At this week’s meeting of UNISON’s national executive council (NEC), general secretary Christina McAnea opened her report by warning that sudden government changes to UK settlement rules for migrant workers are “shocking, deeply worrying and already causing distress” across public services.
She told council members: “I’ve spoken to people who’ve been here for four years on skilled worker visas, expecting to apply for indefinite leave to remain next year – and now being told they cannot. The government has moved the goalposts midway, and the consequences for individuals and for the services we all rely on are huge.”
Branches, particularly in health, have already reported cases where over 100 staff could be told they must leave the country, she said. “This isn’t just morally indefensible, it risks a staffing crisis in key public services.”
The fair visa campaign lobby of Parliament next week will focus heavily on the union’s central ask: that the government reverse its new policy, and at the very least stop applying it to workers already in the UK.
Employment Rights Bill: eight million workers will be affected if Lords derail progress
Turning to Westminster, the general secretary outlined the increasingly fraught passage of the Employment Rights Bill (ERB) through the House of Lords, where “employers have been working closely with Tory and Lib Dem peers” to block key elements of the draft legislation.
She explained that if the bill fails to clear the Lords in the coming days, the entire package of improvements will fall – delaying progress for another year and postponing sick pay from day one for an estimated eight million workers, including around 200,000 UNISON members.
A major sticking point has been the government’s recent proposal to replace the current unfair dismissal right (at two years of employment) with a six-month qualifying period, instead of the day-one right that had been in the original bill.
“If the amendments fall,” she said, “everything resets – meaning day-one rights are restored as originally proposed, but the price would be a year’s delay to every element of the bill, including the fair pay agreement and the school support staff negotiating body.”
Disputes across the country
The general secretary highlighted recent industrial victories and ongoing struggles across the union.
She praised the “hugely significant” success at Dorset Health branch, where members’ willingness to take strike action helped stop the government’s plan to roll out sub-cos across three NHS trusts, affecting 1,700 staff. Meeting the Dorset members in October, she said, “showed just how powerful their stand had been”.
But she also described more difficult disputes, including the long-running action by Gloucestershire phlebotomists, now over 260 days old, making it one of the longest NHS strikes in history.
“I went down to Gloucester, and it was astonishing the support they’re still getting and how strong they are,” she said, reporting that MPs and local councils are backing the strikers, while UNISON has raised the issue with health secretary Wes Streeting and NHS England chief executive Jim Mackey.
And commenting on the strike action by workers at the National Coal Mining Museum, which has been ongoing since August, she said: “It would cost less to settle the dispute than the attraction is losing in visitor numbers. It’s completely bizarre that the National Coal Mining Museum is being driven into the ground instead of agreeing a modest pay rise.”
Climate commitments
The general secretary also updated the NEC on UNISON’s involvement in COP30, noting that the union continues to be “vocal and upfront in its commitment to green issues”. The union has designated 2026 the UNISON Year of Green Activity.
Far-right rise and threats to democracy
The NEC heard a stark update on the UK’s political climate, including a contribution from Hope not Hate’s chief executive Nick Lowles, who warned of “an unparalleled threat” from the far right.
“Nothing is off the agenda for the far right or the political mainstream,” Mr Lowles noted, with recent marches “not even talking about small boats anymore – but about the supposed ‘failings’ of a multicultural society”.
His message to the NEC was clear: “The biggest asset we have is our people.”
The next NEC meeting will take place on Wednesday 18 February 2026, at UNISON Centre.
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