Democracy is at the heart of everything UNISON does and a key part of our democracy is the ability for branches and other relevant bodies to submit motions to, and attend, conferences.
The pandemic has set particular challenges in trying to ensure the democratic procedures of the union – not least conferences – can continue to function.
In response to the ongoing COVID-19 risks, the difficult decision has been made to postpone UNISON’s Black members’ conference and to transfer the union’s higher education and women’s conferences to a virtual, web-based platform.
Details of each of these conferences and their new timetables, deadlines and procedures are below.
Black members’ conference
This conference has been postponed. The self-organised group (SOG) committee will decide how and when it would like this conference to reconvene. The conference office will work with the committee to arrange a new conference date. All delegates will stay on the online conferencing system (OCS), and branches and delegates will be informed once details are confirmed.
All travel and accommodation arrangements made for this conference should now be cancelled.
Higher education conference
This conference has been transferred to a virtual platform hosted by our service partner Civica. The virtual conference date is Tuesday 22 February. The original conference on Thursday 3 February has been cancelled.
As this is now an online conference, the standing orders committee have implemented the following changes:
- sharers are not available for this conference. Any branch that has registered sharers will be asked to nominate their primary delegate. The other sharer will then be registered as a visitor;
- visitors are able to attend the virtual conference as an observer. Registration for visitors closes on Thursday 27 January at 23:59pm.
There is no emergency change of delegate available. However, changes to the delegation can still be made until 23:59pmon Thursday 27 January 2022.
Movers of motions, and speakers for and against must be registered in advance.
It is imperative that all movers register in this way. If a mover fails to register in advance – the motion will fall. Speaker registration will open at 9am on Tuesday 1 February and will close on Tuesday 8 February at 12:30pm
| 2022 virtual higher education conference – deadlines | |
| Thursday 27 January at 5pm | Deadline for submission of emergency motions |
| Thursday 27 January at 23:59pm | Deadline for change of delegate |
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Thursday 27 January at 23:59pm
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Deadline for visitors’ registration |
| Monday 31 January by 5pm |
E-mail to delegates advising how to register as a speaker, with link |
| Tuesday 1 February – Tuesday 8 February at 12.30pm | Speaker registration opens/closes |
| Tuesday 15 February | Rostrum control will e-mail speakers with link to ‘green rooms, also inviting them to drop-in training |
| Thursday 17 February | Speaker drop-in training |
| Friday 18 February | Civica e-mail with link to conference to delegates |
| Tuesday 22 February | Virtual higher education conference |
All travel and accommodation arrangements made for the conference on the 3 February should now be cancelled.
Womens’ conference
This conference has been transferred to a virtual platform hosted by our service partner Civica. The virtual conference dates are Thursday 17 and Friday 18 February. These dates are within the originally scheduled dates.
As this is now an online conference, the standing orders committee has implemented the following:
- there is no emergency change of delegate available, but changes to the delegation can still be made until 23:59pm on Wednesday 26 January 2022;
- visitors are able to attend the virtual conference as an observer. Registration for visitors closes on Wednesday 26 January at 23:59pm;
- movers of motions, and speakers for and against, must be registered in advance.
It is imperative that all movers register in this way. If a mover fails to register in advance, the motion will fall. Speaker registration will open at 9am on Friday 28 January and will close on Thursday 3 February at 12:30pm.
| Virtual women’s conference 2022 – deadlines | |
| Wednesday 26 January at 23:59pm | Deadline for change of delegates on OCS |
| Wednesday 26 January at 23:59pm | Deadline for visitors’ registration |
| Thursday 27 January 22 by 5pm | E-mail to delegates advising how to register as a speaker with link |
| Friday 28 January-Thursday 3 February 12:30pm | Speaker registration opens/closes |
| Thursday 3 February at 5pm |
Close of Emergency Motions |
| Thursday 10 February | Rostrum control will e-mail speakers with link to ‘green rooms’ and inviting them to drop-in training |
| Monday 14 February | Civica send e-mail with link to conference |
| Tuesday 15 February |
Speaker drop-in training
|
| Thursday 17 and Friday 18 February |
Virtual womens’ Conference |
All travel and accommodation arrangements made for this conference should now be cancelled.
How to register as a virtual speaker
View the virtual speaker registration information document here.
Please contact the conference office via email at conferences@unison.co.uk if you have any queries.