Pay Apprentices in Health the rate for the Job

Conference welcomes Unison recent guidance on apprenticeship pay and recommends it to all branches when negotiating pay rates for apprentices, as we believe that apprentices should be paid the rate for the job and not used to undermine our terms and conditions or be exploited because of their enthusiasm to work in the health service. […]

Pay max campaign and building confidence for collective industrial action in Health

Conference welcomes the pay max campaign as a way of preparing members for potential industrial action over our pay claim of 3.9 percent and £800. It is also positive that all health unions have lined up and are behind the claim and that the claim announcement received a great deal of publicity and meant that […]

Organising for LGBT Equality in the Community Sector

Conference notes that UNISON carried out its second equality survey in summer 2017 and received just 743 responses (6.79%) from members stating that they worked in the community sector which is disappointing considering we are the fastest growing sector with over 60,000 members. Of all respondents, 6% identified as lesbian, gay or bisexual and 0.4% […]

Pay up now in Community!

Conference notes that UNISON membership in the community service group is increasing and attendance at the community service group meeting at national lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) conference improves annually. Issues affecting LGBT members raised at the meeting include low or no pay increases, attacks on terms and conditions, facility time and bullying, harassment […]

Fair Funding

There is a persistent problem of funding and how contracts are put out for tender. The impact of this is that there is often so little money in the contract that staffing costs are the area employers target to cut back so members end up with larger workloads and lower pay, wages rarely allow for […]

Poverty Pay and Rotten Housing for Housing Association & Voluntary workers

This conference notes a)A Chief Executive of a Large Housing Association recently remarked at a meeting that many of the workers and their families employed by the association to support and rehouse the homeless lived in worse accommodation than the people they were trying to help. b)Years of below inflation pay rises and massive increase […]

Digital Organising Framework

Conference notes the introduction by UNISON from 1st September 2017 of the new Digital Organising Framework which replaces the paper-based Joint Branch and Regional Assessment Process (JBRA) and that It is intended to act as a discussion framework for a sit down conversation between a Regional Organiser and Branch Secretary (or Committee); It is an […]

Raising the Bar in North West Social Care

Conference notes the continued success of the North West Region’s Social Care Organising Project ‘Care Workers for Change’ and the revitalisation of the participation and sector organisation of Community members which are key objectives within its Regional Work Programme. Funded by the Region and participating branches, its aims are to recruit new members and activists, […]

Collective Sectoral Bargaining and Compliance with National Minimum Wage Regulations

Conference welcomes the statements of Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell at Trades Union Congress (TUC) that the Institute of Employment Rights (IER)’s Manifesto for Labour Law is being taken forward by the Labour Party as “the basis for our implementation manual in this field” and of Shadow Business Secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey MP (Salford and Eccles) at […]

Training and Development for Lay Activists

Conference notes the annual national training event for Community members facilitated by UNISON Learning and Organising Services (LAOS) which took place in Birmingham in October 2017 and its continued success in assisting to develop and empower our membership base. Conference also notes that throughout UNISON nations/regions much innovative work has been undertaken in conjunction with […]

Creating, Building and Strengthening Black Community links

Conference notes the damaging decline in numbers and workplace density as a result of many housing associations merging. This has resulted in more job losses disproportionately in a community where there is a high concentration of Black workers. This has reduced our effectiveness in the workplace, our impact in collective bargaining negotiations and most importantly […]

Wellbeing in the Workplace

Employers in the Community & Voluntary Sector including Housing Associations are taking staff wellbeing more seriously than ever before, healthy employees who feel that they’re being looked after are more likely to perform their roles at a higher level, take less time off sick, are more energised and engaged, and better at motivating their colleagues. […]

Violence towards support staff

Care and support staff in both the Community & Voluntary Sector and Housing Associations should not accept incidents of violent or aggressive behaviour as a normal part of their role. All support staff have a right to expect a safe and secure workplace. Violent and aggressive incidents are the third biggest cause of injuries reported […]

TU Recognition in the Community and Voluntary Sector

This conference recognises the lack of trade union recognition in the community and voluntary sector. This is known to be a contributory factor in the perpetuation of low wages and poor conditions of service in the sector. This situation also mitigates against stewards playing an active role in defending members. This conference calls on the […]

Organisational consistency for student health care professionals

This Conference welcomes the work undertaken by UNISON to recruit and organise student health care professionals. This Conference notes, however, that there is inconsistent practice between regions as regards whether a student health care professional should be allocated to a health care or higher education service group branch. This Conference believes that there are clear […]