Conference notes the publication in July 2021 of the Oxford Consultants for Social Inclusion (OCSI) research submitted to the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Left Behind Neighbourhoods which outlines that those who live in 225 “left behind” neighbourhoods in England receive less than half the charitable grant funding than other deprived places. In this […]
Conference motions
Conference notes the judgement issued by the Supreme Court on 19 March 2021 in the case of Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake, which found that care workers employed on sleepover shifts were not entitled to the minimum wage and congratulates UNISON on pursuing this case to the Supreme Court. We believe that this devastating outcome […]
Conference notes the publication in July 2020 Liverpool City Council’s report in conjunction with UNISON North West, the University of Kent, and the Association of Public Service Excellence (APSE): “Who Cares? Reinventing Adult Social Care” which examines the case for the in-sourcing of social care and adds to the debate around this issue. This report […]
Conference acknowledges the endemic nature of abuse, harassment and violence faced by women on a daily basis. The tragic murders of Sarah Everard, Bibaa Henry Nicole Smallman, Sabina Nessa and many other women in the past year have brought to the forefront the scale of violence against women and reinforced how unsafe many women feel […]
Conference notes that the 2020 National Women’s Conference passed policy on how women were on a “cliff edge” with respect of to the poverty trap that the need to stay within the thresholds of Universal Credit has created. The pandemic has made this situation much worse. Disabled women are faced with a perfect storm of […]
A Voice for Women Part time Workers Information on UNISON’s website about part-time working states that, ‘Nearly half of UNISON’s members work part-time and the majority of them are women’. Conference this should give these part time women members a loud and clear directive to be included within the very structures of Unison. Not all […]
UNISON can only be the strong, vibrant, effective union it strives to be if Black women are involved and active in every part of its work. Black women are still underrepresented at branch, regional and national level even though UNISON has 1 million women in membership. This is a trend that the National Black Members […]
69% of low paid or insecure jobs are held by women. Women are the majority of people living in poverty and female headed households are poor – these constitute 90% of lone parent households, 45% of which are living in poverty. (Fawcett Society) Conference notes and condemns the removal of the £20 per week pandemic-related […]
Access to affordable childcare has been a long-standing challenge for women. In the current climate of adjusting to the impact of Covid-19, further barriers and challenges are being experienced by women endeavouring to have access to and retaining existing good quality early childcare. According to a survey conducted by Pregnant Then Screwed, 57% of working […]
2. Incorporate CEDAW into domestic legislation CEDAW is the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Discrimination Against Women – also called the International Bill of Rights for Women. CEDAW provides an international framework for States to take responsibility for tackling discrimination against women and achieving substantive equality for women in both the private and […]
The Women’s Policy Group Northern Ireland (WPG) is comprised of women from feminist campaigning organisations, migrant groups, human rights and equality organisations and trade unions – including UNISON NI. In July 2021, the WPG updated and re-launched its Feminist Recovery Plan, which highlights the experiences of women in NI during the pandemic and make the […]
This Conference notes: • The near total ban on abortion in Texas by restricting it to the first 6 weeks of gestation, a time when most people don’t even know that they are pregnant • That this threatens the Roe vs Wade ruling of 1973 that made abortion legal in the US. • The huge […]
One in four workers are carer’s, the majority of these being women. 4.5 million people became unpaid carers as a result of Covid-19, which is an increase of 50% (Carers UK). This figure doesn’t include silent carers so the figures will be much higher. The lack of government awareness on the impact of caring responsibilities […]
The toxic debate ignited by the UK government’s public consultation on reforming the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) underlined the importance of our union supporting and representing our trans members effectively. Attacks on trans rights have continued to escalate. In September 2021, the Council of Europe published a detailed report ‘Combating rising hate against LGBTI people […]
Conference notes that UNISON’s national women’s conference led the development of UNISON’s current policy on sex workers, which was agreed in 2010 when National Delegate Conference adopted a motion from women’s conference supporting the Nordic model, a legal model based on decriminalising the selling of sexual services while introducing a ‘sex buyers law’ criminalising those […]