The National Young members conference notes: 1. The horrific escalation of violence since 7 October in which 1400 Israelis and more than 10,000 Palestinians have been killed so far (as of 7 November). Over 4,000 of the Palestinians who have been killed were children. The number of Palestinians killed is rising rapidly every day. 2. […]
Conference motions
Conference notes the decision taken on 10 July by the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) to hold their 2027 World Congress in United Arab Emirates (UAE), a country where homosexuality is illegal and consensual same-sex sexual activity is punishable by imprisonment. It has been reported that in their presentation the UAE delegation stated that […]
Conference condemns the comments of the Home Secretary and her attack on LGBT+, women asylum seekers and multiculturalism in her speech 26th September 2023. As the government department responsible for policing, we believe that this rhetoric undermines the confidence in policing and risks damaging the hard work and effort of generations of Police Staff, who […]
Conference notes: On 23rd June 2023 the Probation unions, UNISON, Napo and GMB/SCOOP submitted a pay-reopener claim of an increase in the value of all pay points of 12% effective from 1 April 2023 and an unconsolidated payment of £2,500. Despite repeated promises over many weeks the employer has failed to respond to this pay […]
In October 2022 Christina McAnea warned that UNISON-led strikes in 2023 could represent the largest strike by NHS workers since the early 1980s. More recently, UNISON posted a news update on the 5th of July this year titled “[the] Government should commit to NHS pay talks now to avoid possible strikes next year.” Many Young […]
A survey conducted this year by Censuswide found that young people were considering delaying or deciding not to have children. More than half cited financial reasons as the number one reason for this. Conference notes that statutory maternity leave in the United Kingdom is issued for up to 52 weeks. Local Government Employees that have […]
Conference notes that 2023 was designated UNISON’s year of Black workers, with the aim of ‘establishing legacy to generate change’. Conference welcomes all the work that has been put into marking the year of Black workers, but notes that there is still a long way to go, particularly in regards to young Black members in […]
Conference commends the campaign by the national Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender plus (LGBT+) members committee on engaging young LGBT+ members. We have now over 100 members part of this network and we are growing! As part of this campaign, the national LGBT+ committee has established a mentoring programme, where members of the national LGBT+ […]
Although we may be at different ends of our working life, young members in UNISON have a lot in common with retired members. For example • Both are protected against age discrimination by the Equality Act 2010 • Both can suffer from age discrimination • Our views are often ignored buy society • Our competency […]
The National Health Service (NHS) reported that 3.25 million individuals had contact with mental health services during 2021/22 which is approximately 5.8 percent of the population. The Mental Health Foundation tells us that 50% of mental health problems are established by age 14 and 75% by age 24, yet many young people have not had […]
Conference notes that disabled peopled face barriers to employment. 2022 figures show that 53.3% of disabled people were in work compared to 81.9% for non-disabled people. This gives a shocking “disability employment gap” of 28.5%. Although official government figures do not record the employment gap for Deaf native British Sign Language (BSL) users specifically, a […]
UNISON is a growing union that strongly believes in equality, diversity, inclusion and equity and we maximise the benefits of this to increase our bargaining and campaigning strength. We recruit and encourage activism from members of all backgrounds. Despite this, many chairs of national committees, including self organised groups and service group executive chairs, do […]
Conference notes that since the Covid-19 pandemic there has been a massive shift to hybrid working, with many of our members now splitting their time between home working and the workplace. This has resulted in benefits to many disabled workers who can manage their impairment better at home, with short breaks and more flexible start […]
Conference notes that some police services in the UK have specialised Police Link Officer with Deaf People (PLOD). This has helped to make police services more accessible to Deaf people in some areas but it remains a post code lottery without a consistent service in all parts of the UK. Turn-over of staff also means […]
Conference notes that despite the significant numbers of Black workers in the frontline work force, they are disproportionately underrepresented in managerial and senior levels within their departments and tend to be concentrated in the lower levels. Some commentators point to the ways in which institutional racism continues to play a key role in Black workers’ […]