London Housing Crisis

London Housing Crisis: Response to the UNISON Survey Report – No Place To Live – into the impact of Housing costs on London’s public service workers. This conference welcomes the publication in late November 2017 of UNISON’s Report into the impact of Housing costs on London’s public service workers. We are dismayed but not surprised […]

The dangers facing women refugees

Conference notes with dismay the reported deaths of at least 26 Nigerian women and girls, who are suspected to have been murdered while attempting to cross the Mediterranean. The bodies of the women were brought to the southern Italian port of Salerno by the Spanish ship Cantabria on Sunday 5 November, and prosecutors immediately opened […]

ONLINE ABUSE

Conference applauds Yvette Cooper for her stand against sexist online abuse suffered by her and other leading women MPs during the general election. In a speech to Labour Party conference she said “unless misogyny on the internet is challenged, more women’s voices will be silenced, and more women will be oppressed or feel prevented from […]

PERIOD POVERTY

This Conference notes: Over a woman’s lifetime sanitary products cost more than £5000 with women spending around £13 every month. Many young women, including those menstruating for the first time are unable to access or afford sanitary products. This can have a major impact on women’s and girls physical, mental wellbeing and confidence. It is […]

Pay up now in Community!

Conference notes that UNISON membership in the community service group is increasing and attendance at the community service group meeting at national lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) conference improves annually. Issues affecting LGBT members raised at the meeting include low or no pay increases, attacks on terms and conditions, facility time and bullying, harassment […]

Fair Funding

There is a persistent problem of funding and how contracts are put out for tender. The impact of this is that there is often so little money in the contract that staffing costs are the area employers target to cut back so members end up with larger workloads and lower pay, wages rarely allow for […]

Training and Development for Lay Activists

Conference notes the annual national training event for Community members facilitated by UNISON Learning and Organising Services (LAOS) which took place in Birmingham in October 2017 and its continued success in assisting to develop and empower our membership base. Conference also notes that throughout UNISON nations/regions much innovative work has been undertaken in conjunction with […]

Raising the Bar in North West Social Care

Conference notes the continued success of the North West Region’s Social Care Organising Project ‘Care Workers for Change’ and the revitalisation of the participation and sector organisation of Community members which are key objectives within its Regional Work Programme. Funded by the Region and participating branches, its aims are to recruit new members and activists, […]

Digital Organising Framework

Conference notes the introduction by UNISON from 1st September 2017 of the new Digital Organising Framework which replaces the paper-based Joint Branch and Regional Assessment Process (JBRA) and that It is intended to act as a discussion framework for a sit down conversation between a Regional Organiser and Branch Secretary (or Committee); It is an […]

Violence towards support staff

Care and support staff in both the Community & Voluntary Sector and Housing Associations should not accept incidents of violent or aggressive behaviour as a normal part of their role. All support staff have a right to expect a safe and secure workplace. Violent and aggressive incidents are the third biggest cause of injuries reported […]

UNISON Pay Campaign and the Community Service Group

Community Conference welcomes the new UNISON wide pay campaign called “Pay Up Now“ which seeks to put pressure on the government to end public spending austerity which has proved so disastrous for public services in recent years. Community Conference supports the campaign objectives which are to: a. Put an end to the pay cap b. […]

Sleeping in Shifts and compliance with National Minimum Wage Regulations

Conference notes that in the past year our union has once again been leading the way on the issue of payment of the statutory minimum wage for sleep-in shifts. Many Community members carry out sleep-in shifts and have often been paid less than the legal minimum for their work. By any reasonable definition of the […]

Mental Health

In the Community & Voluntary Sector which includes care provision, charities, not for profit organisations and housing associations, it is becoming evident that the biggest issue in the workplace is poor mental health. Statistics now show that it causes many millions of working days to be lost every year. The mental health problems experienced by […]

Sickness Management

Around 80% of organisations in Community & Voluntary Sector and Housing Associations reported that the most prevalent form of short term absence from the workplace were the common minor illnesses like colds, stomach bugs, migraines and influenza. 40% of organisations reported an increased level of stress related illness; this is thought to be a response […]

Supporting members with fibromyalgia

Conference notes that Fibromyalgia is a much misunderstood condition that predominantly impacts on women, with some research suggesting 90% of those affected are women, aged between 20 to 50 years. Conference further notes that this condition is difficult to diagnose and difficult to manage which brings huge challenges especially for those women who want and […]