Income: £99.30 a week – the reality of sick pay in social care

Conference, it cannot be right, that employees within social care with increasing rent/mortgage payments, fuel, food and utilities, can be left when they fall ill on £100 a week. This is totally unacceptable. Everyone in this room will know someone working in the social care sector, that has fallen ill and has reached crisis point […]

Sick pay in social care

Conference last year resolved to campaign on sick pay, noting that many workers in our sectors receive only statutory sick pay. That means they receive hopelessly inadequate pay when sick, and nothing at all for the first three days of any sickness absence. Workers are forced to choose between going into work sick and feeding […]

Charity Sector Pay

Conference notes the publication of the Law Family Commission on Civil Society study, carried out by Pro Bono Economics in August 2022 entitled “The price of purpose? Pay gaps in the charity sector” which identifies that charity staff in the UK are paid 7% less per hour on average than workers in other sectors and […]

Young Members in Community

Conference notes that UNISON membership is in decline and the current average age of a UNISON rep is over 50; In many Community workplaces, young workers are less likely to join a trade union, and those who do join are less likely to develop as an active member; An increasing number of young people are […]

Building participation of Black members within branches

UNISON is a growing union, and we seek to recruit members from all backgrounds across thousands of workplaces, despite this many branches have found it difficult to recruit and engage with members from Black communities there are barriers both external and within UNISON that also impact on black participation. Some of the barriers include: 1)Black […]

Cost of Living Crisis and its Impact on Energy Workers

Conference notes that as a result of rapidly increasing wholesale gas prices, the price of energy for consumers and businesses in the UK has also significantly increased. Further it notes that the energy price cap which regulates the default tariffs has been increased by some 54% by the energy regulator OFGEM. This is the tariff […]

A balanced Energy System fit for the future, employing our members in good jobs!

Conference notes that in November 2021 the UK hosted the COP 26 in Glasgow. At this COP the UK again committed itself to achieving Net Zero by 2050 which itself is a statutory target which the UK Government should be working towards achieving. UNISON energy workers know already that achieving Net Zero will be hard […]

Encouraging STEM subject study to increase numbers of women working in technical roles in Energy

Research shows that at GCSE level engagement in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects has a broadly similar gender split. At this level female students are achieving higher or equal average A*-C grades compared to males. At A Level this drops off with a higher number of males taking up STEM subjects, for example […]

Increasing diversity within Energy

Conference picture someone working in the energy sector, and you are likely to mentally summon up an image of a white, middle-aged male. Although a lack of diversity isn’t unique to energy, it is an issue that needs solving. While the situation is improving, it’s not changing fast enough, recent events have rightly woken up […]

Fair Sickness Absence for All – supporting better sickness absence for community workers with additional needs

This conference believes that when members are employed by an organisation within the Charity and Voluntary sector, either on a zero-hours or permanent basis, they are put at a disadvantage when it comes to their working conditions, especially in relation to potentially losing out on pay and / or being marked down as off sick […]

Stop bosses from encroaching on your free time and compensate your overtime properly

This conference believes that we should campaign to stop the practice in the voluntary and charity sector of employers contacting their employees after work and should properly compensate their employees for overtime. We deplore that the 2020 Charity people salary survey found that employees working in the voluntary and charity sector found more people working […]

Care workers from abroad – a new form of slave labour?

Conference notes that poverty wages and poor working condition are endemic in the care sector. It is only after initiatives such as UNISON’s Ethical Care Charter, our national campaigns on sick pay and staff shortages and the hard work and determination of many UNISON activists and senior branch representatives, that have continued to bring attention […]

Robust Green Skills Training for employees in the Energy Sector

Conference notes addressing the climate change challenge requires a fundamental restructuring of the energy supply sector, moving away from the world�s fossil fuel-based system to one that relies on clean, renewable sources. The transition to a greener economy requires new skills. Skills needed for the newly emerging jobs, and skills needed for the adjusted existing […]

Inclusive Workplace Policies for Non-Binary Members in the Community Sector

Conference notes the motion passed at last year�s Community Conference on Inclusive Workplace Policies in the Community Sector which called on the community service group executive to: 1. Gather good practice examples from branches organising in the community sector of inclusive policies and practices, including in record-keeping, language, any dress codes and in the provision […]

ENGAGING BRANCHES IN THE COMMUNITY SECTOR IN LGBT+ RECRUITMENT AND ORGANISING

Conference notes that at National Delegate Conference 2019 delegates unanimously agreed to change UNISON�s rule book so that the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) self organised group is now the LGBT+ self organised group. Conference recalls that the community conference unanimously passed policy last year supporting the group becoming LGBT+ and that many branches […]