Conference Attendance and Accountability

Conference notes with increasing concern that Conference business is liable to fall from the agenda if delegates are not on the Conference floor at the appropriate time. Conference should recognise that the funding of attendance is from national, regional and branch level and as such delegates have a responsibility to their branch/region to ensure that […]

Training on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) issues within the Public Sector

Conference notes that Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) recognition within family friendly policies is sketchy despite the Sexual Orientation Regulations 2003. Anecdotal evidence strongly suggests that line managers knowledge and interpretation of these policies is often lacking and open to misinterpretation. Conference instructs the National LGBT Committee to: 1.Work in conjunction with the service […]

Are Retired LGBT Members Invisible

This Conference is concerned that when LGBT members retire from the workplace they become invisible and therefore sidelined. Many of them will have been active within the union movement and taken part in major campaigns. The dynamism shown by UNISONS own LGBT section is proof of what its membership is capable of. Many of the […]

Jamaica Violence

This Conference notes: The senseless execution of Steve Harvey, a gay man who ran Jamaica AIDS Support for Life, an HIV/AIDS organisation on the island. He was abducted and shot dead on 30 November 2005. Conference further notes that over the last 18 months, that the murders of gay men in Jamaica are receiving more […]

Support for Members’ personal developments with the Health Service on knowledge and skills framework

Conference welcomes the provisions initiated by the government in introducing Knowledge and Skills Framework in the Health service. We consider the KSF provisions would provide opportunities for black member working at lower level within the NHS to develop their learning skills and career development within the Health Service. We call upon the National Black Members’ […]

Progress of Black members issues in UNISON

Black members remain increasingly concerned that certain repeat issues brought to National Black Members Conference for the NBMC and NEC to action on our behalf, remain unactioned. Members need only look at the range of repeat motions brought to conference to see that the repeat nature of the motions implies that Black members do not […]

Paid Black Officers

Conference is appalled at the lack of implementation of motion 202 passed at the 1997 national delegate conference despite opposition from the NEC. This motion called for paid black officers to be available in all regions in a similar way to the availability of Women’s Officers. Members note that despite the implementation of this motion […]

Fair Representation and Proportionality

Conference remains concerned about the lack of uniformity from Regions and Branches in implementing Rule 1.4 of the rulebook. Conference also notes that UNISON has anti-discrimination policies which state that the principles of proportionality and fair representation shall be adhered to in the election of delegates and representatives. However, despite UNISON rules and anti-discrimination policies […]

Citizenship Rights

This Conference deplores the fact that children born in this country can be denied citizenship rights depending upon the nationality of their parents. We note that this disgraceful discrimination on grounds of nationality disproportionately disadvantages black and ethnic minority people and that an increasing number of young people have, for example, difficulty in obtaining passport […]

Freedom and Justice for Samar & Jawad

Conference notes: 1. Samar Alami, a Palestinian Lebanese woman, and Jawad Batemh, a Palestinian man, have been wrongfully convicted in relation to the 1994 bombings of the Israeli Embassy and Balfour House, they were sentenced to twenty years and they have been in prison ever since; 2. In 2001 the Court of Appeal dismissed their […]

AUNG SAN SUU KYI

Conference expresses its deep concern that the leader of Burma’s democracy movement, Nobel Prize winner Aung Sun Suu Kyi, has now spent more than nine years under house arrest. Confernce notes that there are currently serious questions about her personal secruity; observes that, despite Burma’s military dictatorship announcing several initiatives to move towards democracy, prospects […]

Council of Europe draft Convention on action against trafficking in human beings

Conference welcomes the Council of Europe’s initiative to draft a Convention on action against Trafficking in Human Beings, as this will be the first international treaty, which sets out states’ obligations to respect and protect the rights of trafficked people. Conferences strongly urges the national union to support the measures in the Convention to provide […]

Black members recruitment, particpation and organisation

We all know that we need to increase black member recruitment, retention and development into activists, but we are hindered by the quality and accuracy of data that the branches, regions and employer provide to the regional and branch black member sog structures. Therefore Conference calls upon the NBMC to work with the NEC to […]

Racism in Schools and Career Progression – negative impact on social and community cohesion and Black Community prosperity

Last year there was an excellent motion from Yorkshire & Humberside region (Motion 13) which when amended provided a clear strategy for challenging race in employment. What we need however is to challenge more effectively using a range of strands to an overall strategy of exposing racism within schools from Early Years to Higher Educational […]

Black Members and the Workforce Remodelling Agenda

A real opportunity is with us to radically change how we as black workers are valued in the public sector. Workforce remodelling is being pursued in all areas of the services that we provide but how are the rights and professional development needs of black workers being considered? Many black members in UNISON are still […]