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UNISON FRINGE MEETINGS |
After the successes of the TUC congress earlier this month, UNISON turned its attention to the Labour Party conference in Brighton
Taking the arguments to the top
UNISON took its campaign for better public services and improvements in people's working lives to the Labour Party conference in Brighton.
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Background to UNISON's affiliation to the Labour Party
The union is affiliated to the party via the members who choose to pay
into it affiliated political fund.
One of the key focuses of the union's delegation in Brighton was to consolidate
the gains made at the national policy forums in Warwick during the summer.
The union secured important commitments on a number of areas in Warwick
and have a contemporary motion before this week's conference to build
on that. It states:
"Conference welcomes the policy agreement reached at Labour's national
policy forums in Warwick. They stand in marked contrast to the Tory and
Lib Dem agendas and they lay a positive framework for current government
action around which the whole party can unite."
The motion adds that the party will "monitor the timetable and the
implementation to ensure that the early commitments, including the following,
are implemented prior to the election:
- "Roll out the two-tier workforce protection across the public services;
- "The full implementation of changes to the use of PFI, including the reform of local authority credits to ensure equality of funding and confirmation that PFI does not require the transfer of staff;
- "Establish a Women at Work Commission and take action to tackle unequal pay;
- "To develop a strong skills agenda, roll out the Employer Training Pilots and expand the number of union learning representatives;
- "Tackle problems around term-time working in education;
- "Review NHS cleaning contracts to ensure hospital cleanliness;
- "Support the EU Agency Workers Directive to give agency and temporary workers new rights at work.
The motion also calls for "a positive public-service agenda concentrating
on investment in directly-provided services and front-line staff to deliver
the world-class public services that will ensure electoral success.
"The performance of private companies in delivering public services
must be reviewed. Failures of private companies must be addressed. Alternatives
must be made available."
Other concerns
Inside the conference hall, the union is also pushing for 'minority positions'
to be adopted by the Labour Party on votes at 16, reform of the House
of Lords and a 'fourth option' for directly funding council homes without
them having to be transferred to private companies, social landlords or
'arms-length management companies'.
Throughout the week, the union is also pushing its Positively Public agenda
with a series of fringe meetings on issues as diverse as public service
report, affordable housing and the need for healthy school meals.
More
on UNISON's Labour Link
UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis took the union's case to the Labour Party conference All pics: © Jess Hurd / reportdigital.co.uk |
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