Prior to the pandemic there seemed to be practices within Energy employers where managers suggested that jobs such as back-office work and call centre work couldn�t be done from home due to technological limitations. People�s physical and mental difficulties can mean their conditions make it hard for people to get to and from offices. This […]
Conference motions
Conference notes that a UNISON survey of disabled members working from home during COVID-19, including Energy workers, found that 53% did not receive any reasonable adjustments from their employer to help them to overcome the barriers they faced as a disabled person working from home. Only 5% had help from Access to Work, the flagship […]
This special energy conference notes that to achieve Net Zero substantial investment will be needed within the Energy sector, both with established employers with whom we have an existing relationship, and likely new (and as yet not in existence) employers too) This could and should bring about new job growth within the energy sector over […]
This special energy conference notes that in November in Glasgow the previously delayed (due to Covid restrictions) COP 26 will take place. This will bring together nations from across the world to report on progress made since the COP 21 Paris Agreement was reached in 2015. This conference also notes that since 2015 the UK […]
At its inception in 2016, the Energy and Utilities Skills Partnership, made up of 30 utility organisations; gas, power, water, and waste management, recognised the underrepresentation of Black workers across the sector, citing, �Workforce diversity and inclusion levels for the sector continue to be below the UK averages, with only 7% of the sector�s employees […]
Conference is appalled by the trans exclusionary radical feminist protestors from Lancaster Resisters who decided to march at the front of the Manchester Pride parade in August this year. Reports suggest that they covered about half of the parade route before exiting the parade after engagement by Police and Pride Officials. Following the event, a […]
Conference is aware that UNISON and the National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Plus (LGBT+) Committee and Self Organised Group have consistently expressed concerns about the Government’s policies on Brexit. For disabled LGBT+ members, the prospect of a no deal exit from the European Union (EU), and the impacts as outlined in the “Yellowhammer” report, […]
Conference welcomes the introduction of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Plus (LGBT+) inclusive relationship education in primary schools and relationship and sex education (RSE) in secondary schools, which forms part of the Department for Education’s statutory guidance. Conference notes these guidelines cover disabled pupils in mainstream schools, Additionally Resourced Provision (ARPs) and extend to special […]
Conference notes that UNISON’s policy on sex work, adopted in 2010 on the basis of a motion from women’s conference, is to support proposals which decriminalise the selling of sexual services while introducing a ‘sex buyers law’ criminalising those who purchase those services. Conference recognises that the great majority of sex workers are women. Conference […]
Conference believes that self- organised groups (SOGs) are the equality life blood of UNISON. The core to trade union organising is bringing people together who share a common experience at work. That is why we organise members who share a common workplace experience of oppression and discrimination due to gender or race or because they […]
Conference welcomes the fact that ILGA-Europe have organised a “Gathering for D/deaf and disabled LGBTI activists in Europe and Central Asia” which takes place 21 – 24 November 2019 in Brussels and that UNISON will be part of that gathering. The gathering provides the opportunity for D/deaf, disabled lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) […]
Conference notes: a)2019 commemorates the 52nd anniversary of the occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza b) In 2017 research by War on Want showed that HSBC had invested over £800 million in, and provided syndicated loans worth up to £19 billion for, companies providing weapons and equipment to the Israeli military. These […]
Conference notes that: 1)The Supreme Court decision in Walker v Innospec in July 2017, that upon John Walker’s death his husband should get the same pension as would a wife had he married a woman, relies upon European Union (EU) law and sets aside a provision of the United Kingdom’s Equality Act 2010 that permitted […]
Conference applauds the National Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender plus (LGBT+) Committee for the work undertaken to date to highlight the effects of austerity measures on LGBT+ workers, the services we provide and the knock-on effects of the reduction in those services. Conference further notes that a range of governmental bodies, statutory services and civil […]
Conference notes its outrage that the rights of the trans community remain under sustained attack around the world. It is still the case that in many countries there are laws in place which force transgender people to be sterilised before changing their gender. In January 2019 the Supreme Court of Japan upheld ‘Law 111’ which […]