk or you can leave a message speaking slowly and clearly please include your name and telephone number on 020 8359 2088. We will respond as soon as we can.

Do you want to join the COVID-19 council staff deployment programme?

Austerity, Local, News, UNISON Campaign

Barnet Council are looking for staff to volunteer at this time of national emergency.

There are a number of roles they are looking for staff to help such as:

Working in the Food Bank which based in the RAF museum.

If you take a role as a volunteer it is on a voluntary basis it will not mean you experiencing a financial detriment or changes to your terms and conditions.

To find out more about the COVID-19 council staff deployment programme

click on the link below

https://www.barnet.gov.uk/internal/covid-19-news-staff

Scroll down to the bottom of the page to find the COVID19 Redeployment form

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=uWikGxQUdUa-T1PEeK1HuyDhuGtbA2RKg9JVD_GXmutUMEVKWDAwQTAxOVBZWkVMQTJZQkhCMkNLOS4u

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UNISON calls for government to prioritise staff safety before re-opening schools

Local, National, News, UNISON Campaign

“Schools across the country are mostly closed, with pupils staying at home with families and carers. However, some schools remain partially open for children who have a social worker and are under safeguarding precautions, as well as children of key workers.

UNISON has, with other unions, issued a joint statement to the government warning against fully re-opening schools until staff safety is scientifically assured.

UNISON members have been essential in keeping schools open during the COVID-19 crisis, and are already concerned that, even with the small number of pupils currently in schools, it is impossible to maintain social distancing at all times.

UNISON National Secretary Jon Richards said: “We all know that schools will re-open at some stage, but that needs to be managed sensibly and not put people’s lives at risk.

“The government needs to be open with their plans and engage with UNISON and other unions early on to ensure that this isn’t mishandled.”

The statement co-signed by UNISON, Unite and GMB reads: “We call on the government to provide immediate reassurance to staff that any strategy for re-opening schools is discussed with relevant unions and other bodies at an early stage.

“Any proposals must be shared well in advance of any implementation, and re-opening schools should only happen once there is clear published scientific evidence that can command the confidence of the schools’ workforce that it is safe to do so.

“Suggestions in the media that the government in England is considering reopening schools has caused huge anxiety amongst school staff and parents”

The statement also includes demands for sufficient PPE, cleaning supplies and regular testing.”

Read full statement click on link below 

2020.04.16UNISON Joint-union-statement-on-re-opening-of-schools

 

 

COVID-19 Update: Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Training.

Austerity, Health and Safety, Uncategorised, UNISON Campaign

It is really important that all staff have training as to how to put on PPE and to take it off.

This is a training video produced by Public Health England as to how to put on and take off your PPE. It is less than 7 minutes long. Watching it and following the guidance will keep you and the people you are caring for safe.

Please watch COVID-19: Donning and doffing of Personal Protective Equipment in Health and Social Care Settings

https://youtu.be/-GncQ_ed-9w

 

If you have not had training please speak to your manager. If you do not get training please contact Barnet UNISON 0208 359 2088 or email us at contactus@barnetunison.org.uk

What happens if I take a break e.g. to have a drink of tea or water or go to the toilet?

You need to remove and dispose of your PPE safely, including the face mask. When you start work again you need to put on your fresh PPE for when you are carrying out personal care. You must not continue to use the same mask, apron or gloves.

Helen writes to Dave Prentis UNISON General Secretary about PPE for care workers

Uncategorised

Helen Davies, Barnet UNISON Branch Chair and UNISON NEC rep for London sent the email below to Dave Prentis UNISON General Secretary on Tuesday 14 April 2020. 

“Dear Gill, Christina and Dave,
First, I hope you are well.
As you can see below many of our care workers are reporting alarming conditions about PPE where they work. The social care workforce is in an even weaker place than our colleagues in health as they have the worst terms and conditions and the intense fragmentation through privatisation has bedevilled even those who are trying to do the right thing. We are taking up the issues with the Council and the employers but they simply point to PHE guidance which they say they are following. Our national union is best placed to challenge the nonsense of the guidance.
The key question which I think UNISON needs to address urgently is PHE guidance, which is at best flimsy. It is difficult to work your way round their website and the guidance is caveated so many times over that it is wide open to interpretation. This is handy for settings which are seeking to ration PPE. My members tell me this is happening and has happened leading to outbreaks and deaths which are COVID related. In other words they were preventable.
PHE continues to perpetuate a myth, which I think only they believe in, that unless you have the symptoms of CV19 you cannot transmit it. This flies in the face of the experience of our care workers working in care homes. UNISON needs to come out and highlight the lunacy which then employers use to deny PPE. UNISON also needs to be quite strong telling care workers it’s ok to refuse to work in a setting which is unsafe until and unless they are given the proper protection – that UNISON will defend them in court.
If it’s not possible to catch CV19 from someone who is a-symptomatic why are we advocating social distancing? How have so many bus drivers died? Why are people who never go out of their setting contracting the virus and dying? Why would public messaging (nationally and repeated by our council below) suggest “anyone can transmit it” but then deny PPE to those delivering personal care because neither service user nor worker are displaying CV19 symptoms?
The RCN has come out strongly defending its members and we should do the same. I think we have to be clear on our national website and with emails and text messages that the union is advocating you refuse to work and we will defend you if you are not being provided with the right equipment which we are saying needs to be mask and eye protection, gloves and gown on EVERY occasion you provide personal care to ANYONE.
https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-nurses-should-refuse-to-work-if-they-arent-given-ppe-new-guidance-says-11972124
Because our care workers are working without PPE and because they believe they have to we now have hundreds of vulnerable people succumbing to CV19 and careworkers trailing the disease home to their loved ones who may be equally vulnerable,
Thanks,
Helen”

Barnet UNISON will publish the response to our members as soon as it arrives

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