National Bargaining

Conference notes the Passenger Transport Forum (PTF) replaced the Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) with effect from 1st August 2005. The purpose of the consultative element of the PTF is to provide a joint Employer/Trade Union Forum committed to partnership working in order to consider the Human Resources implication of public transport issues, while the negotiating […]

Stop the destruction of SYPTE

South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE), has, in the last few years lost dozens of members of staff, encouraged to leave via SYPTE’s Voluntary Redundancy scheme, redundancies or merely by the none replacement leavers – many of these job losses have been amongst UNISON members. This policy of slashing services to the public will this […]

Encouraging Diversity in WET Committees

In UNISON around 12% of our total membership identify as Black. UNISON is committed to fair representation and proportionality (Rule D4.1). However we know in the WET sector we do not see enough Black members represented at branch, regional and national committee level despite statistics telling us that Black people are still amongst those most […]

Raising the profile of LGBT workplace equality in WET

Conference welcomes the strong track record of our water, environment and transport (WET) service group on equality issues. Amongst other successes, this has resulted in a diversity of activists on our national WET service group bodies, reflecting UNISON’s rules on fair representation and proportionality. Conference acknowledges the importance of such role models and the contribution […]

Tackling Biphobia in the WET Industries

Conference welcomes the progress we have made in putting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality on the bargaining agenda in the water, environment and transport (WET) industries. However, conference notes that LGBT workers are a diverse group, who experience different types of discrimination in different ways. There is increasing understanding that issues facing transgender […]

Is VS in the water industry the answer?

The present system of outperformance as practiced by most of the water companies in the UK industry is unsustainable and dangerous to both those working in the industry and the general public. To make more money for our owners the companies keep reducing the workforce either by redundancies, restructures or by leaving vacancies unfilled and […]

TTIP and the Water Industry

Although most water companies in the UK are already foreign owned this is not the case of Scottish Water and Dwr Cymru (Welsh Water). As such they have been protected from predatory takeovers. The Transatlantic Trade Treaty (TTIP) whilst being potentially dangerous to many sectors has declared a definite interest in opening up the European […]

Opposing TTIP

Conference notes the continuing action being taken by the European Union and the United States Government officials in relation to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) – and opposes, as a matter of principle, the deregulation and privatisation agenda which so clearly lies at its heart. TTIP is particularly pertinent to UNISON members working […]

Changes to the Constitution of the WET Service Group

Conference notes the revised version of the Water, Environment and Transport Service Group Constitution which has been circulated in the papers distributed to delegates. Conference notes that the proposed revisions to the WET constitution have been overseen by the WET Executive and in particular by a sub-group of the WET Executive which was open to […]

Protecting Bus Services

Conference notes the excellent work carried out by the Campaign for Better Transport (CBT) in highlighting the widespread cuts to local bus services which have taken place in recent years – in particular their report, “Buses in Crisis: A report on bus funding across England and Wales 2010 – 2015”. Conference notes that the report […]

The Policy Making Role of the Environment Agency

The policy making role of the Environment Agency Conference believes that the 2010-2015 coalition Government made a huge mistake when, in October 2010, it instructed the Environment Agency to “… cease policy making activities”. Previously the Environment Agency had been encouraged to use the expertise and experience at its disposal to contribute to the formulation […]

Improving working conditions for Care workers

There is a high proportion of Black workers in the care and support sector. Black workers disproportionately face job losses, downgrading and cuts in hours. In addition to this, care workers working with individuals with learning difficulties and dementia are at a higher risk of suffering from violence and abuse at work. Some of whom […]

Equality rights and national collective agreements

Conference is concerned at the continuing pressure to move away from nationally agreed terms and conditions amongst local government employers, including those of our own National Joint Council (NJC). Conference notes that it was our union’s national collective bargaining that established many equality protections long before they were enshrined in law. For example, our predecessor […]

Local government pay – an equality issue

Conference notes with concern that local government pay remains the lowest in the public sector, and that most local government workers are also paid substantially less than their equivalents in the private sector. The real value of average UK pay packets has fallen by 12% since 2010, and for most local government workers the fall […]

Recruitment and Retention of Activists

Conference condemns the large number of job losses in Local Government which are a result of the Tory led coalition cuts. Conference acknowledges the particular impact this has had on Local Government branches, the loss of members and often the loss of experienced activists. Conference is angry but recognises that these losses will continue for […]