Robust Green Skills Training for employees in the Energy Sector

Conference notes addressing the climate change challenge requires a fundamental restructuring of the energy supply sector, moving away from the world�s fossil fuel-based system to one that relies on clean, renewable sources. The transition to a greener economy requires new skills. Skills needed for the newly emerging jobs, and skills needed for the adjusted existing […]

No going backwards on LGBT+ equality in Energy

Conference acknowledges that even before Covid, equality was increasingly being seen as a luxury in many Energy workplaces, with some employers barely abiding by the law. There is now a risk of going backwards. Conference recognises that equality is at the heart of UNISON, and that self organisation is an essential tool to achieving UNISON�s […]

LGBT+ workers health and wellbeing

Conference welcomes the increased recognition that mental health is a serious workplace issue for staff working in the Water, Environment and Transport sectors. It also has a strong equalities dimension. Even without the impact of the pandemic, people vulnerable to discrimination face worse levels of mental ill health. In the wider community, around 1 in […]

Deficiencies in the protection of operational staff in the water sector from exposure to COVID-19

This conference notes that the health, safety and wellbeing of workers providing services in the Water, Environment and Transport Sectors � as well as in the other more prominent sectors such as Health – has been paramount to UNISON during the COVID-19 pandemic, and will continue to be into the future. The Water Industry Sector […]

Health, Safety and Wellbeing in a post-pandemic working environment

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about many health, safety, and wellbeing issues for WET Service Group members. We ask that this Service Group Conference aims to secure a post-pandemic working environment that supports the needs of all our members, on a COVID secure basis, with employers meeting their full range of health and safety responsibilities […]

NET Zero

This conference notes that the UK Government has previously announced an acceleration on the progress to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Previously, the Committee on Climate Change had looked at the possibility of reaching net zero earlier but concluded that this was not credible. They acknowledged it could be possible in the […]

Homeworking as a reasonable adjustment in post-COVID WET workplaces

Conference notes that many disabled staff in WET workplaces have previously requested to work from home as a reasonable adjustment and been refused. However, COVID-19 has sparked a revolution in home working and as a union we need to build on the positives for disabled workers whilst also guarding against any detrimental impact. UNISON�s National […]

Facilitating Disabled Workers to continue to work from home post pandemic

Prior to the pandemic there seemed to be practices within Energy employers where managers suggested that jobs such as back-office work and call centre work couldn�t be done from home due to technological limitations. People�s physical and mental difficulties can mean their conditions make it hard for people to get to and from offices. This […]

Accessing reasonable adjustments during COVID-19

Conference notes that a UNISON survey of disabled members working from home during COVID-19, including Energy workers, found that 53% did not receive any reasonable adjustments from their employer to help them to overcome the barriers they faced as a disabled person working from home. Only 5% had help from Access to Work, the flagship […]

Organising in Energy as we drive towards Net Zero

This special energy conference notes that to achieve Net Zero substantial investment will be needed within the Energy sector, both with established employers with whom we have an existing relationship, and likely new (and as yet not in existence) employers too) This could and should bring about new job growth within the energy sector over […]

UNISON Energy workers and the drive to Net Zero and Carbon Neutrality by 2050

This special energy conference notes that in November in Glasgow the previously delayed (due to Covid restrictions) COP 26 will take place. This will bring together nations from across the world to report on progress made since the COP 21 Paris Agreement was reached in 2015. This conference also notes that since 2015 the UK […]

The impact of Covid-19 on Black workers in transport

�We�re all in this together� has become a rallying cry during the coronavirus pandemic. While it is true that COVID-19 has affected everyone in some way, the magnitude and nature of the impact has been anything but universal. Evidence to date suggests that Black workers face much more economic and health insecurity from COVID-19 than […]

Addressing inequality in the Energy Sector for Black workers in a post pandemic world

At its inception in 2016, the Energy and Utilities Skills Partnership, made up of 30 utility organisations; gas, power, water, and waste management, recognised the underrepresentation of Black workers across the sector, citing, �Workforce diversity and inclusion levels for the sector continue to be below the UK averages, with only 7% of the sector�s employees […]

A sustainable future for Water, Environment and Transport workers � we need more women engineers

Conference is concerned that although some employers in the Water, Environment and Transport sector have worked hard to reduce their gender pay gap – notably Thames Water – reports for 2019 (reporting was suspended in 2020 due to the pandemic) revealed others have mean average gaps which are significantly higher than the industry�s average of […]

Fatigue in the Water Industry

The Special Water, Environment and Transport Service Group Conference 2021 is increasingly concerned about the extent to which a decade of austerity and regulatory constraints has impacted on the safety of WET members when carrying out activities in the workplace as well as the impact on the response to the pandemic as key workers. The […]