Conference notes the continuing failure of the government to invest and maintain a wide variety of public services in the UK, with almost every institution showing signs of underinvestment in systems, infrastructure, and staffing. Most of the public services delivered by UNISON members are showing sign of this strain despite often heroic efforts to maintain […]
Conference motions
For too many years now it seems that the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) are neither able nor willing to negotiate with the unions in good faith. It appears that perhaps UCEA is acting as an arm of the Conservative Government, representing year after year of increasingly austerity for staff working in Higher Education. […]
Higher Education pay has fallen behind. Since 2009 our pay has lost around 28% of its value as a result of successive below inflation cost-of-living rises, year on year. The extreme increase in prices during 2022 and 2023 has brought this to a crisis point, and UNISON members working in Higher Education are facing real […]
Every year, UCEA representing the employers in the HE sector pay negotiations, state that while some universities are wealthy, there are universities that would struggle, indeed may be forced into considering redundancies, the closure of departments and so on, should a significant pay settlement be forced upon them. For this reason, staff salaries have been […]
University staff at all grades on the agreed pay scale have seen the value put on their work diminish year after year, not by some form of “natural process”, not by erosion or gravity, but by deliberate choices made year on year by the people running the universities: they pay us less, as the sectors […]
It is clear that while UCEA as a group are doggedly refusing to admit there is a problem with pay in the sector – and given that UCEA members / advisors are getting their information from employees “over the top of the national pay scale” perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised – individual HEIs are increasingly […]
This conference notes that the Year of Black Workers, and its focus of ‘Establishing Legacy to Generate Change’, is not the change we seek, it is merely the opportunity to generate change. Black Workers across our society often find themselves in low-paid, insecure work, with poor terms and conditions. Despite the Westminster Government denying that […]
Maternal mental health is a crucial aspect of a woman’s well-being and can impact on the early experiences of bonding with their child(ren) and their own experience of motherhood. According to ‘The Motherhood Group’, Black maternal mental health should be a priority focus across government, health and social care policy development and wider society. Black […]
Conference notes that violence against women and girls is defined as any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women and girls, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life. […]
Conference notes and welcomes the new protection from redundancy for pregnant workers and new parents. Conference thanks Dan Jarvis MP for working in support with UNISON on the new law – the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Bill – to prevent employers from laying off expectant mothers and new parents, by extending redundancy […]
Conference, gender equality is at the very heart of human rights and United Nations values. Equality and non-discrimination are fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter, adopted by world leaders in 1945. Yet millions of women and LGBT+ persons around the world continue to experience discrimination in the enjoyment of civil, cultural, economic, political and […]
This Conference notes that: Statistics show that there is at least one so called honour based killing per month in the UK with 7,000 recorded incidents of abuse. Although many believe the actual numbers are far higher. Honour killings and abuse take place when a woman or girl is murdered or abused due to the […]
Conference notes: Women are disadvantaged compared to men in terms of housing in many ways. On average, women have lower incomes and less capital than men. As a result, they tend to be disadvantaged in a housing system where access to housing is largely determined through the market. Women heads of household, lone-parent households, and […]
Women should not have to worry about their student loan when they are absent from work due to pregnancy or childcare. In the Netherlands, payments and interest are paused during maternity leave. We call upon the National Women’s Committee to launch a campaign to seek legal changes to the student loan scheme. Payments and interest […]
Conference, many of our women members some of whom are disabled are on low pay, working part time and living on a limited budget. A significant number of these women work in social care, for the NHS, local authorities, or private care companies. Conference notes that caring responsibilities also disproportionately fall on women. The massive […]