In 2007 elections will take place for the Scottish Parliament, Scottish local authorities, the Welsh Assembly, Welsh local authorities and many local authorities in England. Conference notes that these bodies are responsible for spending billions of pounds on public services and employing either directly or indirectly the majority of UNISON members in those areas. Conference […]
Conference motions
Conference commends UNISON’s commitment to campaigning for high quality, affordable childcare by properly trained and fairly paid child care workers. It also requires that childcare facilities should be suitably located in the vicinity of places of work. The campaigning must also bear in mind the needs of lone parents, parents in deprived areas and parents […]
Conference deplores the fact that children born in this country can be denied citizenship rights depending upon the nationality of their parents. Conference notes that this disgraceful discrimination on grounds of nationality disporportionately disadvantages black and minority ethnic people and that an increasing number of young people have, for example, difficulty in obtaining passports to […]
Schedule B 2.1.1 delete “d)” and “e)” Delete “Schedule B 2.9” and “Schedule B 2.10” and renumber accordingly.
Conference welcomes the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 which will impose a new disability equality duty on public bodies and some private companies from December 2006. We believe this Duty could help reconstruct a barrier free society and provide equality of opportunity for the millions of disabled people who are in work, wanting work and those […]
Conference notes the pre-budget report of the Chancellor and welcomes the fact that public spending up to 2008 has been maintained as planned and that the taxation shortfall due to lower economic growth has been plugged with greater taxation of North Sea oil companies. Public sector jobs are due to grow by about 250,000 as […]
Conference notes with concern the findings of the ICM opinion poll commissioned by Amnesty International which indicates that a third of people in the United Kingdom believe that a woman is partially or totally responsible for being raped. The Amnesty report Sexual Assault Research published on 21 November 2005 shows that 26 per cent of […]
Conference condemns the proposed European Union Directive on Services and the support given to it by the British government. Conference believes that the Directive is a direct attack on public services and employment and collective bargaining rights. Conference further believes that the Directive will undermine, by liberalisation and market competition, public health, public security, the […]
Conference notes that the private companies’ policy of offshoring “back office” functions to developing nations is spreading to the public sector. Already public sector bodies are considering offshoring in response to the demands of efficiency reviews and the pressure to modernise service delivery. Conference does not accept that offshoring aspects of public service functions will […]
Conference notes that the purpose of the blood services in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is to provide a safe and adequate supply of blood. Screening of blood donors for HIV is necessary for the safety of the blood supply because the available tests for screening donated blood for HIV are not infallible, it […]
Conference welcomes the growing recognition of the need to combat discrimination against LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) workers and the agreements reached with some employers to integrate work towards LGBT equality into their equality programmes. Conference notes that the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 introduced a requirement on public authorities to monitor workers’ ethnicity, […]
Conference is concerned at the increasing number of women suffering from ovarian cancer. Ovarian cancer is the fourth most common cause of death from cancer amongst women in the UK and is known as the silent killer. Every year about 6,000 women in the UK are diagnosed with this disease, the majority of these cases […]
Conference welcomes the decision of the European Social Fund equality programme to award £2.45 million to Healthy Minds at Work in Wales. Conference notes that UNISON Cymru/Wales are founding members of the development partnership. Research has shown that twice as many women than men in the United Kingdom have a diagnosis of a depressive illness. […]
Conference welcomes the work carried out by the National Women’s Committee in promoting the need for a work/life balance and flexible working. Conference also believes that there is also a need for a union/life balance and notes with concern that at last year’s National Women’s Conference the black caucus was held at 6.00 p.m., one […]
Conference notes and welcomes the drive to promote breastfeeding and to offer support to women who choose to breast feed. The health benefits of breastfeeding are well-known and the WHO recommends that babies are exclusively breast fed for the first six months. However, this increasingly means that the mother has returned to work before the […]