Thanks to UNISON members, vital public services are still running

The snow and difficult weather conditions of the past week have been challenging for everyone. We’re not a country that is best suited to this kind of weather at the best of times – especially not in March.

However, what has been abundantly clear once again in recent days is how remarkable public service workers are. Winter weather makes it harder to support those who need help in our communities – especially in rural and remote areas – but UNISON members have gone above and beyond the call of duty to make sure that help still arrives.

Thanks to UNISON members, vital public services are still running.

So thank you to the homecare worker, who travels miles from house to house ensuring that the elderly and the vulnerable are safe, warm and cared for – a lifeline for so many, even when its hazardous on the roads.

Thanks to the NHS staff who fight their way into work to make sure our health service keeps running during the cold snap. And to the ambulance staff who carry on undeterred to make sure that an emergency in the snow receives the same care that all emergencies do.

Thanks to those local authority staff, including those out late and night and early in the morning gritting the roads so that the country keeps moving even when the snow is piling up.

Thanks to the school staff, the caretakers keeping schools open and safe where they can, and those managing the process of school closures where they’re unavoidable.

Thank you to all public servants working through the cold and the snow to support everyone who needs you. You are the pride of our union, our communities and our country.

You make all of us proud of our union.