SUPPORTING INTERSEX MEMBERS WITHIN UNISON

Conference welcomes the increasing strength of the intersex movement and the third International Intersex Organising Forum, held in Malta in November 2013, attended by activists representing 30 intersex organisations from all continents. It notes that the Forum adopted a public statement including recommendations on a wide range of issues of concern to people born intersex. […]

IMMIGRATION, UKIP AND THE POLITICS OF HATE

Conference notes with concern the impact of a shift to a market centred model across Europe is resulting in an increasingly hostile debate around immigration. Parties such as the UK Independence Party (UKIP) on the immigration debate in the UK, are scapegoating some of the most vulnerable workers in the labour market for the economic […]

ORGANISING IN FRAGMENTED WORKFORCES

UNISON remains committed to and will continue to fight for public services delivered by workers directly employed on terms and conditions that have been collectively bargained by democratically accountable public bodies. Nevertheless, Conference recognises that more and more public service workers are employed by the private sector and the community and voluntary sector. Often working: […]

CONTINUED DISCRIMINATION IN LGBT HOUSING PROVISION

Conference notes that many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) housing problems are related to sexual orientation or gender identity. Increasingly, more LGBT people are having to rent their homes from a private landlord, because of the lack of council houses, social rented accommodation and other affordable housing, or the housing and local allocations policies […]

ETHICAL CARE

Conference notes that: 1) Since 2010 the government has imposed a £2.6 billion reduction in social care funding which has had a devastating impact on home care services; 2) As local authority’s budgets have been squeezed they have used competitive tendering to drive down the costs and standards of home care; 3) A recent UNISON […]

ZERO HOURS CONTRACTS

Conference notes that employers have increasingly been turning to zero hour contracts, as part of the general attack on staff terms and conditions that has accompanied the intensification of privatisation and cuts to funding across the public services. Zero hour contracts are where an individual is not guaranteed work and is paid only for the […]

LGBT ASYLUM SEEKERS

Conference recalls that in 2010, the United Kingdom (UK) Coalition Government pledged: ‘We will stop the deportation of asylum seekers who have had to leave particular countries because of their sexual orientation’. David Cameron promised that: “Those Africans seeking asylum on the basis of sexual orientation and at real risk of persecution in their home […]

PAY

Conference reiterates its belief that our members deserve fair pay, equal pay and that no member should earn less than the Living Wage. However we note that living standards for working people have now suffered the greatest fall since the Victorian era; wages are stagnant across the economy yet the price of essentials continues to […]