Under the 1995 Pensions Act a timetable was drawn up to equalise the age at which men and women could draw the state pension. In the 2011 Pensions Act the new qualifying age of 65 for women was brought forward to 2018, a move that has seen 3.9 million 1950’s women lose out. The 2011 […]
Conference motions
For every woman pregnancy is the start of a new chapter full of emotional ups and downs. Making plans for the future as a family, the excitement and anticipation of waiting for the pitter patter of tiny feet. Whether this is their first pregnancy or not, all women will be anxious until their baby is […]
Conference believes that Black women are still hugely under-represented in senior roles at work. Research has shown that positions of power in every sector of society are dominated by men. Research conducted by Operation Black Vote and the Guardian newspaper found that only 3.5% of Black people are at the top of UK’s leading 1000 […]
CAMPAIGNING FOR SAFETY WITHIN THE SOCIAL CARE WORKFORCE Conference notes that women make up over 3/4 of the Health and Social Care Workforce, with an even larger proportion of women directly delivering care to service users within a home care environment. The experiences of nurses and care workers who provide health and social care at […]
Throughout the country there has been a massive rise in permanent exclusions and children being educated at home. Recent figures show a national increase of 300% in permanent exclusions in 2017. The Department of Education’s report on permanent and fixed term exclusions published in 2016/17 stated that some secondary schools are excluding up to 20% […]
Conference utterly condemns the former foreign secretary Boris Johnson who used his weekly newspaper column in The Sunday Telegraph to launch a vicious diatribe against Muslim women who wear the burqa. “It is absolutely ridiculous that people should choose to go around looking like letter boxes,” he wrote. He went on to attack young women […]
Conference applauds the historic landslide vote by the people of Southern Ireland to repeal the 8th amendment to the Irish constitution and recognises the huge victory for a women’s right to choose both in the South but also as a beacon of hope for all women wherever they live who are still fighting for access […]
Conference notes that in terms of issues surrounding gender equality, debt is rarely cited as a contributing factor in women’s overall financial status. However, the reality is that, in the UK, research proves that debt impacts women more than men. Of the 8.8 million people struggling with debt in the UK, 64% are women (Money […]
When it comes to sex discrimination law, the UK’s national story has undoubtedly been one of considerable progress over many years, but it is also true that in some areas that progress has been too slow or has stalled altogether. Our discrimination laws have been instrumental in changing attitudes and in improving life for many […]
This conference applauds the recent publication by UNISON of the BARGAINING ON CARERS POLICIES: How branches can benefit from bargaining on carers rights at work The Carers Trust defines a carer as “anyone who cares, unpaid, for a friend or family member who due to illness, disability, a mental health problem or an addiction cannot […]
Going to University, gaining an education should be a positive experience for our young members. However, student loans are the burden that our young educated women members carry through a significant period of their working life. In fact the only way to escape complete repayment of any student loan is if a young woman never […]
Conference recognises that there is a commonality in the Scottish Higher Education system which has now been acknowledged by the Scottish Trade Unions (STUC), National Union of Students (NUS) Scotland and Universities Scotland with the creation of a forum where representatives from all three bodies meet to discuss issues of common interest. Scottish Higher Education […]
Conference notes that there is a lot of money to be made out of Higher Education – just look at the expansion of obscenely high salaries for our Vice-Chancellors and executive managers, and the large reserves held by many universities. If you’re a cleaner, caterer, or receptionist however, you don’t get a fair share of […]
This conference will likely agree our union’s approach to pay negotiations for the coming year. Whatever the finer detail of our pay claim, if we are to be effective in making our demands, we need to place ordinary UNISON members and Higher Education workers at the centre of our campaign. From the very start of […]
Conference celebrates UNISON’s work over the past 25 years to promote women’s equality and participation and to tackle sexism and sex discrimination at work, in our union and across society. Like other service groups, the Higher Education Service Group Executive (HESGE) has a majority of women members and our rules and practices to encourage women’s […]