Support ‘The Total Eclipse of the S_N’ Campaign

Conference notes and deplores the racist comments made in April by Sun columnist Kelvin McKenzie about Everton FC midfielder Ross Barkley. Further comments made in the same column were derogatory about the City and people of Liverpool. These comments were made just days before the 28th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster. Conference notes the appalling […]

The Great Repeal Bill – Protecting Devolution

Conference notes that following the vote to leave the EU in June 2016 the UK Government has consistently shown a disregard for the views of the devolved administrations in relation to the protections necessary when leaving the EU. Conference notes the UK Government plans to introduce a ‘Great Repeal Bill’ designed to repeal the European […]

EU Exit – Protecting the Northern Ireland Peace Process

The current position of the UK Government for a ‘hard’ exit from the EU places the Northern Ireland peace process in severe jeopardy and has serious implications for the island of Ireland as a whole. This peace agreement received the consent of the majority of the people in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of […]

Working globally for LGBT rights

Conference celebrates our union’s rich history of international work and recognises that the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) group has incorporated this into its own work. UNISON continues to raise LGBT issues in the different international forums in which we work and raise trade unionism in all LGBT forums in which we engage. Conference […]

Standing together for LGBT equality

Conference believes UNISON’s championing of public services and public service values has never been more important. Conservative government austerity cuts have left public services reeling, struggling to meet ever rising demand from services users. Service user needs become greater and more complex as they struggle with financial insecurity due to stagnant or falling wages, redundancy […]

Challenging the Trade Union Act 2016

Conference continues to condemn the Trade Union Act 2016 in Great Britain and its various restrictive and draconian regulations to hamper the ability of unions to bargain and to advance pay and conditions in the workplace. In Wales the Act was opposed by the Wales Assembly Government and nearly every local council and health board […]

Activity-Based Budgeting

Conference welcomes Motion 121 passed at National Delegate Conference 2016. It notes that Motion 121 was intended to introduce a new process of activity-based budgeting, which would meet branch needs by facilitating funding for the activity required for branches to be successful in meeting the union’s objectives. Motion 121 acknowledged the vital role branches play […]

Organising and growing our membership in private contractors

Conference notes that despite UNISON’s necessary and continued campaigns against privatisation, the outsourcing of public services continues apace. Conference completely condemns this Tory government’s relentless attack on the public sector and continues to call on the government to properly fund publically delivered services. However, whilst privatisation remains a reality, conference also recognises that the union […]

Media Portrayal of Older People

Conference notes with concern the negative and profoundly damaging images of older people, both as individuals and collectively, that are continually and consistently put out by the mass media in Britain. This includes portrayal of the age group as having access to large pensions, doing little that is worthwhile and at the same time being […]

Social care is now beyond a crisis.

This service group conference notes with alarm the continuing and deteriorating crisis of social care underfunding that makes it hard for local authorities and provider organisations to ensure decent jobs and quality services. This service group conference supports the provisions of UNISON’s ethical and residential care charters. The charters provide a set of minimum standards […]

Funding for health and social care integration

This conference recognises that buried under the jargon of Sustainability and Transformation Plans, Local Care Organisations, Place-Based Plans and Geographic Footprints there may be potential opportunities for improvements in services by removing artificial barriers between health services provided by the NHS and social care services provided by local government. However, as is all too common […]

Inclusive equality policies in local government

This conference is proud that our predecessor local government unions were the first to place lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality on the bargaining agenda, starting with a 1976 NALGO conference decision to include sexual orientation in non-discrimination clauses in all collective agreements. This has developed over the decades, been taken up by other […]

The LGBT impact of cuts to local government services

Conference notes that cuts to local government services are biting ever deeper. With the current Tory Westminster government’s economic policies, there are no signs of any relief. This impacts negatively on our members providing those services in innumerable ways. It includes job losses, increasing severity and complexity of service user needs, and reduced pay and […]

Saving the LGPS and good pension schemes for our members

Conference is concerned that good pension provision is continuing to decline. Defined benefit pension schemes that guarantee pensions based on final salary or career average are under threat. The main reason employers give is increasing costs and risk of further increases of providing the benefits and increased employer contributions. In the public sector (for example […]

Crisis in social care – call for a special conference

This local government service group conference calls upon the NEC to organise a special one-day delegate conference on the crisis in social care as a major step towards developing a union-wide organising and publicity campaign in defence of publicly owned and democratically controlled, good quality social care and social work services. This conference believes that […]