This conference believes that we need to stop the regressive practice of some organisations in the Community and Voluntary sector charging their new employees to get their Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) done. In the midst of a cost of living crisis which is impacting the working of people the hardest, this conference motion contends […]
Conference motions
Conference notes that more than 82,000 UNISON members work in the community and voluntary sector. Many of them are women and a significant number work in social care, where women outnumber men four to one. Generally, women tend to have lower paid jobs and fewer hours than men. Also, there are three times as many […]
Conference notes with grave concern the on-going staffing crisis across the social care sector. With social care organisations haemorrhaging staff and 165,000 vacancies remaining unfilled (skills for care Oct 2022), the companies providing these essential services are on their knees, and those on the front line are feeling it the most. Looking at the current […]
Conference, it cannot be right, that employees within social care with increasing rent/mortgage payments, fuel, food and utilities, can be left when they fall ill on £100 a week. This is totally unacceptable. Everyone in this room will know someone working in the social care sector, that has fallen ill and has reached crisis point […]
Conference last year resolved to campaign on sick pay, noting that many workers in our sectors receive only statutory sick pay. That means they receive hopelessly inadequate pay when sick, and nothing at all for the first three days of any sickness absence. Workers are forced to choose between going into work sick and feeding […]
Conference notes that it is a UNISON Rule Book commitment to establish Regional Community Service Group Committees under Rule D3.6. The criteria for representation being: Branches with 100+ Community members are entitled to nominate 2 delegates to the committee (at least one of whom must be female). Branches with 50-100 Community members are entitled to […]
Conference notes the introduction into Parliament of Employment and Trade Union Rights (Dismissal and Re-engagement) Bill by Barry Gardiner MP and backed by the Institute of Employment Rights which sought to amend the law relating to workplace information and consultation, employment protection and trade union rights in order to provide safeguards for workers against dismissal […]
Conference notes the publication of the Law Family Commission on Civil Society study, carried out by Pro Bono Economics in August 2022 entitled “The price of purpose? Pay gaps in the charity sector” which identifies that charity staff in the UK are paid 7% less per hour on average than workers in other sectors and […]
Conference notes the October 2022 data produced by Skills for Care on social care workers shows at least 165,000 vacancies across adult social care providers at the end of 2021-22. This report identifies that staff vacancies in social care in England increased by a record 52% during that year, with 1 in 10 posts vacant […]
Conference notes that UNISON membership is in decline and the current average age of a UNISON rep is over 50; In many Community workplaces, young workers are less likely to join a trade union, and those who do join are less likely to develop as an active member; An increasing number of young people are […]
Conference notes the publication of the “The All Work and Low Pay” report produced by the Living Wage Foundation in Summer 2022 which identified that one in seven charity workers are paid below the real living wage, a lower rate than across the economy as a whole, despite a higher proportion of charity sector workers […]
Conference they say a week in politics is a long time but over the last week, not mention month, the government has been in total chaos and made the UK a laughing stock. But for disabled people and our Disabled Members none of this is funny. It seemed that every time the now former Prime […]
Conference is concerned that the findings of a Parliamentary Work and Pension’s Committee which completed in July 2021 are being disregarded by the Tory government. The committee were clear that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) national programme for supporting disabled people is not working and that local level support is needed to break […]
Conference notes that the Conservative government has declared their intention to replace the Human Rights Act 1998 with a new Bill of Rights which they introduced to parliament on 22nd June 2022. The Bill of Rights would repeal the Human Rights Act (HRA), which directly incorporated into domestic British law rights set out in the […]
Conference notes that pay gaps affect large swathes of our membership regardless of service group or self organised structures within UNISON. Pay gaps measure the average hourly pay of a group of people with a ‘protected characteristic,’ such as women or Black workers, compared to the average hourly pay for men or white workers for […]