EARLY YEARS CHILDCARE PROVISION

Conference notes that the Government’s policy of marketisation of public services extends to childcare. The Childcare Bill 2006 states that “English local authorities may not provide childcare for a particular child or group of children unless the local authority are satisfied: 1.no other person is willing to provide the childcare (whether in pursuance of arrangements […]

Women, Rape, Alcohol and the Law

COMPOSITE C – WOMEN RAPE ALCOHOL AND THE LAW (Emergency Motion – Alcohol & Rape of Women and Emergency Motion 4 – Who’s Perverting the Course of Justice? Under current English and Welsh law rape can only be established if it can be demonstrated that sexual intercourse took place without consent and that the defendant […]

Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer is the fourth most common cause of death from cancer amongst women in the United Kingdom (UK) and is known as the silent killer. One-hundred women die each week from ovarian cancer; it is the fourth most common cancer in women, and the biggest gynaecological killer. Every year about 6,000 women in the […]

Cuts to Health Services for Women

The National Health Service (NHS) is in crisis. Much of the government’s injection of additional investment has ended up in the pockets of private companies. The end result of government policies has been job losses, cuts, closures and privatisation. Women form the majority of the workforce in the NHS, and are also disproportionately represented in […]

IPSWICH MURDERS

Conference sends out its deepest sympathies to the families of the young women recently murdered in Ipswich by a serial killer preying on women working in the sex industry. These tragedies highlight once again the vulnerability of women, who for whatever reason, are out and about at night. On November 25th 2006, the Eastern Region […]

WOMEN’S PENSIONS

This motion is as a result of the Pensions White Paper put before Parliament on Tuesday 16th January 2007. Conference welcomes the improvements to the original proposals for Pension Reform which has been won by a determined coalition of Women Trade Unionists, EOC and Pension Campaigners. Conference notes however that the new proposals still do […]

MATERNITY AND CARER’S RIGHTS

Conference welcomes the new rights for parents and carers to be introduced in the Work and Families Act, which will come into force in April 2007 It notes that parents and carers struggling to achieve work life balance will now be able to take advantage of the following improvements: 1)Statutory Maternity Pay, Maternity Allowance and […]

GLOBALISATION

This conference notes the War on Want report “Fashion Victims, The true cost of cheap clothes and Primark, Asda and Tesco” published on 8th December 2006, which highlighted the working conditions of the predominantly female workforce within the textile factories in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which produces clothes for Primark, Asda and Tesco. This report found that […]

Challenging Racism: Challenging Islamaphobia

1.add additional final Para before “Conference asks” to read “The series of comments by MP’s such as Jack Straw and Phil Woolas on the nijab and Muslims gave a green light to media to initiate a vitriolic campaign against the Muslim community which led to racist attacks, 2.Point 2 – after the words “National Assembly […]

The Aquittal of BNP Leaders

The National Black Members’ Conference is disappointed by the decision of Leeds Crown Court to acquit Nick Griffin and Mark Collett on charges of incitement to racial hatred on 11 November 2006. Attacking Muslims and Islam in the way that the British National Party (BNP) does is racist and whips up hostility towards Muslims and […]

Black women members participation as Trade Union activists

Conference notes that recent trade union conferences have acknowledged that a working woman’s place is in her union and that UNISON should be committed to supporting those women who want to play an active part in trade union work. The North West Region has been working with Liverpool University and the Northern Ireland Region in […]

Black members’ Training schools for Black workers

Conference notes that we need to provide better access to Black members for a range of training but especially in relation to raising their political awareness. Many of the delegates to our National Black Members Conference have had limited if any opportunity to engage in political debate in terms of race; we don’t seem to […]

Katrina clear up probe

Conference notes that Cable News Network (CNN) news reported in May 2006 that almost $17m is being withheld by the state of Mississippi while authorities probe a ‘multitude of discrepancies’ in invoices that contractors submitted for the removal of debris from Hurricane Katrina. The state was forced to stop making payments in late April to […]

Opposing all slavery in the 21st centuary

Conference notes recent British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) news reports on the growing number of child brides across the world, and the growth in abduction of children from their homes, as well as the problem of families ‘selling’ children to unscrupulous businessmen. It is clear that international laws are being ignored in some countries as they […]

No place for a Black child – child detentions

Conference notes the issue of immigration and asylum management is becoming even more of an issue for vulnerable children. As Black people we are disproportionately affected by all of the aspects of the ‘race’ motivated government approach to immigration and asylum. These children have committed no crime but are held behind locked doors and high […]