Local Government NJC Pay Dispute 2008 and Future Pay Strategy

Government policy to hold down pay for Council workers as outlined in the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review for 2007-2011 is set to continue beyond this period. The pre budget report in November 2008 calls for “continued discipline” and multi year pay deals. This is part of the Government’s objective to control local government spending to […]

Recruit, Recruit

It is clear from the 2008 NJC and SJC pay disputes that our low density in many local authorities and outsourced local government services undermines our bargaining power at local and at national level. The LGA is controlled by the Conservatives, out of a total of 440 local authorities; the majority of local authorities are […]

Growing Crisis in Social Work

Conference notes with alarm the mounting pressures on social workers and condemns the witch-hunts and vilification against social workers waged by parts of the media. They ignore the facts and the pressures in favour of finding easy targets to blame. Both Government and Opposition politicians have equally cynically fuelled the media campaign, often in direct […]

Support Members in Childrens Services

This Conference agrees t support their colleagues in Children’s Services with regard to the unacceptance working conditions those workers are enduring at present. These conditions include: 1)Unacceptably heavy case loads 2)Pressure not to practice professionally and in the prime interests of children, with assessment of need being secondary to what financial resources are available. 3)Cases […]

Personalisation of Social Care

Conference notes growing evidence of serious shortcomings in the implementation of ‘personalisation’ in social care. The primary focus of central governments and local authorities is the roll out of ‘cash for care’ schemes such as direct payments, personal budgets or individual budgets. Other aspects of personalisation such as early intervention and prevention of dependency have […]

Funding in the Community and Voluntary Sector

Conference notes that while the financial situation has tightened considerably in all local government funded services, it is often the community and voluntary sector which is hit hardest by funding constraints. Local authorities often turn to voluntary sector partners first when cuts need to be made, and the result is that voluntary organisations have to […]

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Conference recognises that the issue of violence against women is something that many women feel passionately about tackling. Women who are not politically active in other ways attend Reclaim the Night events or support local refuges. Therefore this issue should be used as not only a campaigning issue but an organising one as well. There […]

LOCAL YET GLOBAL – SUPPORTING OUR SISTERS OVERSEAS

We remember Thabitha Khumalo from Zimbabwe who as a guest speaker at 2006 National Delegate Conference gave an inspirational speech about the struggles for basic rights that women face in her country. Every year at National Women’s Conference motions are proposed and carried supporting our sisters overseas. In recent years, Conference has supported women of […]

PREGNANT WOMEN AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE

This National Women’s Conference is concerned at the impact that substance abuse can have on pregnant women and their babies. Substances that can affect the foetus are: 1)Cannabis 2)Heroin 3)Methadone 4)Cocaine 5)Crack cocaine 6)Crystal methamphetamine 7)Prescription drugs 8)Nicotine 9)Alcohol Education on the hazards of misusing substances during pregnancy is urgently required and the Government should […]

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Domestic violence continues to be a matter of concern to women in UNISON. Despite the fact that there have been many motions to the National Women’s Conference on this issue there are still many of our employers who do not have domestic violence policies for their own staff. Given the increase in the use of […]

THE INDEPENDENT SAFEGUARDING AUTHORITY

Conference notes that The Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) is a new public body which is being created with the intention of preventing unsuitable people from working with children and vulnerable adults. From October 2009, all individuals working or volunteering with vulnerable adults or children will be required to register with the ISA. This will affect […]

RAPE CRISIS

Conference applauds the National Women’s Committee for its previously undertaken work on sexual violence and the conference policy decisions to support the work of Rape Crisis. However there is much still to do. Conference believes that rape crisis centres are essential and distinctly different in their role to the government created Sexual Assault Referral Centres […]

MILLION WOMEN RISE AGAIN

Conference congratulates the Million Women Rise Coalition (MWRC) on the success of the 2008 march and rally which saw over 5,000 women and girls gathered in London to protest male violence against women and endemic gender discrimination. The rally was addressed by a range of inspiring speakers from across the country, representing a broad spectrum […]

OVARIAN CANCER

Ovarian cancer is still the fourth most common cause of death from cancer amongst women in the UK. Every year about six thousand women in the UK are diagnosed with this disease, the majority of these cases only have a few symptoms, which are treated as other illnesses until finally being diagnosed with ovarian cancer. […]

Lack of Service for Black Children with Autism

Conference notes that in 2007 the National Autistic Society (NAS) published its report containing the largest ever survey conducted into autism and education in the UK. The report highlighted the lack of provision and training for teachers dealing with autism in general, including families struggling to access support for their children. This was consistently worse […]