National Pensioners’ Convention

The National Pensioners’ Convention (NPC) is Britain’s biggest independent campaigning organisation of older people, representing 1000 local, regional and national pensioner groups with a total of 1.5 million members. The NPC’s main objective is to promote the welfare and interests of pensioners, both now and in the future, as a way of securing dignity, respect […]

Trades Union Congress

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has 58 affiliated trade unions with over 7 million members and states its aims as campaigning for a fair deal at work and social justice. However, Conference believes that retired members of the affiliated trade unions are not as involved in the TUC’s campaign for social justice as they could […]

Academies

This Conference is alarmed that the new coalition government announced plans on 25 May for an immediate Academies Bill to allow more schools in England, including primaries and special schools, to be fast-tracked into academies. They will not have to consult with the local authority and it is unclear if there will even be any […]

Council Tax

Conference recalls Motion 5 at Retired Members’ Conference 2007 on Council Tax which was remitted on the understanding that the Retired Members’ Committee would refer the matter to the UNISON Council Tax Working Group for consideration. It seems from the report that this was done and the concerns raised were fed into discussions on the […]

Improvements to the State Pension

Conference is concerned at the ever-increasing discrepancy between the basic state pension and the poverty threshold. In 2009 the NPC’s figures state that the poverty threshold is £165 pw whilst the basic state pension is £97.25 pw, a discrepancy of £65.75 pw. Much of the blame for this can be laid at the door of […]

Temporary Blue Badges

Conference notes that many pensioners encounter varying levels of mobility problems as they get older. On occasions pensioners will find themselves incapacitated for limited periods of time which are temporary but which cause a serious lack of mobility for the duration of the incapacity. At such time access to a blue badge would make a […]

Devolution and the Impact Upon (Trade) Unions

Conference welcomes the fact that devolution of political and economic powers, in varying forms to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is now an established part of the United Kingdom. UNISON has always supported devolution and been amongst advocates of further developing the devolution settlement. Conference notes that the potential for different ways of doing things […]

Total Place

Conference notes the trend towards increased integration of public services at local level, originating in “Strong and Prosperous Communities” in 2006, and gradual extension of local authority scrutiny over other public services. This covers almost all local public services, and sectors and service groups of UNISON. Conference deplores the absence of meaningful consultation with trade […]

Social Care

Conference welcomes the rise of social care up the political agenda and looks forward to action from all political parties in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to improve both funding and quality. Social Care needs to be an equal partner of the National Health Service (NHS), the best free care according to need not […]

Unite and Defend Our Public Services

Outsourcing in Public Services

Conference notes the continuing consensus across the main political parties in favour of outsourcing public services to the private sector. Central government “efficiency drives” and attempts to provide local services on the cheap are creating more and more work for outsourcing giants, such as Capita, Serco, Amey, Jarvis, Carillion, NGWSP, Shaws, and NSL, despite the […]

Pay

Conference condemns the new Labour Government for introducing a “Pay Freeze,” for public sector employees in 2010/11 citing the economic crisis and £billions spent bailing out the banks as the reason why public spending must be brought under control. UNISON notes that despite majority Treasury ownership, many of the banks are still paying obscene bonuses […]

Better Support for Overworked Branch Secretaries and Activists

Conference recognises the hard work that all UNISON lay representatives undertake to ensure that UNISON members are well supported and represented in the workplace. Conference notes that without the dedication of so many union representatives UNISON would not be able to operate effectively nor meet our key objectives. UNISON representatives are the backbone of the […]

Organising

Conference expresses its profound concern that the media and politicians see the solution to the unprecedented economic crisis, and the resulting soaring national debt, is to be found in public spending cuts, marketisation and outsourcing of public services all of which severely damage public services, and lead to rising levels of job losses among our […]

Shared Services

Conference notes that Shared Services are becoming a major issue for our members in Local Government – with the recession privatisation proposals are inevitable. The London Boroughs of Sutton and Merton has direct experience of shared services through a shared HR function. Despite resistance and arguments against the management proposals the Councils went ahead and […]