CUTS TO DOMESTIC ABUSE SERVICES

Conference is deeply concerned at the cuts to women’s services throughout the country and particularly at recent proposed cuts in Devon. In January one of the major stakeholders, Devon County Council announced that it proposed to withdraw £1.2 million in funding for the Against Domestic Violence Abuse Project (ADVA). The severity and rapidity of these […]

CON-DEM CUTS WILL HAVE A DETRIMENTAL IMPACT ON BLACK DISABLED PEOPLE

The announcement of further cuts to public spending and benefits on 20 October 2010 in the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review heralded yet more difficult times for disabled people. Disabled people were already set to be disproportionately affected by the Con-Dems emergency budget that claimed to be designed to redress the deficit in the economic downturn. […]

HAITI – MORE AID NEEDED

A devastating earthquake, the worst in 200 years, struck Port-au-Prince on the 12th January 2010, laying waste to the city with almost 300,000 people dead in the devastation. More than a million of our brothers and sisters are living homeless in the densely populated areas of Port-au-Prince and surrounding parts of the country, since the […]

A MILLION WOMEN MARCH

Conference welcomes the news that the TUC has called a national demonstration for 26 March 2011 and understands that opposition to the austerity measures is gradually building up in the UK with demonstrations having already taken place as well as lobbies of Parliament and protests nationwide following the Con Dem announcement of eighty three billion […]

UNIVERSAL CREDIT: WELFARE THAT WORKS

This Conference recognises that some aspects of government’s proposals published in ‘Universal Credit’ (November 2010) to reform the state welfare system are reportedly designed to make it easier for a single assessment of need. Such a system should relieve some of the burdensome pressure of women to make duplicate applications to a number of statutory […]

BLACK MEMBERS AND REPRESENTATION AT NATIONAL DELEGATE CONFERENCE

Conference notes that: The number of Black members attending National Delegates Conference (NDC) is significantly low. Often Black members in our branches are not aware or provided the opportunity to attend NDC, despite UNISON having rules on proportionality and fair representation. Conference recognizes Unison’s use of Proportionality and Fair Representation in its ‘Scheme of Branch […]

THE PRICE OF MOTHERHOOD

The adverse impact of motherhood on the gender pay gap is well known. The Labour Government has postponed its proposed extension of maternity pay to fifty two weeks, claiming it is inappropriate during the recession. We know that the coalition government will make no commitment to increasing maternity pay. The CBI attacked the Labour government’s […]

SURE START

Conference notes the disproportionate effects the cuts on public services will have on women, in particular cuts to Sure Start. Users of the services are almost exclusively women as are the staff employed. Sure Start provides vital services such as Early Years play and development, family bonding, speech and language and family support services to […]

WOMEN AND THE CUTS

This National Women’s Conference notes the attack on women that is being instituted by the ConDem Government. Their first budget showed a disproportionate effect on women which was highlighted by the Fawcett Society. We are all aware that the public sector is being made to pay the price of the excesses of the banking and […]

EQUALITY IMPACT ASSESSMENTS AND WOMEN

Conference notes with concern the economic hardship public service cuts will have on women. Sixty five per cent of public sector workers are women and almost a quarter of working women are in public sector jobs. Women are also the greatest users of public services. With one in five women acting as carers for adult […]

WELFARE REFORM AND IMPACT ON UNISON WOMEN

All political parties in the run up to the General Election had campaigns around fairness and equalities and the importance of family. As soon as the ConDem Government came into power they could not wait to introduce measures that had a disproportionate impact on women. Particularly in their sights on universal benefits such as child […]

FEMINISM IN UNISON

This conference is delighted to see the resurgence of a feminist movement that is gaining media attention and that is campaigning on a broad range of women’s issues. Young feminists are organising conferences and summer schools to raise awareness of feminist principles, and building coalitions to successfully campaign on specific and general issues. These groups […]

OVARIAN CANCER – THE SILENT KILLER

Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cancer in women in the UK, affecting around six thousand and eight hundred 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 […]

DEFEND YOUR SCHOOL – PROTECT WOMEN WORKERS

Conference applauds the UNISON campaign to Defend Your School. The schools workforce is predominately female, with women part-time workers outnumbering part-time male staff by ten to one. The majority of these women will be in low paid jobs – as teaching assistants, schools meals staff, admin and clerical staff etc. Now, government proposals for the […]

OUR NHS – MORE THAN A BRAND NAME

In 1945 the UK national debt was 215% of GDP – however the government chose to invest in public services and we saw the creation of the national health service. In April 2010, the UK national debt was 71% of GDP, and yet the coalition government has used this as an excuse to try and […]