- Conference
- 2018 National Women's Conference
- Date
- 12 September 2017
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
UNISON’s principles of proportionality and fair representation means that some seats on elected bodies, including the NEC, are reserved for women and low-paid members, so that the make-up fairly represents the wider union.
We have a variety of places where low paid seats exist, and low pay is included in branch delegations to national delegate conference.
The UNISON definition of “low paid” reflects the median gross weekly earnings for all jobs (full time or part time) and is revised each year.
The median gross weekly earnings figure for 2016/17 has been calculated at £438.60, a 3.2 % increase on last year.
This means the threshold for election to reserved (low pay) seats in the union is now £9.72 an hour.
£9.72 per hour x 37 hour week x 52 weeks equals a salary of up to £18,701.28.
The national living wage (set by government) is currently £7.50 per hour if you are over 25 years of age.
The living wage (set by the living wage foundation) is currently £8.45 per hour in the UK, (£9.75 in London).
Despite many years of attempting to fill all low paid seats in UNISON’s democratic structures, many vacancies exist. Our membership system does not record our members hourly pay rates, and the application for membership asks no specific questions on whether the person is low paid within our definition (paid less that £9.72 per hour).
Questions remain on what more can be done to encourage our low paid members at branch; region and national level. For some of our members it may be that they don’t know about low paid seats, an absence of training; isolation; awareness of rights to time off work for trade union duties; lack of support and encouragement. And they may not know that any expenses could be paid to them in advance so that they are never out of pocket.
This conference affirms its commitment to supporting and encouraging our low paid women members to take their rightful place in UNISON’s democratic structures.
Conference calls upon the national women’s committee to
1)Investigate what barriers to engagement exist for our low paid women members.
2)Report back to conference in 2019 on findings and recommendations for action