Conference notes that #MeToo has transformed the debate around sexual harassment and has enabled women and men to come forward. with cases being reported in the media more than ever before. Conference acknowledges that anyone at any time can experience sexual harassment, but the statistics demonstrate that the overwhelming majority of victims are women. Conference […]
Conference motions
Conference notes that around 3.5 million women aged fifty years and over are currently in employment in the UK. Conference notes further that the employment rate for women in the UK has actually increased in the past few decades and women now represent nearly half of the UK labour force. This means that many more […]
A recent report in the Journal of Transport and Health by Dr Sarah Jackson, highlighted important benefits for older people who use a concessionary bus pass: a) Older people who use a concessionary bus pass tend to be more happy and physically active; b) They are also less likely to be socially isolated when they […]
Conference understands the huge scale of harm being caused to members by work-related stress, including wrecked lives and relationships, debilitating mental and physical illness and sometimes, tragically, death. Such misery is often compounded by the insensitive treatment of victims by some employers who, far from acknowledging their own responsibility for causing excessive workplace stress, seek […]
Conference notes that our workplaces are changing, with members in the community and voluntary sector facing increased workloads due to a combination of slashed local authority funding, project based voluntary sector commissioning that does not cover overheads, and increased commercialisation and a target driven culture in housing associations. These pressures have made the importance of […]
Conference notes that the legal framework that is supposed to ensure reasonable access for disabled workers comprises the Equality Act 2010 and building regulations. The Workplace Health, Safety and Welfare Regulations 1993 also give workers the right to a safe and healthy workplace. However despite this legal underpinning, conference is aware that some disabled workers […]
We continue to see a number of housing associations merge across regions and nationally. These range from large scale mergers such as the creation of Clarion Housing Group (125,000 homes) to the medium/smaller scale such as WM Housing (30,000 homes). These mergers present a range of challenges to us in the community sector, such as […]
In the Community & Voluntary Sector which includes care provision, charities, not for profit organisations and housing associations – long term health conditions which incorporate hidden disabilities is a subject that comes up regularly in the workplace. Community Sector staff who are not aware that they meet the definition of Disability in the Equality Act […]
Conference celebrates UNISON’s work over the past 25 years to promote women’s equality and participation and to tackle sexism and sex discrimination at work, in our union and across society. Like other service groups, the community service group has a majority of women members and our rules and practices to encourage women’s participation are vital […]
In the Community & Voluntary Sector which includes care provision, charities, not for profit organisations and housing associations, employers must ensure provision of family-friendly policies are in place when trying to recruit and maintain staff levels of experienced and valued staff. The UK’s long hours working culture damages family life and parents are voting with […]
UNISON Community Conference believes any plan to improve the dire state of social care in the UK must have the fair treatment of care workers at its core. Many carers work for third sector organisations, making this a key issue for the Community Service Group. The government has said that the proposals in the forthcoming […]
Conference notes with concern that across UNISON the number of accredited Health & Safety (H&S) representatives continues to decrease. This is of particular concern to the Community Service Group where, out of a collective membership of almost 75,000 members, less than 200 across all our nations/regions are accredited Health & Safety Representatives. Conference further notes […]
Conference congratulates campaigners, including UNISON’s National Women’s Self-Organised Group, on their success in preventing changes to the welfare system which would have caused the closure of more women’s refuges. Proposed government changes resulting from Universal Credit could have meant women fleeing abusive partners not being able to pay for accommodation using housing benefit. This is […]
This conference will likely agree our union’s approach to pay negotiations for the coming year. Whatever the finer detail of our pay claim, if we are to be effective in making our demands, we need to place ordinary UNISON members and Higher Education workers at the centre of our campaign. From the very start of […]
Conference recognises that there is a commonality in the Scottish Higher Education system which has now been acknowledged by the Scottish Trade Unions (STUC), National Union of Students (NUS) Scotland and Universities Scotland with the creation of a forum where representatives from all three bodies meet to discuss issues of common interest. Scottish Higher Education […]