Call on UNISON to press the TUC to lead campaign to improve the State Pension

Conference is aware that Britain has one of the lowest state pensions in Europe and that 2.5 million older people are living below the poverty level. The trade union movement is understandably most concerned with improving occupational pensions, but the active support from UNISON and the Trades Union Congress is necessary for a successful campaign […]

Support for Retired Members Groups

Conference welcomes the decision of the National Retired Members’ Committee (NRMC) to offer retired member support to branches and regions in the recruitment of new members and in campaigning. Conference is concerned however that branches and regions for their part give full support to non-social retired member activity. The NRMC is instructed to request the […]

Retaining Members When They Retire

Conference notes the efforts of many branches and branch retired members’ groups to retain members when they retire but regrets to note the apparent lack of support, co-ordination and reporting to sustain these efforts. Conference believes a haphazard approach may lead to patchy results and may reproduce or exaggerate patterns of inclusion and exclusion among […]

Living Wills & Advance Directives

Conference believes many retired UNISON members would like to make their wishes known concerning their medical treatment and/or their financial or other affairs at the end of their lives in case they become incapable of doing so at the time. Conference believes many of them would be glad if their trades union could signpost them […]

Education Cuts

Conference is concerned about the increase in tuition fees for all areas of post-16 education. This is not only means for younger people as many retired people make full use of these facilities. Increases in fees apply not only to universities and colleges but to adult education courses and providers such as the workers education […]

NHS Care for the Elderly

Mr Cameron pledged, “We can’t go on like this. I’ll cut the deficit, not the NHS”. The election manifesto stated, “We are the party of the NHS, we back its funding and have visions for its future.” In January 2011 he said “We recognise its special place in our society, so we will not cut […]

Attack on Pensions

Retired Members will have noted with growing concern the government’s attack on both the state and public sector pension schemes. Not only are they constantly attacking the pensions in the media, but they are always doing their best to attack pension funds with statements about the public sector pensions being ‘gold plated’. If this is […]

Dental Inspection Charges

This Conference calls upon the National Retried Members’ Committee to strongly pursue and campaign to make available, for older people, free dental inspections; the same service as is currently available for eye examinations and publicise progress in UNISON publications on a regular basis.

Cross-functioning across Clean and Waste Sites.

The latest reorganisations within several of the water companies seem to have turned the clock back and brought clean and waste water operatives working together and cross functioning across sites. This seems to us to be a backward step. The risk of contamination to workers and the public was a major reason why these streams […]

Impact of Water and Sewage Assets on Health & Safety.

Because of how the Water Companies are funded by OFWAT whose priority is value for money for the consumer and also the companies adopting risk-based strategies in order to deliver maximum profits for their owners, very little money is spent on maintaining our assets. Customer pressure groups objecting to high profits and increasing bills compound […]

The Public Sector Equality Duty

Conference notes that the Equality Act 2010 harmonised former equality legislation – the Sex Discrimination Act, the Disability Discrimination Act and the Race Relations (amendment) Act and related legislation. Although the 2010 Act failed to meet the aspirations of many interested parties, including UNISON, there are significant benefits for employees and public sector services. However, […]

HOW FLEXIBLE IS YOUR EMPLOYER BEING WITH FLEXIBLE WORKING REQUESTS

Too many employers view flexible working as only benefiting the employee. Some employers believe that a desire to work flexibly implies a lack of commitment, that it is primarily a benefit for working mothers and that it will breed resentment among those who don’t work flexibly. These attitudes represent the biggest obstacle to flexible working. […]

SICKNESS ABSENCE POLICIES THAT PENALISE WOMEN UNJUSTLY

The majority of employees in the public sector are women and many of them will experience at some time in their working lives health related absences that result in intrusive and harsh management responses as a consequence of rigid sickness absence policies – often based on the ‘Bradford Factor’ – a human resources tool widely […]

PROTECTED GOVERNMENT FUNDING FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SERVICES

In her speech to the annual Women’s Aid National Conference in July 2010 Teresa May claimed “Violence against women is and always has been a priority for me and my ambition is nothing less than ending it”. She promised to ensure that ending violence against women would remain a priority for the coalition government. However, […]

WOMEN AND UK ONLINE

This conference notes that increasing pressure is being placed on households to communicate and gather vital information, and to carry out transactions such as buying licences and paying bills, via the internet. Conference is aware that there are very many current and retired women public service workers, on very low incomes for whom the purchase […]