Conference notes that many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people are less able than others to rely on family support in old age so may be more reliant on home care services. Conference is concerned about the quality of such services and whether they address the needs of LGBT people. Conference also notes that […]
Conference motions
Conference welcomes the adoption in June by the Australian Parliament of a Bill extending the provisions of the country’s Sex Discrimination Act so as to prohibit discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex status in areas including employment, the provision of goods and services, and education. This is the first time […]
Conference welcomes the intention of the Scottish Government to ensure that there is equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) couples when it comes to pensions that are under Scottish control. Hence LGBT teachers, local government workers, NHS staff and police and fire service personnel will have equality in pension provision in Scotland. As […]
Conference notes that consensual acts between same-sex adults are criminalised in 80 United Nations member states and homosexuality results in the death penalty in 6 of these countries. Of the 54 states in the Commonwealth, homosexual activity remains a criminal offence in 41 of the 54 nations. Conference further notes that the picture for transgender […]
The conference notes that the employers supposedly final offer of 1% for 2013-14 and the deletion of scale point 4 from October 2013 made on 24 April. Conference also notes that the offer is currently well below the Retail Price Index (RPI) inflation rate of around 3% and does not meet our claim for a […]
The Scottish Joint Council employers made a final pay offer last November of: 1)1% increase on all spinal column points from 1 April 2013. 2)Introduction of a Scottish Local Government Living Wage set at £7.50ph (The living wage element to be applied after the 1% uplift) 3)Potential for detrimental changes to terms & conditions next […]
Conference is concerned about increased outsourcing and hidden privatisation in local government and the impact on disabled workers. Local authorities who oppose privatisation are looking at mutuals, cooperatives and social enterprises, all privatisation by another name. Public services by their nature are under-provided by the market because they do not make a profit. They are […]
Local government employees have had their pay and in some instances increments frozen for the past three years. Councils like Sheffield are planning to dismiss and re-engage staff to force through yet another pay and increment freeze. Black staff employed in the public sector are concentrated in the lower grades and the impact on such […]
UNISON’s initial Freedom of Information (FOI) exercise conducted in the Greater London, West Midlands and North West regions has revealed that a significant number of local authorities are shedding hundreds of thousands of jobs across the UK. Those FOIs show the number of Black staff that have been made redundant in the financial year 2010/2011. […]
Conference notes that the Tory-led government’s onslaught on public service workers and their failed austerity measures have led to worsening terms and conditions for local government workers. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) workers are affected like any other local government worker as pay and conditions are undermined. But the impact on terms and conditions […]
Conference commends the proposal to set a “gender agenda” in local government pay negotiations. The government’s austerity measures and the pay freeze in local government have impacted disproportionally on women, not least because three quarters of workers in local government are women and more than half of these women work part-time, in low paid jobs […]
Conference is totally against the setting up of Free Schools and Studio Schools. Unlike Academies which are existing schools that have changed status; Free Schools and Studio Schools are brand new schools. Often these new schools are located next to established existing community schools and threaten their very existence. In the majority of cases staff […]
Conference notes the continued promotion of co-ops, mutual and social enterprise by the Coalition Government as being a preferred delivery of local council services. This interest in mutualism is driven by the Coalition Government’s flagship agenda of the Big Society. By giving public sector workers a right to form mutuals and co-operatives, the government claims […]
Conference notes that the current constitution for regional representation on the UNISON NJC Committee is as follows: Regions with up to 65,000 local 1 general representative government members elect: 1 women’s representative Regions with 65,001 to 100,000 1 general representative local government members elect: 1 women’s representative 1 low paid women’s rep Regions with over […]
Cuts to budgets across the UK are hitting the training and development of school support staff. Research by the Institute of Education (IoE) on the effectiveness of Teaching Assistants (TAs) has been misinterpreted by some and reports such as the Sutton Trust Toolkit to Improve Learning suggest that TAs have little or no impact on […]