Support Library and Cultural services

Conference recognises libraries and cultural services, such as museums and public parks, have been suffering financial cuts over many years as councils struggle under the government’s austerity policies. There has been a systematic attack on the term and conditions of and undermining of the professionalism of people still employed in these services. Conference recognises the […]

Organising in Schools and Multi Academy Trusts

For the last few years UNISON has organised Stars in our Schools to shine a light on the wonderful work of support staff. So often they are the unsung heroes of schools. Teaching assistants, midday supervisors, admin workers, catering staff and cleaning staff are part of the whole education team, who make our schools the […]

Funding for Early Years

This Conference believes that the current levels of funding across the UK for early education and care are insufficient to provide for the high quality of services our young children deserve. The recent research report from UNISON Scotland on the impact of early years staff on children’s outcomes found that the biggest single factor in […]

Working for Decent Pensions

Conference recognises that our occupational pensions are deferred wages and that it is essential that UNISON and its members are actively involved in the governance of our pension schemes and funds. Conference congratulates those members who represent UNISON on the many of the boards of the LGPS schemes. This is a critical role and UNISON […]

Local Government and Brexit

Conference notes that when the UK leaves the European Union (EU), a large amount of EU regional aid will be lost. The Local Government Association’s report ‘Beyond Brexit’, published in July 2017, calculated that the funding gap would be £8.4bn. This funding has been used by local areas to create jobs, deliver skills training, and […]

Dealing With the Menopause in the Workplace

Conference notes with concern that little account is taken of factors which affect women going through the menopause in councils and schools. For some women, though by no means all, the menopause presents particular difficulties, which may include insomnia, tiredness, loss of concentration and forgetfulness, as well as the potentially lower levels of physical fitness. […]

Trade Union Facilities

Conference notes motion 16 passed at NDC conference 2016 instructed the NEC to: “Work with Labour Link to campaign to defend facility time, briefing individual elected politicians at all levels, developing model motions for councils – making it clear that attacked on facility time are particularly unacceptable from Labour councils – and pushing for debates […]

Local Government Apprentices

Conference acknowledges there will be considerable growth in the number of apprentices employed in local government as a result of the apprenticeship levy, as well as the provisions of the Enterprise Act around apprenticeship targets for public sector bodies. Conference recognises the good practice that exists in some local government branches, who not only recruit […]

Fair pay in universities

Conference believes that there is an inherent unfairness in the way in which our universities are being run, and the way in which the most senior staff are being rewarded whilst UNISON members and staff working in support services are paying the price. Recent research in the Guardian revealed that among 17 university heads who […]

Saving the LGPS and good pension schemes for our members

Conference is concerned that good pension provision is continuing to decline. Defined benefit pension schemes that guarantee pensions based on final salary or career average are under threat. The main reason employers give is increasing costs and risk of further increases of providing the benefits and increased employer contributions. In the public sector (for example […]

Defending our libraries

Conference notes with concern the ongoing closures of libraries and worsening pay and conditions of remaining library staff. Data released last December by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) shows that spending on local libraries has fallen by £25 million and 478 libraries have closed across England, Scotland and Wales since 2010. […]

Organising in homecare

Conference notes that members working in homecare suffer some of the worst working conditions in any sector in the UK, with widespread abuse of zero-hour contracts, breaches of minimum wage legislation, and non-payment of the time spent travelling between domiciliary care visits. Conference recognises the work done by UNISON at all levels to highlight these […]

Apprentices

Conference notes that: 1) The apprenticeship levy comes in from April 2017 and all employers, with a pay bill over £3 million each year, will need to pay 0.5% of their pay-bill to invest in apprenticeships – almost all further education (FE) colleges will be paying the levy. The growth in apprenticeships over the coming […]

Bullying of Black workers in the workplace

Conference notes that many local authority employers have anti-bullying and harassment policies in place. However, there are too many times when Black workers in the local government employers have reported experiences of bullying in the workplace. This conference also notes historical evidence from the TUC has shown that Black workers are reluctant to use the […]

National pay bargaining for Wales / a Welsh National Joint Council

Conference notes that local government has been a devolved responsibility of the Welsh government since 1999, with local authority financial settlements determined by Welsh government rather than Westminster. Since that time we have witnessed an increasing divergence of approach towards local government between England and Wales, with regards to funding, council tax, approaches to outsourcing […]