This Conference notes with regret the latest advice from UNISON issued on 2 May 2009, around the issue of “Rarely Cover” in classrooms. This advice has been sent direct to schools and is already being used by headteachers to undermine existing pay and conditions of service. This Conference notes that in Kirklees the local WAMG […]
Conference motions
Conference is aware of the anxiety suffered when a relative or loved one is caught up in an emergency situation particularly the elderly. Anything that can be done to reduce the anxiety and to aid more effective communications has got to be a good thing. In July 2007 Vodafone Netherlands started a national awareness campaign […]
This Conference believes that if we are to tackle climate change we have to negotiate changes to the way we work. Over two thirds of UK carbon dioxide emissions are work related. Colleges teach and train over three million people every year. In doing so they use significant amounts of energy and other resources and […]
This conference is concerned about the impact of the economic downturn on local government workers jobs. The consequences for disabled workers is huge; constant reorganisation, threats of privatisation, long hours and too few staff are factors that build even greater barriers to employment and career opportunities. Local government employers are using the economic situation as […]
Conference notes that in the current political structures there are a variety of combinations of political parties forming administrations at local/council level, devolved parliamentary level and at the employers organisations. Whilst there are still some single party administrations (Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat) there are many more coalitions, alliances, no-over-all-controls, etc. In the Scottish Parliament there […]
This Conference endorses the “Time to Pay Up” Campaign for our members in Further Education by focusing on the minority of colleges that refuse to implement nationally agreed pay deals, resulting in up to 50% of colleges not being on any comparable, nationally agreed pay scale. This causes confusion throughout the sector when comparing jobs […]
Conference believes that the Further Education (FE) sector has a vital role to play in helping to retrain and re skill people who will sadly lose their jobs as a result of the recession. Conference therefore welcomes the additional money being allocated to the FE sector in England to fund learning and skills development in […]
Over the past few months increasing numbers of councils have been facing financial problems, sadly resulting in some of our members losing their jobs. If, as a union, we are going to better challenge councils when they say they have financial problems branches need to have a better understanding of how local government is funded, […]
Conference notes that local government employees are uniquely and increasingly ‘squeezed’ between the priorities of central and local government, the complex funding mechanism for local government and efficiency savings. Conference believes that the public is entitled to the highest quality services and efficient use of public money. However, there is a limit to the ‘efficiencies’ […]
Conference notes the continuing and pervasive nature of racism experienced by Black members in local government workplaces across Britain. Conference further notes the abundant evidence that has been generated as a result of monitoring under the Race Relations Amendment Act (2000) to show that Black people continue to be under-represented in the workplace, and that […]
Conference notes the Local Government Equality Framework (LGEF) replaced the Equality Standard in April 2009. It aims to enable local authorities to meet the public sector equality duties set out in the new Single Equalities Bill – which merges all the complex and single Equality Acts into one new Bill. In October 2008 the Local […]
Conference notes: 1)The impact of the credit crunch and recession on local authority finance 2)The additional demands being placed on local authorities and the resulting workload pressures on staff 3)The ‘political expediency’ of freezing council tax levels, sometimes contributing to budget cuts and job losses in subsequent years 4)The decision of the Government in the […]
Conference notes and welcomes the government’s budget commitment to increased public spending. However, it is essential that the proposed “efficiency savings” also contained in the budget do not equate to job cuts or cuts in services at this time of recession. There is growing evidence that this recession will have a significant and unprecedented impact […]
Conference welcomes the impact of the Human Rights Act (HRA) 1998 in helping to protect our lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) members in local government from discrimination, bullying and harassment in their places of work. The HRA, which applies to public sector bodies or those carrying out public sector functions, incorporates into UK law […]
Conference notes that whilst an employment tribunal ruling does not set legal precedent, widespread publicity for the judgement in the case of Ms Ladele v London Borough of Islington (2203694/2007 July 2008) added to the false impression that local government workers can claim their religion or belief as a reason for discriminating against lesbian, gay, […]