Mental Health Awareness Training

Conference notes with concern the evidence that the last few years have shown there to be an increasing deterioration in good mental health of workers across public services and including in Water, Environment and Transport (WET) workplaces. This impact was significantly exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic which saw people cut off from family, friends, and […]

Securing the legacy of the year of disabled workers in WET workplaces

Conference notes the success of UNISON’s Year of Disabled Workers 2022. With the year now over, we have seen renewed focus on the experience of disabled members in our union, in the workplace and in society, including those in the WET service group. We used the year to highlight the important contribution our disabled members […]

Sewage and Wastewater Discharges into Rivers by Water Companies

More than ever, water quality is at the forefront of public consciousness. Due to Ofwat’s regulatory approach, which prioritises value for money for the consumer, and the companies adopting risk-based strategies to deliver maximum profits for their owners, little money is spent on maintaining infrastructure. This issue has been brought to light with the increased […]

Funding of Local Bus Services

Conference notes the Government scheme to cap bus fares at £2 in England as part of its support scheme during the cost-of-living crisis. UNISON recognises this is a temporary measure and feels the incentive does not go far enough to address the challenges working people face. Conference calls on the government for more funding for […]

The Northern Ireland Peace Process 25 Years On

Conference recognises that 2023 marks the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. Conference recalls the repeated support our union has shown for the Agreement and the peace process in Northern Ireland. Conference notes however that at the time of writing, Northern Ireland does not have a devolved government in place. Conference further notes that […]

We Need to Talk About Palestine

Conference welcomes the comprehensive Amnesty International report, Israel’s Apartheid against Palestinians: Cruel System of Domination and Crime against Humanity, which sets out how massive seizures of Palestinian land and property, unlawful killings, forcible transfer, drastic movement restrictions, and the denial of nationality and citizenship to Palestinians are all components of a system which amounts to […]

Environment Agency Workers Deserve A Decent Pay Rise in Line with Inflation

2022/2023 was a year of industrial dispute across the Public Sector, partly to address the indecent pay increases. UNISON Members in the Environment Agency are not immune to this – EA members took strike action over pay for the first time, which members voted overwhelmingly for in November 2022. Since 2010 salaries in the Environment […]

Ethnicity Pay Gap

Conference believes that the ethnicity pay gap (EPG) is a major cause of in-work poverty experienced by Black workers and the cause of severe intergenerational inequality in Black communities. Conference welcomes the moves made by the National Black Members Committee (NBMC) to highlight and campaign to close the gap. The EPG is as high as […]

Securing the Legacy of the Year of Disabled Workers

Conference notes the success of UNISON’s Year of Disabled Workers 2022 and places on record our thanks to all of our disabled members and activists who have driven this success throughout our union. Through the year, we saw renewed focus on the experience of disabled members in our union, in the workplace and in society. […]

Equality is UNISON Business

Conference notes that one of UNISON’s main aims is, as per UNISON’s rule book, “to seek to ensure equality of treatment and fair representation for all members and to work for the elimination of discrimination on grounds of race, gender, sexuality, gender identity, disability, age or creed”. To achieve this, UNISON seeks for branches to […]

Cost of Living Crisis and Black Workers

Conference notes that everything is going up fast – 12 percent now but forecasts of upwards to 22 percent. However, the pay of many UNISON members has been effectively frozen for almost 12 years. We can’t make ends meet! We have a cost of living crisis because of the decisions made by political leaders and […]

Securing the Legacy of the Year of Black Workers in Water, Environment and Transport Service

This conference notes that whilst 2023 is the Year of Black Workers, and its focus of ‘Establishing Legacy to Generate Change’, this year in and of itself is not the change we seek, it is merely the opportunity to generate change. Black Workers up and down our society often find themselves in low-paid, insecure work, […]

Resisting the Tories Sustained Assault on Democracy and Our Fundamental Rights

Conference notes that this UK government has launched a sustained volley of attacks on our basic freedoms at break-neck speed and in such volume that even very basic levels of appropriate scrutiny and challenge is almost impossible. They have defied legal norms of parliamentary process and sunk to new levels to force through their proposals. […]

Tackling Health Inequalities and Closing the Life Expectancy Gap

Conference notes that health inequalities in the UK, that were already unacceptably large, have intensified in recent years. Conference notes that one of the most measurable demonstration of such inequalities is the “social gradient in health” which outlines differences in life expectancy for different groups of people. For example, women living in the least-deprived 10 […]

A Health and Safety Response to a National Crisis of Stress and Its Effects on Public Service Workers

Conference affirms that employers have a legal duty to protect both the health, and the safety of their employees in relation to the activities of the employer. Conference notes that work related stress is defined as ‘the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed on them’. Stress is a […]