Conference welcomes the first ever UK-wide report on bisexuality, which was published by the Open University last year. Conference notes that even casual biphobia, too often pervasive and unchallenged, can make our workplaces hostile environments, where bisexual people are unable to work to their potential. The Open University report showed that: a)Bisexual people’s experiences differ […]
Conference motions
Conference notes that the Government is proposing to allow companies to override the pension protections which were implemented when the Electricity Industry was privatised. These guarantees were one of the few protections won by trade unions during the Thatcher government’s relentless drive to privatise public services. The 1990 Electricity Regulations prevent private employers from reducing […]
Under the Coallition Government workers in the public sector have faced attacks on their pay, pensions and working conditions on a scale unseen since the “Thatcher” years. Now the Cabinet Office is reviewing the amount of union facility time available in the Civil Service and Non-Government Agencies such as the Environment Agency. The review is […]
Amendment to K 2(i): Delete “member knowing that she/he had need of legal assistance and seeks” and insert “incident or occurrence that leads to her/him seeking legal assistance.”
This Conference notes that the Government is proposing to allow companies to override the pension protections which were implemented when the Electricity Industry was privatised. These guarantees were one of the few protections won by trade unions during the Thatcher government’s relentless drive to privatise public services. The 1990 Electricity Regulations prevent private employers from […]
Conference notes with concern the statement by UK Prime Minister David Cameron that overseas aid should be cut to countries which criminalise homosexuality. Conference notes that UNISON is opposed to such aid conditionality. Conference believes that it would not advance lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) human rights or equality but rather would create a […]
Conference welcomes the UNISON call centre charter, launched in 2012, which calls on all employers who have UNISON members working in a call centre or in call handling operations to commit to improving the standards which those staff operate under. This includes ensuring that staff are able to take sufficient breaks away from the workstation […]
Conference is concerned about increased outsourcing and hidden privatisation in local government and the impact on disabled workers. Local authorities who oppose privatisation are looking at mutuals, cooperatives and social enterprises, all privatisation by another name. Public services by their nature are under-provided by the market because they do not make a profit. They are […]
Local government employees have had their pay and in some instances increments frozen for the past three years. Councils like Sheffield are planning to dismiss and re-engage staff to force through yet another pay and increment freeze. Black staff employed in the public sector are concentrated in the lower grades and the impact on such […]
UNISON’s initial Freedom of Information (FOI) exercise conducted in the Greater London, West Midlands and North West regions has revealed that a significant number of local authorities are shedding hundreds of thousands of jobs across the UK. Those FOIs show the number of Black staff that have been made redundant in the financial year 2010/2011. […]
UNISON is proud to be the leading trade union for women. We have a solid history of women being at the heart of the union; through enshrining self organisation into our rule book along with proportionality. As a union which has a majority of women members we do not just talk the talk. Women are […]
Conference notes that the Tory-led government’s onslaught on public service workers and their failed austerity measures have led to worsening terms and conditions for local government workers. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) workers are affected like any other local government worker as pay and conditions are undermined. But the impact on terms and conditions […]
Conference commends the proposal to set a “gender agenda” in local government pay negotiations. The government’s austerity measures and the pay freeze in local government have impacted disproportionally on women, not least because three quarters of workers in local government are women and more than half of these women work part-time, in low paid jobs […]
Conference is totally against the setting up of Free Schools and Studio Schools. Unlike Academies which are existing schools that have changed status; Free Schools and Studio Schools are brand new schools. Often these new schools are located next to established existing community schools and threaten their very existence. In the majority of cases staff […]
Conference notes the continued promotion of co-ops, mutual and social enterprise by the Coalition Government as being a preferred delivery of local council services. This interest in mutualism is driven by the Coalition Government’s flagship agenda of the Big Society. By giving public sector workers a right to form mutuals and co-operatives, the government claims […]