Working in Solidarity

Conference welcomes the progress made in raising the profile of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) participation in our union. We can be proud of our achievements in continuing to support and encourage self organisation at all levels of our union. Most of us take it for granted that we can organise and meet to […]

Equality at the Heart of our Union – Equal Means Making it Happen

Conference affirms that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality is an integral part of the organising and bargaining work of the union. Conference considers that UNISON’s Equality Scheme is a significant opportunity to achieve this. The purpose of the Equality Scheme is to make sure that equality is promoted and discrimination challenged in everything […]

Workplace Blood Donor Sessions

Conference is aware that some employers encourage their employees to donate blood by allowing the National Blood Service (NBS) to run donor sessions in the workplace. Conference notes that for people who may be unable to donate due to current donor selection criteria (including many gay and bisexual men, as well as people with medical […]

Building Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Equality in the Commonwealth

Conference welcomes: 1The UK Government’s stated commitment to working for the universal decriminalisation of homosexuality; 2The development and publication this year by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) of a strategy and toolkit for promoting and protecting the rights of LGBT people; 3Increasing recognition of the Yogyarkarta Principles on the application of international human rights […]

European Union (EU) Anti-Discrimination Legislation

Conference notes that European Union law provides protection against sexual orientation discrimination – as well as age, disability, religion and belief – in the area of employment, but that there is currently no such protection in EU law against discrimination on these grounds in areas such as social protection, goods and services, health care and […]

Increasing Effective Participation of Low Paid LGBT Members

Conference welcomes the new UNISON Equality Scheme which, in addition to covering the statutory equality streams of gender, gender identity, race, disability, sexual orientation, age and religion/belief, also seeks to ensure equality within the union on the grounds of low pay. Conference acknowledges that although the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) self organised group […]

Inequality in Goods, Facilities and Services

Conference is concerned that there remains inequality in the provision of goods, facilities and services to Transgender members especially in the case of medical treatment. Looking at Wales as an example, last year, this conference heard how the Health Commission Wales (HCW), a body of the Welsh Assembly set up to fund specialist services in […]

Supporting Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Members in the Highlands of Scotland

This conference welcomes the recent formation of a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Self-Organised Group (SOG) in the Highland Branch. This is an area of Scotland where there are few facilities for LGBT people. The land mass of the Highland branch is the same size as Belgium, with many small rural communities, where LGBT […]

UNISON AND THE REPLACEMENT MEMBERSHIP SYSTEM (RMS)

Conference recognises the importance of identifying UNISON’s disabled membership and their access needs in order to facilitate the participation of disabled members in their union. The RMS is the main recording, mapping and organising tool of the Union at all levels. At the present time the information stored on the RMS with regard to disability […]

TRADE ORGANISATIONS AND DISA BLED PEOPLE

This Conference recognises the great strides made by disabled members self organisation to ensure this union is accessible to disabled members’ participation and involvement and the value of self organisation to help the union meet its rule book commitment to fair representation. We also recognise that much of the Code of Practice that relates to […]

NOT FOR SALE

This conference is pleased to note the research commissioned by Harriet Harman as part of her key priorities. This report published on Tuesday 29th January 2008 confirms that advertising women for sex is widespread in local and regional newspapers. Three quarters of the papers examined for the research carried advertisements for women or services offered […]

COMPENSATION CLAIMS

Conference applauds the Law Lords for their landmark decision on 30 January 2008 ruling that courts will in future have discretion to extend the six-year limit for claimants in cases of deliberate assaults. Conference congratulates Mrs A for her persistence in pursuing this for 20 years and supports her in her claim for substantial damages […]

ABORTION RIGHTS

Conference notes the announcement in the Queens Speech in November 2007 that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill would start its progress through the House of Lords almost immediately and would be debated in the House of Commons in the Spring of 2008. Whilst not the primary focus of this piece of legislation, the first […]

MOVING ON UP REPORT; BANGLADESHI, PAKISTANI AND CARIBBEAN WOMEN AT WORK

Conference notes the ‘Moving On up’ report published by the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) IN March 2007 which found that Caribbean, Pakistani and Bangladeshi girls obtain better GCSE grades , including Maths and English than white British boys. Yet Caribbean, Bangladeshi and Pakistani women graduates seeking work are five times more likely to be unemployed […]

DISCRIMINATION ON MIGRANT WORKERS AND IMMIGRATION PROPOSALS

The presentation on legal migration is concerned with policy on the admission of workers to Britain for employment and on the entitlement of such workers once admitted. Government policy on economic migration was set out in the five year strategy announced in February 2005, “Controlling out Borders: Making Migration Work for Britain”. Among other things […]