UNISON Action on Sickness and Stress

More and more of us face formal sickness processes at work, with the stress of knowing our jobs could be on the line through no fault of our own.

Southend UNISON stewards recently  took part in 2 days of training looking at how best to support  members when they are faced with a formal sickness absence process.

In Southend branch we know these processes are becoming more and more common. We find cases also more often relate to stress and anxiety, often due to the volume of work and lack of management support or to  long-standing underlying health issues which employers are failing to address with ‘reasonable adjustments’ as set out in the Equalities Act.

UNISON nationally and as a branch has highlighted how the massive cuts in local government funding since 2008 were bound to store up trouble as staff workloads have doubled as the workforce has been axed.

It’s coming home to roost now with increased sickness figures relating  to stress are increasingly being reported.

Find out more about stress at work and what you can do to  protect yourself and make our workplaces safe – see UNISON’s advice here!

Find out more about ‘reasonable adjustments’ to support your disability/health issues on the Worksmart site  here

Contact your steward or the branch if you  have questions, ideas or need our help.