The Scottish Joint Council employers made a final pay offer last November of: 1)1% increase on all spinal column points from 1 April 2013. 2)Introduction of a Scottish Local Government Living Wage set at £7.50ph (The living wage element to be applied after the 1% uplift) 3)Potential for detrimental changes to terms & conditions next […]
Conference motions
This Conference notes the referendum on Independence for Scotland will be held on 18 September 2014 and if carried it is likely Independence will be gained in 2016 – less than 3 years from now to totally separate the existing integrated financial systems and set up new systems for both Scotland and England/Wales/Northern Ireland. Even […]
Conference recognises the work done at national level to ensure the access needs of disabled members are met when attending national events. Conference also notes the commitment of the union in ensuring disabled members are enabled to fully participate in all the work of the union. However, national events and circumstances are not always mirrored […]
This conference recognises that the changes to the State Retirement Age will create enforced working until the age of 68 will be a financial disaster for many disabled members. While some workers will be able to meet the demands of their jobs, many more will find their physical and mental health will reduce their ability […]
Conference is concerned about increased outsourcing and hidden privatisation in local government and the impact on disabled workers. Local authorities who oppose privatisation are looking at mutuals, cooperatives and social enterprises, all privatisation by another name. Public services by their nature are under-provided by the market because they do not make a profit. They are […]
Conference recognises the success of the campaigns to achieve the Living Wage in councils and notes that the pay offer from the Scottish employers for 2013 included a Living Wage for all 32 councils in Scotland of a Living wage of at least £7.50. Conference notes however that not all councils have agreed to pay […]
Local government employees have had their pay and in some instances increments frozen for the past three years. Councils like Sheffield are planning to dismiss and re-engage staff to force through yet another pay and increment freeze. Black staff employed in the public sector are concentrated in the lower grades and the impact on such […]
UNISON’s initial Freedom of Information (FOI) exercise conducted in the Greater London, West Midlands and North West regions has revealed that a significant number of local authorities are shedding hundreds of thousands of jobs across the UK. Those FOIs show the number of Black staff that have been made redundant in the financial year 2010/2011. […]
Conference notes that the Tory-led government’s onslaught on public service workers and their failed austerity measures have led to worsening terms and conditions for local government workers. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) workers are affected like any other local government worker as pay and conditions are undermined. But the impact on terms and conditions […]
Conference commends the proposal to set a “gender agenda” in local government pay negotiations. The government’s austerity measures and the pay freeze in local government have impacted disproportionally on women, not least because three quarters of workers in local government are women and more than half of these women work part-time, in low paid jobs […]
Conference is totally against the setting up of Free Schools and Studio Schools. Unlike Academies which are existing schools that have changed status; Free Schools and Studio Schools are brand new schools. Often these new schools are located next to established existing community schools and threaten their very existence. In the majority of cases staff […]
Conference is alarmed that many Councils have faced unprecedented reductions in Government grants since the 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review. Since then, the position has deteriorated for local government with many councils now forecasting that central Government support over the six year period 2011-2017 will see reductions in excess of £100m. The December 2012 Autumn Statement […]
Conference notes the continued promotion of co-ops, mutual and social enterprise by the Coalition Government as being a preferred delivery of local council services. This interest in mutualism is driven by the Coalition Government’s flagship agenda of the Big Society. By giving public sector workers a right to form mutuals and co-operatives, the government claims […]
Conference notes that the current constitution for regional representation on the UNISON NJC Committee is as follows: Regions with up to 65,000 local 1 general representative government members elect: 1 women’s representative Regions with 65,001 to 100,000 1 general representative local government members elect: 1 women’s representative 1 low paid women’s rep Regions with over […]
Cuts to budgets across the UK are hitting the training and development of school support staff. Research by the Institute of Education (IoE) on the effectiveness of Teaching Assistants (TAs) has been misinterpreted by some and reports such as the Sutton Trust Toolkit to Improve Learning suggest that TAs have little or no impact on […]