UK Articles

Manchester SWAN sent a small delegation of social work students from Uni of Manchester, Man Met and Salford to visit the picket line at Gorton Social Services. We showed solidarity with a small collection and card in support of the ... Read More

At 7am yesterday morning two trade union members turned up to unlock the building at my workplace and the struggle to get all union members out on Strike began. We have to ‘think of the children’ they claimed. Dealing with betrayal at dawn is not easy but by nine o’clock we had 10 pickets, the majority of members on strike including a whole admin team who could least afford to lose a day’s pay whose loyalty to the union was second to none. By 11am we had over two thousands strikers at our city march around town and by 2.30 pm at the regional rally central Birmingham there were 5000. By the end of the day there were over 23,000 on strike in our region. Read More

With dawn breaking in Solihull N30 picket lines formed outside seven larger Council workplaces and Solihull College for 7.30am. The NUT, NASUWT, GMB and UNISON jointly picketed the gate at the Council House in view and hearing range of the Chief Executive and Leader of the Council. Drivers going into work had an uncomfortable wait and had to speak to pickets when they requested the barrier to rise. The five entrances of the Council House each had a picket of two people. Read More

There was a great turnout in Liverpool for N30, with the local news saying 15000 on the demo! There was a fantastic atmosphere, workers from up to 30 unions marched through the city centre. Unison, Unite, GMB and PCS were the most visible. I marched with other social work students and lecturers from Hope, social work practitioners, my practice educator and my son! Read More

Workers, service users, educators and students togetherMy day started at my borough’s civic centre at 8am. It was a really lively optimistic picket, which went a long way to improving my confidence and hopes for trade unionism among the social workers and social care staff employed by the borough. Staff from one of our day centres, which was successfully shutdown on the day, joined us and so did their service user employees. The picket time was put to use by having important organising discussions among trade union reps, within which I talked about attending a Adult and Children’s social care reps meeting to discuss SWAN London! Read More

LEEDSIn Leeds, 95% of schools were closed and over 60% of council staff were on strike. Unions provided a small number of exemptions to staff in critical services protecting vulnerable people in life threatening situations.Pickets were out all over the town centre and beyond (“I’ve had that leaflet thanks, you lot are everywhere”, said one smiling passer-by) , with 70 at Cross Green refuse depot and a determined line of mental health workers at Seacroft Hospital. Read More

BIRMINGHAMSocial workers, social care staff and home carers were amongst the tens of thousands of public sector workers in Birmingham who took part in the N30 strike today. Picket lines were well attended and lively (see You Tube video below). Read More

Today we ran an important article from a frontline worker in mental health services. The author wanted to remain anonymous, but felt that the story of cuts, mismanagement and service reorganisation (and its impact on both workers and service users) had to be told. Read More

A community mental health worker describes the effects of cuts and reorganization on mental health day services for staff and service users in 21st Century Britain Read More

Emma Harper, social work student, discusses training about the Personalisation Agenda and rejects the branding of its critics as cynics. Read More

Jane Phillips from London SWAN describes feeling inspired by Occupy LSX in London and encourages social workers to get involved in the Occupy movement Read More

Press release for download and link to e-petition at the bottom of this page. The Social Work Action Network (SWAN) has today (03/11/11) launched a petition in defence of Hungarian Social Worker Norbert Ferencz. Mr Ferencz is facing charges of 'incitement' and a possible three year prison sentence for speaking out against a proposed new law to criminalise rough sleepers. Read More

The Social Work Action Network (SWAN) send its support and solidarity to those who have taken to the streets of London, Glasgow and elsewhere over recent weeks as part of the Occupy movement. Read More