Jane leads the Islington contingent TUC 2012 national demonstration in London

Jane leading the Islington contingent on the TUC National Demonstration in London 2012

Greetings to all members

Greetings to all Members

My name is Jane Doolan. I am Branch Secretary of the Islington Local Government Branch.

I have been an activist for 35 years and have held a number of positions within my Branch.
I was also the Staffside Secretary and Joint Trade Union Convenor.

As a woman parent and carer, I have seen the impact of the Government's austerity measures on the quality of life of all members and in particular women members.

UNISON is made up of 78% women members- many of whom are part time and low paid- and I see first hand, the day to day difficulties that they face. A lot of these women work in schools, often paid very poorly and not always treated very well, meaning some may have to do two or three different jobs to try to make ends meet.

I have a wealth of experience that I want to share with colleagues at local, regional and national level.

I was born in London of Irish immigrant parents and I have lived in London and the Republic of Ireland.

I have two teenage daughters and live in Hackney which is one of the most diverse boroughs and possibly one of the poorest in the country.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog.

In Solidarity

Jane

Request for Nomination for Female Local Government NEC Seat

Request for Nomination for Female Local Government NEC Seat

                                                     

Jane Doolan  

Branch Code: 03492

Membership number  1179349

I am seeking  nomination from your branch for the female local government NEC seat. I am currently Branch Secretary of the Islington Branch (1999) and as an activist of  35 years I have seen the damage successive governments have wreaked on Local Government and it's workforce.

My Experience  

I have held a number of positions in Islington. Branch Chair, Assistant Branch Secretary, Vice Chair. I  have also held the positions of Staff side Secretary and Joint Trade Union Convenor. I was an active member of the miners support group and this resulted in the twinning of Islington with the Tower Colliery South Wales. I represent UNISON on the Greater London Provincial Council and previously the Greater London Employers Forum

I was instrumental in bringing the ALMO back in house as well as the Cleaning contract. Indeed our cleaning staff are some of the best paid in London . Most recently I was part of the negotiating team that brought the waste contract and the repairs contract back in house. This was successful despite opposition from some leading council officers.

Our council, with my branches support, was one of the first to introduce the London Living Wage and I along with other activists am working towards the implementation of the Living Wage for our members in Care UK.

Islington and Southwark were the first Councils to adopt UNISON’s Ethical Care Charter and this was due to the hard work of colleagues and myself in achieving this.

I argued against and campaigned against the proposal to turn our local Libraries over to a Trust. Local Councillors argued it was the only way to save this service but some 3 years on every Library remains intact and Islington still has one of the best Library Services in the country.

Pay

Our members have been taking pay cuts in real terms for the last five years. The Local Government pay campaign last year was an unmitigated disaster. Members who took strike action ended up with less than the original claim Once again we have been tied in to a deal that gives us no hope of a pay rise in the near future. I put a motion to our branch committee calling for a Special Service Group Conference in October and I fully support the need for this conference to happen. Whether our members agreed with taking strike action or not they lost confidence in the campaign.

The Future

I want to share my experience with members. I want to campaign for better pay and terms and conditions for our members. I want us to be in a position where we recruit new members and they have the confidence in our ability to deliver. We need new members and new stewards and we need to recruit younger people and educate them in what real Trade Unionism is all about.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter and I hope your branch will nominate me for this position. I have enclosed a nomination form and which needs to be returned to UNISON HQ.

Yours in Solidarity

Jane Doolan