- Conference
- 2025 National LGBT+ Conference
- Date
- 23 July 2025
- Decision
- Carried
Conference welcomes the United Kingdom (UK) Labour Government’s Employment Rights Bill which strengthens the role of trade unions by:
I)Repealing anti-union legislation;
II)Introduces sectoral collective bargaining;
III)Restores the political fund to pre-2016 opt-out arrangements;
IV)Strengthens facility time;
V)Provides equality reps with facility time;
VI)Introduces electronic balloting;
VII)Improves access rights for unions to workplaces for recruitment and collective bargaining;
VIII)Protects from detriment, extends protection from dismissal and introduces measures to tackle blacklisting for taking part in industrial action;
The bill also provides enhanced rights for workers including:
a)An end to zero-hour contracts;
b)Sick pay, parental leave, unfair dismissal from first day of employment;
c)Time limited extended for employment tribunal claims;
d)Reintroduces the two-tier workforce prevention code in public procurement;
e)Introduces new protections against ‘fire and rehire’;
f)Strengthens collective redundancy rights;
g)Increases protection from sexual harassment;
h)Introduces gender and menopause action plans;
i)Strengthens rights for pregnant workers and parents;
j)Strengthens statutory sick pay;
k)Extends pay gap reporting to disability and ethnicity;
l)Creates the Fair Work Agency to uphold employment rights.
Whilst Conference acknowledges that the proposals will improve workers and trade union rights, we need to make our members and activists equipped with the latest bargaining and negotiation information. This will allow UNISON members to be able to negotiate updates to workplace policies when the bill becomes law. We also need to make these updated policies inclusive of LGBT+ workers.
Conference further believes that a dialogue is needed around the UK Government’s commitment to LGBT+ equality and it plans to deliver on its manifesto promises on LGBT+ equality. In the past months, we have witnessed an attack on equality, not seen under any previous UK Labour Government; ban on puberty blockers, failure to act on changing the law after the Supreme Court judgment on the Equality Act’s definition of sex, which has caused our Trans, Non-binary and Gender Diverse members overwhelming distress and has far reaching implications for LGBT+ and women members, proposal to cut disability benefits and making it harder for employees to claim access to work, anti-immigration rhetoric and scaremongering, and proposals to cut international aid which will impact women and girls.
Conference calls on the National LGBT+ Committee:
1)To continue working with Labour Link on their engagement in Labour’s policy-making processes and advocate that LGBT+ rights are considered.
2)To request Labour Link facilitate discussions with the UK Labour Government in respect of the future of equalities and the impact current policy is having on our LGBT+ members.
3)Update bargaining guidance for branches to negotiate with employers to ensure that workplace policies are inclusive of LGBT+ members.
4)Produce guidance in respect of workplace rights for LGBT+ members once the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s guidance following the Supreme Court judgment has parliamentary approval.