Conference welcomes UNISON’s response to the Government’s Energy Review. We note that contrary to the growing clamour for a nuclear renaissance that there is no proven economic or environmental case for doing so. Conference believes that there remains an untapped potential to reduce the UK’s dependency on energy through energy conservation and savings measures. Conference […]
Conference motions
This conference welcomes welcome the increased participation by Energy Members at the 2005 LGBT Conference in Belfast. The Business and Environment Equal Opportunities Working Group (BEEOWG) has successfully engaged with Branches and Regions to raise the LGBT profile within Energy through specific LGBT events and, more recently, the successful Equalities Day. Conference is disappointed however […]
This Energy Conference welcomes the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 which will impose a new Disability Equality Duty upon energy employers from December 2006. We believe these duties could help reconstruct a barrier free society and provide equality of opportunity for the millions of disabled people who are in work or wanting work but who need […]
Conference welcomes the growing recognition of the need to combat discrimination against LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) workers and the agreements reached with some energy employers to integrate work towards LGBT equality into their equality programmes. Conference further notes that some energy employers are seeking to introduce monitoring of workers’ sexual orientation and / […]
Male Energy members who work in the electricity and gas industries who have tried to donate blood have found that the National Blood Service has a ‘blanket’ ban in place against men who have ever had sex with other men, and so they are advised in their workplaces that their blood will not be accepted […]
Conference notes with concern the growing number of energy utilities deciding to offshore work overseas. In the last twelve months npower, British Gas and Vertex have publicly announced their offshoring plans, each leading to significant reductions in their UK workforce. This trend is largely stimulated by the competitive pressures of the liberalised UK energy market […]
The Service Groups covered by the Business and Environment Unit held a successful Seminar of Health & Safety Reps at National level in the early part of this decade. Many Health and Safety related legislative changes that affect members in the Energy Service Group have occurred since this time and this Energy Conference calls on […]
Conference recognises the right of members in Energy to retire on a decent secure pension. Conference expresses its concern that some Energy Companies are attempting to eliminate or worsen early retirement provisions to the detriment of members. Conference believes that all employers should be required to offer an occupational pension scheme that employees should automatically […]
This Conference is critical of the way that the submission to the Pay Review Body and the drawing up of a pay claim for non-Pay Review Body staff were dealt with for 2006/07. The Staff Side evidence which was submitted to the Pay Review Body for 2006/07 did not comply with the policy on the […]
This conference welcomes the advent of Managers in Partnership (MIP) which was highlighted as an innovation in the provision of trade unionism. The venture between UNISON and the First Division Association has created a new vehicle for senior managers in the health service and related services, and conference acknowledges the excellent work performed by the […]
Our NHS faces its gravest threat from Privatisation. The irony is that it is a Labour Government that seems intent on pushing Privatisation into areas even the Tories didn’t dare. New Labour ministers like Patricia Hewitt now talk openly about competition between hospitals. They have reintroduced the market into the NHS by for example, introducing […]
A significant number of NHS staff are required to work away from their base for most of their working time (e.g. Blood Transfusion Staff going to rural communities to reach donors, or staff operating mobile breast screening units). Other NHS staff often find that they are required to work in the evenings that results in […]
Conference calls on the Service Group Executive to ensure that assistance and materials are provided for those regions and countries currently undergoing major re-organisation within local Health Authorities such as Primary Care Trusts in English regions and the Review of Public Administration within the Northern Ireland region which has serious implications for the delivery of […]
The introduction of Agenda for Change was supposed to see partnership working between UNISON and NHS Management. Whilst in many places this has worked to a degree, in many trusts “Partnership” in any meaningful sense has not existed. In some trusts management have tried to bypass partnership working as regards panels. There is clear evidence […]
Conference notes that the NHS pension scheme regulations currently allow married males employed in the NHS to leave their widow a pension based on length of service from 24 March 1972. However, conference notes with concern that married female employees, and now those who enter into civil partnerships, can only have their length of service […]