Conference notes that the now defunct South West Pay Cartel advised member trusts to consider ‘alternative employment vehicles’ as one of a number of what they called ‘pay optimisers’ to cut NHS pay and conditions of employment. Conference further notes that one trust in the South West recently set up their own private company, of […]
Conference motions
Conference notes that the NHS South of England recently promoted an apprenticeship programme for employers looking at recruiting staff into bands 1 to 4. Their ‘NHS Manager’s Guide’ suggested a number of options for NHS Trusts to employ new ‘apprentices’ without them having to employ staff at the bottom of the appropriate pay band including: […]
Conference notes that for several years NHS staff have seen their pay squeezed by more than 10% in real terms. Two years of a virtual pay freeze were followed by a miserable 1% for 2013. Since 2010 essential living costs have increased out of all proportion to our members’ pay. Electricity prices have jumped by […]
This Conference notes: • The living wage is now set at £7.65 an hour and £8.80 in London. • By comparison, the national minimum wage is £6.31 an hour for adults and £5.03 for those aged 18 to 21. • That the national government and administrations of devolved nations pay their staff the living wage. […]
Conference notes that TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings Protection in Employment Regulations) has maintained hard won employment terms and conditions and the protection from discrimination in the community sector, with sound public sector equality policies and procedures. TUPE means that the new employer “steps into the shoes” of the old employer and is bound by the […]
Conference notes a key finding of the report in the abuse at Winterbourne View Hospital was that the staff were not properly trained. Training is a key issue for Care. Often training is not provided, or is adhoc and/or inadequate. Furthermore, increasingly, more and more training is delivered as online courses whereby it is not […]
Conference currently local councils are setting budgets with substantial cuts in “Supporting People” funding. This is having a devastating effect on our member’s terms and conditions; removal of post TUPE enhancements for weekend working, Bank Holiday and Night Waking, sickness absence entitlements reduced from six months full pay, six months half pay to two months […]
Conference notes the importance of involving members of self organised groups in community branch activities including recruiting, organising, bargaining and negotiating. Members of self organised groups are a valuable resource to the community service group with experience and knowledge of how employers’ policies and procedures can fail to be inclusive. Conference further notes that while […]
This conference notes the insidious spread of zero-hours contracts in the community and voluntary sector, and in housing associations in particular. UNISON’s survey of Community members found that 9% were on zero hours contracts, but it is likely that this underestimates the true scale of the problem as it is hard to organise workers on […]
The current government’s austerity measures continue to have a disproportionate impact on Black communities and the Black voluntary and community sector. Research in 2010 on the ‘Voice for Change’ website found that 45% of community organisations providing services specifically for Black communities experienced cuts to funding. This unprecedented threat to the survival of Black community […]
Conference is concerned that when members in the Community Sector are going through the TUPE process, the exclusion of their pension rights can have a detrimental effect on disabled workers. Disabled people are already likely to have gaps in their employment, which means that they are unable to build up the number of years required […]
This Conference deplores the situation whereby public sector contracts with charities are often not on a full cost recovery basis (basically, staff costs plus overheads). Where this occurs, the consequence is a shortfall between contract income and the cost of delivering the contract. This effectively leaves affected charities to choose between cross-subsidising state contracts from […]
Conference notes that social work is a profession dominated by women. Social work is a gendered activity, in terms of both its workforce and client group and it is well documented that more women than men enter this area of work (‘Gender at Work: Characteristics of ‘Failing’ Social Work Students’. Sheila Furness. Division of Social […]
In light of the recent United Nations evidence on the growing prevalence and impact of violence against women here and throughout the world, Council expresses extreme regret that UNISON NDC Conference 2013 defeated an amendment calling for women to be assumed to be telling the truth when they report abuse. Conference calls on the National […]
Conference recalls the 2012 Women’s conference resolution “Our tradition is equality and human rights”, which expressed concern that the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council had adopted a Russian resolution linking human rights to ‘traditional values’. It recognised that Russia was attempting to block progress on women’s rights and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) […]