Conference notes with concern that local government workers pay is falling behind other public and private workers. Many employers are trying to move away from NJC pay and terms and conditions with the result that the NJC could be left to ‘wither on the vine’. The trade unions must take decisive action to prevent its […]
Conference motions
At the Discrimination Law Conference in January 2014 Professor Sir Bob Hepple QC said that “if a new government enacts only one new piece of equality legislation it should be to require equality representatives at workplaces” – such representatives would require a legal right to time off to “be involved in drawing up and enforcing […]
Conference supports integrating health and social care services providing the principal aim of doing so is to improve the quality of services particularly for older people. Conference believes that services can only be successfully integrated if social care is made, like health, free at the point of need. Conference therefore welcomes: 1)The Labour Party’s policy […]
Service Group Conference notes with deep concern the former government’s announcement of plans to turn fire authorities into mutuals. Under the plans, the government would change the law to allow fire authorities to set themselves up as independent social enterprise companies outside the public sector. They would then be contracted to provide geographical fire cover […]
Conference we welcome the UNISON model procurement agreement, and we know that a number of Councils have now signed such a procurement agreement. Conference notes that the combination of privatisation and cuts leads to the fragmentation of local services. By getting involved at the beginning of the process it will ensure that information from the […]
Conference we welcome the opportunity to debate the protocols regarding consultation on any future pay awards within Local Government. Our current procedures ensure that the National Joint Council (NJC) representatives make recommendations on whether any proposals or offers are put to our members. In order to ensure we support our NJC reps, to allow them […]
This Special Conference believes that the decision taken by the National Joint Council (NJC) Committee on 9th October to call off strike action due to have taken place on 14th October was a grave error of judgement. In particular conference is critical of the communication with branches and members. We note that: 9th October the […]
The recent pay campaigns for members covered by both SJC and NJC highlighted areas requiring improvement such as lay activist involvement and difficulties with other trade unions. Pay is of the utmost importance to our members and in order to be effective in ending pay freezes, below inflation pay rises and further eradication of Terms […]
Conference notes that the 2014 Local Government Conference agreed 10 core principles for revised Local Government Service Group pay consultation procedures. These were: 1)To consult all members in a sector on a final pay offer, once negotiations are deemed to be exhausted by the Sector Committee; or to consult all members in a sector on […]
Conference recognises that the pay of local government workers has been in decline for many years as part of a deliberate politically driven policy of successive governments and that the challenge facing UNISON is to reverse this trend. This is not an issue that should be seen as an annual pay round but a longer […]
The Cymru Wales Local Government committee recognises that UNISON has to be reflective and self-critical over how we have managed pay campaigns across our Service Group over recent years but specifically over the conduct of how we managed the 2014/15 NJC pay campaign and how we dealt with the 2014-16 employers’ pay proposal. As part […]
The 2014/15 pay rounds presented the union with a series of difficult challenges. Those challenges, and the proposals to resolve them, were finally determined by the membership through UNISON’s exemplary democratic process. There is a clear determination from the current UK Coalition Government to break central collective bargaining such as the NJC and to replace […]
This Special Conference notes the lack of national leadership by our union in our recent pay dispute. In particular we note the lack of action following the July 10th strike. This strike day should have been followed by an intensive well financed national campaign to rouse our members to take further action. Instead month followed […]
Conference welcomes the work of UNISON’s National and Regional Young Members Forums to raise the profile of young workers and young members through activity during young workers month, which is now held in November each year under the auspices of the TUC. Conference believes that recruiting young workers and organising young members is an all-year-round […]
This Special Conference notes the 2014/15 NJC Pay Claim submitted on 5 November 2013 was for: · A minimum increase of £1 an hour on scale point 5 to achieve the Living Wage and the same flat rate increase on all pay scale points. This Special Conference also notes: · The claim was based on […]