Conference is alarmed that many Councils have faced unprecedented reductions in Government grants since the 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review. Since then, the position has deteriorated for local government with many councils now forecasting that central Government support over the six year period 2011-2017 will see reductions in excess of £100m. The December 2012 Autumn Statement […]
Conference motions
Conference notes the continued promotion of co-ops, mutual and social enterprise by the Coalition Government as being a preferred delivery of local council services. This interest in mutualism is driven by the Coalition Government’s flagship agenda of the Big Society. By giving public sector workers a right to form mutuals and co-operatives, the government claims […]
Conference believes that this government is intent on dismantling state education in the same way they are dismantling our National Health Service. The views of support staff, parents and teachers are being ignored whilst the Coalition government’s Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, arrogantly decides that he has the freedom to overturn 150 years […]
Conference notes that the current constitution for regional representation on the UNISON NJC Committee is as follows: Regions with up to 65,000 local 1 general representative government members elect: 1 women’s representative Regions with 65,001 to 100,000 1 general representative local government members elect: 1 women’s representative 1 low paid women’s rep Regions with over […]
Conference recognises that over half of all local government employees work part-time and that nine out of ten of them are women. Over the past seven years the proportion of part-time workers in local government has risen as councils have come under increasing pressure to save money. The three-year pay freeze means that part-time hourly […]
Cuts to budgets across the UK are hitting the training and development of school support staff. Research by the Institute of Education (IoE) on the effectiveness of Teaching Assistants (TAs) has been misinterpreted by some and reports such as the Sutton Trust Toolkit to Improve Learning suggest that TAs have little or no impact on […]
Conference notes that the decision to end the system of support for local Council Tax payers has: 1)Resulted in chaos, with different households in identical circumstances receiving different levels of support simply because of where they live 2)Resulted in inefficiency with increased costs of collection, higher bad debt provision and the prospect of more people […]
This Conference notes the risk to the lives, health and welfare of local government staff posed by Government’s attacks on the health and safety regulatory system. These attacks include: 1)The cuts in local authority inspection – by 86% since 2009/10 2) The dumbing down of Health and Safety Executive (HSE) advice, including its guidance on […]
Conference deplores the scale of the austerity cuts and the damage they are wreaking on local services and our members who work in them. Despite the high profile failures of privatised services, councils continue to outsource services to private sector organisations – either through ideology or because they believe the bogus claims that the private […]
This Conference notes that the recession is impacting on jobs in the public sector: full time permanent jobs are disappearing at an alarming rate as Councils and other public sector agencies deal with the impact of reducing budgets. Support is confirmed for UNISON policies aimed at resisting attacks on our members’ jobs, pay and service […]
Conference reaffirms UNISON’s existing policy on Palestine with the following principal aims: 1)Israel to withdraw to the borders of 5 June 1967, demolish its Apartheid wall and remove all its settlements; 2)the right of Palestinians to establish a state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with its capital at Jerusalem; and, 3)the Palestinian […]
Local Government Conference 2013 LGPS Full Voting Rights for Union Nominated Representatives Conference through the ongoing governance negotiations we must ensure that we achieve full membership and voting rights for Unison nominated LGPS representatives to local Pension Panel boards. The 1989 Local Government Housing Act, section 13, gives union representative full membership participation. With 4,600,000 […]
This Conference reaffirms its belief that effective regulation of health and social care services is essential given the ongoing attacks on the NHS and the continuing cuts to social care budgets. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) which provides this vital service is being asked to expand its regulatory role significantly whilst simultaneously undergoing a period […]
Conference notes that the Education and Training Standards Committee (ETS) of the National Youth Agency is consulting on the establishment of an Institute for Youth Work (IYW) for England. This includes the possibility of potential later extension to include the whole UK. The IYW is to be open to employees and volunteers working with young […]
Conference deplores the continuing cuts to youth services in the statutory and voluntary sectors. Much of the infrastructure is disappearing fast with 100% cuts to services being common. The workforce is facing major redundancies and those workers who survive the onslaught are facing attacks on their pay and conditions. Conference therefore congratulates those branches who […]