Anti-British National Party

Conference reaffirms that campaigning against the far right is – and must remain – a UNISON priority. The British National Party (BNP) gains in the May 2006 local elections in England are a stark warning that our efforts need to be increased. The BNP gained 32 new seats, including 11 (possibly rising to 12, following […]

Terror Raid in Forest Gate

Conference notes with concern: 1)the raid involving 250 police that took place in Forest Gate, Newham, on Friday, 2 June, in which a young man was shot and two young men, one of them a member of the UCW, were arrested and held under anti-terror laws without charge or any evidence of any kind of […]

Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution

Conference congratulates and supports the colossal advances being made by the Venezuelan Revolution under President Hugo Chavez in carrying out policies, which benefit working people, the poor and the landless. Conference recognises that the nine electoral victories won by Hugo Chavez since 1998, provides the Revolution with an overwhelming mandate. This reflects the overwhelming support […]

No Trident Replacement

National Delegate Conference notes: 1)the Trident submarine nuclear weapons system was introduced into Britain in 1994 and will reach the end of its life in 2024. The system is composed of four nuclear-armed submarines, each carrying up to 48 nuclear warheads. Each warhead has an explosive power of up to 100 kilotons – eight times […]

The Best Education for All

Conference reiterates its policy and belief that children, families and communities are best served by a secondary system that is comprehensive, free of selection and accountable to local people through Local Education Authorities (LEAs) and condemns the government for effectively turning education (a social and cultural aspect of society) into a market, eroding the potential […]

Council Housing

Conference notes with alarm the increasingly desperate situation with housing supply and the ongoing decline of council housing. There are now over 100,000 households in temporary accommodation awaiting rehousing; roughly half a million households on council waiting lists and rising numbers of people living in increasingly overcrowded, poor and unsanitary conditions. Households are now paying […]

Public Services

Conference records that the last Spending Review by the Chancellor committed an extra £60 billion to public services up to 2008, with £40 billion going to the National Health Service (NHS). Despite this growth, and accompanying increases in public sector jobs, there has been a misguided efficiency drive and marketisation strategy that is leading to […]

Organising for the Future – UNISON’s Strategy for Inter Union Relations

Conference reaffirms UNISON’s founding vision that our Union should organise all employees working directly or indirectly in the provision of public services in the United Kingdom. UNISON believes that strong union organisation is the best way to safeguard quality public services and workplace rights. Conference notes the continuing merger and realignment of trade unions, nationally […]

Public Policy and the Promotion of Equality of Opportunity

Conference notes with concern the recent findings of the Commission for Racial Equality on the spectacular failure of government departments and public bodies to meet, in the most elementary way, the statutory duty on the promotion of racial equality. This failure impacts on UNISON members as service users and employees. Application of a similar but […]

Palestine and Israel

Conference welcomes the recent UNISON delegation to Palestine and Israel to see first-hand the reality of the situation on the ground and to discuss what support UNISON can give to our sister trade unions. Conference reaffirms policy adopted at National Delegate Conference in 2005. Conference notes that the political situation in both Palestine and Israel […]

Rule Q Definitions

In Q Fair Representation Delete all and replace with “Fair representation is the broad balance of representation of members of the electorate, taking into account such factors as age and low pay, the balance between full time and part time workers, manual and non-manual workers, different occupations, skills, race, sexual orientation, disability and gender identity.”

Workers Memorial Day

Conference notes that on 11 November, and on the closest Sunday after that date each year within the United Kingdom, civic and religious ceremonies are held to mark the death and injuries caused as a result of war. It is with sadness that Conference also observes that although the International Trade Unions Movement has designated […]

PFI and Devolution – An Integrated Approach

UNISON has taken the lead in producing excellent evidence-based analysis of the fundamental damage that the private finance initiative (PFI) does to public service delivery and public service workers. It has also demonstrated that the sums do not add up and that this is not value for money. Now the chickens are coming home to […]

Organising for Growth

Conference welcomes the 2005 recruitment figures which show that UNISON recruited 162,000 new members with a net gain of 32,000 members. With the exception of 2002, this is the highest number of members recruited in any year since 1994. Conference welcomes the challenging recruitment targets set by the National Executive Council for 2006. Conference further […]

NHS Marketisation

Conference notes with dismay the growing negative effects that the marketisation of the National Health Service (NHS) in England is having on staff and patient services. According to a recent survey by the Health Service Journal, 63% of hospital trusts have been forced to close wards as a result of financial shortages, a quarter have […]