Jamaica – Mining in the Cockpit Country

Conference we should all now be aware of how our environments are changing. Therefore, the impact Mining in the Cockpit Country Jamaica should be of great concern to all and not just Jamaican people or those who have relatives there. The mining of land in this area can be likened to the Amazon Rainforest. The […]

Challenging racism and disability discrimination in the workplace: An intersectional approach

Conference notes that Black workers face numerous barriers in the workplace due to racism and that UNISON works hard to combat this through programmes such as Challenging Racism in the Workplace. However many disabled Black workers face multiple discrimination in the workplace. In particular, Black workers can find it difficult to access reasonable adjustments at […]

Higher Education Service Group Executive Pay Motion 2020/21

2019 marks ten years of the erosion in real terms, take home pay, the pay of the majority of Higher Education support staff. If pay had risen in line with the cost of living, then each pound that university support staff earn in 2019/20, would be worth twenty one pence more than it actually is. […]

Access to Immigration Advice and Representation to Recruit and Organise New Members

Once again this year, one of the most useful tools to attract migrant workers has been our immigration advice clinics. On top of the JCWI helpline, accessible through UNISON direct, we have a monthly face to face clinic with a solicitor in Northern Ireland. This continues to be a fantastic resource that has allowed us […]

Access to Immigration Advice and Representation to Recruit and Organise New Members

Once again this year, one of the most useful tools to attract migrant workers has been our immigration advice clinics. On top of the JCWI helpline, accessible through UNISON direct, we have a monthly face to face clinic with a solicitor in Northern Ireland. This continues to be a fantastic resource that has allowed us […]

Access to Immigration Advice and Representation to Recruit and Organise New Members

Once again this year, one of the most useful tools to attract migrant workers has been our immigration advice clinics. On top of the JCWI helpline, accessible through UNISON direct, we have a monthly face to face clinic with a solicitor in Northern Ireland. This continues to be a fantastic resource that has allowed us […]

Policies on dealing with abusive customers in call centres

Conference notes that many energy members work in call centres and operational centres where they take calls from operational colleagues and customers. While most callers are reasonable, there is always a proportion that are unreasonable and some who are extremely abusive. In workplaces with generally high levels of stress, this can be intolerable. People who […]

Training Mental Health First-Aiders in Energy Workplaces

Conference notes that since 1981, workplaces have been required to provide adequate and appropriate first aid equipment, facilities and people, to ensure that employees can be given immediate help if they are injured or taken ill at work. Yet in 2019, there is still no statutory requirement for employers to provide mental health first aid […]

Utility and Energy Industry Privatisation

Many members within the above industries no longer have the luxury of a Defined Benefits (DB) pension and are relying on a much inferior Direct Contributions Pension scheme for their retirement. A lot of these workers have used the Share Save and Share Incentive Plan (SIP) share schemes within these companies to subsidise the shortfall […]

Support to Complete Slavery Memorial in Hyde Park

Conference notes Memorial 2007 is a registered charity with no paid staff, run entirely by volunteers. They have been working since 2007 to erect a permanent memorial to remember enslaved Africans and their descendants. Conference welcomes the donation of £7000 made to the campaign in October 2017 by UNISON and UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis […]

Access to immigration advice and representation to recruit and organise new members

All Health Trusts in our region have recruited new nurses from the Philippines. Our activists have been working hard to try and recruit them and include them in UNISON. One of the most useful tools to attract migrant workers has been our immigration advice clinic. On top of the Joint Council for the Welfare of […]

Disabled Black Workers and the Disciplinary Process

Conference notes that Disabled Black workers are disproportionately targeted when it comes to disciplinary processes, which is often linked to racism and discrimination as well as a lack of understanding and support for the barriers faced by disabled people, including those with non-visible/non-apparent disabilities. Black disabled people are also over-represented when it comes to capability […]

Black members and workplace mental health

Conference notes that employers are failing in their duty of care towards all staff with mental health issues, and this has a particular effect on Black Workers. Recent UNISON research found that 25 percent of local government workers in Scotland had experienced mental health issues at work, and the figure for Black Workers was 50% […]

Black Women and WASPI

Conference this Government has done a great injustice against all women who were born in the 1950s. By increasing the age of women’s state pensionable age and not informing them of the true impact this would have on their lives. At a time when they would be planning for their retirement in the last 2 […]

Fair representation of Black people in recruitment process

In 2009, the Department for Work and Pensions embarked on an experiment to understand the scarcity of non white faces in top managerial post in UK’s organisations. 2,000 fake job applications were created in response to 1,000 real vacancies across multiple sectors, professions and pay grades. Similar CVs – one with a “traditional Anglo-Saxon” name […]