No Confidence in UCEA

For too many years now it seems that the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) are neither able nor willing to negotiate with the unions in good faith. It appears that perhaps UCEA is acting as an arm of the Conservative Government, representing year after year of increasingly austerity for staff working in Higher Education. […]

The Truth about Finances in the HE Sector

Every year, UCEA representing the employers in the HE sector pay negotiations, state that while some universities are wealthy, there are universities that would struggle, indeed may be forced into considering redundancies, the closure of departments and so on, should a significant pay settlement be forced upon them. For this reason, staff salaries have been […]

Fair Pay for Higher Education Staff in 2024-25

Higher Education pay has fallen behind. Since 2009 our pay has lost around 28% of its value as a result of successive below inflation cost-of-living rises, year on year. The extreme increase in prices during 2022 and 2023 has brought this to a crisis point, and UNISON members working in Higher Education are facing real […]

Its not just that national pay bargaining hasn’t kept pace with inflation

University staff at all grades on the agreed pay scale have seen the value put on their work diminish year after year, not by some form of “natural process”, not by erosion or gravity, but by deliberate choices made year on year by the people running the universities: they pay us less, as the sectors […]

Local settlements alongside the national pay bargaining

It is clear that while UCEA as a group are doggedly refusing to admit there is a problem with pay in the sector – and given that UCEA members / advisors are getting their information from employees “over the top of the national pay scale” perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised – individual HEIs are increasingly […]

Securing the Legacy of the Year of Black Workers in Higher Education

This conference notes that the Year of Black Workers, and its focus of ‘Establishing Legacy to Generate Change’, is not the change we seek, it is merely the opportunity to generate change. Black Workers across our society often find themselves in low-paid, insecure work, with poor terms and conditions. Despite the Westminster Government denying that […]

Women’s Mental Health at Work

Conference notes that the workforce in the community sector especially in the social care sector is overwhelmingly female. The additional pressures on women working in the community sector, especially low paid women have seen almost 3 in 5 of these women experience poor mental health where work is a contributing factor. However, for Black women […]

Time to Smash the Gender Pay Gap in Higher Education

Despite the Equal Pay Act coming into force over 50 years ago, there remains a persistent gender pay gap on university campuses across the United Kingdom. According to the Times Higher Education (THE), the mean pay gap in Higher Education in 2020 – 2021 was 14.8% which was higher than the UK average of 11.3%. […]

LET’S MAKE CARE WORK – A NATIONAL CARE SERVICE FOR ENGLAND

Conference welcomes UNISON’s new campaign “Let’s Make Care Work” which is campaigning for a National Care Service in England. Plans for a National Care Service for England were first presented 13 years ago by the last Labour government shortly before it’s election defeat. Since then, adult social care and support has gone downhill fast and […]

Amendment to Standing Orders

Amendment to Standing Orders In Standing Order number 8, motions and amendments insert a new section *.1 to read as follows: “8.1 Motions and amendments may be submitted to Conference by the following bodies: • Branch Retired Members’ groups • Regional Retired Members’ groups • National Retired members’ Committee • Retired Members’ Womens’ caucus • […]

Amendment to Rule Option 1

Conference wishes the following to be considered as one of the choices for the two motions and/or amendments to Rule to be submitted by the Retired Members’ Organisation to National Delegate Conference 2024 in accordance with Rule D.1.10.4: “Rule D – Structure of the union at national level. In Rule D.2 – National Executive Council […]

Tackling Pensioner Poverty

Conference notes with real concern the ongoing cost of living crisis, which has impacted significantly on the costs of food and energy particularly. Conference notes that for older people on fixed, low incomes, rising costs place them under great financial pressure. Conference notes that increasing numbers of pensioners in Northern Ireland are living in poverty, […]

National, Regional and Local Transport:

Given the current disarray in the provision of Public Transport, with cutbacks, cancellations etc. the model of privatised services has shown itself to be totally unsuited to the needs of the populace (particularly the needs of the older population). We therefore commit ourselves to a different model of Public Transport (eg, buses, trains etc.), one […]

Justice for the Windrush Generation

Justice for the Windrush Generation Conference is extremely concerned at the continuing detriment suffered by retired members (or their heirs) who migrated to the United Kingdom in the 1950’s and 1960s, mostly from the Caribbean, who comprise the “Windrush Generation named after the ship, Empire Windrush which sailed from Jamaica to the UK exactly seventy […]

Britain’s railway ticket offices scheduled for closure

Almost 1,000 ticket offices are set to close across the country with the loss of thousands of jobs and creating accessibility problems for different types of travellers, especially for older people and persons with disabilities not using smart phones or computers, without ticket offices and on station support a huge swathe of passengers could be […]