ACCESSIBLE PACKAGING & LABELLING

Disabled people are constantly presented with barriers, and in some cases hazards arising from modern methods of packaging products. In terms of labelling particularly foods stuffs and medications there are major barriers as a consequence arising from the formats used to produced such information. Therefore this conference calls upon the National Disabled Members Committee to […]

ANTI FASCISM FOR LIFE – NOT JUST FOR ELECTION TIME

Historically disabled people have been victims of discrimination, marginalisation and in some cases, murder under fascist regimes. This National Disabled Members Conference applauds and fully supports UNISON nationally for its publicity campaigns that expose the British National Party for what it really is – an organization that discriminates against people on ground of disability, sexual […]

UNISON PUBLICATIONS

Conference applauds UNISON’s commitment to ensuring that its members are kept informed on various health issues. This information is generated by various committees within UNISON including Health and Safety and Women’s Self Organization etc. Many of these leaflets and publications could be used to inform members of their rights under the Disability Discrimination Act. The […]

WELFARE REFORM BILL

This Conference notes that the Government published its ‘Welfare Reform Bill on 4th July 2006. This Bill contains powers to replace incapacity benefits with a new Employment Support Allowance. The Government have said that they do not intend to force people back into work where it is not appropriate and that people will continue to […]

Sickness Absence Policies

Conference is appalled by the continuing discrimination by employers towards disabled members when using Sickness Absence policies. Many of these employers carry the two tick logo. Schemes like the ‘Bradford Factor’, where a disabled member could pick up 1000’s of points with ongoing treatment for their disability, place staff under massive pressure to reduce their […]

MAPPING OF DISABLED MEMBERS

The Scottish Disabled Members’ Group is concerned that no accurate statistics exist on the number of disabled members in the union. The interim report of the Equalities Review would indicate that as many as 1 in 4 people in the UK could be classified as disabled under the DDA. Impending legislation would increase this number, […]

Disabled People Living in Poverty

Conference recognises that many disabled people are living in poverty, and the proportion of disabled adults who are unemployed but want to work are almost three times higher than those without a disability. This demonstrates that discrimination in the labour market is a continuing issue. We know that even where disabled people are in employment, […]

Equality Duty

This Conference welcomes the new Equality Duty that will be imposed on public bodies and some private organizations from December 2006. Conference knows that no new resources will be made available to implement this piece of new legislation. Conference therefore calls upon the National Disabled Members Committee to liaise with the NEC, Labour Link and […]

Breast is Best

Conference notes and welcomes the drive to promote breastfeeding and to offer support to women who choose to breast feed. The health benefits of breastfeeding are well-known and the WHO recommends that babies are exclusively breast fed for the first six months. However, this increasingly means that the mother has returned to work before the […]

Support for Pathways Participants

Conference is pleased to see that women still comprise two-thirds of the membership of UNISON. Conference is concerned that every support should be given to women to ensure that they are enabled to take an active role within the union. Conference is pleased that the Pathways course was included in the national education programme and […]

Rape

Conference is extremely concerned at the apparent increase in the incidence of rape and the concomitant decrease in convictions of men accused of rape. In recent months there have been alarming accounts in various national newspapers of women who pursued prosecutions with the support of the police, only for their alleged attacker to be acquitted […]

Involving LGBT Women in Women’s Self-Organisation

Conference welcomes the successful rule amendment carried at last year’s National Delegate Conference introducing a LGBT self organised group into UNISON. Conference acknowledges the support given to the campaign by the National Women’s Committee, Regional Women’s Committees and Women members. Monitoring of attendance at Women’s Conferences and of the National Women’s Committee suggests that LGBT […]

Women’s Health Issues

Fifteen percent of women suffer serious period pains each month, 35 per cent of women suffer moderate pains. Some women suffer pains so strong they are comparable to labour pains. But worse than this is the prospect that your employer will just mark down another absence, without discussion or understanding, and that this will affect […]

Race Equality Schemes

Conference notes the lack of implementation regarding Race Equality Schemes. Since 31 May 2005 organisations had to be compliant. Unfortunately little is being done to assess organistions to assess whether they are compliant or not. 1. We call upon the NBMC/NEC to liase with a) Service groups to monitor what is happening in branches; b) […]

Mapping of Black Members

Conference notes that successive reports commissioned by the TUC and government’s own statistics that confirm that Black workers continue to be concentrated in the lowest paid jobs. Conference further notes the increase in attacks against the Black communities following the tragic London bombing in July 05 and the BNP for its attempt to exploit the […]