Challenging Discriminatory Practices, Defending Public Services Conference as well as forming a significant part of the public sector workforce Black people are also primary users of public services. Cuts to funding are closing some services whilst putting significant pressure on remaining community and voluntary organisations supporting the Black and other vulnerable communities at a time […]
Conference motions
No Smears, Justice for the Lawrence Family Campaign This Conference is proud of the work and support UNISON has provided to the family of Stephen Lawrence since his murder 20 years ago. This racist murder in April 1983 marked the beginning of a long battle for the Lawrence family with the British police force, the […]
Conference condemns the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition for the widespread and unprecedented destruction of public services that has resulted from the savage and unprecedented reductions in central government funding to local government, health, education, police, probation and the rest of the public sector. Public sector workers have borne the brunt of this in job losses, the […]
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 […]
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 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 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 […]
Many of our fellow migrant workers, who are registered nurses in their own country, have been working here as care assistants because they did not obtain the results required by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) for their English (IELTS) test (i.e. 7 in each section). The results required are of a very high standard– […]
The results from the 2011 Census showed that in England and Wales approximately 14% of the population identified as non white. This is a rise from the 2001 Census figure of 7.9%. The Census results also revealed the greater dispersal of Black people across the UK. This changing demographic across the UK, coupled with a […]
Black women are oppressed by both racism and sexism, so face a double strand of oppression in society as a whole. Violence against women and girls is the most widespread form of abuse in the world. Globally, one in three women will be raped or beaten in their lifetime. Statistics reveal the levels of violence […]