- Conference
- 2011 National Women's Conference
- Date
- 19 October 2010
- Decision
- Carried
Conference believes that young women are amongst those most likely to suffer as a consequence of the damaging policies being pursued by the Con-Dem Government.
Conference also believes that:
1)the job losses predicted by the Treasury of up to 600,000 jobs in the public sector and up to 700,000 in the private sector will have a catastrophic impact on the employment opportunities of young people who are just entering the world of work, or who have recently taken up employment;
2)the decision to cancel the Future Jobs Fund – a far from perfect programme, but a step in the right direction – was a serious mistake;
3)the cuts in education at all levels will have a disastrous impact now and in the long-term;
4)the cuts to services for young people are taking place at a time when those services are needed more than ever;
5)the limited publicly-funded services that exist for young women will face closure or only be able to operate under extreme financial pressure with less resources.
Taking these issues into account, Conference recognises that the Con-Dem Government’s strategy is to create a high-unemployment economy as a way to attack crucial legal employment rights and national and local agreements, and to weaken trade union organisation as a consequence.
Conference therefore welcomes the National Young Members Forum decision to campaign around the slogan “A million voices for decent and properly-paid jobs for all”.
Conference calls on the National Women’s Committee to:
a)ensure that the impact of the Con-Dem government’s cuts are reported to women members and include the impact on young women;
b)encourage women workers to join UNISON in order to make sure we have the strongest voice possible in campaigning on the above issues;
c)encourage all women members to participate actively in the union’s Million Voices campaign;
d)identify key young women’s groups and organisations which can be recommended as potential partners for UNISON as the Million Voices campaign moves into its next phase of reaching out into communities and building alliances to defend our services, our jobs, and our pensions.