When it comes to low pay, the Private Sector Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) have put the Civil Service to shame. The vast majority of CRCs have abolished Band 1. They have got rid of a pay scale that would have paid staff less than the minimum wage. The National Probation Service (NPS) on the other […]
Conference motions
Effective organisation. Effective representation and effective negotiation can only take place when we have effective trade union facility time agreements. We have again seen the Private Sector Probation Services put the National Probation Service (NPS) to shame, with their facility time agreements and their negotiating structures. The NPS are fettered by Cabinet Office Guidelines on […]
Conference commends the Service Group Executive (SGE) for its successful campaign on eliminating Sexual Harassment in policing. Working in partnership with the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC), the union has been able to establish strict guidelines and standards for the police service. As with most things, there is often a flurry of activity and interest […]
Police Staff are probably under the most stringent scrutiny and procedural process than any other employees. At present we can be subject to a criminal investigation, an Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation, a misconduct procedure and vetting all at the same time. If an employee is acquitted through criminal process, they will usually […]
IOPC investigations continue to be an area of concern to our members. Very often the involvement in these investigations is a cause of great anxiety. Members are always concerned and worried about the potential outcomes of such investigations which is often the cause of the anxiety. Reassurance is of vital importance to members who are […]
Many of our members work with the public in the best and worst of situations. Our call management staff can be dealing with a missing from home one minute and a murder the next. Very often our call management staff are the first port of call for those intending to complete a suicide and the […]
There is now more than ever a need for our service group to refresh its strategy on Race Religion and Belief. The representation of BAME members in branches, regions and national bodies is woefully poor. UNISON operates a system of self-organised groups for Women, Black members, Disabled members and LGBT members. This system is well […]
Police Staff who are subject to a misconduct investigations will be interviewed by Professional Standards Department (PSD) as part of the investigation. These interviews are often undertaken by detectives who are serving police officers and will be very similar if not the same as a criminal interview. These interviews will often be recorded and later […]
Conference notes that austerity has seen local authority spending on in work training slashed as staff development budgets have been cut back to the bone. In social care private sector providers focused on making profits provide the bare minimum of opportunities for training. There has also been a shift to online and distance learning and […]
Conference celebrates UNISON’s work over the past 25 years to promote women’s equality and participation and to tackle sexism and sex discrimination at work, in our union and across society. Like other service groups, the local government service group has a majority of women members and our rules and practices to encourage women’s participation are […]
Conference notes that cuts to local government services are biting ever deeper and deplores the damage they are wreaking on local services and our members who work in them. The impact on our members includes job losses, increasing severity and complexity of service user needs, and reduced pay and terms and conditions. Our members are […]
Conference recognises the real threat of climate change to our planet. According to the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, (IPCC) human activities are estimated to have caused approximately 1C of global warming above pre-industrial levels. The Paris Agreement sets out a global action plan to put the world on track to avoid dangerous climate change […]
UNISON Northern Ireland is pressing for greater transparency in the Education Funding Formula. The funding of education in our region is as complex as the governance arrangements. The total amount to be spent on schools is called general schools budget and is made up of three categories of spending: 1)The aggregated school budget available to […]
Conference notes that apprenticeships are increasingly the way that young people in the UK enter local government as a profession, providing a structured way to recruit those fresh into the workforce by combining part-time education with the work they’ll be doing once the apprenticeship is completed. Conference further notes however that, while some local authorities […]
Conference notes that our members’ employed by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) have not had a decent pay rise since the coalition and the Conservative governments took office. Civil servants are under extreme pressure due to Brexit but are told there is no money for them. Conference also notes that government cuts and austerity have […]