Rule D 3.5.8 Service Group Executive

Rule D3.5.8 Add new rule D.3.5.8 ‘No member who holds a seat on the National Executive Council as a service group representative under Rule D2.3 can hold any other seat on a service group executive at the same time.’ Renumber rest of Rule D3.5

Challenging Inequality – Enforcing Employment and Trade Union Rights

Conference notes the continuing advances in individual employment rights in the coming years but believes that there are three areas to prioritise in 2008 and 2009: the enforcement of employment rights, the collective rights of trade unions and the achievement of a single equality act. The legal right of agency workers to opt out of […]

The Changing Structures of Local Service Provision

Conference notes that the world of local services in England is undergoing major change as a result of recent legislation affecting local government and local public transport. Councils and health trusts, police authorities and youth services, the Environment Agency and passenger transport authorities have to get together to plan, deliver, and monitor and commission services. […]

Vulnerable Migrant Workers

Conference recognises that migration continues to be an important issue in all parts of the UK. Migrant workers make an essential contribution to the delivery of public services and to the overall economic wellbeing of the UK. Yet all too often this contribution is ignored and migrants are scapegoated for inadequate funding and provision of […]

Local Area Agreement and the Race Equality Duty

Conference notes the significance attached to Local Area Agreements (LAAs), new ‘partnership’ structures, and the significant role that they are playing in the delivery of public services by bringing together public, private, private and voluntary sectors. Conference believes that this has an impact on Local Government UNISON members working in these sectors. Conference is concerned […]

The ‘Public Sector Worker’

Conference notes that the Local Government Employers have introduced the idea of the ‘Public Sector Worker’ in recent discussion documents. They have suggested that there should be core pay and conditions, providing for equity and protection for employees moving between sectors and in to shared service arrangements. The idea is also being discussed with the […]

Organising apprentices

This Conference notes the Prime Minister’s announcement on 28 January 2008 that he wants to see one in five young people on apprenticeships within 10 years, in a push to win the global “skills race”. He also announced that as a first step the number of places on offer for 16 to 18-year-olds would be […]

Women in Local Government

Public sector workers are increasingly more likely to be women and to work part-time than private sector workers. In 2004, 65 per cent of public sector workers were women, compared with 41 per cent of private sector workers. Around 30 per cent of public sector workers worked part-time compared with 24 per cent of private […]

Casualisation of the Local Government Workforce

This Conference is concerned about the impact on the terms and conditions of members working in social care outside of direct local authority provision. We are also concerned that the rapid growth of agency, self employed, and community and voluntary sector provision will lead to worsening standards of employment. Disabled members report that: 1)Directly employed […]

Local Government Efficiency Reviews and Disabled People

Disabled members are reporting a detrimental impact on their working conditions as a result of action arising from efficiency reviews; there is little evidence of employers meeting their legal responsibilities to undertake Disability Equality Impact Assessments when shared services or outsourcing are being contemplated. Branches should be aware of the wealth of arguments within the […]

Structural and Organisastion Change – The Local Government workforce

The local authority workforce faces an uncertain and difficult future in the face of continued pressure for “efficiency savings”, ongoing restructuring of local authorities, outsourcing, “shared services”, the impact of local area agreements of Councils’ financing and service provision, as well as radical changes in education and social care. UNISON’s briefing activity around “Making Local […]

Social Work Practices and Local Authority Services for ‘Looked After Children’

This Conference notes: 1)The passage of the Children and Young Person’s Bill through Parliament with it’s proposal for the piloting of independent ‘Social Work Practices’ to care for ‘Looked after Children’. That ‘Looked after Children’ are a very vulnerable group of young people who are cared for by the state either due to them being […]

Maximising the Impact of Workforce Development Plans on Local Bargaining

The Green Book advises all local councils to draw up Workforce Development Plans – Pt 2 (3) – and gives extensive practical guidance as to how these should be drawn up (4.8), including the role of the trade unions in developing and implementing these plans. Workforce Development Planning is now a key issue for local […]

Adult Social Services

Adult social services face a period of enormous change. The tight financial regime in which councils are operating is subjecting adult social services to major budget reductions in many authorities and the Government proposals to promote personal care budgets and self assessment means services are under threat. Members working in adult care could face redundancy […]

Social Care Services

Conference notes the continuing and increasing use of the independent, community, voluntary and private sectors to provide social care services and recognises that this threatens local government member’ jobs and terms and conditions in the following ways: 1)privatisation and externalisation of services leading to transfer of staff or redundancy; 2)competition from the independent and private […]