Conference they say a week in politics is a long time but over the last week, not mention month, the government has been in total chaos and made the UK a laughing stock. But for disabled people and our Disabled Members none of this is funny. It seemed that every time the now former Prime […]
Conference motions
Conference notes that pay gaps affect large swathes of our membership regardless of service group or self organised structures within UNISON. Pay gaps measure the average hourly pay of a group of people with a ‘protected characteristic,’ such as women or Black workers, compared to the average hourly pay for men or white workers for […]
Conference notes the news article published in the Guardian newspaper on the 13th of June 2022 which stated that according to the Office for National Statistics, as of 1st of May an estimated 2 million people in the UK reported having Long Covid, as the condition is known. Conferences notes that Unison Black disabled members […]
Conference notes that the British Sign Language (BSL) Bill, a Private Member’s Bill introduced by Labour’s Rosie Cooper MP in 2021, was passed by both the House of Commons and the Lords earlier this year before passing into law following Royal Assent. The BSL Act will recognise BSL as a language of England, Wales and […]
Conference is concerned about the widening disability pay gap and the impact on our Disabled Members. The latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that on average disabled people are paid almost 14% less than non-disabled people. Further analysis of the data shows that the type of disability also impacts on the […]
Conference applauds UNISON’s National Delegate Conference [NDC], which recently unequivocally re-asserted the union’s commitment to Fair Representation. Rule D5.2 of the UNISON Rulebook observes that self-organisation assists the union: Promote the union’s equalities and bargaining agenda Defend jobs, terms and conditions and services Build its density and have a strong and dynamic presence in the […]
CRISIS IN HIGHER EDUCATION INDUSTRIAL ACTION BALLOTING – A PAY STRATEGY THAT CAN AND MUST WIN The Higher Education Sector has reached what appears to be a crisis point regarding balloting for strike action over pay. Neither aggregate nor disaggregate balloting appears to be effective when considering the returns from industrial action ballots in Higher […]
Conference acknowledges the endemic nature of abuse, harassment and violence faced by women on a daily basis. The tragic murders of Sarah Everard, Bibaa Henry Nicole Smallman, Sabina Nessa and many other women in the past year have brought to the forefront the scale of violence against women and reinforced how unsafe many women feel […]
UNISON can only be the strong, vibrant, effective union it strives to be if Black women are involved and active in every part of its work. Black women are still underrepresented at branch, regional and national level even though UNISON has 1 million women in membership. This is a trend that the National Black Members […]
Conference notes that the 2020 National Women’s Conference passed policy on how women were on a “cliff edge” with respect of to the poverty trap that the need to stay within the thresholds of Universal Credit has created. The pandemic has made this situation much worse. Disabled women are faced with a perfect storm of […]
A Voice for Women Part time Workers Information on UNISON’s website about part-time working states that, ‘Nearly half of UNISON’s members work part-time and the majority of them are women’. Conference this should give these part time women members a loud and clear directive to be included within the very structures of Unison. Not all […]
69% of low paid or insecure jobs are held by women. Women are the majority of people living in poverty and female headed households are poor – these constitute 90% of lone parent households, 45% of which are living in poverty. (Fawcett Society) Conference notes and condemns the removal of the £20 per week pandemic-related […]
2. Incorporate CEDAW into domestic legislation CEDAW is the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Discrimination Against Women – also called the International Bill of Rights for Women. CEDAW provides an international framework for States to take responsibility for tackling discrimination against women and achieving substantive equality for women in both the private and […]
Access to affordable childcare has been a long-standing challenge for women. In the current climate of adjusting to the impact of Covid-19, further barriers and challenges are being experienced by women endeavouring to have access to and retaining existing good quality early childcare. According to a survey conducted by Pregnant Then Screwed, 57% of working […]
This Conference notes: • The near total ban on abortion in Texas by restricting it to the first 6 weeks of gestation, a time when most people don’t even know that they are pregnant • That this threatens the Roe vs Wade ruling of 1973 that made abortion legal in the US. • The huge […]