Bully Brother

National Black Members’ Committee (NBMC) is appalled at Channel 4’s manipulation of the current Celebrity Big Brother programme. NBMC is concerned that the blatant flaunting of racism and bullying of Shilpa by her housemates Jade, Danielle and Jo is totally unacceptable and has no place in the 21st Century. Channel 4 views itself as being […]

Black activists need facility time

Conference notes that while UNISON faces the challenge of negotiating facility time per se, Black members and activists face additional barriers to participation. Conference believes we cannot all continue to juggle work, home and trade union activities without adequate facility time and paid time off for duties and activities that support the work of challenging […]

Caucus Meetings at National Disabled Members’ Conference

The National Womens Caucus is disappointed that only 15 mins was allocated to them for their caucus meeting. Due to other meetings overrunning it meant that the Womens Caucus meeting was rushed & that they did not have sufficient time to discuss their issues. The Womens Caucus therefore call upon the NDMC when planning their […]

Shared Space

Shared Space This Conference welcomes the launching of a report on Shared Surfaces by the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association on September 15, 2006. This report is also welcomed by a number of other disability organisations including the British Council of Disabled People (BCODP) and outlines the affect on blind and partially sighted and […]

High Visa Fees for Fresh Talent Initiative Prospectors

UNISON welcomes the proposal to use the Scottish Executive Fresh talent Initiative as a model in the North West and West Midlands and applauds the efforts to sensitise the population on the positive contribution that immigrants make to the Scottish economy. We are however concerned at the very high fees associated with the Fresh Talent […]

Electronic Submission of Motions to National Black Members Conference

Conference notes the processes and procedures used for a number of years for the submission of motions to the National Black Members Conference. The process currently sets specific dates for motions to be submitted to the Conference Office and currently this can be done by post or fax. We live in a world that is […]

Training and Work Opportunites for Black Mem over age of 50

This conference notes that a New Deal Plus is a Government initiative by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to engage with unemployed people over the age of 50 to access training and employment. Conference is deeply concerned that only 17 out of 32,000 adults in the Reading area who were placed via the […]

Barriers to Progression and Promotions for Black Employees

Conference is deeply concerned that black employees are severely disadvantaged for promotion and progression. In line with UNISON’s Objective 2: negotiating and bargaining on behalf of members and promoting equality, Conference instructs the National Black Members Committee to work with the National Executive Council to: 1)collate statistics, to form a report, from all the service […]

Use of Disciplinary Procedure Against Black Staff

This Conference notes that there is a disproportionate amount of black members who are subject to disciplinary procedures within the work place. This leads us to the question whether disciplinary procedures are being applied fairly and equally to all staff. A consequence of this is that the morale of black staff is negatively affected – […]

United Nations (UN) World Conference Against Racism 2001

This Conference notes that UNISON sent a delegation to the UN World Conference against Racism 2001 as it did to the UN Women’s World Conference. We applaud the fact that a conference of over 160 nation states agreed that slavery was a crime against humanity even though the United Kingdom and the United States of […]

Post Office Closures and Post Office Card Accounts

Conference notes that Ministers have announced that the Department for Work and Pensions will not extend the contract for the Post Office card account beyond 2010 despite the fact that 2.3 million pensioners use the card as a way of collecting their state pension. When the Government ended the use of pension books in 2003, […]

Pensions White Paper and Restoration of the Link

Conference notes that on May 25th 2006 the Government published a Pensions White Paper setting out how it planned to implement the recommendations of the Turner Report. The White Paper contains some positive proposals intended to increase the value of the state pension in the light of the decline of many occupational pensions and include […]

A Commission For Equality and Human Rights (CEHR) that Delivers real Equality for all

Conference notes the Government’s manifesto commitment to introduce a Single Equality Act through a Discrimination Law Review was charged with developing a ‘simpler, fairer legal framework that fits the needs of 21st century Britain’. The fact that 18 months after the establishment of the Discrimination Law Review, no proposals or process of public consultation on […]

Supporting Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Asylum Seekers

National Black Members Conference believes: a)to be LGBT remains illegal in many countries across the world, with LGBT people facing life prison sentences, beatings, rape, torture and even death; b)even in countries where the state does not officially sanction severe repression of LGBT people, homophobia and transphobia are rife; c) the United Kingdom (UK) asylum […]

Tackling High Levels of Unemployed Black Disabled People

Conference notes that the number of unemployed Black disabled people is rising significantly. Indeed, recent figures indicate that Black disabled people are amongst the highest unemployed groups in society. This is unacceptable and discriminatory in a climate that is supposed to be committed to promoting and eliminating unlawful discrimination in the workplace. With the Agenda […]