Colleagues may recall the lacklustre support by the UK Universities for any position during the Brexit Referendum despite UNISON’s call to Vice Chancellors (VCs) to take a position to support EU staff and students. There are 45,000 EU citizens working in the Higher Education sector in the UK (11% of the Higher Education (HE) workforce) […]
Conference motions
Conference believes that there is an inherent unfairness in the way in which our universities are being run, and the way in which the most senior staff are being rewarded whilst UNISON members and staff working in support services are paying the price. Recent research in the Guardian revealed that among 17 university heads who […]
Conference welcomes the high level of engagement of Higher Education (HE) members in UNISON’s second equality survey, conducted summer 2017, which gives useful insight into their experiences and involvement in UNISON. Conference also notes the responses from lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender members (LGBT), which reinforce the findings from the 2016 survey that LGBT members […]
Our political landscape has become dominated by the referendum decision to leave the European Union. Whatever the specific position in January 2018, there are particular principles which will defend the rights and freedoms of both UK and EU nationals working in Higher Education (HE). At the time of writing we have not seen full details […]
Conference is deeply concerned that there has been significant rise in hate crime cases in the UK. Hate crime of any kind, directed against any community, race or religion has absolutely no place in our society. Our diverse communities thrive precisely because of the rich co-existence of people of different backgrounds, faiths and ethnicities and […]
Conference believes the current immigration process leads to unfavourable treatment of Black workers who do not have full legal rights to reside in the UK. They face a large number of issues including: 1) Application Fees : The basic ILR (Indefinite leave to remain in UK – permanent stay) fee of £1875 per applicant is […]
Conference notes that: The Higher Education sector is perhaps the best example of a few individuals enriching themselves from public funds. It is true that many leaders of public institutions are receiving vast incomes for their contributions, but VC pay has captured the headlines since a) students are amassing colossal debts to access Higher Education […]
Conference notes that: The history of degree level education provision in the UK is long and complex, but current and recent changes are fundamentally shifting the scenario in which our members work. As a trade union which organises public sector workers, we find our particular Service Group having to deal with the consequences of delivering […]
Conference notes the continuing national housing crisis and the exponential rise in homelessness. Conference welcomes the introduction of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 which extends the previous 28 day period for ‘threatened homelessness’ to 56 days and makes clear that a valid Section 21 notice (Housing Act 1988) also constitutes being ‘threatened with homelessness’. For […]
Conference notes that it has been some years since HERA was introduced as the tool for role analysis in the majority of UK universities as part of the National Framework Agreement. As part of that many UNISON activists were trained and accredited as HERA Role Analysts to support members wishing to have their roles evaluated, […]
Conference welcomes the motion “Member-led Democracy” passed (as amended) at last year’s conference, which committed the Higher Education Service Group Executive (HESGE) to publish information about votes on significant issues. Conference also recognises the contribution made by HESGE members who, alongside all elected lay reps, consistently give their time to further the interests of all […]
This conference notes with concern and anger the current trend in Higher Education to gift Vice Chancellors (VCs) and other senior managers with obscene salaries. Times Higher Education reports that VCs at half of UK universities earned around five times the average (mean) salary of academic staff in 2015-16, and over the last few years […]
Conference notes and very much welcomes the fact that not only did the Labour Party stand in the last election with policies very much in keeping with many of those set by our members at numerous UNISON conferences, but that those policies proved to be very popular. The future removal of a Tory government now […]
Conference should note the significant role played by young people mobilising to vote in the last general election. UNISON activists in Higher Education played a role in this significant development by taking part in voter registration drives on their campuses around the country. Despite years of the assumption that apathy was endemic, the turnout of […]
Conference notes with alarm and concern the steady decrease in numbers of first-time applicants to university which has decreased by 5% for UK students and 7% for the EU students. These figures are particularly concerning when broken down by age group where we will find the number of 19-year-old applicants has fallen by 9%, 20-year-olds […]