Disability History Month

Conference believes that UNISON should celebrate Disability History Month on an annual basis. Disability History Month was set up in 2010 to provide a platform to focus on the work that has been done to fight for equality for disabled people. Each year the month has a theme – for example, the 2018 disability history […]

Annual hearing tests for contact centre workers in the WETSG

Conference notes the continual increase in the number of UNISON members working on phones in contact centres in employers covered by the Water, Environment & Transport Service Group. Currently, United Utilities only provides audio tests for employees reaching the upper noise limits as recommended by the HSE such as operational employees in hearing protection areas. […]

Water, Environment & Transport Service Group Health and Safety Seminar 2020

Conference notes the success of WET specific Health and Safety seminars in 2016 and 2018. Due to the ever-changing Health and Safety risks experienced by UNISON members employed within the Water, Environment and Transport Service Group, we call upon the Service Group Executive in conjunction with UNISON’s Health and Safety Unit to convene a similar […]

Support for UNISON Representatives in the WET Service Group

As staffing levels plummet in both the public and private sectors, UNISON representatives in the areas covered by the WET Service Group find themselves dealing with more and more cases including those of stress and mental health. This in turn puts pressure on representatives themselves who get personally involved in some such cases and require […]

Dealing with High Temperatures in Workplaces Covered by the Water, Environment and Transport Service Group

In the unexpected heat of the long Summer of 2018, workers employed in the Water, Environment and Transport Service Group experienced difficulties undertaking their normal roles with inadequate provision provided by employers. Whilst mains fed water coolers are becoming more common in our workplaces following a long campaign by our Service Group within UNISON other […]

Racism is real

Conference in the climate of the rise of the far right, Brexit and the real impact of racism in our society we know that racism is real. UNISON’s previous objectives included the statement ‘including Racism’, but at the 6th December 2018 NEC meeting the NEC approved the 2019 objectives with this wording removed. Conference, the […]

Fraud and the elderly

Conference notes with concern the ‘BBC 5 Live Investigates’ report on fraud broadcast in September 2018 stating that fraudsters scammed nearly 49,000 older people across the UK in the past year, equivalent to almost six reports every hour. Furthermore the total number of reports has nearly doubled in the past 3 years and one expert […]

Austerity – Defending living standards for older p

Conference recalls how concerned we were last year about the Intergenerational Commission’s final report published in April 2018. Conference notes, now, that the report’s publication has foreshadowed a series of further attacks on older people’s entitlements and standards of living including: 1) The Taxpayers’ Alliance’s report, Pensions Inequality, issued in August 2018 calling for an […]

Cuba

UNISON applauds the achievement by the people of Cuba in liberating their country and sustaining it as a beacon of socialism over the last 60 years – with remarkable achievements in health, education and culture – in the face of massive oppression by powerful northern neighbour the USA and other reactionary forces. The Cuban revolution […]

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

Conference notes that #MeToo has transformed the debate around sexual harassment and has enabled women and men to come forward. with cases being reported in the media more than ever before. Conference acknowledges that anyone at any time can experience sexual harassment, but the statistics demonstrate that the overwhelming majority of victims are women. Conference […]

Menopause and the Workplace

Conference notes that around 3.5 million women aged fifty years and over are currently in employment in the UK. Conference notes further that the employment rate for women in the UK has actually increased in the past few decades and women now represent nearly half of the UK labour force. This means that many more […]

Universal credit and mixed age couples

Conference condemns the Government’s decision to implement a benefits cut that impacts mixed-age couples – where one partner is of pension age and the other is not of pensionable age who are in receipt of Universal Credit. The charity Age UK has calculated that this change could leave some pensioners up to £7,000 worse off […]

Justice for the Windrush Generation

Arriving in UK between 1942 – 1971 from the Caribbean islands, at the invitation of the then government, came the generation named the ‘Windrush Generation’. The name came from the MV Empire Windrush, which arrived at Tilbury Docks, Essex, on 22 June 1948, bringing workers from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and other islands, as a […]

Health and social care provision for older people

Conference recognises that health and social care workers are dedicated and hard working but lowly paid with poor terms and conditions. They do their best to provide quality care but against a background of crisis within health and social care services. Research confirms care for residents in privately run homes for the elderly can be […]

Amendment to S.O.10.1

In Standing Order 10.1 After “report to” delete “members” and substitute: “the relevant Branch or submitting body”, and, after “submission of motions and amendments” add: “to Standing Orders” City of Wolverhampton Islington