Conference notes that: The Higher Education sector is perhaps the best example of a few individuals enriching themselves from public funds. It is true that many leaders of public institutions are receiving vast incomes for their contributions, but VC pay has captured the headlines since a) students are amassing colossal debts to access Higher Education […]
Conference motions
Conference welcomes the motion “Member-led Democracy” passed (as amended) at last year’s conference, which committed the Higher Education Service Group Executive (HESGE) to publish information about votes on significant issues. Conference also recognises the contribution made by HESGE members who, alongside all elected lay reps, consistently give their time to further the interests of all […]
Conference notes the continuing national housing crisis and the exponential rise in homelessness. Conference welcomes the introduction of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 which extends the previous 28 day period for ‘threatened homelessness’ to 56 days and makes clear that a valid Section 21 notice (Housing Act 1988) also constitutes being ‘threatened with homelessness’. For […]
Conference notes that it has been some years since HERA was introduced as the tool for role analysis in the majority of UK universities as part of the National Framework Agreement. As part of that many UNISON activists were trained and accredited as HERA Role Analysts to support members wishing to have their roles evaluated, […]
Conference should note the significant role played by young people mobilising to vote in the last general election. UNISON activists in Higher Education played a role in this significant development by taking part in voter registration drives on their campuses around the country. Despite years of the assumption that apathy was endemic, the turnout of […]
Conference notes and very much welcomes the fact that not only did the Labour Party stand in the last election with policies very much in keeping with many of those set by our members at numerous UNISON conferences, but that those policies proved to be very popular. The future removal of a Tory government now […]
This conference notes with concern and anger the current trend in Higher Education to gift Vice Chancellors (VCs) and other senior managers with obscene salaries. Times Higher Education reports that VCs at half of UK universities earned around five times the average (mean) salary of academic staff in 2015-16, and over the last few years […]
Conference notes with alarm and concern the steady decrease in numbers of first-time applicants to university which has decreased by 5% for UK students and 7% for the EU students. These figures are particularly concerning when broken down by age group where we will find the number of 19-year-old applicants has fallen by 9%, 20-year-olds […]
In recent news it has reported that the number of unemployment has hit a record low. What these statistics do not report is that a large proportion of this is because of the increase in zero hours contracts. Employers have increasingly been turning to zero hours contracts as part of the general attack on staff […]
This National Black Members Conference notes that whilst Jeremy Corbyn and Labour did not win the General Election on 8 June 2017 they far exceeded expectation and substantially damaged Theresa May and the Tories ambitions of a Tory overall majority. Labour won 40 percent of the vote nationally. This was due to an inspiring manifesto, […]
The National Health Service (NHS) Blood donation and Transplant reported that Black people make up just 2.7 percent of active blood donors, despite representing 10.4 percent of England’s population. Blood donation is required from all communities and ethnic backgrounds to meet the needs of all patients in England and North Wales now and in the […]
Conference believes that the biggest asset a University has is its staff – all of its staff. It is important that the University invests in this resource as simply put; without its staff there would be no University. Furthermore, Conference fully believes that the quality of the student experience is strongly linked not just to […]
Conference welcomes the work that has been done by UNISON thus far on hate crime. According to a report by the Equality and Human Rights commission called ‘Disabled people’s experiences of targeted violence and hostility’, Black disabled people are even more likely to be vulnerable to hate crimes. The report notes that ‘recognition of multiple […]
West Midlands Black Members Self Organised Group (WMBMSOG) would like the National Black Members Committee to raise awareness of United Families and Friends Campaign (UFFC). UFFC is a coalition of families who have experienced the deaths of loved ones by the State. Whether by the police, prison or psychiatric settings. (Clinics, Hospitals). The Lammy Review, […]
Recent Government policy for HE in England has been dominated by the pursuit of competition, markets and privatisation. This will be compounded by measures in the Higher Education and Research Bill which introduces further competition into the sector and escalates the cost of attending university. Higher education is a public service providing benefits to the […]