UNISON Scotland’s Welfare Committee is urging members to write to their MSPs backing the important Scottish Employment Injuries Advisory Council Bill.
Committee Chair Roz Ronan is also asking members to call on the Scottish Government to ensure that a promised new benefit will treat Long Covid as an industrial disease.
Long Covid campaigners are stepping up action in March, Long Covid Awareness Month – with international #LongCovidAwarenessDay on 15 March.
UNISON believes that Long Covid should be recognised as a disability under the Equality Act and treated as an industrial disease for those who contract it through their work.
The Scottish Government has promised a new industrial injury benefit which could financially benefit Long Covid sufferers, among many others, but they are dragging their feet over consulting on and implementing it.
It will replace the UK Government’s Industrial Injuries Scheme and we want it to include Long Covid.
We support Mark Griffin MSP’s SEIAC Bill and want to see as many MSPs as possible give it their backing at the Stage 1 vote in Parliament.
The pdf above has a short article from Roz which you can use in branch newsletters or emails to encourage action. There is a link with ideas for the content of your letter/email to MSPs.
Find out who your MSPs are and their email addresses by typing in your postcode here https://www.parliament.scot/msps.
You can ask family, friends and colleagues to contact their MSPs too. Also, please sign the STUC E-Action petition here.
(UNISON Bargaining Guide for supporting members with Long Covid.)
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