The ideological swingeing cuts that have been placed on the police service for more than seven years have had a profound impact upon our members’ health and well-being. With up to 25% of force budgets being cut, we have seen a vast reduction in the service to the public, and to police officers and staff […]
Conference motions
A number of our members have been transferred to the private sector as part of TUPE transfers. These members are feeling as though they no longer fit into the wider organisation of the service group. It is essential that branches continue to offer the support necessary and to maintain a profile with the new employers. […]
Since the advent of austerity, equalities and diversity have become less of a priority in the police service. Training where it exists, is no longer the quality that we would expect and our members have suffered as a consequence. Prior to 2010, equalities training was seen as the bedrock of delivering a fair and discrimination […]
Police Staff in England and Wales were frustrated by the amount of time the 2017 pay negotiations took to be resolved. The very small gains that were known in January 2018 were consulted upon in February 2018. These small concessions were largely lost due to the amount of time it took to consult with our […]
Conference notes with dismay the reported deaths of at least 26 Nigerian women and girls, who are suspected to have been murdered while attempting to cross the Mediterranean. The bodies of the women were brought to the southern Italian port of Salerno by the Spanish ship Cantabria on Sunday 5 November, and prosecutors immediately opened […]
The introduction of the Barred and Advisory lists in December 2017 is yet another attack on police staff and needs to be exposed and, wherever and however possible, challenged. They add to the increasing repertoire of restrictions placed on us as employees of police forces. Further, the impact the legislation could have on those of […]
Conference applauds Yvette Cooper for her stand against sexist online abuse suffered by her and other leading women MPs during the general election. In a speech to Labour Party conference she said “unless misogyny on the internet is challenged, more women’s voices will be silenced, and more women will be oppressed or feel prevented from […]
This Conference notes: Over a woman’s lifetime sanitary products cost more than £5000 with women spending around £13 every month. Many young women, including those menstruating for the first time are unable to access or afford sanitary products. This can have a major impact on women’s and girls physical, mental wellbeing and confidence. It is […]
UNISON recognises that the excessive pressure of an increasingly demanding work culture in the UK is one of the biggest challenges to the mental health of our members. If you look around your surroundings whether at home, at work or in your social life, how many women do you feel are suffering from a mental […]
Conference welcomes the work initiated by UNISON’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) group to begin to make UNISON’s organisation, events, policies, systems and good practice advice inclusive of non-binary members. Conference is concerned about scare-mongering media coverage of some organisations’ moves towards non-binary inclusion. This coverage has suggested that non-binary inclusion represents an attempt […]
Conference there was much debate during the Referendum Campaign about returning power to the Parliament in Westminster if we voted to leave the EU. Control over our laws, it was argued, would be returned to our Houses of Parliament and all our laws would be debated by our democratically elected Members of Parliament. There was […]
Conference notes that Fibromyalgia is a much misunderstood condition that predominantly impacts on women, with some research suggesting 90% of those affected are women, aged between 20 to 50 years. Conference further notes that this condition is difficult to diagnose and difficult to manage which brings huge challenges especially for those women who want and […]
Conference notes that 86% of cases referred to the government’s forced marriage unit involve women, and that the abusive consequences for women with learning disabilities are likely to be severe. Whilst it is possible that the family believe that their action in arranging a marriage without consent will protect their child, build strong family ties […]
WOMEN TRAVELLING SAFELY Conference is extremely concerned that women are feeling increasingly vulnerable when travelling in their daily lives, using public transport. Recent British Transport Police figures show 1,448 offences against women were reported on public transport in 2016-17 – which is a significant increase from previous years. Many were sexual assaults. Also, many of […]
Conference welcomes the work that has previously been done by UNISON on hate crime. However, “mate crime” is less well recognised. Whilst there is no statutory definition of a ‘mate crime’, according to the Welsh government it is the term given to ‘the befriending of people, who are perceived by perpetrators to be vulnerable, for […]