Adult Learning

Conference condemns the decision to remove the entitlement to concessions for pensioners attending day and evening classes other than for those in receipt of pensions credit. For many decades all pensioners could access day and evening classes either free or at a nominal cost. This allowed many people who had not previously had access to […]

Council Tax

Conference believes that council tax is an inherently unfair tax which does not properly reflect people’s ability to pay. More importantly it is not based on an equitable system for calculating amounts that should be paid. This is most clearly demonstrated by the current system of council tax collection, which specifically affects pensioners who pay […]

Role of Retired Members in UNISON

Conference recognises the different role and contribution of retired members to their working counterparts and accepts that their involvement in UNISON is more limited. However, Conference believes that many retired members still have much to offer the union and that their preclusion from almost all aspects of its work is not necessarily in UNISON’s best […]

Annual Report

National Retired Members Conference is to be congratulated on producing the Annual Report for questioning by members in advance of the National Retired Members Conference. However, the time scale for questioning in 2006 was inadequate. There does not appear to be any reason why the Annual Report is not circulated to retired members in June. […]

Women, Rape, Alcohol and the Law

COMPOSITE C – WOMEN RAPE ALCOHOL AND THE LAW (Emergency Motion – Alcohol & Rape of Women and Emergency Motion 4 – Who’s Perverting the Course of Justice? Under current English and Welsh law rape can only be established if it can be demonstrated that sexual intercourse took place without consent and that the defendant […]

Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer is the fourth most common cause of death from cancer amongst women in the United Kingdom (UK) and is known as the silent killer. One-hundred women die each week from ovarian cancer; it is the fourth most common cancer in women, and the biggest gynaecological killer. Every year about 6,000 women in the […]

Cuts to Health Services for Women

The National Health Service (NHS) is in crisis. Much of the government’s injection of additional investment has ended up in the pockets of private companies. The end result of government policies has been job losses, cuts, closures and privatisation. Women form the majority of the workforce in the NHS, and are also disproportionately represented in […]

IPSWICH MURDERS

Conference sends out its deepest sympathies to the families of the young women recently murdered in Ipswich by a serial killer preying on women working in the sex industry. These tragedies highlight once again the vulnerability of women, who for whatever reason, are out and about at night. On November 25th 2006, the Eastern Region […]

WOMEN’S PENSIONS

This motion is as a result of the Pensions White Paper put before Parliament on Tuesday 16th January 2007. Conference welcomes the improvements to the original proposals for Pension Reform which has been won by a determined coalition of Women Trade Unionists, EOC and Pension Campaigners. Conference notes however that the new proposals still do […]

MATERNITY AND CARER’S RIGHTS

Conference welcomes the new rights for parents and carers to be introduced in the Work and Families Act, which will come into force in April 2007 It notes that parents and carers struggling to achieve work life balance will now be able to take advantage of the following improvements: 1)Statutory Maternity Pay, Maternity Allowance and […]

GLOBALISATION

This conference notes the War on Want report “Fashion Victims, The true cost of cheap clothes and Primark, Asda and Tesco” published on 8th December 2006, which highlighted the working conditions of the predominantly female workforce within the textile factories in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which produces clothes for Primark, Asda and Tesco. This report found that […]

Skinny Models

Conference applauds the Spanish government in taking the first step on putting pressure on the Association of Fashion Designers to use a calculation known as the Body Mass Index (BMI), which is based on weight and height to reject excessively thin models. The World Health Organisation says a person’s BMI should be between 18 and […]

Promoting the Gender Equality Duty

Conference is pleased to note that with effect from April 2007, there will be a statutory duty on all public authorities to have due regard to the need to: 1)eliminate unlawful sex discrimination; 2)promote equality of opportunity between men and women Public authorities will no longer be able to simply respond to complaints of sex […]

Violence Against Women

Conference welcomes the recent report of the Secretary General of the United Nations (UN) entitled “In-Depth Study on all Forms of Violence against Women” which acknowledges the role of violence against women (VAW) in perpetuating the subordination of women in all societies throughout the globe. The UN report specifically states that strengthening efforts to achieve […]

Preservation of the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Vision

Conference is pleased to note that UNISON has purchased the site of the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital for conversion to its new national office. Elizabeth Garret Anderson (EGA) 1836-1917 was the first woman to qualify as a doctor in the United Kingdom (UK) in 1865. As universities did not admit women she had a struggle, […]