{"id":1384,"date":"2014-09-15T15:29:39","date_gmt":"2014-09-15T14:29:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=1384"},"modified":"2014-09-15T16:16:17","modified_gmt":"2014-09-15T15:16:17","slug":"time-vote-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=1384","title":{"rendered":"Time out to vote call"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p>On probably the most historic of all Thursdays in Scotland\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s history, Unite is concerned that on referendum day, this coming Thursday, September 18, workers everywhere will have as much opportunity as possible to make their voice heard.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Unite is urging employers across Scotland to give workers as much flexibility as they can to allow workers to vote \u00e2\u20ac\u201c amid expectations of an unprecedented turnout.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>A record breaking 4.3m people have registered to vote on the country\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s constitutional future, creating the largest electorate ever for a ballot held in Scotland.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This level of civic engagement was reflected by Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s internal polling last week, which showed 93 per cent of members in Scotland will be exercising their vote.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe can say with absolute certainty that the turnout at polling stations across Scotland on Thursday will be unprecedented, as reflected in the Electoral Commission\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s registration figures and by our own internal polling,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 commented Unite Scottish secretary, Pat Rafferty.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Electoral Commission has already issued clear guidance to help voters plan for the day and to cast their vote correctly. Extra staff will also be on-call at polling stations during peak times to reduce the risk of delays \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a move welcomed by Unite.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Traditional peak times for voting bookend the working day, first thing in the morning when the polls open at 7 am and again in the evening until the polls close at 10 pm.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe welcome confirmation that extra resources will be in place at polling stations during peak times,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Pat Rafferty.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut we all have a moral obligation to help alleviate the inevitable strain that a record turnout will bring and ensure the vote goes as smoothly as possible.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>So to avoid the potential for congestion and exclusion at polling stations, Unite believes employers can certainly take action that would help people to play their part in the democratic process.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bEmployers must help by giving working people as much scope as possible to vote during the day too.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe eyes of the world will be on Scotland. We must avoid the problems which marred the 2010 general election \u00e2\u20ac\u201c when people were turned away from polling stations as the polls closed despite queuing for hours.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThat would be nothing short of a travesty,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On probably the most historic of all Thursdays in Scotland\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s history, Unite is concerned that on referendum day, this coming Thursday, September 18, workers everywhere will have as much opportunity as possible to make their voice heard. &nbsp; Unite is urging employers across Scotland to give workers as much flexibility as they can to allow [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1391,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[90,91],"wps_subtitle":"Workers must be able to take part in Scotland\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s future vote","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1384"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1384"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1390,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1384\/revisions\/1390"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}