- Conference
- 2022 National LGBT+ Conference
- Date
- 22 September 2022
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes that UNISON national LGBT+ committee has produced resources to support the recruitment of LGBT+ members and development of LGBT+ activists. These include ‘Putting politics back into Pride – a UNISON practical guide to recruiting and organising’, ‘Digital organising for LGBT+ equality guide’ and bargaining factsheets to support negotiations with employers for our LGBT+ members. There is also a plethora of resources for our disabled LGBT+ members covering issues such as reasonable adjustments, access to work, disability leave and accessibility passports.
These tools can be used by branches and regions to recruit new members to UNISON and to negotiate for improved working conditions for LGBT+ and disabled members.
The branch LGBT+ officer training is frequently over-subscribed and to supplement this, a series of online training modules as an introductory stepping-stone into more formal training has been developed.
A number of other tools are also used to recruit and organise LGBT+ members including UNISON visibility at pride events, social media and Out in UNISON. The way in which we use language in publications is important for disabled LGBT+ particularly those of us who are deaf or neurodiverse. If we are using photographs or images, we should be using alt text to describe the images.
For disabled LGBT+ members, consideration needs to be given to accessibility in respect of attendance at courses and training both physically and virtually, communications and messaging in order to enable disabled LGBT+ members can fully participate. Approximately 22% of the working age population are disabled which means that about 1 in 5 of our LGBT+ members will be disabled.
Conference therefore calls on the national LGBT+ committee to:
1. Consider accessibility of publications, training materials and methods of communicating with members;
2. Continue to promote and publicise guides and factsheets and share best practice in recruitment and organising LGBT+ members taking into account the needs of disabled LGBT+ members;
3. Promote the use of UNISON’s guide on accessible virtual meetings;
4. Work with our LGBT+ disabled members, distribute tips on making communications accessible;
5. Promote accessible use of social media as a means of keeping in touch with LGBT+ members.