AMENDMENT TO THE NDMC CONSTITUTION 05

Point i) After “National Women’s Committee”, insert “and two co-opted members from the Women’s Caucus at Disabled Members Conference”

DISABILITY LEAVE

This conference congratulates those UNISON branches that have negotiated the UNISON model Disability Leave Agreement with their employers and we commend their efforts to protect our disabled members rights at work. However, we note that many branches are still experiencing difficult negotiations and spending energy and resources persuading employers that their sickness absence policies and […]

MENTAL HEALTH, EQUALITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Conference welcomes the publication of The DRC’s Mental Health Advisory Group’s Report ‘Coming Together – mental health, equality and human rights’ This Report notes that discrimination and unequality systematically destroy people’s mental health. People with long term mental health conditions face some of the most severe exclusion in Britain, including an 80 per cent unemployment […]

SAFE SPACE FOR DISA BLED LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER MEMBERS

This Conference is aware of the complexities surrounding disclosure of disabilities and recognises the similarities that lgbt people must face when disclosing their sexual orientation or gender identity particularly if they are not ‘out’. Conference believes that disabled Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people face homophobia, biphobia and transphobia and affirms the need for […]

THE SINGLE EQUALITIES BILL – GREEN PAPER

Conference welcomes the UK Government’s Consultation Paper bringing forward proposals to introduce a Single Equality Act but believes that the current proposals are a lost opportunity for disabled people. Any Single Equalities Bill must ensure that disabled people have the protection of the strongest possible anti-discrimination legislation. Conference calls on the National Disabled Members Committee […]

Women, Rape, Alcohol and the Law

COMPOSITE C – WOMEN RAPE ALCOHOL AND THE LAW (Emergency Motion – Alcohol & Rape of Women and Emergency Motion 4 – Who’s Perverting the Course of Justice? Under current English and Welsh law rape can only be established if it can be demonstrated that sexual intercourse took place without consent and that the defendant […]

Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer is the fourth most common cause of death from cancer amongst women in the United Kingdom (UK) and is known as the silent killer. One-hundred women die each week from ovarian cancer; it is the fourth most common cancer in women, and the biggest gynaecological killer. Every year about 6,000 women in the […]

Cuts to Health Services for Women

The National Health Service (NHS) is in crisis. Much of the government’s injection of additional investment has ended up in the pockets of private companies. The end result of government policies has been job losses, cuts, closures and privatisation. Women form the majority of the workforce in the NHS, and are also disproportionately represented in […]

IPSWICH MURDERS

Conference sends out its deepest sympathies to the families of the young women recently murdered in Ipswich by a serial killer preying on women working in the sex industry. These tragedies highlight once again the vulnerability of women, who for whatever reason, are out and about at night. On November 25th 2006, the Eastern Region […]

WOMEN’S PENSIONS

This motion is as a result of the Pensions White Paper put before Parliament on Tuesday 16th January 2007. Conference welcomes the improvements to the original proposals for Pension Reform which has been won by a determined coalition of Women Trade Unionists, EOC and Pension Campaigners. Conference notes however that the new proposals still do […]

MATERNITY AND CARER’S RIGHTS

Conference welcomes the new rights for parents and carers to be introduced in the Work and Families Act, which will come into force in April 2007 It notes that parents and carers struggling to achieve work life balance will now be able to take advantage of the following improvements: 1)Statutory Maternity Pay, Maternity Allowance and […]

GLOBALISATION

This conference notes the War on Want report “Fashion Victims, The true cost of cheap clothes and Primark, Asda and Tesco” published on 8th December 2006, which highlighted the working conditions of the predominantly female workforce within the textile factories in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which produces clothes for Primark, Asda and Tesco. This report found that […]

Skinny Models

Conference applauds the Spanish government in taking the first step on putting pressure on the Association of Fashion Designers to use a calculation known as the Body Mass Index (BMI), which is based on weight and height to reject excessively thin models. The World Health Organisation says a person’s BMI should be between 18 and […]

Promoting the Gender Equality Duty

Conference is pleased to note that with effect from April 2007, there will be a statutory duty on all public authorities to have due regard to the need to: 1)eliminate unlawful sex discrimination; 2)promote equality of opportunity between men and women Public authorities will no longer be able to simply respond to complaints of sex […]

Violence Against Women

Conference welcomes the recent report of the Secretary General of the United Nations (UN) entitled “In-Depth Study on all Forms of Violence against Women” which acknowledges the role of violence against women (VAW) in perpetuating the subordination of women in all societies throughout the globe. The UN report specifically states that strengthening efforts to achieve […]