Conference notes that, until recently, retired member officers and representatives, in common with all other UNISON officers and representatives, had UNISON insurance cover whilst on UNISON business. Conference now understands that cover for retired member officers and representatives have ceased under new arrangements. Conference instructs the National Retired Members’ Committee to ensure that insurance cover […]
Conference motions
Conference notes that regions and branches monitor their membership figures for working members on a regular basis in order to inform an ongoing recruitment campaign. However, there is no such process in place for retired members. Conference therefore calls on the National Retired Members’ Committee to: 1)carry out an audit of the total number of […]
Conference recognises that many retired members will know from their own personal experience the dangers of fascism. Conference notes that the British National Party (BNP) is organising in the West Midlands, East London and in other areas across the country in an attempt to have at least one BNP candidate elected at the next General […]
Conference is concerned that the campaign to turn down heating thermostat settings conflicts with the advice to keep a warm home. Conference requests the National Retired Members Committee to seek, through the National Executive Council, assurances from the Government, and other interested bodies, that clear advice relating to elderly people is included in future heating […]
Conference notes that UNISON is a union committed to promoting equality and valuing diversity, and that these principles underpin all our organisational structure, policies and practice. These principles are enshrined in our nation rule book. Rule B1 Aims and Objectives, 1.2 and 1.3. Rule B2 Union Democracy, 2.3. They apply to all the union’s structures, […]
Conference recognises the outstanding role UNISON plays in the international trade union movement. UNISON recognises that Britain’s economy and political system are interdependent with Europe and the rest of the world, and that it is vital that UNISON works with sister trade unions in other countries and through key international organisations to promote and protect […]
Conference condemns the decision to remove the entitlement to concessions for pensioners attending day and evening classes other than for those in receipt of pensions credit. For many decades all pensioners could access day and evening classes either free or at a nominal cost. This allowed many people who had not previously had access to […]
Conference regrets that in his March 2007 budget, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, again failed to increase the basic state pension to restore its value if the link to average earnings had not been broken by Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Government. Pensioners should have an immediate rise now to restore the pension value and […]
Conference recognises the different role and contribution of retired members to their working counterparts and accepts that their involvement in UNISON is more limited. However, Conference believes that many retired members still have much to offer the union and that their preclusion from almost all aspects of its work is not necessarily in UNISON’s best […]
Conference notes that Ministers have announced that the Department for Work and Pensions will not extend the contract for the Post Office card account beyond 2010 despite the fact that 2.3 million pensioners use the card as a way of collecting their state pension. When the Government ended the use of pension books in 2003, […]
Conference notes that on May 25th 2006 the Government published a Pensions White Paper setting out how it planned to implement the recommendations of the Turner Report. The White Paper contains some positive proposals intended to increase the value of the state pension in the light of the decline of many occupational pensions and include […]
The South East Region Retired Members’ Committee strongly objects to the resolution passed at the National Delegate Conference 2006 apparently down grading retired members’ committees to the status of forums, without consultation with retired members at any level. Conference instructs the National Retired Members’ Committee to vigorously seek to regain the original status for retired […]
Delete Standing Order 9.1 and insert new Standing Order 9.1: ‘If, at the end of the Conference, the Final Agenda has not been concluded, outstanding motions and amendments shall be referred to the National Retired Members Committee which shall report to members its decisions on those matters. All such motions and amendments shall be responded […]
Delete Standing Order 4.1 and insert new Standing Order 4.1: ‘The mover of a motion or an amendment shall not be allowed to speak for more than five minutes and each succeeding speaker for not more than three minutes, except where the Standing Orders Committee have decided otherwise.’
Conference notes that over recent years many older people have been facing large increases in their Council Tax bills. However, up to two million pensioners are missing out on Council Tax Benefit which could cut their bill by £540 a year. Council Tax Benefit is the most unclaimed benefit of all – with pensioners losing […]