Conference notes with alarm the rise in discrimination and harassment in society and the workplace. Reported hate crimes have risen sharply across the UK. Compared to 2019/20 Police recorded figures for 2020/21 showing a 9 percent increase in England and Wales and a 6 percent increase in Scotland. Northern Ireland saw a 6 percent increase […]
Conference motions
Conference notes the severe impact that the Covid-19 pandemic has exerted on the social care sector. Tens of thousands of elderly and disabled people have died from Covid-19 in care homes and other care settings across the UK since March 2020 and the death rate among care workers has been particularly high. The pandemic has […]
Conference notes that UNISON membership surged in 2020 in response to government’s mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on vital public services and public service workers. However, as home working continued and workplace access remained restricted, UNISON’s workplace activity and visibility decreased. Following an initial surge in schools’ members in January 2021 rates […]
Conference recognises that CEDAW, the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, is significant in the international human rights framework because it is exclusively devoted to gender equality. It is one of the core international human rights treaties of the UN and it requires countries that have ratified it […]
Conference notes: 1)That the workplace can be a very difficult situation for our members when they face disciplinary action and it can have an adverse impact on their physical and mental health and well-being. This can impact on them having unrealistic expectations as to what UNISON reps can do to resolve their workplace issues; 2)The […]
Conference notes that, over the last two years, the UK, along with the rest of the world, has faced, a crisis like no other with Covid-19. However, while acknowledging the incredible advances made by vaccination and treatment, the pandemic is not yet over and will continue to affect the daily and working lives of the […]
Conference notes with concern that cuts to local authority budgets and the costs of Covid are impacting disproportionately on the salaries of our members in employed by private contractors who deliver local government outsourced services – including social care, school meals and refuse collection. Many employers delivering outsourced services are engaging in a race to […]
Social work teams across the country provide a vital service to our communities by supporting those who are often society’s most vulnerable – including children, older adults, and individuals with physical or learning disabilities. Social work teams have continued to provide this care during the pandemic, often by making difficult decisions and quickly adapting to […]
Conference notes that as a result of rapidly increasing wholesale gas prices, the price of energy for consumers and businesses in the UK has also significantly increased. Further it notes that the energy price cap which regulates the default tariffs has been increased by some 54% by the energy regulator OFGEM. This is the tariff […]
Conference notes that in November 2021 the UK hosted the COP 26 in Glasgow. At this COP the UK again committed itself to achieving Net Zero by 2050 which itself is a statutory target which the UK Government should be working towards achieving. UNISON energy workers know already that achieving Net Zero will be hard […]
Research shows that at GCSE level engagement in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects has a broadly similar gender split. At this level female students are achieving higher or equal average A*-C grades compared to males. At A Level this drops off with a higher number of males taking up STEM subjects, for example […]
Conference welcomes the UK government’s U-turn on mandatory vaccinations, and condemns the government for creating the problem in the first place. Conference welcomes UNISON’s role in contributing to the government’s change in policy. Conference opposes any further push to extend mandatory vaccination into social care services in England. UNISON is strongly supportive of the vaccination […]
Conference recognises that since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, UNISON members in local government have seen a dramatic change in how and where they work. According to the Office for National Statistics, in the UK 36% of the employed population did some work at home in 2020. UNISON’s 2020 equalities survey found that 40% […]
Conference notes that school support staff have worked tirelessly in schools throughout the pandemic to support pupils, parents, and their communities – from ensuring free school meals provision, to deep cleaning schools, to covering classes when teachers were isolating. Conference believes they are the unsung heroes who rarely get the recognition they deserve by the […]
Conference notes that UNISON members in councils, schools and across local government have been on the front line of the fight against Covid and have been instrumental in ensuring that vital public services could continue during the pandemic. This has meant they have been more exposed than most to the physical and mental impacts of […]