This Conference notes the recent successful campaigns around LGBT issues, notably the campaign in favour of the LGBT rule change and our successes over Civil Partnerships and Pension rights and believes we can apply the lessons from these successful campaigns to campaign more successfully in the future. Conference believes that we still confront many challenges […]
Conference motions
Brighton Pride is an annual event which has a week of various activities running up to the march and celebration in the park. Over 100,000 people visited Brighton last year during the week, and over 90,000 people participated in the march. Unlike London and some other cities, Brighton Pride is not a commercial venture, it […]
Conference notes the continued prevalence of bi-, homo- and trans-phobic bullying among children and young people and the continued absence, largely, of positive image of Lesbians, Gay men, Bisexuals and Trans people from children’s and young people’s services. Conference believes that schools, playgrounds, youth clubs, children’s homes etc. should be safe places for all Lesbian, […]
Conference takes pride in the way our venues are safe spaces in which to conduct our business. However, our Conference is also made more attractive by the chance to socialise with other delegates and visitors after the day’s business. Many delegates and visitors enjoy the entertainments that our host city has to offer, but these […]
Conference welcomes the provision for statutory paternity leave but notes with concern the low level of take up. Conference considers this is explained by: 1.The level of statutory paternity pay, currently a maximum of £106.00 per week; 2.Limited eligibility – restricted to the baby’s father or the partner of a woman on maternity leave; and, […]
Conference notes: 1)there are many thousands of paperless workers out there, without whose work the economy would grind to a standstill; 2)paperless workers are the invisible engine room of twilight London. No Londoner can easily escape involvement in this exploitation. Paperless workers serve us meals in restaurants, clean our hospitals, our hotels, streets and tube […]
Conference notes that, despite the record levels of investment going into the National Health Service (NHS), many NHS patients and staff are failing to experience the improvements that should be occurring. Too often, there exists a gap between the rhetoric about the positive changes that are supposed to be taking place in the NHS and […]
Conference is appalled to note the results of the government’s appointed Ethnic Minority Employment Task Force investigation into pay and employment for black and minority ethnic workers. We note the findings that: 1)there is a substantial pay gap between ethnic minorities and the whole population. Weekly earnings for white workers average £376, compared with £347 […]
Conference notes extra public spending announced in 2004 Spending Review, particularly the £40 billion extra investment in the National Health Service (NHS) and believes that this could make a major difference to public services. However it cannot while the government continues a variety of trends and initiatives, marketisation, choice, privatisation, efficiency reviews, PFI and cuts […]
Conference notes that there are efficiency reviews across the governments of the United Kingdom (UK), driven by the 2004 spending review. In Whitehall departments, this simultaneously expanded public spending but demanded £20 billion of efficiencies in services controlled by Whitehall departments as a result of a report by Sir Peter Gershon. Conference is alarmed that […]
Conference is concerned that workers in contracted out public services sometimes end up moving between a whole series of different pension schemes, as a result of being passed between different employers each time the service is retendered. This can expose workers to difficult decisions about whether to transfer their pension rights, and may result in […]
UNISON recognises the significant inequalities still faced by women at work. Conference condemns the continuing pay inequalities across all sectors and notes that women working full time still earn, on average 18 per cent less than men, and part-time women workers 40 per cent less than men. Conference deplores this continuing pay discrimination which devalues […]
Conference rejects the presence of the British National party (BNP) and other far right parties in the United Kingdom and condemns their role in the increase in racist abuse and attacks against black and minority ethnic people and their communities. In particular, Conference deplores the disgraceful racism of the Tories in the run up to […]
Conference welcomes the rise in UNISON membership to 1,313,500 and notes that membership has risen for the sixth year in a row and by over 100,000 new members since the introduction of an organising strategy. It congratulates all those involved, especially the smaller service groups, in particular police staffs, young members and the community and […]
Conference condemns: 1)the occupation of Iraq by British and American troops arising from an illegal war; 2)the destruction of Fallujah and the slaughter of innocent civilians, the majority of whom continue to be killed by coalition troops; 3)the use of torture and the inhumane treatment of Iraqi detainees by British and American troops as instanced […]