Conference notes a key finding of the report in the abuse at Winterbourne View Hospital was that the staff were not properly trained. Training is a key issue for Care. Often training is not provided, or is adhoc and/or inadequate. Furthermore, increasingly, more and more training is delivered as online courses whereby it is not […]
Conference motions
Conference currently local councils are setting budgets with substantial cuts in “Supporting People” funding. This is having a devastating effect on our member’s terms and conditions; removal of post TUPE enhancements for weekend working, Bank Holiday and Night Waking, sickness absence entitlements reduced from six months full pay, six months half pay to two months […]
This conference notes the insidious spread of zero-hours contracts in the community and voluntary sector, and in housing associations in particular. UNISON’s survey of Community members found that 9% were on zero hours contracts, but it is likely that this underestimates the true scale of the problem as it is hard to organise workers on […]
Conference notes the importance of involving members of self organised groups in community branch activities including recruiting, organising, bargaining and negotiating. Members of self organised groups are a valuable resource to the community service group with experience and knowledge of how employers’ policies and procedures can fail to be inclusive. Conference further notes that while […]
This Conference notes: • The living wage is now set at £7.65 an hour and £8.80 in London. • By comparison, the national minimum wage is £6.31 an hour for adults and £5.03 for those aged 18 to 21. • That the national government and administrations of devolved nations pay their staff the living wage. […]
Conference notes that TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings Protection in Employment Regulations) has maintained hard won employment terms and conditions and the protection from discrimination in the community sector, with sound public sector equality policies and procedures. TUPE means that the new employer “steps into the shoes” of the old employer and is bound by the […]
The current government’s austerity measures continue to have a disproportionate impact on Black communities and the Black voluntary and community sector. Research in 2010 on the ‘Voice for Change’ website found that 45% of community organisations providing services specifically for Black communities experienced cuts to funding. This unprecedented threat to the survival of Black community […]
Conference is concerned that when members in the Community Sector are going through the TUPE process, the exclusion of their pension rights can have a detrimental effect on disabled workers. Disabled people are already likely to have gaps in their employment, which means that they are unable to build up the number of years required […]
This Conference deplores the situation whereby public sector contracts with charities are often not on a full cost recovery basis (basically, staff costs plus overheads). Where this occurs, the consequence is a shortfall between contract income and the cost of delivering the contract. This effectively leaves affected charities to choose between cross-subsidising state contracts from […]
In Teesside, which is south of the Northern Region, schools reported and had to deal with 359 racist incidents in the last academic year. In Middlesbrough there was 191 racist school based incidents alone. A recent survey by the VOICE newspaper showed that more than 80% of their readers claimed to have experienced racism when […]
Conference notes that the cuts in Housing Benefit and the imposition of the Bedroom Tax are forcing many Black families into a position of double jeopardy. Especially where it is alleged that there is under occupation in social housing homes. Black households are more likely to be housed in social housing and likely to be […]
Conference notes with alarm that there has been a significant drop in the reporting of Hate Crime to the relevant authorities in the last few years. Conference also notes that there has been an escalating attack on Mosques, Muslim shops, Muslim people and their families, yet this is not covered in the legislation as a […]
The coalitions government’s ongoing austerity measures, cuts to jobs and public services, pay freezes in the public sector, privatisation, low pay, lack of socially affordable housing, the bedroom tax, rent increases, and zero hour contracts are all key elements in the current drastic reduction of living standards experienced by Black workers and Black communities since […]
Conference, the 1999 McPherson report uncovered deep rooted institutional racism within the Metropolitan Police Force. In the aftermath of this report the police were forced to review stop and search practices, as these were a very obvious manifestation of police prejudice. However, recent years have seen police forces return to their old ways. The figures […]
Conference notes that in the UK there are 168 Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Research conducted by the Equality Challenge Unit (ECU) reports that Black people represents 8.6 per cent of higher education academic staff and 6.9 per cent of professional support staff. Conference is aware that in the UK the Higher Education context has changed […]