Rule D Retired Members’ Organisation

Rule D 6.6 add at end: “The National Retired Members’ Organisation may send two representatives of relevant retired members to each National Self-Organised Group Conference, with the right to speak but not to vote”.

Schedule E Political Fund Ballot

Schedule E 2 Delete “Brandon House, 180 Borough High Street, London SE1 1LW and replace with: “22nd floor, Euston Tower, 286 Euston Road, London, NW1 3JJ.”

Rule D Retired Members’ Organisation

Rule D 6.2 Delete existing Rule D 6.2 and replace with: “The retired members in a Branch may form a retired members’ section within the Branch and elect annually a retired members’ secretary and such other retired members’ officers as may be determined by them and also elect representatives to other levels of the retired […]

Celebrating Eequality in WET Workplaces

Conference notes that workplace equality issues are often portrayed as problems, difficult to handle, a minority interest and all about discrimination and prejudice. Conference believes that equality is not a problem but rather is something to celebrate in our Water, Environment and Transport (WET) workplaces. By celebrating equality and celebrating diversity we can help end […]

Tackling Stress in Water, Environment and Transport Workplaces

Conference welcomes the work done over many years by UNISON negotiators and representatives in water, environment and transport (WET) to highlight and tackle workplace stress. Conference is concerned that the current climate, with persistent threat to jobs, is placing particular stresses on WET members. There is micro-management, ever more pressure to meet targets, with fewer […]

Budget Cuts and the Impact of Austerity on Black Workers and Communities

Conference condemns the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition for the widespread and unprecedented destruction of public services that has resulted from the savage and unprecedented reductions in central government funding to local government, health, education, police, probation and the rest of the public sector. Public sector workers have borne the brunt of this in job losses, the […]

Bringing in the LGBT Vote for Public Services, Jobs and Growth

Conference recognises the importance of getting UNISON’s campaign messages out to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, particularly as we approach the next general election. Conference notes the Tories’ success in convincing many of the lie that their devastating cuts to jobs and public services are fair, necessary and good for the economy. They […]

Attendance Management

Conference is concerned that in the 21st Century some employers are still using draconian sickness absence polices, such as the Bradford Factor, which we know can discriminate against disabled workers. Absence from work due to a disability should be recorded separately and treated differently to non-disability related sickness absence with a separate policy explaining the […]

The Impact of Austerity on Women

Conference condemns the continued attack on public sector workers. In the last two years, over 631,000 jobs have been axed with a further 400,000 due to go before the 2015 general election. Women make up a large proportion of public sector workers and in some sectors twice as many women as men have lost their […]

Getting Equality on the Bargaining Table and Winning it for Members

This Conference welcomes the work being done by the Business and Environment Equal Opportunities Working Group (BEEOWG) to promote the equalities agenda. Equalities have long been a priority with the WET Service Group. Within the WET service group we have a long and proud tradition of fighting for equality for all our members. Over the […]

Recruiting and organising under-represented workers

Conference notes that Water, Environment and Transport is the only UNISON service group where male members outnumber female. This is despite the predominance of women staff in the administrative and clerical roles, in common with the UK workforce as a whole. Women in any workforce continue to face discrimination in pay and access to training […]

Scotland’s Future

Conference notes the Scottish Government has published its White Paper on Independence, their proposal to promote a ‘Yes’ vote in the Referendum to take place on 18 September 2014. The document covers matters arising from Scotland becoming an independent country like currency and international relations, in addition, it sets out a policy prospectus if the […]

Social Tariffs

This Conference notes that the Water Bill has moved through its legislative cycle following much delay. UNISON has been totally underwhelmed with the Water Bill and its contents and does not believe that the continued drive to introduce competition is the panacea that is so often claimed. If we take a look at the Energy […]

Environment Agency Cuts

This Conference is alarmed at the scale of job losses that are ongoing within the Environment Agency. It notes that since the Tory led coalition came into power nearly 25% of the workforce will have been lost as a direct result of the Government spending cuts. These cuts are a disaster for our members, for […]

Mitbestimmung in the Water Industry

Germany has recovered from the economic downturn of the past few years faster than most and shown sustainable growth year upon year despite major upheavals and changes such as re-unification. Many economists are convinced this is due to Mitbestimmung or Co-determination law. This law underpinning industrial and company policy in Germany requires that between a […]