- Conference
- 2021 Virtual Special Local Government Service Group Conference
- Date
- 25 March 2021
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes that our members employed by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) work tirelessly to make sure the public eat safe and clean meat, dairy and seafood. Their pay, terms and conditions need urgent improvement to reward that commitment. Environmental health and trading standards officers also deserve a decent pay rise. During the Covid-19 pandemic, public sector workers have shown their commitment to public services and the communities they serve like never before, often at significant risk to themselves. Such local heroes are crucial to the recovery post-Covid-19, not just for the economy but also for everyone’s well-being. Our members inspect restaurants and food outlets, slaughterhouses, and cutting plants to make sure the public is safe to eat out and eat in.
Conference further notes that the FSA�s future regulation proposals are nothing more than an attempt to shift responsibility to the private sector and devalue the role of regulation in the food industry. UNISON, in response, has launched the Protect Our Food campaign to support the public servants working in the human food chain.
Conference calls upon the Service Group Executive to defend our members’ terms and conditions and negotiate with the FSA. It also calls for the protection of the FSA, environmental health, and trading standards as an independent, local, and national government provided regulatory function by:-
1)Continuing to robustly negotiate for higher wages for our members through collective bargaining;
2) Opposing privatisation and deregulation of meat hygiene inspection, environmental health, and trading standards;
3) Opposing attempts to undermine the roles of our members working in food and promoting the Protect Our Food campaign;
4) Opposing any attempt to reduce environmental, regulation and standards in the meat, dairy, and seafood industries now we have left the European Union;
5) Campaigning against trade deals that lessen our high environmental, animal welfare and hygiene standards post-Covid-19;
6) Raising UNISON�s profile in the FSA by highlighting our successes during the pandemic, including shielding for the clinically extremely and clinically vulnerable staff and those who live with someone who is shielding at home;
7) Raising the profile of all our members who work in food by promoting their Covid-19 stories and how they are crucial to economic recovery post-Covid19.