Dental Inspection Charges

This Conference calls upon the National Retried Members’ Committee to strongly pursue and campaign to make available, for older people, free dental inspections; the same service as is currently available for eye examinations and publicise progress in UNISON publications on a regular basis.

Building Campaign Alliances Against Privatisation, Fragmentation and Cuts in the NHS

This Conference confirms UNISON’s total opposition to the ConDem Coalition’s White Paper – “Liberating the NHS”. If implemented, this would lead to the destruction of the NHS as we know it. The coalition government has no democratic mandate for its attacks on the NHS. It was not in any election manifesto and there has never […]

NHS Pay

Conference believes that the policies of the Coalition government pose the greatest threat to living standards of health workers of any time in the 63 years of the NHS. Whereas the Labour government recognised the value of national NHS pay, terms and conditions based upon equal value and fairness, the Coalition government is pursuing policies […]

Representing and Organising Health Members in the Private and Voluntary Sector

Conference notes with concern the growing number of NHS staff and UNISON members transferring to the private and voluntary sector under the Transforming Community Services programme, other NHS re-organisations, and the government’s agenda to shift to “any willing provider” for patient services. Lines of accountability will become increasingly blurred which will negatively impact on staff, […]

Hutton Report on NHS Pensions – Pay More, Work Longer, Get Less

Conference notes the withdrawal of motion 29 on pensions which means that there is nothing on Conference agenda to allow debate on crucial matters relating to NHS pensions. This motion highlights concerns around a number of the proposals in the Independent Public Service Pensions Commissions final report (the Hutton report) published on 10 March 2011. […]

National Blood Service

This conference is appalled at the news leaked on 17 February that the Department of Health is considering the privatisation of parts of the national blood and transplant service. If implemented, it would surely be the first step in the privatisation of the whole service. The blood and transplant service relies upon the millions of […]

Defending local government jobs and services for all

Conference notes the devastating impact of the local government cuts on women, Black communities, disabled people and those on the lowest incomes. The lack of data on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people makes the impact on LGBT workers and communities less easy to quantify, but their impact on people’s lives is equally devastating. […]

Speaking up for LGBT equality in a time of local government cuts

Conference deplores the unprecedented attacks on the rights of local government workers, on our terms and conditions and indeed on our very employment. Conference notes that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) workers have been among the last to gain the protection of the law. Seeking to avoid anti-LGBT discrimination has therefore been an important […]

Defend the Green Book

Conference agrees that National Joint Council (NJC) agreements enshrined in the “Green Book” form the very basis of Local Government workers terms and conditions, especially those covered in Part 2. We value our leave arrangements and believe that our sick pay arrangements protect members who are ill from having to survive in poverty. Over a […]

Stop the Attacks on Local Government Services

Conference notes that the ConDem government has refused to reduce the national deficit by alternative methods e.g. increasing taxation levels on multi-nationals, the implementation of the ‘Robin Hood’ tax, and forcing tax-dodging billionaires to pay their taxes in the UK. The result has been a massive attack on Local Government Staff and the services they […]

Youth Services in Crisis

Conference is deeply concerned about the disproportionate level of cuts to youth provision in the statutory and voluntary sectors. The workforce is facing major redundancies and those workers who survive the cull are facing attacks on their pay and conditions. Losing the skills and expertise of youth and community workers made redundant will have a […]

Colleges and the Green Agenda

Conference is concerned that as a result of savage funding cuts the green agenda could be dropped or sidelined by many employers. Conference notes that many college jobs are reliant on the development of training and education provision that supports the growth of new green industries. Conference is very concerned that the Tory led Westminster […]

Campaigning Against College Cuts

Conference is outraged by the savage funding cuts being inflicted on Further Education and Sixth Form colleges by the Tory led Government. Cuts that will both threaten large scale job loses in colleges and lead to increasing hardship and deprivation in the communities that our colleges serve. Conference notes that many of the colleges facing […]

Defending Meat Inspection Workers

This Conference notes the vital job which is done by Food Standards Agency meat inspectors, inspecting every piece of meat produced in Britain. However these civil servants work in appalling conditions with UNISON 2011 survey revealing that 64% have been bullied in the last 2 years, and 40% have had time off as a consequence. […]

Employee Led Mutuals “Pathfinder” Programme in Local Government

In February the government announced that the London Borough of Newham was one of these pilots, creating a new mutual model of delivery in children’s and young people’s early intervention services. We believe that the timing will inevitably lead to its being used as a mechanism for meeting some of the government cuts to our […]