This conference notes: 1)The profoundly disappointing outcome of the 2014 NJC pay dispute, which effectively resulted in another real terms pay cut for the vast majority of members across local government and left tens of thousands of the lowest paid on hourly rates still below the current Living Wage. 2)The employers’ proposal that was the […]
Conference motions
This conference notes that: 1)encouraging members to vote in union consultations is vital, both so that we can reflect the wishes of our membership and so that we can demonstrate strength of feeling amongst the membership to the employers; 2)low turnout in union consultations is a problem which we should try to combat as much […]
Conference condemns the continuing discrimination against civil partners and same sex married couples with regard to pensions and deplores the failure of the government to address the inequality of survivor pensions within occupational schemes. Conference asserts that the Treasury’s claims that equalisation in line with other survivors is unaffordable were misleading and inaccurate and that […]
This Special Conference believes the decision of the NJC Committee on 9th October to suspend the action planned for 14th October was a mistake which completely undermined the national campaign to secure a decent pay rise for Local Government members and an end to five years of real terms cuts in our member’s living standards. […]
Conference condemns the continuing refusal by the government to give public service workers, and particularly local government staff, a proper pay rise. Years of pay freezes and pay caps in local government mean that many of our members are now forced to rely on in-work benefits or to take on extra jobs; in some cases […]
Conference condemns the continued attacks on the funding of Local Government. These cuts are the biggest threat to the continued survival of the concept of locally provided services controlled by democratically elected councils. Conference deplores the local government cuts across the UK, leading to:- 1. continuing cuts to local government services; 2. continued attacks on […]
Conference, a recent study commissioned by NatCen, an organisation which looks into British Social Attitudes has overwhelmingly established that racism is on the rise. While thirty per cent of Britons described themselves as having “very or a little prejudice against people of other races”, the survey also outlined that attitudes have changed since the 1980’s […]
Conference austerity is having a severe and negative effect not just on the pocket but also on the health and well being of UK citizens, especially Black people within their communities. With research showing an increase in job losses for Black members through reorganisations and restructures and some of these situations leading to an increase […]
The election of a Conservative government means, in England at least, that there is no end in sight to the crisis in social care nor to the quandary of many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people seeking safe and appropriate care. Conference welcomes the launch of UNISON’s Save Care Now campaign to build on […]
Conference we acknowledge the importance that school based staff have within the membership of our local government branches. We also recognise the need to ensure that we continue to recruit and organise our members and potential members in schools. Conference notes that the schools landscape has continued to change, as more and more schools move […]
Member and activist confidence in the relevance, integrity and mutuality of the NJC bargaining machinery on a ‘sector-wide’ (cross-nation/whole nation) basis and UNISON’s role within it is at an all-time low. In light of all the above this Special Conference agrees it is imperative that proactive engagement, campaigning and negotiations on NJC pay are reinstated […]
Conference is appalled at the cases of grooming and sexual abuse in Rotherham. While we do not know the true scale the independent enquiry into Child sexual exploitation in Rotherham led by Alexis Jay gives a conservative estimate involving approximately 1400 children, adding: “It is hard to describe the appalling nature of the abuse that […]
Conferences is concerned to hear that homosexuality is criminalised in 76 countries in the world, including 40 African countries, and society persecutes and discriminates against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trans (LGBT) people in even more countries. In July 2011 it was reported that the Commonwealth Secretary General, Kamalesh Sharma had spoken out against discrimination towards […]
Conference, despite the work done by the National Black Members’ Committee in producing a definition of ‘Black’ in UNISON in 2013 there continues to be questions about using ‘Black’ when addressing Black members. We have also found that branches and Regions in the union continue to use other definitions when describing ‘Black’ members, such as […]
In UNISON more than 70% of our total membership are women. UNISON is committed to fair representation and proportionality (Rule D4.1). However, we know in the public sector where many of our members are Black Women we see very few represented at Branch, Regional and Committee level; despite statistics nationally telling us that Black people […]