Living Wage

Conference recognises the success of the campaigns to achieve the Living Wage in councils and notes that the pay offer from the Scottish employers for 2013 included a Living Wage for all 32 councils in Scotland of a Living wage of at least £7.50. Conference notes however that not all councils have agreed to pay […]

Local Government Funding Cuts

Conference is alarmed that many Councils have faced unprecedented reductions in Government grants since the 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review. Since then, the position has deteriorated for local government with many councils now forecasting that central Government support over the six year period 2011-2017 will see reductions in excess of £100m. The December 2012 Autumn Statement […]

Fighting Cuts and Privatisation – Highlighting ‘The Damage’ to our Communities and the Economy

Conference deplores the scale of the austerity cuts and the damage they are wreaking on local services and our members who work in them. Despite the high profile failures of privatised services, councils continue to outsource services to private sector organisations – either through ideology or because they believe the bogus claims that the private […]

Modern Apprentices in Local Government

This Conference notes that the recession is impacting on jobs in the public sector: full time permanent jobs are disappearing at an alarming rate as Councils and other public sector agencies deal with the impact of reducing budgets. Support is confirmed for UNISON policies aimed at resisting attacks on our members’ jobs, pay and service […]

Analysis of Local Authority Budgets

Conference notes: 1)The impact of savage spending cuts in Local Government 2)The ongoing attacks on council services and the most vulnerable in our society by the Conservative led Government 3)The importance of UNISON fighting these cuts both locally and nationally 4)The importance of local branch knowledge in understanding the financial and budget setting decisions made […]

United Nations International Day of the Girl Child

This Conference welcomes the establishment of the United Nations International Day of the Girl Child, inaugurated this year on October 11 2012, and to be celebrated on October 11 every year thereafter. This Conference fully supports the aims of this event, i.e. to help galvanize worldwide enthusiasm for goals to better girls’ lives, providing an […]

Anti Abortion Groups

Conference is deeply disappointed that members of the anti-abortion group Abort67 have been found not guilty at Brighton Magistrates Court of public order offences for displaying material that is ‘threatening abusive or insulting’ outside the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) Wistons clinic in Brighton. South East Regional women’s group disagree with this ruling. If a […]

Universal Credit and its effect on Child Poverty

Conference is aware of the growing issue of child poverty. There are 3.6 million children in poverty in the UK today, that’s more than 1 in 4 of our children. Although the issue of child poverty affects working families, 90% of single parent families are women and are therefore more likely to be welfare dependant. […]

OVARIAN CANCER – THE SILENT KILLER

Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cancer in women in the UK, affecting around 6,800 women. It is the highest gynaecological killer of women in the UK and the fourth most common cause of death from cancer in women, with two out of every three cases of ovarian cancer being diagnosed when the disease […]

Equal Rights for both Intended Parents in Surrogacy

Conference notes that despite surrogacy being legal in the United Kingdom the intended parents have few legal rights unless they happen to be male. An intended father can gain shared parental responsibility as soon as the child is born by the child being registered in his name, with him named on the birth certificate as […]

Proportionality

Conference notes UNISON’s proud record on working towards equality both in its internal structures and in its bargaining and campaigning agenda. Conference notes that one of the key strategies for UNISON to achieve equality of representation and engagement within UNISON has been proportionality. Proportionality is defined as “the representation of women and men in fair […]

UNISON WOMEN: ACTIVE, CAMPAIGNING, LEADING

UNISON is proud to be the leading trade union for women. We have a solid history of women being at the heart of the union; through enshrining self organisation into our rule book along with proportionality. As a union which is majority female we do not just talk the talk. Women are the foundation on […]

Buddying and Mentoring

As National Women’s Conference is aware, UNISON is facing one of the most challenging times in our existence. One of the consequences of the job losses we are experiencing is the loss of many of our senior/experienced activists. Never has there been a more important time to encourage new women activists to come forward into […]

The hidden impact of cuts

Conference recognises that the brunt of this government’s cuts and austerity measures are being borne by women. 1) The number of unemployed women is at a twenty five year high, with more than a million women already jobless, and hundreds of thousands of public sector workers set to join their ranks. Further, UNISON research reveals […]

Regional Race Action Plans

Conference notes that each UNISON Region has its own Regional Race Action Plan. The purpose of this is to keep aspects of each region’s race issues, at the forefront of UNISON’s structures, to affect change, increase participation from members and be a beacon to attract other people to join and remain with UNISON. After making […]