Donations from Unite in
Health Oxfordshire Branch

Donations 2022 - 23

Donations 2021

We Own It

We Own It campaigns against privatisation and for 21st century public ownership. We Own It campaigns on the premise that  public services belong to all of us - from the NHS to schools, water to energy, rail to Royal Mail, care work to council services. The branch donated £500 to their work. https://weownit.org.uk/

Blackbird Leys Adventure Playground

BLAP provides play and recreation facilities, an after-school club and holiday scheme for children aged 8–13yrs, in and around Oxford. A recent review of their work concluded, "What was seen to be most significant is the fact that parents are very positive about the work that BLAP is doing and their feedback suggested that BLAP is currently generally fulfilling its mission of providing a safe place where children have the chance to have fun and make and develop friendships and relationships. Parents find BLAP convenient and generally safe, while for children it provides both a sense of community and opportunities for personal development." Oxford Health Branch made a donation of £500 to help continue this valuable community project.

Reading Red Kitchen

Oxford Health Branch has voted for the Red Kitchen as its 2021 "charity of the year", to which we make monthly donations. They are a solidarity-focused project who use food to bring people together and help people in food poverty. They believe in working with people, without bureaucracy or hierarchy. The Red Kitchen is not a charity, receives no formal funding, just working directly with the community to support our migrant friends, without the red tape (but all of the safeguarding). Right now they are focused on supporting asylum seekers in Reading, Berkshire, a Borough that shamefully accepts very few asylum seekers. The Red Kitchen works with amazing members of the community, regular people, who cook meals, spare money, buy toiletries and donate clothes. They then sort them, serve them, and offer as much emotional support as they can, while our migrant friends, often fleeing brutal conditions, go through the dehumanizing process of claiming asylum in the UK.

KEEP OUR NHS PUBLIC

Our support for the striking security guards at the Royal Berks Hospital has reminded us of the dangers of NHS privatization, where private companies attack the terms and conditions of staff employment. In order to maximize profits, private companies often fail to award reasonable pay increases and end shift allowances and contractual sick pay for new employees following the transfer of undertakings. This creates a disparity in terms and conditions with those previously employed by the NHS, and the views of staff working for private companies are not always represented on Staff Partnership, Negotiation, and Consultation or Health & Safety Committees. We maintain the view that all services should be provided directly by the NHS, we support the activities of KNOP in working to achieve this, so have donated £400 to the Oxford Branch.

Unite the Union's End "fire and rehire" campaign

Millions of people are facing the sack if they do not accept less pay and worse conditions, and after months of pandemic hardship, this is no way to treat people. Our union is calling for a simple amendment to existing employment legislation to outlaw "fire and rehire". This would benefit millions of people overnight, but will also support the responsible employers while making clear to those with fewer scruples that these sorts of actions are not tolerated in this country. Unite the Union Oxford Health Branch has expressed solidarity with workers subject to "fire and rehire" and donated £500 towards the campaign.

Leys Community Development Initiative 

The CDI is a local charity that develops and coordinates projects of long-term benefit to the Blackbird Leys and Greater Leys estates in Oxford. Founded in 1995, they have wide experience as a key partner in initiatives tackling deprivation and social inclusion in the local community. Their work has been recognized and supported by a broad range of organizations, both statutory and voluntary, at the local and national levels, and includes Unite the Union Oxford Health Branch's £500 donation. They currently run a Youth Project and the Clockhouse Project, which aims to tackle loneliness, boost health and well-being, and help local residents develop their potential and live life to the full!

UNITE HISTORY PROJECT & MARX MEMORIAL LIBRARY

Unite has launched one of the most exciting and ambitious history projects ever undertaken in Britain and Ireland and is asking people to be part of it. It looks at the history of Unite and all of the unions which came together to form Britain and Ireland's biggest union. The Unite History Project will build six volumes of trade union history spanning a century and will be published in collaboration with the Marx Memorial Library, to which we have affiliated and donated £250.

Donations 2020

Oxford Living Wage Campaign

We donated £500 to the Oxford Living Wage Campaign. The success of this campaign has led the City of Oxford to set the rate at £10.31, 95% of the London Living Wage.

Oxfordshire Sexual Abuse and Rape Crisis Centre

Oxfordshire Sexual Abuse and Rape Crisis Centre received a donation of £500 in July 2020. We know how important it is to support support organisations that give a lifeline to people.

Oxford Coalition of Black Communities and Communities of Colour

Oxford Coalition of Black Communities and Communities of Colour is a new organisation launched in Black History Month. We have donated £500 to this grassroots community of student advocacy groups, trade unionists, NGOs and allied partners committed to the self-determination of Black and minority ethnic communities. The group will work towards securing the rights of all marginalised people in our city, and drive practical and policy measures towards a city that works to empower every single one of its workers and residents.

Aylebury Food Bank

We donated £300 to the Aylesbury Food Bank as part of Unite’s Christmas Appeal for struggling families. “Solidarity is about looking after one another, which is why as a union we are not prepared to sit back while families struggle to feed their families or buy Christmas toys for their kids (Assistant General Secretary Steve Turner)”. Aylesbury’s is one of the Trussell Trust’s 428 foodbanks, who work to tackle food poverty and in local communities across the UK. This network of foodbanks was founded in 2004 after the original foodbank, based in Salisbury, had developed over four years and expanded.

UNITE BERKSHIRE STRIKE FUND

Security staff at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading took strike action the first week of December, as they were locked in a ‘David and Goliath’ pay battle with their employer, Kingdom Services Group Ltd, a major corporate service provider with a £100 million plus turnover. They were seeking a pay increase to £12 an hour for security officers and £13.00 an hour for security supervisors, harmonisation of sick pay, and enhanced pay for working nights, weekends and overtime, and the management refused to engage in meaningful talks over the previous year. Oxford Health Branch donated £1000 towards their strike fund.

Donations 2019

UNITE LINCOLNSHIRE STRIKE FUND

Health Visitors employed by Lincolnshire County Council went on strike initially for six days over not getting paid the rate for the job and the erosion of their professional responsibilities which could have adversely impacted vulnerable families. A 48hr stoppage was planned for the 15th July, with 24hr strikes on 19th and 22nd July, which was to be followed by a 48hr strike on 25th July. It was believed to be the first time that the county’s Health Visitors had taken strike action in defense of their pay and professional standards. The strike came as controversy continued to swirl over the £292,000 pay off to the Council Chief Executive Keith Ireland for less than 6mths work. UNITE calculated that it’s Lincolnshire Health Visitor members had lost more than £2,000 a year since they were transferred from the NHS to the County Council in October 2017. The CPHVA was also seriously concerned about the downgrading of the Health Visitors’ professional status, resulting in fewer staff doing the specialist Health Visitor role. Oxford Health Branch donated £500 towards their strike fund.

Oxford Against Cutting

Oxford Against Cutting received £600 for its work against female genital mutilation, working with schools and local communities to stop this practice. 

We supported the Reclaiming Feminism Event during Oxford's International Women's week. This event acknowledged Black Women within feminism.

Donations 2018

Donations 2016

Affiliation to Stand Up To Racism

In response to the far-right stoking up tensions and division through the scapegoating of migrants, refugees, and ethnic and religious minority groups, the Branch affiliated with Oxford Stand Up To Racism and donated £150 to help with local campaigning.