Ceasefire now – justice for Palestine

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. […]

World Federation of the Deaf Congress 2027

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 […]

Tory attack on trans rights and validity

During the recent Conservative Party conference several Conservative cabinet ministers gave speeches in which they attacked the transgender community. The Prime Minister said that the British public were being “bullied” into believing that “people can be any sex they want to be.” The Home Secretary said that “Trans women have no place in women’s wards […]

Trust and Confidence

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 […]

A Pay Rise for Probation Workers

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 […]

Year of LGBT+ workers – Embedding LGBT+ equality in our union

Conference notes that we are halfway through celebrating the Year of LGBT+ Workers and welcomes the opportunity that this provides to promote UNISON as the union for LGBT+ workers, raise awareness of LGBT+ rights throughout the union, challenge discrimination, and recruit and activate LGBT+ members. The year highlights the important contribution our LGBT+ members make […]

Climate Change: a campaign priority for Black LGBT+ people

Conference acknowledges the importance of the ‘Lucas Plan’ formulated 47 years ago by trade unionists at Lucas Aerospace. It proposed an alternative corporate plan, protecting jobs, demanding fair wages, better working conditions and addressed social inequalities. The 2015 International Trade Union Conference (ITUC) agreement developed this, calling for a unified campaign to promote workers rights, […]

Support for the Disability Employment Charter

Conference is proud that UNISON is one of the founding members of the Disability Employment Charter which now has 147 organisations signed up to it, including trade unions, disabled people organisations, public service employers, charitable organisations, and private sector employers. The disability employment charter was founded because of the disadvantage that disabled people experience in […]

Young Member Focused Training on Strikes and Ballots

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 […]

Maternity Pay

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 […]

Building on the legacy of the Year of Black workers

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 […]

Peer mentoring for young LGBT+ members

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+ […]

Young members and retired members – A learning and campaigning opportunity

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 […]

Young Black Members and Mental Health

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 […]

Incorporating young members into everyday LGBT+ organising

Conference will recall that the 2022 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender plus (LGBT+) Conference voted in support of stepping up our efforts to ensure young LGBT+ members are being recruited and given opportunities to become activists within our self-organised group (SOG). This committed the national LGBT+ committee to work with the National Young Members Forum (NYMF) […]