A SINGLE COMBINED FREE TRAVEL PASS FOR BUS AND RAI

The bus pass providing pensioners for free off peak bus travel in England and Wales has helped their mobility largely on a local basis. However, many pensioners find the cost of rail fares, even after using the 30% discount of a Senior Rail Card, an expensive hindrance to frequent visiting of friends and family across […]

UNISON’s Political Campaign After the 2015 General

Conference notes that the Conservative Party’s success at the General and local elections on May 7th carries with it significant threats to public services, our members’ jobs and standard of living and growing levels of inequality. As such Conference calls upon the National Executive Council to develop and put in place a comprehensive political campaign […]

Pensions

The Westminster government announced in its last Budget that it planned to allow all those who have been contributing to Defined Contribution (DC) pension arrangements, the option of being able to take their whole pot of money as a cash sum from 6 April 2015. Up to then contributors could take a maximum of 25% […]

Decision To Cancel Strike Action On 14th October

This Special Conference believes the decision of the NJC Committee on 9th October to suspend the action planned for 14th October was a mistake which completely undermined the national campaign to secure a decent pay rise for Local Government members and an end to five years of real terms cuts in our member’s living standards. […]

Organising

Conference recognises that activism is at the very heart of UNISON. Activists ensure that the union is accessible to members in the workplace giving day to day support and representation to members, encouraging other workers to join the union and building our organisation. Without activists we could not function as a democratic lay member led […]

Cuts to Access to Learning Fund (Student Opportunity Fund)

Conference notes with alarm the Government’s revelation in January 2014 that it was seeking to cut £200m from the Student Opportunity Fund. Run by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). The Student Opportunity Fund is open to undergraduates and taught postgraduates and provides non-repayable grants of between £100 and £1,000 for disadvantaged students. […]

University Governance

Conference notes the increasing concentration of power in the hands of a few appointed executives on bodies such as pre 92 University Court (e.g. Oxford, Cambridge, Kings etc.) and Post 92 Board of Governors (e.g. Greenwich, Hertfordshire, Sunderland etc.). The main focus of these bodies is on commercial interests (potentially at the expense of educational […]