Conference notes the findings of the 2018 Trades Union Congress (TUC) report into third party harassment of young workers titled “Not part of the job”, the 2016 TUC report into sexual harassment at work titled “Still just a bit of banter?”, TUC research into experiences of sexual harassment of Black workers (2017), young workers (2017), […]
Conference motions
Conference notes proudly that UNISON is a union with over a million women members and that we reach every corner of the UK and every corner of the public sector. Conference also notes that our collective labour as women contributes billions of pounds to the economy, and our human contribution keeps our society running, exceeding […]
Conference notes the words of United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, “Achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls is the unfinished business of our time, and the greatest human rights challenge in our world.” Conference believes that identifying, celebrating and increasing visibility of women’s achievements worldwide can help forge equality and combat gender bias, and […]
Celebrate 2023 as the UNISON Year of Black Workers. Conference notes that we are half way through the UNISON Year of Black Workers. Over the past two years we have seen the disproportionate impact of Black workers and communities being hit particularly hard during the pandemic. Working on the front line, exposed to Covid-19, and […]
Conference welcomes the comprehensive Amnesty International report, Israel’s Apartheid against Palestinians: Cruel System of Domination and Crime against Humanity, which sets out how massive seizures of Palestinian land and property, unlawful killings, forcible transfer, drastic movement restrictions, and the denial of nationality and citizenship to Palestinians are all components of a system which amounts to […]
Conference recognises that 2023 marks the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. Conference recalls the repeated support our union has shown for the Agreement and the peace process in Northern Ireland. Conference notes however that at the time of writing, Northern Ireland does not have a devolved government in place. Conference further notes that […]
Conference believes that the ethnicity pay gap (EPG) is a major cause of in-work poverty experienced by Black workers and the cause of severe intergenerational inequality in Black communities. Conference welcomes the moves made by the National Black Members Committee (NBMC) to highlight and campaign to close the gap. The EPG is as high as […]
Conference notes the campaigns for a National Care Service in each of the 4 nations and UNISON’s support, in principle, for such a proposal. Local government in Scotland, Wales and England and that any proposals for a National Care Service should respect and build upon this. Conference notes that social care is essentially a community-based […]
The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) have published as part of their “Save Our Services” bulletins a projected funding gap of £1billion for 2023/24. Scottish local government branches are already engaged in discussions with employers about cuts to jobs, cuts to terms and conditions and we note that some councils looking at wholesale restructuring […]
Conference notes that many local government branches currently support care workers both employed directly by local government employers but also those employed by private companies contracted by local government employers to deliver care for elderly, disabled people – both adult and children. Approximately 80% of the social care workforce are women. Only a small percentage […]
Conference notes that the continued fragmentation of the school system, together with the geographical spread of schools, provides organising challenges for UNISON. The use of school forums to bring together activists from across schools in branches is well established as best practice to develop collective responses to the common issues we face. The ability to […]
With the de-funding of public sector bodies, from a government which has little interest in the welfare needs of its citizens. It is no surprise that amongst those facing the most targeted hostile barriers are our Black members. The Tory anti-immigrant agenda has fuelled increased hatred and attacks on our Black communities across the country. […]
Conference notes that as a union of one million women, women will always be at the heart of UNISON. Conference also notes that UNISON has proudly campaigned for many years to remove what many campaigners and activists call the last great workplace taboo. Conference further notes that the demography of UNISONs membership in social care […]
National pay negotiations with The Association of Colleges (AoC) continue to fall considerably short of the mark. With 1% and 2% pay ‘recommendations’ over the past few years, we are failing to deliver the pay awards our members need. As a consequence more and more branches are tagging on to the tailcoats of UCU and […]
Conference notes that local government services have been cut to the bone by a decade of austerity and this has had an adverse impact on our members’ jobs, pay, terms and conditions. This is particularly the case for our disabled members who have often been first in line when job cuts are on the agenda. […]