Amnesty for Illegal Workers to End Exploitation

Conference notes: 1)there are many thousands of paperless workers out there, without whose work the economy would grind to a standstill; 2)paperless workers are the invisible engine room of twilight London. No Londoner can easily escape involvement in this exploitation. Paperless workers serve us meals in restaurants, clean our hospitals, our hotels, streets and tube […]

School Remodelling Agreement

Conference believes the National Agreement on school remodelling offered the opportunity to develop a career structure for school support staff, a long held aim of UNISON. Today many authorities have agreed new pay and grading structures, but not all. New training opportunities have been developed and many schools, for the first time, are including support […]

Public Holidays at Weekends

Conference notes that this year Christmas Day and New Year’s Day fall on a Sunday. On such occasions when any part of the Christmas and New Year holidays fall on a weekend Police Officers working shifts receive paid compensation additional to the Sunday, i.e. Tuesday 27th December and Monday 2nd January are effectively Bank and […]

Developing a UNISON Vision for the NHS

Conference notes that, despite the record levels of investment going into the National Health Service (NHS), many NHS patients and staff are failing to experience the improvements that should be occurring. Too often, there exists a gap between the rhetoric about the positive changes that are supposed to be taking place in the NHS and […]

Organising for Growth

Conference welcomes the rise in UNISON membership to 1,313,500 and notes that membership has risen for the sixth year in a row and by over 100,000 new members since the introduction of an organising strategy. It congratulates all those involved, especially the smaller service groups, in particular police staffs, young members and the community and […]

Iraq – Reconstruction and Solidarity

Conference condemns: 1)the occupation of Iraq by British and American troops arising from an illegal war; 2)the destruction of Fallujah and the slaughter of innocent civilians, the majority of whom continue to be killed by coalition troops; 3)the use of torture and the inhumane treatment of Iraqi detainees by British and American troops as instanced […]

Tackling Pay Discrimination for Black and Minority Ethnic Workers

Conference is appalled to note the results of the government’s appointed Ethnic Minority Employment Task Force investigation into pay and employment for black and minority ethnic workers. We note the findings that: 1)there is a substantial pay gap between ethnic minorities and the whole population. Weekly earnings for white workers average £376, compared with £347 […]

Public Services

Conference notes extra public spending announced in 2004 Spending Review, particularly the £40 billion extra investment in the National Health Service (NHS) and believes that this could make a major difference to public services. However it cannot while the government continues a variety of trends and initiatives, marketisation, choice, privatisation, efficiency reviews, PFI and cuts […]

Efficiency Reviews

Conference notes that there are efficiency reviews across the governments of the United Kingdom (UK), driven by the 2004 spending review. In Whitehall departments, this simultaneously expanded public spending but demanded £20 billion of efficiencies in services controlled by Whitehall departments as a result of a report by Sir Peter Gershon. Conference is alarmed that […]

Portable Pensions in Public Services

Conference is concerned that workers in contracted out public services sometimes end up moving between a whole series of different pension schemes, as a result of being passed between different employers each time the service is retendered. This can expose workers to difficult decisions about whether to transfer their pension rights, and may result in […]

Women and Work

UNISON recognises the significant inequalities still faced by women at work. Conference condemns the continuing pay inequalities across all sectors and notes that women working full time still earn, on average 18 per cent less than men, and part-time women workers 40 per cent less than men. Conference deplores this continuing pay discrimination which devalues […]

Tackling Racism and the Rise of the Far Right

Conference rejects the presence of the British National party (BNP) and other far right parties in the United Kingdom and condemns their role in the increase in racist abuse and attacks against black and minority ethnic people and their communities. In particular, Conference deplores the disgraceful racism of the Tories in the run up to […]

NO2ID

Conference calls upon the government to immediately cease all further development of, and legislation for, national identity cards and the National Identity Register. Conference further welcomes the decision of the Scottish Executive not to make ID cards compulsory for accessing devolved public services. We believe the proposals constitute an attack on individual rights and freedoms. […]

Repeal of Political Fund Review Ballot Legislation

Conference welcomes the overwhelming vote of UNISON members by 85 per cent to retain UNISON Political Fund, and further notes that virtually every union which has been obliged to hold a review ballot in the last year has secured a decisive majority in favour of retention of a political fund. For most unions this represents […]

Restructuring of Public Services and UNISON Organisation

Conference notes that since 1993, when UNISON was established, the delivery of public services in the United Kingdom (UK) has been subject to widespread change and restructuring. The impact of change has been felt union-wide but in diverse ways with some services being more closely integrated, for example further and higher education, whilst others have […]