Rule C Annual membership audit, the appointment & removal of the Assurer

Insert new rule C 8: “C 8 THE UNION’S ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP AUDIT 8.1 The Union’s membership system shall be audited each year by an Assurer. 8.2 The Assurer will be a qualified professional body of either financial auditors or membership scrutineers. 8.3 The Assurer will be appointed by the National Executive Council who thereafter shall […]

Meeting the training needs of UNISON activists in challenging times

The challenges facing the trade union movement in relation to developing and training activists have rarely been as difficult as they are now, yet the need to ensure our representatives are confident and skilled is greater than ever. Last year the coalition government announced that full funding for trade union education at level 3 and […]

Rule G Branch Officers

Rule G 4.1.1 Insert “Retired Members’ Secretary,” between “Young Members’ officer,” and “Welfare Officer “.

Rule G The Branch Committee

Insert new Rule G 2.1.3: “G 2.1.3 Such representatives of the retired members’ section within the branch as the branch may determine;” Renumber subsequent rules.

Campaigning for our public services and those that provide them

Conference notes the decisive role that UNISON must continue to play in campaigning for effective public services that embody the values of a good society – care and compassion, dignity and respect, fairness and equal treatment, accountability and the public good. Conference further notes that the context in which we must campaign is characterised by […]

UNISON and Devolution

Conference notes the debate around devolution which occurred in 2014 impacted on all parts of the United Kingdom with the referendum on Scottish independence and the subsequent Smith Commission; the passage of the Wales Act 2014; the increased momentum behind combined authorities and “City deals” in England; the Conservative Party’s proposals around “English Votes for […]

Tackling vulnerable employment and casualisation

Conference is deeply concerned that job insecurity, in-work poverty and workplace exploitation have become the hallmarks of the so-called economic recovery in the UK. While the growth of zero hours contracts has rightly attracted the public’s attention, they are only the tip of the ice berg. The proliferation of short hour contracts, false-self employment and […]

Rule D The right to attend and speak

Rule D 1.7.2 delete “ Deputy General Secretaries”

Rule E Deputy General Secretary

Delete E4, E4.1, E4.2 and E 4.3

The Bhopal Disaster 30 years later

Conference notes: 1)That a Scottish Trade Union Delegation to Bhopal participated in events marking the 30th Anniversary of the gas leak disaster of 1984 for which Union Carbide was responsible; 2)That Dow Chemical Company (which now owns Union Carbide) has continued to avoid accountability and evades legal liability; 3)That the people of Bhopal are still […]

Domestic violence, a gendered issue

Conference notes that research from the home office has shown that nearly 90% of severe and repeated domestic violence is experienced by women. The Home Office report on domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking (findings from the British Crime Survey) reported that “women are the overwhelming majority of the most heavily abused group. Among people […]

Rule D Service Group Executive

Add new rule D 3.5.10: “D 3.5.10 No member who holds a seat on a Service Group Executive can hold a seat on the National Executive Council as a service group representative under Rule D.2.3 at the same time. She/he may stand as a candidate in an election or by-election for a seat on the […]

Rule D National Executive Council

Add new Rule D 2.9: “D 2.9 Meetings of the National Executive Council shall take place, so far as is reasonably practicable, in venues which are accessible to all members eligible to attend.” Renumber as appropriate

Rule D Service Group Executive

D 3.5.8 add at end: “She/he may stand as a candidate in an election or by-election for a seat on a Service Group Executive, subject to Rule D.2.3.4. If elected, she/he will be deemed to have resigned from the National Executive Council from the commencement of the period of office for the Service Group Executive […]

Equality Facility Time

At the Discrimination Law Conference in January 2014 Professor Sir Bob Hepple QC said that “if a new government enacts only one new piece of equality legislation it should be to require equality representatives at workplaces” – such representatives would require a legal right to time off to “be involved in drawing up and enforcing […]