Vez Kirkpatrick Request for nomination to UNISON NEC - West Mids Female seat

Dear all,

 

I am asking you to consider nominating me for the West Midlands Women's seat on the National Executive Committee. Currently I am the chair of the West Midlands Young Members Forum, and sit on the National Young Members Forum, so have experience in organising members and making regional voices heard at a national level. At this point I am keen to be more involved with the democratic structure of the union. I feel I have the time and energy to represent the members of the West Midlands at a national level and get the issues that matter to you heard by the NEC.

 

I have been a UNISON member for over two years, and have worked as a Health Care Assistant for three years, and in April I will be starting my Nursing training. The NHS is my biggest passion, and at this time it is under severe attack from the coalition government. As a public services union, UNISON needs to fight with every ounce of its strength to protect the integrity and quality of our national health service, to the bitter end.  I am not prepared to see patients wait longer for treatment, nurses' stress levels rise as staffing levels are cut, and the tabloids have a feast on the "appalling" conditions in NHS hospitals. But the cuts threaten every sector of our society, and the coalition government would love to see the public sector crumble away, to be replaced my greedy private sector giants.  

 

In the coming year, I believe that UNISON needs to fight harder to protect our services, and encourage members to actively (and loudly) campaign against unnecessary and regressive cuts. As members of a trade union, we should be supported in whatever action is deemed necessary and effective to make our voices heard, including industrial action. The recent student demonstrations against the increase in tuition fees demonstrate that Britain's young people have not fallen into apathy – we need to take a leaf out of their book and show the same passion and resilience against the attacks on our services.

 

UNISON needs to encourage wider participation amongst existing membership (as far too many members are disillusioned or disinterested) and fully support and fight for all those members whose jobs, pay and conditions are threatened by management greed and government cuts. With your support I will do my best to reclaim the union for the members. I will be an honest and communicative representative who will do everything in my power to make sure the NEC is truly acting on behalf of the membership at large.

 

I would also ask you to consider nominating Clive Shakespeare for the West Midlands General seat.

 

In solidarity,

Vez Kirkpatrick

Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust Branch / West Midlands Young Members Forum