Outsourcing, Low Pay and the Living Wage

This conference notes the devastating effects that the proposed outsourcing and privatisation processes being undertaken by West Midlands and Surrey Police forces will have on the Police Service and the communities that they serve. This conference believes that outsourcing will never be of benefit to our members, and that direct employment within the public sector […]

Police Professional Body

Conference is deeply concerned at the way in which proposals for a new Policing Professional Body are being put together. The governance structures of the new body, which replaces the training and development functions of the National Policing Improvement Agency and some aspects of the Association of Chief Police Officers, are set to become completely […]

Facility Time Campaign

Conference condemns the growing threat of attacks on elected trade union representatives, at both the local level and nationally in police, probation and the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (CAFCASS). Conference notes that on the same day that a million UNISON members took industrial action to defend their pensions, Prime Minister David Cameron […]

Revitalising Health and Safety

Health and Safety is vital for Police, Probation and the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS) Staff. Our direct interaction with the public will often put our members in difficult situations where their safety and well being may be jeopardised. It is therefore important that our employers have robust and effective Health […]

International ties

This conference notes the importance of maintaining contact with like minded trade unions outside of the UK. As the government seeks to utilise policing models from other cultures such as Police and Crime Commissioners, it is important to gain learning from international trade unionists who share our values and have experience in organising within these […]

Putting Equalities back on the agenda

Conference notes with disappointment that matters relating to equalities may have slipped down the agenda in recent years. We all understand the pressures that are placed on members, branches and employers because of the swinging cuts at the hands of the ConDem government and that our attentions have understandably been elsewhere. Equalities is the bedrock […]

Police and Crime Commissioners

This Conference expresses its growing concern about government privatisation policies that will affect the terms and conditions of police and justice staff acting under the responsibility of police and crime commissioners. We welcome the anti privatisation campaign that was launched at UNISON’s national delegate conference 2012 partly in response to moves by the West Midlands […]

Changes in work place demographics

Conference believes that cuts to police budgets have disproportionately fallen on police staff. Swathes of police staff across the country have been made redundant, face redundancy or privatisation. Conference it could be argued that any progress made in the last decade in terms of equality and work life balance has been expunged by the changes […]

Work Place Consultants

Conference, Staffordshire Police like many other forces have had cost saving reviews by private sector consultancy companies at great cost to the taxpayer. The sums range from the tens of thousands to millions of pounds. These costs nationally are justified as necessary to make future financial savings. Staffordshire Police Unison have challenged a number of […]

Chief Constable/Police and Crime Commissioner – Two Tier Workforce?

Conference, in November 2012, the Police and Crime Commissioner will be elected to all police forces in England and Wales. There is much uncertainty and little guidance in relation to the handover and reallocation of staff when this process occurs. Initially, all police staff will change from being employed by the Police Authority to being […]

Police and Crime Commissioners

In November 2012 elections will take place to elect Police and Crime Commissioners. These individuals will replace the existing Police Authorities in the counties they represent. So far, little has been publicised about this election process, so few of the electorate, including many of our members are aware of it. Whilst this change will impact […]

Local Government services

Conference is fundamentally opposed to the sustained attack on public services resulting from the savage cuts to local government funding being inflicted over 5 years by the ideologically driven Tory led government. These drastic cuts in spending fail to recognize the need of the country to grow our way out of recession and are devastating […]

The Welfare Bill and attacks on housing benefit

Conference notes that the housing benefit changes outlined in the Westminster government’s Welfare Bill will have a devastating effect on many people, including some UNISON members, throughout the UK. The welfare bill proposals, drafted as part of a drive to reduce welfare costs, will leave many people at risk of being driven into debt, falling […]

Defeating the ConDems – a union strategy

The public sector cuts and job losses are not just a response to the economic conditions facing the country. They are a sustained ideological attack on public services driven by a right wing Tory Party who have pulled their Liberal Democrat collaborators into supporting them in the ConDem Coalition. These cuts are an attempt by […]

LOCALISM ACT – DEFENDING OUR MEMBERS TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Conference notes that the Localism Act 2011 is the flagship legislation in England for the government’s Big Society agenda, aimed at opening up public sector ‘markets’ to private and voluntary organisations and fundamentally redefining the role of local government as a provider of public services. The act purports to be a ‘radical shift of power […]