Conference believes that Playwork and Playworkers are having a very difficult and threatening time due to various local authorities making cuts in play provision and services at a time when they are already grossly underfunded. Playwork has been disrespected and misunderstood despite vast evidence of the great value of the work. Cuts are being made […]
Conference motions
Conference recognises across Local Government, Further Education, Careers and Voluntary Sector that lay representatives are being inundated with increasing numbers of bullying and harassment cases. These cases are very often complex, time consuming and emotionally demanding and many lay representatives are ill equipped to deal with them. Conference therefore calls on the Service Group Executive […]
Conference acknowledges that a key issue for the community and voluntary sector is funding, which affects the quality of services and the pay and rewards for staff who deliver them. In particular, community and voluntary sector organisations with short term funding arrangements are likely to experience cuts or even closure when funding stops. Conference notes […]
This Local Government Service Group Conference notes with concern the vast amounts of money controlled by unelected, unaccountable quangos in the UK and the influence, for good or bad, on the lives of all of our members. This is perhaps demonstrated most clearly in the case of Boards of Management, which are the governing bodies […]
This Conference notes: 1)The large number of staff employed as agency staff within local government 2)That the employers in local government use agency staff as a measure to deal with what are long term recruitment and retention problems which are attributable to poor pay, terms and conditions 3)Agency staff are also used as a measure […]
Conference notes with concern the undermining of comprehensive education and the incremental and multi faceted process of privatisation and the continued marketisation of education which has taken place since 1997 through private management of state schools; privatisation of LEA functions; and the continued use of PFI. The Government’s 5 year strategy for education will speed […]
Conference is concerned that it is still not widely known that domestic violence accounts for at least 25 per cent of all violent crime, that one in four women will experience domestic violence at some time in their lives, and that every week at least two women will be killed by violent partners or ex-partners. […]
A law is already in place to ensure that women have the right to return to work after maternity leave. All too often, women are returning to work to find their job role has changed, their responsibilities and even their workplace. Although against current regulations, opportunities to return to their previous work are often denied […]
Conference welcomes campaigning materials produced by the National Women’s Committee on work life balance and flexible working. Unfortunately, Conference must also note that the application and interpretation of work life balance has been very different between and within organisations, to the detriment of women. Conference recognises that many employers do not encourage job sharing, or […]
Conference recognises that changes to the state pension system in recent years in terms of contributions, retirement age and earnings on which pensions are based puts women at an unfair disadvantage. The existing state pension alone is insufficient to provide for basic needs and requires a large number of recipients to undergo the humiliation of […]
Conference has previously noted that: 1)many women members are unaware of the opportunities open to them within UNISON; 2)not all branches are able to establish and maintain women’s groups; 3)women still face discrimination and barriers to involvement in the work of the union. Conference also recognises that Composite A, agreed at National Delegate Conference 2004, […]
The Home Secretary, David Blunkett is proposing a raft of new measures and amendments to existing anti-terrorism legislation which will extend his powers and local law enforcement agencies which include the following:- ·creation of ‘no jury anti-terrorist courts, these are all under the guise of building safe and secure communities ·introduction of special terrorism trials […]
Healthcare is changing and the Nursing Sector welcomes the opportunity to have a debate around individual roles and responsibilities. We have particularly welcomed the opportunity to respond to the Nursing & Midwifery Council consultation on advance practise. However in recent weeks there has been speculation that nurses and other professionals should not undertake surgical procedures. […]
Conference welcomes the campaign ‘Completing the Picture’ which aims to raise the profile of clerical, administrative and managerial staff in the NHS. This campaign, organised by UNISON with the NHS Confederation, won the support of 116 MP’s who signed an Early Day Motion in October/November 2004. The campaign pack features real people doing real jobs, […]
This Conference welcomes the findings of the Scottish Executive’s report “When the Customer isn’t right” and the funding of a 3-year campaign to cut the number of assaults to public service workers. This campaign is the package of non-legislative measures, which support the Emergency Workers Bill currently being debated in the Scottish Parliament. This work […]