Trans equality is everyone’s business

Conference recognises there is still a long way to go to realise equality for all trans people in the United Kingdom (UK), as demonstrated in the Women and Equality Select Committee’s trans equality inquiry report published in January 2016. This report made a number of recommendations following a public consultation with trans communities highlighting the […]

ILGA – European Solidarity

Conference notes our union’s rich history of international work and the increased importance of having a global perspective in many areas of our work. Conference recognises that UNISON’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) group also has a strong tradition and practice of undertaking international work and regularly engages with and plays an important role […]

Welcoming UNISON’s new Private Contractors National Forum

This conference welcomes new UNISON Rule D 4 which introduces a new Private Contractors National Forum. Conference recognises that some private sector employers discourage trade union membership, raise barriers to trade union organising, may not recognise our union, and place equality initiatives at a low priority. UNISON members who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual and […]

LGBT Financial Capability

Conference will note that there has long been a myth about the “pink pound”, which imagines lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people as living wildly hedonistic lifestyles and consuming luxury goods and services out of the reach of the rest of society. The reality is that LGBT people are far more likely to live […]

Isle of Man

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people on the Isle of Man are not protected from unfair treatment and discrimination in the workplace and in access to public and private service. There are no legal protections for LGBT people in the form of anti-discrimination laws relating to specifically to sexual orientation or gender and there […]

ELDERLY CARERS

Conference is concerned that hundreds of thousands of carers over retirement age receive no Carers Allowance in recognition of their efforts in caring for their sick, frail or disabled family members, friends or neighbours. In a press release of May 2016, Age UK estimates that carers aged over 80 now number 417,000, most of them […]

CAMPAIGN TO REDUCE LONELINESS IN OLDER PERSONS

Conference notes that there is growing evidence of elderly people suffering from loneliness. By deduction, this will include a large number of UNISON retired members. Recent research has found:- • 17% of older people are in contact with family, friends and neighbours less than once a week and 11% are in contact less than once […]

FIGHT AGAINST FUEL POVERTY

Conference notes that many pensioners in the UK are losing their lives through cold. It has recently been revealed that 43,000 pensioners lost their lives last year, largely assumed to the bad weather. Yet not one politician from any party uttered a word about this national disgrace. We repeat not one of our so called […]

PENSIONS LAW – DAYLIGHT ROBBERY

Conference believes that the most iniquitous aspect of the Government’s “Agenda for Public Service Pensions” [as far as our retired members are concerned] is its intention to grasp control of, and undermine the security of, pensions already in payment. At a stroke, their intended legislation on the Local Government Pension Scheme a)removes any effective influence […]

TWO TIER PENSION SYSTEM

Conference notes the two tier pension system that came into effect in April 2016 following the introduction of the new state pension (as discussed at Conference 2015 and embodied in Motion 5 as passed). Conference 2015 instructed the National Retired Members Committee, and called on the National Executive Council, to campaign to right this injustice. […]

RULE D6.5

Conference notes that Rule D6.5 does not describe the Branch Retired Members’ Secretary as a member of the Branch Committee, rather it says she/he “may attend and speak at all (its) meetings … and may vote on (certain matters)”. This appears to leave unclear whether she/he counts towards the quorum or has the same right […]

RETIRED MEMBERS’ CONFERENCE – FAIR REPRESENTATION

Conference notes that Conference Bulletin, UNISON Retired Members Conference 2016, dated April 2016, included the following paragraph: Proportionality and Fair Representation The principles of proportionality and fair representation contained in the NEC’s Scheme of Branch Representation must be strictly maintained. Specifically for Retired members Conference … the gender make-up of (a branch) delegation is based […]

SCHEDULE B

Conference notes that paragraph 2.2 of Schedule B excludes retired members from benefits under paragraphs 2.7 and 2.8 of the schedule. In other words, where an accident or a fatal accident befalls a retired member whilst upon union business, there is no rulebook benefit though there would be one for a full member in the […]

TRADES UNION CONGRESS

Conference notes that UNISON affiliates to the Trades Union Congress on the basis of its total membership, including retired members, and this determines the number of votes UNISON may cast at Congress. But conference also notes that there are no places for retired members, as such, on the UNISON Congress delegation. Conference finds it anomalous […]

CODE OF GOOD BRANCH PRACTICE

Conference instructs the National Retired Members’ Committee to seek the following alterations to the Code of Good Branch Practice: 1)Remove the word, “normal” from the first paragraph of 11.3.1.1; 2)Amend 11.3.14 to require the Branch Retired Members’ Secretary to be a retired member; 3)Make clear that the power of branches at annual meetings (in rule […]