At a time of record youth unemployment this Conference condemns the cuts made upon the Connexions Service for young people that have seen over 3,500 advisers made redundant and many Connexions Centres closed. Consequently young people are being denied careers advice to help them into employment, apprenticeships and with their educational choices. Furthermore changes to […]
Conference motions
Conference condemns the Conservative-led coalition for the widespread and unprecedented destruction of council services that has resulted from the savage and unprecedented reductions in central government grants to local authorities and fire authorities and to the devolved nations. Local government workers have borne the brunt of this in job losses, the pay freeze, and attacks […]
Conference notes the continuing interest in co-ops and mutuals from central and local government. The Localism Act effectively gives council employees in England the right to require a service be privatised, and the government the power to fund them to do so. Both the Mutuals Taskforce and Mutuals Information Service are supporting mutuals ‘spun out’ […]
Conference deplores the continuing savage spending cuts taking place across local government. With a female workforce of over 75%, cuts to local government jobs, pay and conditions have a detrimental effect on women in particular and are adversely impacting on other protected groups. Spending cuts are pushing women out of the local government workforce, driving […]
Conference condemns the failure of political leaders across the UK to grasp the nettle and implement a long-term sustainable solution to the funding deficit in social care. The numbers of people who need care and support are continuing to grow as a result of our ageing population and medical advances which have improved life expectancy. […]
Conference notes the ruthless way in which the Conservative-led UK government is targeting local government public services for privatisation. In England, the Localism Act effectively gives non-profit-making organisations and council employees the right to require a service be privatised. The Open Public Service White Paper specifically targets specific services for more privatisation – customer contact; […]
Black members are on the brink of economic meltdown from the coalition governments’ cuts, scapegoating and hypocrisy. The cuts to public services have directly affected Black members and the most vulnerable in our society, creating anger and a real sense of injustice. Conference is deeply concerned that despite over 40 years of anti-racism legislation, Black […]
This conference is concerned that working conditions for health members are deteriorating and that the use of policies and procedures are being used to the particular detriment of disabled members, eroding both their opportunities for career progression at work and their general living standards. Health employers appear to be failing to meet their employment responsibilities […]
Conference will be aware that for some time we have seen an increase in zero hours or permanent variable hours contracts within the public sector. Employers within the Northern region have been using variable contracts as a means of compulsory redundancies. NHS Foundation Trusts are not the only ones using using zero hours or variable […]
Conference notes with concern the devastating impact of the cuts in the NHS, and the hidden impact on the earning ability and pensions of women NHS workers. As many as one in three women currently work in the public sector in the UK, and as the majority of both service users and providers, women will […]
Ambulance staff work in uncontrollable and challenging environments. They are often subjected to abuse and injuries undertaking their duties. The Government doesn’t consider ambulance services to be emergency services and describes them as essential services. With the current proposed changes to retirement age this presents a difficult and a seemingly impossible challenge to our members […]
Whilst Conference acknowledges and supports all the NHS staff who are involved in direct patient/client care and who are traditionally regarded as front line, we reject the government position that they are not affected by the cuts to our NHS with nurses, therapists etc. facing redundancy and service closures constantly. However, we also need to […]
The turn of the millennium is often said to have witnessed a second golden age for Public Health across the UK. In the late 1990s and 2000s new programmes, services and initiatives were commissioned and launched intended to improve the health of our citizens and more directly to reduce the growing health divide between the […]
Conference is extremely alarmed by the roll out of Any Qualified Provider (AQP). Following experiences with the implementation of the similar Any Willing Provider policy on a West Midlands smoking cessation service, the contract was written in such a way that a number of NHS staff were lawfully made redundant as TUPE did not apply […]
Our members in the NHS are about to enter the second year of a pay freeze imposed as a result of the Comprehensive Spending Review presented by the Chancellor in October 2010. This means that for the second year running, the NHS Pay Review Body was given a restricted remit by the Secretary of State […]