MANAGING SICKNESS BETTER

Despite the excellent UNISON guidance booklet, ‘Making Us Better’, and Annex Z of the Agenda for Change Terms and Conditions handbook, many NHS employers have very punitive policies and procedures on managing sickness absence. These effectively mean that members can be disciplined for being off sick, in that they receive ‘warnings’ that if their attendance […]

HEALTH SERVICE GROUP STRUCTURES – BARGAINING SECTORS, OCCUPATIONAL GROUPS AND NETWORKS

Bargaining Sectors, Occupational Groups and Occupational Networks Conference notes the report Health Service Group Structures Review which sets out the changes to the Health Group constitution necessary to address the changes to Service Group structures agreed at National Delegate Conference 2009 and the revised sector/occupational group changes proposed by the Health Group Executive. Conference approves […]

NHS AND THE QUALITY & PRODUCTIVITY CHALLENGE

Conference notes the good work done by UNISON in their campaigns under the headings of ·A Million Voices for Public Services ·Pay Matters ·Keep the NHS working ·Positively Public. These campaigns have been essential in the primary care sector where the threat of privatisation has been the greatest under the Transforming Community Services agenda. The […]

PENSIONS – SALARY SACRIFICE SCHEMES WITH PRIVATE CONTRACTORS

Conference reaffirms its commitment in protecting members’ pensions, who face privatisation/outsourcing in the NHS or have already been privatised/outsourced during the life of this government. Conference notes the current present trend by private companies is moving to disband defined benefit pension schemes ( final salary schemes to its existing members), thereby raising the prospect of […]

BANK WORKING UNDER AGENDA FOR CHANGE

Walsall Hospitals Branch believes that many NHS employers are applying inconsistencies when using bank workers as a deliberate ploy to prevent the payment of overtime and unsociable hours payments enjoyed by NHS employees. NHS employers are engaging staff on separate bank workers contracts in order to avoid paying the appropriate AfC overtime rates. The Walsall […]

DOMESTIC ABUSE

Conference welcomes the support of the National Women’s Committee in addressing the issue of domestic abuse but there is further work to be done. This Conference calls on the National Women’s Committee to work with Regional Women’s Committees, the NEC and Service Groups to re-focus on the failure of many employers to develop workplace policies […]

BLACK WOMEN AND BREAST CANCER

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in the UK. More than 45,500 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year and the disease causes almost 12,000 deaths each year. Eight in ten cases of breast cancer are diagnosed in women over the age of 50. Black and Asian women are significantly more […]

DOMESTIC ABUSE TRAINING

This conference believes that domestic abuse training should become statutory in public sector organisations such as the Police, NHS, Local Government and Social Services and should become part of the workforce strategy. On average every week two women are killed in England and Wales by their partners or ex partners (Crime in England and Wales […]

AUNG SAN SUU KYI – THE ELECTED BUT IMPRISONED LEADER OF BURMA

Conference, hear the words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, speaking about Aung San Suu Kyi. “I think of my sister Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi every day. Her picture hangs on the wall of my office, reminding me that, thousands of miles away in Asia, a nation is oppressed. Every day I ask myself: have […]

JOB SHARE CONSEQUENCES

The role of job sharing a post in an employer’s organisation or at Branch or Regional committee seems to work well for women and in the case of UNISON seems to be an effective tool to engage women from various Service Groups to become first interested then active lay members. It seems to fall down […]

MARY SEACOLE – TURN HER INTO STONE

In June 2009 a proposal to raise public funding to erect a monument to this positive black female pioneer and her significant achievements was aired on national television. The ambition to erect a statue of her “going forth”, to be sited in St Thomas’ Hospital grounds on the lawn opposite the Houses of Parliament, was […]

REGIONAL RAPE CONVICTION RATES – IT’S A POSTCODE LOTTERY

Conference, every thirty four minutes a crime of rape is reported to the police. For every rape reported, many more are not reported. One in four local authorities has no specialised support services to help the victims of rape. Conference notes with dismay the Fawcett Society statement that there is a growing gap in rape […]

WOMEN AND CYCLING

In early 2009 SUSTRANS (sustainable transport Charity) commissioned a survey of one thousand women to better understand why women only travel by bike for less than one per cent of journeys in the UK compared to fifteen per cent of journeys in the Netherlands. SUSTRANS found that while many women have access to a bike […]

BUYING SEX IS NOT A SPORT

Buying Sex Is Not a Sport is a grassroots campaign to raise awareness and effect change around sex trafficking and prostitution and the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic games. As the demand for prostitution has historically increased around major sporting events, those concerned with the sexual exploitation of women and girls have already begun working and […]

THE PERSONALISATION AGENDA

Conference notes that the introduction of direct payments, along with pilots of Individual budgets, have the potential to increase choice and control for disabled and older women over the services they receive. However, we are concerned that there are insufficient safeguards to protect disabled women who choose to employ their own personal assistants as well […]