This Conference notes with alarm the stance that the Environment Agency took in imposing the 2018 Pay Award on its employees, following the announcement by all trade unions who consulted their members that there was overwhelming rejection of the 2018 Pay Award. The employer took little time to consider the news of rejection and simply […]
Conference motions
In the unexpected heat of the long Summer of 2018, workers employed in the Water, Environment and Transport Service Group experienced difficulties undertaking their normal roles with inadequate provision provided by employers. Whilst mains fed water coolers are becoming more common in our workplaces following a long campaign by our Service Group within UNISON other […]
Conference notes the success of WET specific Health and Safety seminars in 2016 and 2018. Due to the ever-changing Health and Safety risks experienced by UNISON members employed within the Water, Environment and Transport Service Group, we call upon the Service Group Executive in conjunction with UNISON’s Health and Safety Unit to convene a similar […]
Conference notes the continual increase in the number of UNISON members working on phones in contact centres in employers covered by the Water, Environment & Transport Service Group. Currently, United Utilities only provides audio tests for employees reaching the upper noise limits as recommended by the HSE such as operational employees in hearing protection areas. […]
As staffing levels plummet in both the public and private sectors, UNISON representatives in the areas covered by the WET Service Group find themselves dealing with more and more cases including those of stress and mental health. This in turn puts pressure on representatives themselves who get personally involved in some such cases and require […]
Conference in the climate of the rise of the far right, Brexit and the real impact of racism in our society we know that racism is real. UNISON’s previous objectives included the statement ‘including Racism’, but at the 6th December 2018 NEC meeting the NEC approved the 2019 objectives with this wording removed. Conference, the […]
Conference recognises that health and social care workers are dedicated and hard working but lowly paid with poor terms and conditions. They do their best to provide quality care but against a background of crisis within health and social care services. Research confirms care for residents in privately run homes for the elderly can be […]
In Standing Order 10.1 After “report to” delete “members” and substitute: “the relevant Branch or submitting body”, and, after “submission of motions and amendments” add: “to Standing Orders” City of Wolverhampton Islington
Conference condemns the Government’s decision to implement a benefits cut that impacts mixed-age couples – where one partner is of pension age and the other is not of pensionable age who are in receipt of Universal Credit. The charity Age UK has calculated that this change could leave some pensioners up to £7,000 worse off […]
Conference notes with concern the ‘BBC 5 Live Investigates’ report on fraud broadcast in September 2018 stating that fraudsters scammed nearly 49,000 older people across the UK in the past year, equivalent to almost six reports every hour. Furthermore the total number of reports has nearly doubled in the past 3 years and one expert […]
Conference recalls how concerned we were last year about the Intergenerational Commission’s final report published in April 2018. Conference notes, now, that the report’s publication has foreshadowed a series of further attacks on older people’s entitlements and standards of living including: 1) The Taxpayers’ Alliance’s report, Pensions Inequality, issued in August 2018 calling for an […]
A recent report in the Journal of Transport and Health by Dr Sarah Jackson, highlighted important benefits for older people who use a concessionary bus pass: a) Older people who use a concessionary bus pass tend to be more happy and physically active; b) They are also less likely to be socially isolated when they […]
Conference recognises the work that UNISON has undertaken on the issues of sexual harassment, particularly the joint research in 2018 with the London School of Economics and Political Science and the University of Surrey on the levels of sexual harassment in the police force. Sexual harassment in the workplace is nothing new. Attacks against women […]
This conference fully recognises the huge impact 10 years of austerity have had on the lives of our women members and their families. However there have been many success stories across our service groups in UNISON where our women members have had victories. Some of these may be small or large victories but all demonstrate […]
Conference notes with serious concern that following the result of the referendum in Ireland to repeal the 8th Amendment of the Irish Constitution, Northern Ireland will become the only jurisdiction in these islands to persist with restrictive abortion laws that breach human rights. Conference believes that the time has come for Parliament to take clear […]