This Higher Education Conference notes: 1)The brilliant win by Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) Wigan Hovis workers against zero-hour contracts and the mistreatment of agency workers. 2)UNISON’s view that “zero hours contracts are not compatible with developing a professional workforce delivering quality services”. 3)Under the UK’s regulations which came into force in 2011, […]
Conference motions
Conference notes that 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 sector, employers including universities have increasingly been turning to zero hours contracts. Under these contracts, an individual typically undertakes to be available for work but the employer […]
Conference applauds the successful implementation of the Living Wage that has been achieved at Exeter University, Wolverhampton University and Loughborough University amongst many. At Exeter University, the Students Guild has also agreed to implement the Living Wage which demonstrates that being a Living Wage employer is also about applying the same standard to services that […]
This conference condemns the appalling practice over the past year of the employers changing people’s contracts and terms and conditions with the “accept it or you’re out” attitude as with Liverpool University and the hard working long serving staff. Therefore conference calls upon the Higher Education Service Group Executive to work with the National Executive […]
This conference condemns the appalling practice over the past years of the employers to fail to demonstrate a true commitment to the hard working long serving staff of their institutions by throwing them aside and turning to external sources for staff to run services. Therefore conference calls upon the Higher Education Service Group Executive to […]
Conference notes with concern that lack of Black workers within Higher Education. Research carried out by the Equality Challenge Unit (ECU) noted that only 8.6% of academic staff and 6.9% of support staff self-defined as Black. There are only 2 Black Vice Chancellors in the UK despite there being 168 UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). […]
Conference is concerned that Universities are failing to carry out Equality Impact Assessments (EIA). Although no longer a statutory duty, as part of good employer/employee relations, it is vital that this process is undertaken to expose any detrimental effect HE cuts and redundancies are having on disabled employees. However, the process needs to be meaningful […]
Conference is concerned that some Higher Education (HE) institutions are still failing to implement Disability leave Policies, despite this being offered as an example of a reasonable adjustment in the Code of Practice relating to the employment provisions of the Equality Act 2010. Redundancies and cuts in the Higher Education sector are at an all […]
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 […]
Conference notes that the cuts in Housing Benefit and the imposition of the Bedroom Tax are forcing many Black families into a position of double jeopardy. Especially where it is alleged that there is under occupation in social housing homes. Black households are more likely to be housed in social housing and likely to be […]
Conference notes: a)The findings of the 2005 “Count Me In” census in England and the following censuses that people from Black Caribbean, Black African and other Black backgrounds are over represented in psychiatric care. b)The report by Care Quality Commission published in 2010 that found that 23% of mental health inpatients were from Black communities […]
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– […]
Conference notes the Con Dem Coalition’s welfare reforms agenda has forced public services and the voluntary sector to significantly reduce their workforce in the name of efficiency savings. Presently there is insufficient information to show the disproportionate impact on black workers and their communities. Alongside this, there is evidence from many workplaces showing that training […]
The results from the 2011 Census showed that in England and Wales approximately 14% of the population identified as non white. This is a rise from the 2001 Census figure of 7.9%. The Census results also revealed the greater dispersal of Black people across the UK. This changing demographic across the UK, coupled with a […]
Black women are oppressed by both racism and sexism, so face a double strand of oppression in society as a whole. Violence against women and girls is the most widespread form of abuse in the world. Globally, one in three women will be raped or beaten in their lifetime. Statistics reveal the levels of violence […]