Conference notes that the triggering of Article 50 in early 2017 is a decision that affects working people, their families and communities in the UK, in the European Union and broader Europe. The Exiting the EU negotiations require that the government both seeks to leave the EU but also negotiates a new relationship and trade […]
Conference motions
Close to a decade since the beginning of the global financial crisis, the pressure on public services and those that provide them remains unrelenting. Despite the unprecedented cuts that our members and the communities that they serve have already experienced, a raft of further measures now threaten to push services to breaking point. These include […]
Conference recognises the increasingly hostile environment in which UNISON branches are operating. Austerity cuts have reduced the number of activists and put further pressure on facility time; while increased fragmentation of the workforce has made organising more difficult. Meanwhile the need for us to develop an organising approach has never been greater. There is no […]
Conference notes that outsourcing and privatisation constitute a failed economic model for local government services. It only serves to reduce our members’ pay, terms and conditions and maximise profits for contractors, consultants and shareholders. Conference also notes that services get worse following privatisation and outsourcing. Private companies have a legal duty to reward shareholders, so […]
Conference, there are three areas of concern. The crisis in Social Care, the underfunding of our NHS and decimation of our Community Care services, all combine to create a perfect storm. The scale of the problems now faced by adult social care providers are enormous, and are the direct result of massive Government cuts to […]
Conference recognises that the social care system is in crisis. Council spending on social care fell by 9% in real terms between 2010 and 2015 due to huge funding cuts from central government. The number of pensioners receiving care from their local council fell by 26% over that period. The King’s Fund estimate that the […]
Social care plays a vital and growing role in our society. Yet increasing demand, falling real terms funding, and increasingly complex care needs has put the sector under significant strain. Social Care workers are often the people who are at the sharp end following cuts in public services elsewhere – dealing with clients who cannot […]
The neverending UK housing crisis means that millions of workers and their families live in expensive, overcrowded and insecure homes. Often these homes are long distances away from work or family and involve many hours of daily commutes. Conversely UNISON research has shown many families have grown up children living with them not out of […]
Conference notes that in his 2015 Budget announcement the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, announced that the establishment of a “National Living Wage” for workers over the age of 25. The rate for this wage was established at £7.20 an hour from April 2016, rising to £9 an hour by 2020. Conference disputes […]
Conference notes the work undertaken by the Service Group Executive and in particular the Community Service Group in Scotland prior to the passing of 2016 National Delegate Conference Motion 2 ‘Organising for growth’. The preliminary work carried out by the Community Service Group in Scotland included a brief outline of regional Community structures and précis […]