Information and Consultation Regulations

Conference notes that the new Information and Consultation Regulations come into force in April 2005. These new regulations are having an important impact on all workplace relations but particularly in the Community and Voluntary Sector. Conference notes that the Information and Consultation Regulations will introduce important new rights for employees to be informed and consulted […]

Defending National Terms and Conditions

Conference notes that the 2004/7 pay deal included a review of the Green Book Part 2 national terms and conditions which were likely to include sick leave payments, annual and maternity leave arrangements and working hours. The employers also stated “this proposal [the 2004 offer] contains within it an explicit expectation that authorities will take […]

Women and Pensions

Conference recognises that changes to the state pension system in recent years in terms of contributions, retirement age and earnings on which pensions are based place women at an unfair disadvantage. The existing state pension alone is insufficient to provide for basic needs and requires a large number of recipients to undergo the humiliation of […]

Apprenticeships and the National Minimum Wage

Conference notes that nearly 250,000 young people are engaged in an apprenticeship, formerly modern apprenticeships, with a significant proportion of these on public sector apprenticeship schemes. Apprenticeships give opportunities to young people and can bring new people into the public services, can provide progression routes to higher level skills and qualifications, and can also have […]

National Day for Remembrance of Slavery

Conference calls upon the National Executive Council to support the Trade Union Congress in their call for government to recognise 23 August as the National Day for the Remembrance of Slavery. This date marks a crucial event in the fight against slavery and the uprising in St Domingo in 1791. The United Nations marked 2004 […]

Public Sector Pension Schemes

Conference expresses its outrage at the continued attack by the government on the provisions of the various public sector pension scheme provisions. Conference notes, with disgust, that these continued attacks on public sector provision of pension arrangements have occurred subsequent to the government introducing, and receiving, support from parliament for enhanced pension arrangements for members […]

Bullying and harassment

Conference recognises across Local Government, Further Education, Careers and Voluntary Sector that lay representatives are being inundated with increasing numbers of bullying and harassment cases. These cases are very often complex, time consuming and emotionally demanding and many lay representatives are ill equipped to deal with them. Conference therefore calls on the Service Group Executive […]

Funding and the Community and Voluntary Sector

Conference acknowledges that a key issue for the community and voluntary sector is funding, which affects the quality of services and the pay and rewards for staff who deliver them. In particular, community and voluntary sector organisations with short term funding arrangements are likely to experience cuts or even closure when funding stops. Conference notes […]

Sickness Absence

Conference notes: 1)that employers are adopting increasingly draconian procedures which allow for an increase in the disciplining and dismissal of genuinely ill employees; 2)that it is often the case that the same employers are failing to abide by health and safety procedures or the Disability Discrimination Act; 3)that one of the single largest causes of […]

Bullying

Conference believes that bullying at work, in whatever form, is a major and significant issue which the trade union movement must continue to address and combat. Conference believes that bullying and inappropriate management behaviour can be a major cause of workplace stress and subsequent sickness. Workers then face a double whammy of draconian sickness procedures […]

A Woman’s Place

Conference believes that a woman’s place is in her union and that UNISON should be fully committed to supporting those women who want to play an active part in trade union work. The most recent statistics show that 54 per cent of UNISON branch secretaries are male which is at least 21 per cent higher […]

Rule D.4.1.4 Self-Organised Groups

Rule D 4.1.4 Delete “lesbian and gay members” Insert “lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender members”