Sickness Absence

Conference notes: 1.that employers are adopting increasingly draconian procedures which allow for an increase in the disciplining and dismissal of genuinely ill employees; 2.that it is often the case that the same employers are failing to abide by health and safety procedures or the Disability Discrimination Act; 3.that one of the single largest causes of […]

Disability Equality within the Water Industry

We welcome the changes to legislation passed in April 2005 and coming into force December 2006. This will impose a new disability equality duty on public bodies. However we are concerned that the water industry may not be covered by the new duties. We believe these new duties could contribute towards a barrier-free society and […]

Wheechair Access to Water Coolers

Conference welcomes the decision of the Water and Environment Service Group Executive to launch the Water@Work campaign as part of the wider Water for Health Alliance in liaison with Water UK, WaterAid, and various water companies. Conference recognises that the health benefits of drinking water regularly are incontrovertible and that well hydrated workers have been […]

Health and Safety Reps Seminar

The Service Groups covered by the Business and Environment Unit held a successful Seminar of Health & Safety Reps at National level in the early part of this decade. Many Health and Safety related legislative changes that affect members in the Water & Environment Service Group have occurred since this time and this Water & […]

Concessionary Fares Schemes

Conference whilst welcoming the proposal to introduce a long awaited UK-wide concessionary bus fares scheme effective from April 2008 announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his Budget Speech, in line with Unison policy, it deplores this delay to include England as existing national schemes already exist in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland. The […]

NHS Privatisation

Our NHS faces its gravest threat from Privatisation. The irony is that it is a Labour Government that seems intent on pushing Privatisation into areas even the Tories didn’t dare. New Labour ministers like Patricia Hewitt now talk openly about competition between hospitals. They have reintroduced the market into the NHS by for example, introducing […]

Reorganisation of the Health Service and Review of Public Administration, N. Ireland

Conference calls on the Service Group Executive to ensure that assistance and materials are provided for those regions and countries currently undergoing major re-organisation within local Health Authorities such as Primary Care Trusts in English regions and the Review of Public Administration within the Northern Ireland region which has serious implications for the delivery of […]

Agenda for Change Partnership Working & Rogue Trusts

The introduction of Agenda for Change was supposed to see partnership working between UNISON and NHS Management. Whilst in many places this has worked to a degree, in many trusts “Partnership” in any meaningful sense has not existed. In some trusts management have tried to bypass partnership working as regards panels. There is clear evidence […]

Branches involved in PFI meetings

Conference recognises that the meetings called to discuss PFI and privtisation issues have been well attended and useful to the branches concerned. We call on the Health Service Group Executive to give a commitment to organise these meetings as a regular fixture.

Primary Care Trusts

That this Conference congratulates UNISON National Officers, Regional Officers, and Branches in their continuing campaign to defend Primary Care Trusts and calls on the Health Service Group Executive to encourage a full multidisciplinary approach to practice based commissioning.

Overseas Nurses Network

Conference notes with disappointment that no progress has been made on the Formation of Regional Overseas Nurses / Carers Network (conference Motion (73) 2005) similar to that of the Overseas Network by our brothers and sisters in Scottish UNISON. This is a missed opportunity to recruit into membership many thousands of overseas migrant workers employed […]

Marketisation of Health and Staff Co-ops

Conference opposes the break-up of the NHS and introduction of a health market involving private businesses, foundation trusts, charities and community interest companies (co-ops). Conference recognises that staff co-ops may appear attractive to certain groups of workers who believe that they can win market share against huge, well-resourced health companies. However, healthcare is not a […]

Protect Health Workers’ Freedom of Speech

Conference condemns recent attempts to gag workers’ rights to talk to the media about Trust budget cuts, e.g. by Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust. Conference believes that individuals have a right to raise concerns which are covered by the Public Interest Disclosure Act. Furthermore Trade Unions have collective freedom of speech concerning […]

NHS Cuts – National Action Required

Conference notes with grave concern the wave of cuts in NHS services over the last year, as a result of shortfalls in funding from Primary Care Trusts. The government claims that it has put millions of pounds into additional funding for the NHS, yet we have seen ward closures, job losses and reductions in essential […]

High Cost Area supplements: Step up the Campaign!

CONFERENCE notes the provision in the Agenda for Change agreement for the areas where High Cost Area Supplements are paid to be extended beyond their current geographical limits. Conference notes that there has been a rapid rise in the cost of living, and especially housing, in several areas, meaning that the take-home pay of workers […]