Behaviour and Violence in Schools

Conference recognises that challenging behaviour and violence in schools can have an enormous impact on school staff. Unfortunately most of the focus on dealing with and providing support for challenging behaviour has been primarily on teachers, despite support staff facing behaviour issues in classrooms, the playground and the general school environment. Additionally, specialist support staff […]

Future of Local Government

Conference notes: – 1)The damage that the Coalition’s ‘austerity’ programme has inflicted on local services and local communities across the UK and the future damage that could occur if the plans set out in the Autumn Statement 2014 are followed; 2)The warnings from the Public Accounts Committee that discretionary local services may disappear and that […]

Facility Time

Conference notes with alarm the continuing attacks on facility time in local government over the last year. These attacks are part of a political attack on trade unions in local government. In 2014 the Department for Communities and Local Government issued revised guidelines on data transparency, which require local authorities and fire and rescue authorities […]

Food Standards Agency – Pay, Terms and Conditions

Conference notes that our members employed by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and its contractors, work in some of the worst conditions in Europe. They face increasing bullying, harassment and attacks in the workplace, as well as the erosion of their pay and benefits. Conference also notes that the deregulators and industry lobbyists working in […]

Defending youth services and youth workers

Conference notes the massive cuts that youth and community services suffered under the 2010-2015 Government. Conference welcomes the Local Government Service Group’s 2014 ‘Damage’ report, highlighting the scale and impact of those cuts. The publicity that the report attracted shows clearly the breadth of support in the UK for high quality, properly funded youth services. […]

Where next for Libraries and Leisure Services?

Conference notes with concern the attack libraries and leisure facilities have faced under the coalition government. As budget cuts have hit hard, councils have explored a number of options which have included: dramatically scaling back on library and leisure services, alternative models to deliver services, or closing facilities. Libraries do more than simply loan books; […]

Campaign for a fairer funding settlement for Local Government

This conference notes that UNISON believes that local authorities will be pushed to breaking point by the latest round of multibillion pound cuts to their funding announced in the last round of the Coalition Government’s spending review. This is despite the communities and local government minister, Kris Hopkins, view that the Government announced what he […]

Outsourcing, Pay and National Joint Council (NJC) Terms and Conditions

Conference notes with concern that local government workers pay is falling behind other public and private workers. Many employers are trying to move away from NJC pay and terms and conditions with the result that the NJC could be left to ‘wither on the vine’. The trade unions must take decisive action to prevent its […]

Stop the mutualisation of the fire service

Service Group Conference notes with deep concern the former government’s announcement of plans to turn fire authorities into mutuals. Under the plans, the government would change the law to allow fire authorities to set themselves up as independent social enterprise companies outside the public sector. They would then be contracted to provide geographical fire cover […]

Outsourcing and Procurement within Local Government

Conference we welcome the UNISON model procurement agreement, and we know that a number of Councils have now signed such a procurement agreement. Conference notes that the combination of privatisation and cuts leads to the fragmentation of local services. By getting involved at the beginning of the process it will ensure that information from the […]

Future Pay Consultation

Conference we welcome the opportunity to debate the protocols regarding consultation on any future pay awards within Local Government. Our current procedures ensure that the National Joint Council (NJC) representatives make recommendations on whether any proposals or offers are put to our members. In order to ensure we support our NJC reps, to allow them […]

Decision to Cancel Strike Action on 14th October 2014

This Special Conference believes that the decision taken by the National Joint Council (NJC) Committee on 9th October to call off strike action due to have taken place on 14th October was a grave error of judgement. In particular conference is critical of the communication with branches and members. We note that: 9th October the […]

Pay Consultation Procedures

Conference notes that the 2014 Local Government Conference agreed 10 core principles for revised Local Government Service Group pay consultation procedures. These were: 1)To consult all members in a sector on a final pay offer, once negotiations are deemed to be exhausted by the Sector Committee; or to consult all members in a sector on […]

Pay Consultation Procedures

The recent pay campaigns for members covered by both SJC and NJC highlighted areas requiring improvement such as lay activist involvement and difficulties with other trade unions. Pay is of the utmost importance to our members and in order to be effective in ending pay freezes, below inflation pay rises and further eradication of Terms […]

Campaigning for Fair Pay for Local Government Workers

Conference recognises that the pay of local government workers has been in decline for many years as part of a deliberate politically driven policy of successive governments and that the challenge facing UNISON is to reverse this trend. This is not an issue that should be seen as an annual pay round but a longer […]