Whistle blowers are being hounded out of jobs for speaking up about wrong doings and then becoming unemployable because of this. Colleagues are too scared to back them. Confidence in public services will be restored and confidence of employees to report issues without reprisals. Current internal whistle blowing policies are ineffective and not used.

This is an important issue whereby many women over the age of 55 particularly will suffer financial hardship through no fault of their own. There has been no proper planning or compensation considered for or this small minority of women which will suffer as a result. Many women over 50 find themselves living alone and had always expected to retire with a state pension at 60. The new legislation has not given woman a fair enough amount of time to prepare for such a major financial disruption to their lives.

The staff provide a service to the community and they feel they need more consideration to any changes being made. They are passionate about their Trust and the service they provide but feel unappreciated with the lack of communication regarding important issues such as the increase in parking charges.

Everyone has parents who may need care as they age. Unless you die young you will all get old and may need care. The cost of caring for old or disabled people and children is for the most part payed for with taxpayers money. It is outrageous that private equity companies can profit from need, financed by tax money of ordinary people and pay poverty wages.

It is important that unions play a role in working with providers of Council services so that a living wage is achieved and maintained to lessen the benefit burden on taxpayers.

The government is threatening to change firefighters’ pension schemes, meaning all members will pay more, work longer and still get less. Pay more Before 2010, firefighters already contributed one of the highest proportions of their salary towards their pensions (11%), and in April this year it increased for the third year running. Firefighters typically now pay over £4,000 a year from a £29,000 salary, and the government has announced they will impose another increase in 2015. Work longer Firefighters will be expected to work until they are 60 however the government’s own report by Dr Tony Williams, published in December 2013, recognises that two thirds (66%) will not meet the current fitness standard. Firefighters, who are forced to retire at 55 due to a natural decline in fitness, could lose up to half of their pension or face the sack. Get less Firefighters will only receive the full pension they signed up for if they work for 40 years in the service which given current retirement and fitness rates is unlikely for the majority of firefighters.

Carers save the country an estimated £119 Billion pounds a year, and yet achieve no recognition for their work. Like myself a full time carer for my wife most carers are unable to escape the stresses of placed on us by the continuous need to be on duty 24/7 and the assistance provided by GPs Social Services and Charities, is severely limited by the cuts inflicted by this government. In general most governments and public service unions prefer to ignore us, and are content to allow us to take the brunt of spending cuts full on. These stresses are increasing day by day, causing both physical and mental problems thus increasing the workload on an already over stretched NHS. This must stop right now. Home Carers should be supported by the government and not be pitched from one charity to another like orphans looking for a new home. The government must stop abdicating it's responsibilities and do something positive.

Biomedical Scientists working in the Pathology Department at Northampton General Hospital have been involved in a bitter year long dispute over changes to their shift patterns and payments. This involved plans to sack and re-engage them resulting in payments for out-of-hours being slashed by 80% and a doubling of night time shifts. Consequently Unite members voted to take industrial action, short of strike, at 00:01 on Thursday 26th June. However, when the 78 Biomedical Scientists turned up for work at 9am they were barred from entering the workplace unless they were prepared to sign that they would not participate in industrial action. They have been 'locked out' since and Unite has accused the hospital Management of a disgraceful abuse of power in retaliation for the laboratory staff exercising their legal right to take industrial action. Currently the service is being provided by a handful of poorly trained locums and non-laboratory based managers with many tests being out sourced to other laboratories. The cost of this may reach up to £1 million a year and the staff believe the service is no longer safe. Unite is calling on the Trust to abandon it's bully-boy tactics and to sit down with ACAS to settle the dispute.

SSCL has already cut 500 jobs across the UK. It's also announced the closure of three offices in Cardiff, Leeds and Sheffield, and is shipping 200 posts to India. SSCL, the joint venture company, is 25% government owned. The remaining 75% is controlled by French multinational Steria - one of the companies responsible for failing to deliver a £56m IT project, recently written off by The Ministry of Justice. Despite this, MoJ is now rewarding failure by awarding further work to the company. If this privatisation and offshoring goes ahead,1,000 staff in Newport and Bootle also face being privatised. More jobs could be lost. The staff in Newport and Bootle handle personal data belonging to thousands of public servants, prison and probation officers. This data would be at risk if it was offshored to a country without the UK’s robust data protection regulations. We want the government to use its stake in the SSCL company to prevent the offshoring of jobs and data and to stop future offshoring by ending its privatisation agenda.

We believe that elderly and disabled people in our community deserve the best possible level of homecare to help them live independently and with dignity. In order to make this happen homecare workers need to be treated fairly and decently so they can do their jobs to the best of their ability. UNISON are therefore calling for this through by asking Bolton Council to adopt our ethical care charter. Across the country too many people who need care and too many care workers are not treated with the dignity they deserve. A number of other councils such as Islington and Reading have already done the right thing and adopted UNISON’s Ethical Care Charter. Please add your name and call ask that Bolton Council take responsibility for ensuring better care for our elderly and disabled people and for better treatment of our homecare workers. We are all going to need care at some point in our lifetimes, it is only right that the people who need it and the workers who provide it are treated with dignity and fairness. For updates visit http://www.unisonbolton.org/ & follow https://twitter.com/UNISON_Bolton

People who save lives everyday shouldn't have to pay to go to work. NHS employees work so hard and are national superheroes. Why should they save someone's life then find they got a parking ticket? The money from the parking fees doesn't always go to the patient care or the NHS, it goes to private companies such as access and Vinci that 'run' the car parks. All these private companies do is check tickets and hand out fines, they may not grit in icy weather of provide any upkeep on the state of the roads. It's disgraceful. Most NHS staff are not paid a great deal and this extra cost is a strain on their wages and added stress for them. They have enough stress, they don't need parking tickets to add to it.

After years of neglect under private ownership, South Parade Pier is in danger of collapse. This iconic structure has dramatically decayed over the past six months and is now boarded up and derelict, creating an eyesore for both local people and tourists. Although a sale was widely publicised, the pier has not been transferred to new owners and no remedial repairs have been carried out since the winter storms. Without proper investment, it continues to decay before our eyes. By signing this petition, you are demanding that Portsmouth City Council take action to preserve this Grade Two listed building, treasured by both residents and visitors to Portsmouth. By ordering the owners and operators of South Parade Pier to carry out end-to-end repairs, the council could reverse the decline of this key seafront area, encouraging growth for both new and established businesses - as has happened in many other seaside resorts. South Parade Pier has important historical and cultural value. British and Canadian troops embarked from there on their journey to Normandy for the D-Day landings in 1944. Winston Churchill and Montgomery addressed huge audiences there. Rock legends Pink Floyd, Genesis and David Bowie all performed there - and filming of The Who's rock opera 'Tommy' led to the infamous fire in 1974. Generations of Portsmouth residents and tourists have walked, danced and gathered on the pier since 1879. By lending your support, the pier may once again become both a hub for the local community and an asset for the city of Portsmouth - but we must act swiftly.