- Conference
- 2023 National Community Conference and Seminar
- Date
- 11 November 2022
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes the success of UNISON’s Year of Disabled Workers 2022. Although the year is not yet complete, we have seen renewed focus on the experience of disabled members in our union, in the workplace and in society, including those in the Community service group.
We have used the year to highlight the important contribution our disabled members make to the union, to improve terms and conditions for disabled workers including in Community workplaces, and to campaign for improved rights for all disabled workers.
Conference notes the letter sent to all service groups by General Secretary Christina McAnea which called on the Community service group to get fully behind the initiative, including by making the year of disabled workers a standing item on service group executive agendas and encouraging regions and branches to do likewise.
Christina also called for the following actions from the Community service group:
1. Encourage all Community branches to elect a disabled members officer or contact and register them for national training.
2. Support branches to negotiate with their employer to agree reasonable adjustment passport and disability leave policies, based on UNISON’s bargaining guides, and raise these at a national bargaining level where appropriate.
3. Work with and support regional and branch disabled members groups.
Conference welcomes the work that the Community Service Group has undertaken over the year including running a webinar on negotiating reasonable adjustment and disability leave agreements with Community employers.
Conference acknowledges that tackling systemic and ingrained discrimination against disabled workers will take more than one year and we need to use the success of the year of disabled workers to continue our work and secure a lasting legacy for our members working in Community.
Conference therefore resolves to ask the service group executive to work with the national disabled members committee to:
A) Carry out an audit of Community branches to assess:
i. where there is no agreed reasonable adjustment passport or policy
ii. where there is no agreed paid disability leave policy
iii. where there is no elected disabled members officer
B) Implement a disability equality bargaining strategy to address these policy gaps using UNISON’s two bargaining guides (Disability Leave guide and Reasonable Adjustments Policy and Passport guide) to negotiate locally
C) Publicise UNISON’s now regular online Disabled Members Officers and Contacts training to Community branches and consider setting a target for the number attending each year
D) Circulate UNISON’s new stewards guide to representing disabled members and our guide to representing deaf (British Sign Language users) members to activists in Community workplaces.