Disclosure of Disability Status

This Conference recognises the disproportionate incidence of disability status of women compared with men. Women experience female organ Cancers of the cervix and uterus, twice as many women than men are diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and the incidence of mental health impairment is considerably higher for women than men. The impairment consequences of Female Genital […]

The Disability Equality Duty and Disclosure of Disability

This conference welcomes the changes to the Disability Discrimination Act that introduce new Disability Equality Duties (DED) upon public authorities from December 2006. We recognise the valuable requirement for employers and service providers to involve disabled employees and service users in order that institutional disability discrimination can be eliminated rather that the current individualised reasonable […]

Cultural/Linguistic Model of Deaf

This Conference recognises and welcomes the ongoing work being done on the British Sign Language Project since British Sign Language was recognised by Governments as the fourth indigenous language of the United Kingdom 2003. Conference notes the growing recognition of the need to combat discrimination against Deaf people as a marginalised group within society. We […]

Pensions and Black Minority Ethnic Community Members

This Conference accepts a wide range of evidence that Black people are known to be concentrated in low paid, low skilled jobs and that their life expectancy is considerably lower than white workers. There is also research evidence that demonstrates a higher risk of workplace accidents and injuries for low paid workers, it therefore follows […]

Access to work and BSL Users

Access to work is the right of every British Sign Language User, it is a functional employment right. It is an essential part of our employment opportunities to have Sign Language Interpreters to enable effective communication with other employers and provide equal access of communication within the workplace, both externally and internally. Without communication support […]

MAPPING OF DISABLED MEMBERS

The Scottish Disabled Members’ Group is concerned that no accurate statistics exist on the number of disabled members in the union. The interim report of the Equalities Review would indicate that as many as 1 in 4 people in the UK could be classified as disabled under the DDA. Impending legislation would increase this number, […]

ACCESS AT UNISON VENUES

The Scottish Disabled Members’ Group recognises the excellent work done by coalitions of disabled people and Centres for Inclusive Living in the field of access audits. Conference calls on the NDMC to work with the NEC to: 1)Raise awareness of the expertise available to support the work of UNISON 2)Encourage partnership working, where appropriate, with […]

Disabled People Living in Poverty

Conference recognises that many disabled people are living in poverty, and the proportion of disabled adults who are unemployed but want to work are almost three times higher than those without a disability. This demonstrates that discrimination in the labour market is a continuing issue. We know that even where disabled people are in employment, […]

Equality Duty

This Conference welcomes the new Equality Duty that will be imposed on public bodies and some private organizations from December 2006. Conference knows that no new resources will be made available to implement this piece of new legislation. Conference therefore calls upon the National Disabled Members Committee to liaise with the NEC, Labour Link and […]

Pensions and Disabled Women

This Conference believes that there is specific disadvantage experienced by disabled women in respect of pensions which can result in greater poverty in older age. We experience breaks in employment history because of discrimination in employment, failure by employers to make adequate reasonable adjustments and as a result are unable to make consistent contributions in […]

Women and Pensions

Conference recognises the current crisis surrounding pensions and all our futures upon retirement. We also recognise that for women the situation is far worse than that of men and are, therefore, grateful for the work that UNISON continues to do with the Fawcett Society on the inequality for women in our pensions systems. Conference welcomes […]

Sexual Violence

Conference notes with concern the findings of the ICM opinion poll commissioned by Amnesty International which indicates that a third of people in the United Kingdom believe that a woman is partially or totally responsible for being raped. The Amnesty report Sexual Assault Research published on 21 November 2005 shows that 26 per cent of […]

OVARIAN CANCER

Conference is concerned at the increasing number of women suffering from ovarian cancer. Ovarian cancer is the fourth most common cause of death from cancer amongst women in the UK and is known as the silent killer. Every year about 6,000 women in the UK are diagnosed with this disease, the majority of these cases […]

HEALTHY MINDS AT WORK

Conference welcomes the decision of the European Social Fund equality programme to award £2.45 million to Healthy Minds at Work in Wales. Conference notes that UNISON Cymru/Wales are founding members of the development partnership. Research has shown that twice as many women than men in the United Kingdom have a diagnosis of a depressive illness. […]

Union/Life Balance

Conference welcomes the work carried out by the National Women’s Committee in promoting the need for a work/life balance and flexible working. Conference also believes that there is also a need for a union/life balance and notes with concern that at last year’s National Women’s Conference the black caucus was held at 6.00 p.m., one […]