In 2016 the TUC released the “Still Just a Bit of Banter?” report into sexual harassment in the workplace. The report focused specifically on the sexual harassment of women and its key findings included • 52% of all women polled had experienced some form of sexual harassment. • 35% per cent of women have heard […]
Conference motions
Following decades of failures to address the lack of affordable housing in the UK we now have a crisis where young people are increasingly facing vulnerable housing situations. A lack of affordable housing is not just a young person issue. It is a public service issue. More and more public service staff can no longer […]
Conference recognises that young Black workers are hard to find in our union. There is a huge gap between numbers of young Black members and number of young Black activists. We are an aging union and succession planning is vital, particularly in Black member self-organisation. The barriers to participation include lack of knowledge about Black […]
Conference notes that many young UNISON members engage in shift work, especially those working in health and social care settings, most of which involve taking on shifts at unsocial hours. That while undertaking this shift work, staff can be left in vulnerable positions, especially if they are working alone, and if they are travelling to […]
Conference notes that one of UNISON’s main aims is ‘to seek to ensure equality of treatment and fair representation for all members and to work for the elimination of discrimination on grounds of race, gender, sexuality, gender identity, disability, age or creed’. To achieve this, UNISON seeks for branches to have equality co-ordinators, whose role […]
Conference welcomes the partial ban on conversion therapy announced in the Queen’s Speech in May 2022 that targeted ‘abhorrent conversion therapy practices’. Not abhorrent enough to extend to our trans siblings over 18. Apparently, the rights of trans people are part of a ‘balancing act’ that needs ‘careful management’. Not empathy, not protection, but ‘careful […]
Conference notes that a workplace that actively encourages Equality Diversity and Inclusion is more successful, can help to keep employees happy and motivated, prevents serious or legal issues arising, such as bullying, harassment and discrimination and will attract and keep good staff. Conference also notes that where LGBT+ members and their allies continue to fight […]
Conference notes that the trans community has seen an escalation in the volume and the toxicity of anti-trans articles across all media platforms in recent years, to a level now that is almost beyond comprehension. While the initial increase was commonly attributed to the United Kingdom (UK) wide rise in negative sentiment shown to all […]
LGBT+ people have been and are still experiencing verbal and physical bullying from colleagues, customers or service users because of their sexual orientation / identity and some still do not feel confident about reporting homo/bi and transphobic bullying in their workplace. According to Stonewall more than a third of LGBT staff (35 per cent) have […]
This Conference is deeply concerned by the steep rise in LGBT+ hate crime in Scotland since lockdown restrictions were eased at the beginning of last summer. The rise in homophobic, biphobic and transphobic hate crimes is not restricted to Scotland but has been replicated across the rest of the United Kingdom (UK). Hatred and abuse […]
Following the 2021 LGBT+ conference, the national LGBT+ committee launched a trans equality campaign to be louder and prouder about our support for trans and non-binary members’ rights. This campaign has many elements – from trans ally training and establishing a trans ally network to lobby the United Kingdom’s governments and the Labour Party to […]
LGBT+ people in the context of the war in Ukraine, like everyone, have many reasons to stay in Ukraine or to leave the country. Like their fellow citizens, LGBT+ people are staying, supporting each other, providing mutual aid, and fighting against the Russian invasion. LGBT+ people, however, face additional barriers to fleeing the country, including […]
Conference notes it has been 3 years since UNISON’s lesbian, gay, bisexual (Bi) and transgender (trans) (LGBT) self-organised group achieved a rule change to include the “+” to become the LGBT+ self-organised group. The purpose of the rule change was to ensure we are inclusive of all identities from within our community and to reflect […]
Conference police crime scene examiners are often one of the first attendees at crime scenes. During their careers they photograph hundreds of scenes and are exposed to a variety of traumatic and distressing situations. Scene examiners are dealing with the examination of dead bodies, close up photography of post-mortems, and fingerprinting the deceased. They are […]
Conference notes that the British Sign Language (BSL) Bill, a Private Member’s Bill introduced by Labour’s Rosie Cooper MP in 2021, was passed by both the House of Commons and the Lords earlier this year before passing into law following Royal Assent. The BSL Act will recognise BSL as a language of England, Wales and […]