Conference notes that mental health accounts for 23% of the total burden of disease, yet receives only 13% of NHS health expenditure. It is predictable that in a recession, demand for mental health services rises, as the impact of austerity and welfare reforms, rising unemployment and increase in cost of living has a detrimental impact […]
Conference motions
Conference calls on the Westminster Government and the three devolved administrations to recognise and accept their responsibility for providing a quality, safe and healthy food environment for its patients, staff and visitors. It is further recognised that when a patient is recuperating, food is often a make or break experience in terms of morale during […]
Conference notes that UNISON has done much good work to defend the jobs, and terms and conditions of members in the National Health Service (NHS), through national and local negotiations, as well as campaigning to defend the NHS itself. Conference further notes that it is the public service nature of the NHS which has been […]
The public sector cuts, austerity measures, top down reorganisations and increasing privatisation in the NHS have had an unprecedented negative impact on NHS employees, with increasing numbers leaving the NHS to escape from bullying, harassment, intimidation and fear. Those who are left in the workplace are experiencing an increase in stress as work pressures mount […]
Conference notes with concern the impact that staffing shortages in the NHS are having on workers’ lives. In particular, staffing shortages can impact on: 1)Flexible working requests not being accommodated by employers. 2)Staff with existing non-standard working patterns being pressurised into changing their working hours, which could create problems with care arrangements and other home […]
Over 30,000 jobs have been lost in the NHS since the current government took office and at the same time, they have put in place a pay freeze for NHS staff between 2011 and 2013, and following on from that, caps on any pay award in the public sector at an average of 1% increase […]
Conference notes that for several years NHS staff have seen their pay squeezed by more than 10% in real terms. Two years of a virtual pay freeze were followed by a miserable 1% for 2013. Since 2010 essential living costs have increased out of all proportion to our members’ pay. Electricity prices have jumped by […]
Conference notes that the now defunct South West Pay Cartel advised member trusts to consider ‘alternative employment vehicles’ as one of a number of what they called ‘pay optimisers’ to cut NHS pay and conditions of employment. Conference further notes that one trust in the South West recently set up their own private company, of […]
Conference notes that the NHS South of England recently promoted an apprenticeship programme for employers looking at recruiting staff into bands 1 to 4. Their ‘NHS Manager’s Guide’ suggested a number of options for NHS Trusts to employ new ‘apprentices’ without them having to employ staff at the bottom of the appropriate pay band including: […]
Conference notes with alarm that there has been a significant drop in the reporting of Hate Crime to the relevant authorities in the last few years. Conference also notes that there has been an escalating attack on Mosques, Muslim shops, Muslim people and their families, yet this is not covered in the legislation as a […]
The coalitions government’s ongoing austerity measures, cuts to jobs and public services, pay freezes in the public sector, privatisation, low pay, lack of socially affordable housing, the bedroom tax, rent increases, and zero hour contracts are all key elements in the current drastic reduction of living standards experienced by Black workers and Black communities since […]
Conference, the 1999 McPherson report uncovered deep rooted institutional racism within the Metropolitan Police Force. In the aftermath of this report the police were forced to review stop and search practices, as these were a very obvious manifestation of police prejudice. However, recent years have seen police forces return to their old ways. The figures […]
Conference notes that in the UK there are 168 Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Research conducted by the Equality Challenge Unit (ECU) reports that Black people represents 8.6 per cent of higher education academic staff and 6.9 per cent of professional support staff. Conference is aware that in the UK the Higher Education context has changed […]
Conference notes that Higher Education has expanded in the past decade with a 28% increase in the number of students from all domiciles (Universities UK, 2011). The expansion is partly the result of a greater number of students from ethnic backgrounds going to university. Yet in spite of the increase in Higher Education Initial Participation […]
Many of our fellow migrant workers, who are registered nurses in their own country, have been working here as care assistants because they did not obtain the results required by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) for their English (IELTS) test (i.e. 7 in each section). The results required are of a very high standard– […]