WOMEN AND THE CUTS – TRANSPORT

Women’s Conference confirms UNISON’s backing of Campaign for Better Transport’s campaign ‘Save our Buses’. An increasing number of local authorities have looked to save money by reducing the number of socially necessary and school bus services they support because of cuts to government funding. Once again, as statistics show that women use buses far more […]

WOMEN AND WORK

The budget cuts being imposed on the public sector is having a huge impact on women, two thirds of the public sector workforce is made up of women, who carry out a variety of roles. In some regions almost fifty per cent of the female population is employed in this sector. Those traditional job roles […]

INTERNATIONAL LINKS

This Conference is proud of the reputation that UNISON has on International work. In the Greater London Region, the Regional Women’s Committee (RWC) has been developing links with the Nicaraguan Communal Movement (NCM), through the Nicaraguan Solidarity Campaign, and in 2010 co sponsored the development of a social project for the improvement in living conditions […]

UK SLAVERY AND TRAFFICKING

As the economic vice bites deeper and the whole world struggles to maintain status quo on everything from stability in the stock markets to coping with the effect of massive unemployment, there will always be a type of entrepreneur to exploit natural resources and turn a profit. These people pride themselves in supplying a rare […]

MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOAL 4

In the year 2000, at the Millennium Summit, one hundred and eighty nine members’ of states of the United Nations declared that they would spare no effort to achieve a set of eight goals aimed at raising the level of development, health and prosperity of the globe by the end of the year of 2015. […]

MARY SEACOLE – ICON FOR UNISON WOMEN

Mary Seacole was born Mary Jane Grant in 1805 to a free black Jamaican woman. Her mother ran a boarding house for British soldiers and sailors in the capital city, Kingston. Her mother was known as a “doctoress” and passed on much of her knowledge of healing, using the arts of Creole medicine. In 1836 […]

Standing Orders 2.2

Delete 2.2 No delegate shall serve on standing orders committee for more than three consecutive years. Replace with: 2.2 No delegate shall serve on standing orders committee for more than four consecutive years.

RESPONDING TO THE TORY LEAD GOVERNMENT’S ATTACK ON WOMEN AND OUR ROLE IN SOCIETY

Conference knows the history of the struggle that women have fought for the right to equality for all aspects of our lives. From the days of the Suffragettes and the Women’s Social and Political Union women have fought for rights to education, equal pay, decent childcare, maternity and parental leave, health care, equal rights for […]

DECENT PENSIONS MATTER TO YOUNG WOMEN

This Conference is appalled by the attacks on our pension schemes and that women – young women in particular – will be disproportionately disadvantaged. This Conference is alarmed that low-take up, or withdrawal from the schemes, by members will be damaging to the schemes and may in the long-term make them unviable. This Conference believes […]

BUILDING INTERNATIONAL LINKS – CHILDBIRTH – WHAT IS A WOMEN’S LIFE WORTH?

In Britain we are worried about the attacks on the NHS and the effect on the ratio of midwives to expectant mothers. This results in the worry of whether the experience will be more painful than is necessary and whether there will be any side effects on the baby. In Africa women are worried that […]

THE DEVALUING AND EXCLUSION OF WOMEN IN SOCIETY

Privatisation and cuts to care providers and the Public Sector are driving down women’s wages and resulting in increased job losses in these areas. Women are known to be the predominant users of public services and are therefore more disadvantaged by this. The loss of wages and reduction in wages impacts greater on single income […]

Time for Change

Time for Change Conference, the thorny subject of mental health as experience by Black people, needs examination. David Bennett died October 1988. Sir John Blofeld chair of the David Bennett, Independent Inquiry panel found that Institutional Racism exists within the Mental Health Services, in his report December 2005. One of the key recommendations: Do not […]

Policing Disadvantaged Communities

Conference notes with great concern how the cuts in policing will greatly disadvantage the excellent work previously undertaken to engage with disadvantaged communities. Independent Advisory Groups (IAGs) were set up following the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Report highlighted that the police were disengaged with communities. IAGs have played an active role in ensuring that police engage […]

Monitoring

Conference on 2 September 2011 Eric Pickles, the Secretary for Communities and Local Government new guidance called ‘A fair deal for the community and voluntary sector.’ The guidance states councils should not carry out equality questionnaires and use the money saved to fund the community and voluntary sector. They claim that the questions asked about […]

Black Members and Pensions

While we all know the debate around Public Service pensions has reached a difficult and tense period, especially with all negotiations failing to be constructive and positive and the employers being more and more intransigent. We still do not have a true picture of how the changes in the Public Service Pension scheme affect our […]