We welcome Unison’s continued commitment to the implementation of KSF and the recent addition of training money to assist staff in lower pay Bands. We are concerned however at the lack of infrastructure and investment in many organisations to support its implementation. Many organisations have no dedicated staff resource to implement and guide staff through […]
Conference motions
Conference welcomes the progress made in embedding partnership working between unions, employers and governments at national level in each of the four countries of the UK. Whilst recognising that UNISON has significant differences with Government over the marketisation of healthcare provision in England and Northern Ireland, we believe that where we share common perspectives there […]
Conference notes the vulnerability of community health care professionals whilst working autonomously in the community environment. The visibility of staff in uniform can lead to members of the public perceiving staff as carrying valuable supplies. The lack of protection for health professionals in this environment has resulted in staff being physically & verbally attacked, threatened […]
Conference acknowledges that the tone and content of much of the report Our NHS Our Future is positive for the future development of the NHS and represents something of a shift in recent government policy towards healthcare provision. The vision presented by Lord Darzi of an NHS that is safe, personalised to individual needs, and […]
Recognising the disgraceful attacks in 2007 on the rights of trade unionists to speak out about service cuts, privatisation and detrimental service changes, this conference calls on the Health Service Group Executive to, through the NHS Staff Council, seek to negotiate a national agreement which protects this right. Conference is concerned that currently where a […]
Conference notes the creation of the UNISON Equality Scheme which promotes good practice in mainstreaming equalities issues throughout the union. At a time when UNISON is pressurising employers to fully implement the public sector equalities duties it is important to hold our own processes to similar levels of scrutiny. Conference calls on the Health Service […]
Conference notes the re-launch of the Knowledge and Skills Framework which accompanied the 2007 pay settlement for England. Conference recognises that the original intention of KSF was to provide learning and career development for all NHS staff rather than a small proportion of staff using the majority of the training budget. At a time when […]
Conference notes that 5 July 2008 marks the 60th Anniversary of the creation of the National Health Service. When the UK’s National Health Service came into operation in 1948, it was the first time anywhere in the world that completely free healthcare was made available on the basis of citizenship rather than ability to pay. […]
Conference notes the excellent article in the November 2007 edition of UNISON In-Focus magazine concerning the TUC Campaign “Speaking up for Vulnerable Workers.” Conference notes. It is quite likely a large number of the figure estimated in the article (ranging from 250,000 to a million) work covering Agency, Casual and Migrant workers are employed in […]
Widely reported is the fact that fewer than 50 per cent of breast cancer cases can be attributed to the ‘officially recognised’ risk factors understood to increase a woman’s susceptibility to breast cancer – for example late onset of menopause, body weight, diet or late age pregnancy. A growing mountain of research points the finger […]
Conference notes that, despite strong campaigning by UNISON, pay and conditions for our members in the community and voluntary sector (CVS) are inferior to those in the NHS. As CVS organisations provide an increasing number of core public services and this gap becomes more acute, it becomes increasingly unacceptable both for our members and for […]
Conference is saddened that incidents of domestic abuse are not decreasing and conviction rates, although increasing, in reality remain depressingly low. Eighty nine per cent of those suffering four or more incidents are women and one incident of domestic abuse is reported to the police every minute. Conference acknowledges the hard work that UNISON women […]
Conference applauds the decision last year to forward Motion 9 ‘Definition of Violence against Women’ to National Conference and we thank the National Women’s Committee for their work in taking forward the work contained in last year’s motion. Sadly, we were all reminded in August 2007, how our legal system fails women. On 24th August […]
This conference notes that it is some 120 years since the inaugural meeting in the Union of Women Match Makers was held in July 27 1988, and 90 years since women over 30 and married women were given the right to vote and that Parliamentary Qualification of Women Act allowed women to be elected as […]
Conference welcomes the report Moving on Up published by the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) in March 2007 which found that Bangladeshi, Caribbean and Pakistani girls obtain better GCSE grades, including Maths and English than white British boys. Yet graduate Bangladeshi, Caribbean and Pakistani women seeking work are five times more likely to be unemployed than […]