Equal pensions for WET workers

Conference welcomes the growing recognition of same sex partnerships, including the 2005 Civil Partnership Act and the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Acts that came into force in England and Wales and in Scotland in 2014. However, conference echoes UNISON’s condemnation of the inequality entrenched in these laws with regard to surviving partner workplace pensions. The […]

Stonewall workplace equality index

Conference notes that the charity Stonewall produces an annual workplace equality index, which it describes as an evidence-based benchmarking tool used by employers to assess their achievements and progress on lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) equality in the workplace. From 2016, they have pledged to also assess achievements and progress on transgender equality within the […]

Working Time Regulations and the Water Industry

Conference notes that Working Time Regulations stipulate that workers must have: At least a twenty minute break if they work more than six hours a day; At least eleven hours rest between working days, and; at least an uninterrupted twenty four hour rest without any work each week or an uninterrupted forty eight hours without […]

The impact of pension changes on workers in the WET sector

Conference notes that from 6 April 2016 the Basic State Pension and Second State Pension (S2P) will end and be combined/ replaced by a new State Pension. The majority of members in the WET service group are currently paying reduced rate NI Contributions because they are in a work place pension scheme that is better […]

Negotiating workplace domestic abuse policies

Conference notes that domestic abuse has been demonstrated to have a significant impact on business productivity and the UK economy. Government statistics demonstrate that: i. 1 in 5 women each year take time off work because of domestic abuse. ii. 2 in every one hundred will lose their jobs iii. of those who remain in […]

Fairer Taxation and the Future Funding of our Public Services

Conference is dismayed that nearly six years on from his promise to “fix” the economy and only one month after the 2015 Autumn Statement – in which he said that the government’s job is no longer to “rescue Britain”, but to “rebuild Britain” – George Osborne has again returned to the economic politics of austerity […]

Strengthening Our Union: Supporting and Developing Our Stewards

Whilst UNISON can claim that we have an activist’s base of 50,000, all valuable roles and essential for creating a strong organised union, Conference notes that we have lost a significant number of experienced activists particularly our traditional steward’s as a consequence of the austerity agenda and the relentless privatisation of public services since 2010. […]

Trade Union Facilities

Conference notes that in a fair and democratic society workers have a fundamental right to form or join an independent trade union. These rights are enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Labour Organisation convention, and the European Convention on Human Rights. Conference notes that facility time for trade union representatives has […]

Rule P Application of Standing Orders

Amend Rule P 1.3.5 At the beginning of the third sentence insert the words: “The Private Contractors National Forum,”

Rule D The right to attend and speak

Add new rule D 1.7.6 “D 1.7.6 Two representatives of the Private Contractors National Forum at the national level.” Renumber current rules D 1.7.6.-1.7.9 accordingly.

Schedule C Elections

Schedule C 4 Add at end: “Where the law allows, the National Executive Council may determine that an election shall be by either postal ballot and/or electronic ballot.”

Living Standards Pay Justice and the Living Wage

Conference notes research by the House of Commons Library in January 2016, which showed that 2010-2020 will be the worst decade for pay growth in almost a century and the third worst since the 1860s. Conference considers this a damning indictment of successive Coalition and Conservative government policies on public sector pay, social security and […]

Health and Safety of Public Service Staff

Conference notes that when public services are under pressure from cuts and re-organisations that pressures increase on both staff and service users. Add those things to the Westminster government’s austerity agenda and we have a recipe for disaster. Employee’s health, safety and well being in the workplace are bearing the brunt of a nation ready […]

Women and the State Pension

Conference notes that the new single tier pension due to be introduced in April 2016 will fail to alleviate pensioner poverty not least because it is discriminatory against women. It is generally impossible for women to accrue the same level of occupational and state pension as men because of low pay, part-time working, time off […]

Rule D Rule D 4 Private Contractors National Forum

Add new rule D 4 “D 4 Private Contractors National Forum 4.1 A Private Contractors National Forum shall be established consisting of up to two representatives from each of the Private Contractors National Company Forums. .2 The Private Contractors National Forum may, subject to the Union’s rules, send up to two delegates and two motions […]