Conference notes a key finding of the report in the abuse at Winterbourne View Hospital was that the staff were not properly trained. Training is a key issue for Care. Often training is not provided, or is adhoc and/or inadequate. Furthermore, increasingly, more and more training is delivered as online courses whereby it is not […]
Conference motions
Conference currently local councils are setting budgets with substantial cuts in “Supporting People” funding. This is having a devastating effect on our member’s terms and conditions; removal of post TUPE enhancements for weekend working, Bank Holiday and Night Waking, sickness absence entitlements reduced from six months full pay, six months half pay to two months […]
This conference notes the insidious spread of zero-hours contracts in the community and voluntary sector, and in housing associations in particular. UNISON’s survey of Community members found that 9% were on zero hours contracts, but it is likely that this underestimates the true scale of the problem as it is hard to organise workers on […]
The current government’s austerity measures continue to have a disproportionate impact on Black communities and the Black voluntary and community sector. Research in 2010 on the ‘Voice for Change’ website found that 45% of community organisations providing services specifically for Black communities experienced cuts to funding. This unprecedented threat to the survival of Black community […]
Conference is concerned that when members in the Community Sector are going through the TUPE process, the exclusion of their pension rights can have a detrimental effect on disabled workers. Disabled people are already likely to have gaps in their employment, which means that they are unable to build up the number of years required […]
This Conference deplores the situation whereby public sector contracts with charities are often not on a full cost recovery basis (basically, staff costs plus overheads). Where this occurs, the consequence is a shortfall between contract income and the cost of delivering the contract. This effectively leaves affected charities to choose between cross-subsidising state contracts from […]
Migrant workers continue to be extremely vulnerable to race discrimination and false allegations of abuse from patients / care home residents and their families. They are also less likely to have colleagues coming forward as supportive witnesses. While UNISON already supports its members from overt racist discrimination from an employer, there is not always a […]
Conference is extremely alarmed by the CONDEM Government intention to make legislative requirement for the UK Landlords to check the immigration status of all prospective Tenants from 2014. Conference is concerned that Landlords will be required by Law to request evidence from the prospective tenants and their families, friends, and any other person (s) living […]
Conference believes in the importance of Black LGBT activism within UNISON at branch, regional and national level and notes that encouraging this and breaking down any barriers is an important organising issue. Recruitment and training can play a crucial role in increasing Black LGBT participation. Black LGBT members have vital contributions to make to ensuring […]
Conference condemns the head-long cuts programme of the Tory-led coalition government. Conference notes that their ideology-driven austerity agenda – which they publicly claim is for the sake of our economy – is in fact standing in the way of delivering the jobs and growth that we need. Conference welcomes UNISON’s exposure of this government’s failings […]
Conference the brutal murder of Lee Rigby was both horrific and left a nation shocked at this brutal act on the streets of Woolwich. Conference condemns the actions of those that carried out this murder and reject stated motivation for their actions. However, Conference is deeply concerned at the increasing attacks, verbal, physical attacks and […]
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 […]
In Teesside, which is south of the Northern Region, schools reported and had to deal with 359 racist incidents in the last academic year. In Middlesbrough there was 191 racist school based incidents alone. A recent survey by the VOICE newspaper showed that more than 80% of their readers claimed to have experienced racism when […]