A significant number of UNISON’s social care members are in the Community Service Group. Conference notes UNISON’s ongoing campaign for a National Care Service and national terms and conditions for social care workers in England. This campaign includes an explicit call for improved sick pay in social care, including full wages for periods of self-isolation. […]
Conference motions
This branch has found that in many community workplaces since the COVID-19 pandemic, many employees now opt for complete homeworking or hybrid working (coming into the office two days a week) if they have the option to do so. Furthermore, many charities have closed their offices, forcing their workers to become homeworkers. Many community employers […]
Conference notes that the workforce in the community sector especially in the social care sector is overwhelmingly female. The additional pressures on women working in the community sector, especially low paid women have seen almost 3 in 5 of these women experience poor mental health where work is a contributing factor. However, for Black women […]
Conference is aware of the escalating levels of cuts in education in Northern Ireland. UNISON members are facing the severe impact of an imposed budget by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland . More than 70 million pounds has been slashed from immediate spending. This follows on from a previous demand that £200 million […]
Conference notes the campaigns for a National Care Service in each of the 4 nations and UNISON’s support, in principle, for such a proposal. Local government in Scotland, Wales and England and that any proposals for a National Care Service should respect and build upon this. Conference notes that social care is essentially a community-based […]
The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) have published as part of their “Save Our Services” bulletins a projected funding gap of £1billion for 2023/24. Scottish local government branches are already engaged in discussions with employers about cuts to jobs, cuts to terms and conditions and we note that some councils looking at wholesale restructuring […]
Conference notes that many local government branches currently support care workers both employed directly by local government employers but also those employed by private companies contracted by local government employers to deliver care for elderly, disabled people – both adult and children. Approximately 80% of the social care workforce are women. Only a small percentage […]
Conference notes that the continued fragmentation of the school system, together with the geographical spread of schools, provides organising challenges for UNISON. The use of school forums to bring together activists from across schools in branches is well established as best practice to develop collective responses to the common issues we face. The ability to […]
With the de-funding of public sector bodies, from a government which has little interest in the welfare needs of its citizens. It is no surprise that amongst those facing the most targeted hostile barriers are our Black members. The Tory anti-immigrant agenda has fuelled increased hatred and attacks on our Black communities across the country. […]
Conference notes that as a union of one million women, women will always be at the heart of UNISON. Conference also notes that UNISON has proudly campaigned for many years to remove what many campaigners and activists call the last great workplace taboo. Conference further notes that the demography of UNISONs membership in social care […]
National pay negotiations with The Association of Colleges (AoC) continue to fall considerably short of the mark. With 1% and 2% pay ‘recommendations’ over the past few years, we are failing to deliver the pay awards our members need. As a consequence more and more branches are tagging on to the tailcoats of UCU and […]
Outsourcing and privatisation of local government services has almost zero benefit to the way that they are run but it can often have a disastrous effect on the quality of the services being provided. It also comes with a higher risk of workers receiving poorer wages and terrible terms and conditions, whilst lining the pockets […]
Conference notes that local government services have been cut to the bone by a decade of austerity and this has had an adverse impact on our members’ jobs, pay, terms and conditions. This is particularly the case for our disabled members who have often been first in line when job cuts are on the agenda. […]
Conference recalls that the motion “Trans Equality – Louder and Prouder!” adopted by the 2022 Local Government Conference acknowledged the toxic debate ignited by the United Kingdom government’s consultation on reforming the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) and recognised the need for our union, including the local government service group, to become more visible and more […]
Conference notes that local government workers not only see the cost-of-living crisis first-hand as part of their jobs, but many are suffering directly at the hands of the government’s economic incompetence and political decision to prioritise the wealthiest in society rather than protecting those who need help the most. UNISON research shows since 2009 local […]