NHS

Conference reaffirms its complete opposition to the government’s Health and Social Care Bill and other plans associated with the Liberating the NHS white paper. Conference believes that these represent the biggest threat to the integrity and values of the English NHS in its history. Conference asserts that the government’s moves towards a wholesale healthcare market […]

Trade Union Equality and Employment Rights

Conference is alarmed that employment rights are now firmly in the Coalition government’s sights for cutting as part of an alleged growth strategy for the Chancellor. This is rejected by Conference as making workers feel more insecure is both unfair, unequal and in fact decreases confidence in the economy. Conference deplores the increasing use by […]

Housing

Conference notes: 1) that the ConDem government is proposing cuts to housing benefits that will result in financial hardship and even evictions for hundreds of thousands of private and public sector tenants. This is not only the unemployed but families in work on low wages and pensioners; 2) new limits will restrict the maximum amount […]

Income Inequality

Conference notes 1) that the National Equality Panel report in 2010 noted that the gap between rich and poor in this country is the greatest it has been since the Second World War that the report of the High Pay Commission in 2011 predicts that if current trends continue, then by the year 2030 Britain […]

Consultation on LGPS Proposals

This Conference welcomes the completion of the lengthy negotiations on the future of the LGPS and the opportunity for members to now individually and collectively determine their view on the proposals. Conference endorses the following position agreed by the LG Service Group Executive on 31st May 2012: “This SGE shares the frustration over delays in […]

LGPS 2014 Examples

Conference notes that proposals for the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) were released on 31 May 2012. Conference further notes that the factsheet “LGPS 2014 – Examples”, published on UNISON’s website on 31 May uses different assumptions for price and earnings growth than those used in the UNISON pensions calculator publicised in protect our pensions […]

Palestine

Conference notes and reaffirms UNISON’s existing policy and the leading role taken by UNISON and its predecessor unions on Palestine over more than two decades. Central to this policy is the right to self-determination and justice for the Palestinian people culminating in a viable, sovereign and contiguous independent Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel. Conference […]

Young People

Conference believes that young people are amongst those most likely to suffer as a consequence of the damaging policies pursued by the Tory-led government. In particular, Conference condemns the shameful record of the government on youth unemployment with more than a million young people now out of work, the highest number since records began. These […]

Health and Safety

UNISON is appalled by the continued attacks from the ConDem government on Health and Safety protection for workers. These attacks are despite a lack of any evidence from two government funded reviews to suggest any problems in the arrangements and legal protections afforded by the Health and Safety legislation, and European Directives. It is therefore […]

COMP C – Equal Marriage

Three in five people of faith in Britain support equal marriage! Stonewall’s five yearly polling of public attitudes shows that more that 80% of British adults under fifty now support the proposal. Civil partnerships are not enough, and as such treat us differently from everyone else. This is discrimination. You should not have to tick […]

Tory Attack Group

Conference notes that the public and private sectors are in the midst of the most sustained attacks on our members on the services we provide under the guise of efficiencies. Conference notes the January 2012 launch meeting of the Trade Union Reform Group whose stated aim is that public bodies should not pay for time […]

CUBA AS A ROLE MODEL FOR WOMEN IN PUBLIC ROLES

Today only twenty two per cent of MPs in the House of Commons and twenty per cent of members of the House of Lords are women. Compare this with Cuba where women hold thirty five per cent of parliamentary seats in the Cuban National Assembly. Therefore Cuba ranks sixth out of one hundred and sixty […]

BULLYING IN THE WORKPLACE

The public sector cuts have had an unprecedented impact on women, with increasing numbers accepting redundancy and voluntary early severance. Those women who are left in the workplace are experiencing an increase in stress as work pressures mount and bullying, in its various manifestations increases. This is also affecting vulnerable clients, as our professional members […]

EQUALITY MONITORING

Conference on 2 September 2011 Eric Pickles, the Secretary for Communities and Local Government new guidance called ‘A fair deal for the community and voluntary sector’. The guidance states councils should not carry out equality questionnaires and use the money saved to fund the community and voluntary sector. They claim that the questions asked about […]

WOMEN AS CARERS

For many years women have been the main carers within the home for their children, disabled and elderly parents. Women have fought for the right to be recognised and to be treated as equal to men. Many workplaces now have policies in place to enable employees to take time off work to care for their […]