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TUC HeartUnions week

What is HeartUnions week?

#HeartUnions week is a national event organised by the TUC. This year it’s taking place from 12 - 18th February 2024.

HeartUnions week is a chance to celebrate unions and the good work that we do, to tell the story about why unions are vital for everyone at work, and to encourage people who aren't yet in a union to join one.

When the pandemic hit the UK, the government turned to the trade union movement for ideas to support workers - it's because of unions communicating the value we all have as workers that we secured the furlough scheme, keeping people in employment and protecting jobs through the tough times. We're now in the midst of the worst cost-of-living crisis of generations, and unions have been hard at it keeping employers on the right track even when central government have failed to provide direction and resources. Many workers have received cost-of-living payments.

Accord's own track record speaks for itself - we secured recognition payments during the pandemic and have secured cost-of-living cash payments too. In Lloyds Banking Group, our members voted in favour of the pay agreement we've negotiated by a majority of nearly 9:1 in a record turnout. We're here every day, fighting for your right to decent pay, fair reward and dignity at work. And that's what this week is all about - shouting out loud and clear about the good work that we all do on our members' behalf.

That’s why we’re encouraging all our reps and members to speak to colleagues about Accord and why joining is so important – because ‘Every worker needs a union!’

This year, we’re offering 3 months’ free membership to anyone who joins Accord between 12 February – 31 March 2024. All they have to do is enter the promo code: LOVEACCORD.

Every worker needs a union. Choose Accord as yours.

What's the benefit of being a union member?

There are some benefits of having a unionised workforce. Let's take a closer look at some of them:

Higher pay, better work benefits

Working people standing together and collectively negotiating with employers means that union members generally get:

• higher rates of pay and annual pay rises
  
• better sick pay
• more holidays
• improved access to flexible working arrangements
• plus, many other policy provisions improved beyond legal minimum requirements like maternity, paternity and adoption pay and leave

This is because they negotiate with employers, rather than leaving it to managers to decide.

Being treated with dignity & respect

Unions stand up for your right to work in an environment free from discrimination and to ensure you're treated with dignity and respect.

They push employers to make workplaces more inclusive for women, LGBT+ workers, black and minority ethnic workers, older workers, and disabled workers by negotiating progressive policies. Where there’s a strong trade union, employees are far less likely to face problems at work while pregnant, on maternity leave or when they return to work.

Safer & healthier working life

Unions tackle the causes of ill health at work, not just the symptoms. That means lower accident and injury rates, less stress and better understanding and support for those with mental health problems. Every year, unions collectively train 10,000 workers in health & safety.

Workplaces are safer where there's a strong union presence - you only need to look at the responses of unionised workplaces during the Covid-19 pandemic. Trained reps spot unsafe working practices and cut accident rates. That’s why workplaces with union representation have significantly lower injury rates. That's a fact.

Support at work

If you run into problems at work, your union has your back. Every year, unions support thousands of members who run into problems at work - from smaller issues like getting holiday approved, to the significant things like facing disciplinary action. Unions make sure you're treated fairly – without you having to worry about paying for legal support. Whether the problem is with employment contracts, harassment, redundancy, pensions or discrimination - your union will be there to help you.

What can Accord do for you

When you join Accord, you're joining more than just a union - you're joining an extended family with more than 22,000 other members! Our members trust us with two main tasks:

Collective representation

For over 45 years, Accord has been achieving improvements for members. All through constructive dialogue with your employer.

We negotiate terms and conditions of employment and continuously campaign for improvements. The most obvious of these negotiations occurs annually. Yes, we're talking about whether or not you get an annual pay rise and how much you'll get. But we do more than talk about pay.

Throughout the year, our team of experienced negotiators talk to your employer about policies and procedures that govern the way you're treated at work. Things like better parental leave and pay policies, how performance is managed and how issues are resolved fairly. We demand first class safety in the workplace - our record and your employer's treatment of workers during the Covid-19 pandemic speaks for itself.

Individual representation

Our dedicated, skilled team of officers and legal advisers are really accessible. They provide individual advice, support and representation at grievance, health wellbeing & attendance, performance, or disciplinary meetings, and are on hand to talk you through any other work-related matter that crops up.

Accord has around 400 trained workplace representatives who complement our professional team, spread across the UK. They're on hand to help out in your workplace when things aren't going so well. Reps are the beating heart of the union, and often the first port of call offering advice, guidance, information and representation.

Our voice is louder and stronger when we join together. That's why workers join a union. And that's why many in Lloyds Banking Group and TSB join Accord.

What has Accord done recently?

For over 40 years, Accord has been working hard to improve members’ working lives. 

Let’s look back at 2023 and some of our recent achievements in Lloyds Banking Group …

Watch the video below or carry on reading for full details.

Building on our successes in 2022 as we helped members through the emerging cost-of-living crisis, we achieved even more in 2023 to help members and their families with their finances.

• We negotiated a pay deal that provided a minimum increase of £2,000 for full-time staff, the total deal was worth between 8% and 13% for all colleagues.
• We agreed a change to Group Performance Share awards and Flex payments to consolidate these into pay to give more certainty and to increase the value of the awards over time.
• And to give members even more certainty and help them plan their finances, we negotiated pay increases that will apply in both 2024 and 2025.
• On top of this, we secured an additional pro-rated £500 payment for staff in grades A to D.
• Importantly, our agreement will increase average salaries for staff in Grade A by a further 14% by April 2025.
• That means that through successive union agreements, the minimum starting salary in Lloyds Banking Group will have been increased by more than a third between March 2021 and April 2025.
• And, overall, the deal we reached for 2024 and 2025 puts almost 350 million additional pounds into members’ salaries.

None of these achievements would have been possible without the strength of Accord’s collective voice. But our work didn’t end with the pay deal. Let’s take a look at what else we achieved in 2023:

• Over three and a half million pounds in compensation was won by Accord and its legal team to settle disputes at work. That’s roughly £290,000 every month.
• And our team of specialist personal injury lawyers have negotiated tens of thousands of pounds in compensation for members who have had an accident at work or elsewhere that was no fault of their own. Importantly, every member got to keep 100% of their award.
• Through our private healthcare cashback scheme, we refunded just under £80,000 towards members’ excess payments - making access to employer funded schemes more affordable for many.
• And we made grants totalling just under £12,000 to support members who applied to our Lifelong Learning fund, set up to help members in whatever course of study they choose.
• But not everything we do is about money. We know it’s important that you’re treated with dignity and respect at work. So, we’ve introduced a network of menopause advocates available to offer support and guidance for those going through the menopause or looking for advice on how to support their friends, colleagues, or partners. Our advocates have a good listening ear and can guide you through the support that’s available.
• And we’ve kept our vibrant network of workplace reps well-trained and up to date with issues that affect colleagues in the workplace. They’re easy to access and readily available to give advice, guidance or to point you in the right direction. They’re linked to and supported by a professional, paid Accord employee so you get the best of both – a local rep supported by a professional officer.
• We all learnt a lot about health & safety during the Covid-19 pandemic, and we’ve been keen to keep the focus on this important topic. We’ve set up regular meetings with LBG’s Group Health & Safety team, negotiated changes to the inspection process, and we’re doing all we can to keep you safe and healthy at work.
• How we serve you in this fast-changing digital world is important to us and we’ve continued to make use of the tools available. We’ve invested in our website to ensure you’re able to find what you need – and we’ve been busy writing new articles, pages and helpful guides.
• We ran several wellbeing webinars with the Bank Workers’ Charity last year too – all of which are available to watch-back on the events page of our website.
• In 2023, we had nearly 4,000 calls to our helpline from members with issues at work, ranging from small queries to the big issues like disciplinaries and discrimination.
• We supported around 350 members in formal meetings. That’s roughly 7 colleagues every week who would otherwise have had to ‘go it alone’ - often in a job threatening situation.
• And there’s plenty more we do behind the scenes on a regular basis to look after our members and their livelihoods.

We’ve achieved all this, and much more, through constructive dialogue with your employer.

Now isn’t that something to shout about?

Organise an event

Organise an event (online or in person) between 12 Feb – 12 March 2024 to promote the great work Accord does for its members, talk about the benefits of joining and share stories about why being a member is important to you. Use one of the event templates available in the resources section below to promote the event for your workplace. And remember to tell your colleagues that if they sign up during this period using the promo code: LOVEACCORD they'll be given three months' free membership!

If you’re planning on running an on-site event and need some promotional merchandise, complete an online order form and in the ‘reason for request’ field mention HeartUnions so we can send you some HeartUnions merch.

If you'd like us to promote your event on our website, email the details to: [email protected]

Share your story

Your stories are powerful. As part of HeartUnions week, we want as many people to hear yours, so others can benefit too. So, if you have a positive story to tell that would encourage others to join Accord, we’d love to hear from you. Share it on X (formerly Twitter) or Facebook, tag us @AccordUnion and use #HeartUnions #HeartAccord

If you’d like to remain anonymous, that’s fine. Send us an email: [email protected] and we’ll share your story for you.

Check out our HeartUnions resources below for lots of promotional materials and social media assets for you to share during HeartUnions week.

Wishing you a Happy #HeartUnions Week!