Negotiating for equality in a time of local government cuts

Conference notes that the Tory-led government’s onslaught on public service workers and their failed austerity measures have led to worsening terms and conditions for local government workers. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) workers are affected like any other local government worker as pay and conditions are undermined. But the impact on terms and conditions […]

The Gender Agenda

Conference commends the proposal to set a “gender agenda” in local government pay negotiations. The government’s austerity measures and the pay freeze in local government have impacted disproportionally on women, not least because three quarters of workers in local government are women and more than half of these women work part-time, in low paid jobs […]

Free Schools and Studio Schools

Conference is totally against the setting up of Free Schools and Studio Schools. Unlike Academies which are existing schools that have changed status; Free Schools and Studio Schools are brand new schools. Often these new schools are located next to established existing community schools and threaten their very existence. In the majority of cases staff […]

Local Government Funding Cuts

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 […]

Cooperative Councils – Mutualisation or Marketisation

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 […]

Regional Representation on the UNISON NJC Committee

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 […]

Campaigning for Part-Time Workers Rights

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 […]

Education and Training for School Support Staff

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 […]

De-Regulation and Attacks on Health and Safety

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 […]

Local Government Finance – Council Tax Benefit

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 […]

Fighting Cuts and Privatisation – Highlighting ‘The Damage’ to our Communities and the Economy

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 […]

Modern Apprentices in Local Government

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 […]

LGPS Full Voting Rights

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 […]

Effective Regulation of Health and Social Care Services

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 […]

Cuts to Youth Services

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 […]