Conference welcomes the continuing progress being made with UNISON’s Ethical Care Charter and the broader campaign rebranded ‘Save Care Now’. Social care budgets in England have been slashed by £2.68 billion in the last three years. The government claims the 2% precept English councils have been permitted to add to Council Tax will raise £2 […]
Conference motions
This Conference regrets that there is no automatic notification to HMRC to adjust tax codes to account for the receipt of State Pension. Despite low occupational pensions, the receipt of State Pension frequently puts retired members above the level of personal allowance (£11,000 for 2016/17) and therefore liable for payment of tax. It is everyone’s […]
Our 2014 Conference instructed the National Retired Members Committee and the National Executive Council to resist moves to make access for retired people to goods, services benefits and social communications available only via the internet. Sadly this process continues with many service providers such as banks, building societies, energy providers and travel companies only offering […]
Since the implementation of the proposals of the 2011 Lord Hutton enquiry the significant changes to the Local Government Pension Scheme have produced a knock on effect that affects existing pensioners and those with deferred benefits as well as our current serving colleagues. Putting to one side the imposition of higher contributions and later retirement […]
Conference is concerned at the government cuts to councils for bus services, £27m in the current year and the impact this will have on rural communities who depend on bus services to get around. Rural bus services are being wiped out in many areas of England and Wales due to cuts in subsidies. Described by […]
Conference is concerned to learn that the rail industry is planning to replace paper train tickets with smartphone technology within three years and the impact this will have on older/elderly travellers who it is feared will be subsidising younger generations. Campaign group Railfuture has warned that elderly people who do not have smartphones and will […]
Conference notes that the government is proposing new Local Government Pension Scheme investment regulations and asset pooling. Whilst there could be advantages in the pooling of LGPS funds, should this go forward, the proposal also gives new power to the government to decide where council pension funds make investments. As such, Conference fully endorses UNISON’s […]
Composite A NEPAL EARTHQUAKE The Nepal Himalayan earthquake struck on the morning of 25th April 2015 at 11.56, killing more than 7,000 people. A 7.8 magnitude earthquake, the worst for 81 years. The earthquake triggered an avalanche on Mount Everest, killing at least 19 people, making it the deadliest day on the mountain in history. […]
Conference is concerned that health services for the whole community are under sustained attack from wave after wave of austerity cuts. We know that Black communities take a disproportionate impact of these cuts There is growing alarm at the impact of cuts to mental health services for vulnerable children and young people. A recent annual […]
Conference, the toxic debate on immigration has deep echoes of a past that never seems to leave us. The response of UNISON Black members’ is based on the lessons of the anti-racist movement and principals of self-organisation. It is said that poverty breeds fear which causes people to look for scapegoats. UKIP and its rhetoric […]
Conference, the Equality Challenge Unit (ECU) piloted a Race Equality Charter Mark with the aim to inspire a strategic approach to making cultural and systemic changes that will make a real difference to Black staff and students. The Charter covered: a)Professional and support staff b)Academic staff c)Student attainment, diversity of the curriculum and progression of […]
Last summer, Israel launched another deadly assault on Gaza. Over 2200 Palestinians were killed and tens of thousands are still homeless. Currently, people in Gaza are living amongst the rubble of their homes, without proper running water or electricity. One year on and the problems left by this assault are still visible. We want to […]
Conference notes with some distress that despite the UNISON ruling which allows for the creation of Black members self organised groups, protected seats at the highest lay member level, fairness and proportionality rules for conference and numerous motions which promote the increased involvement of Black members throughout our structures, many Black members continue to report […]
Conference, for many years medical science has been discovering life changing and life saving ways to increase life expectancy of human beings. However one of the areas that need to be highlighted for enhancing and saving life is organ donation. A donation is where a person donates their organs and tissues for transplant. A transplant […]
Conference, many people will not have heard of the Rohingya people, yet as the Economist noted these are some of the most persecuted minorities of people. The Rohingya people are Muslims from the Rakhine state in Burma and speak the Rohingya language. As far back as 1982 the Burmese government has denied the Rohingya citizenship, […]