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 […]
Conference motions
Conference welcomes all initiatives to improve the health and wellbeing of our members, however there are concerns that need addressing as part of these initiatives namely: 1) Staff are unable to take the refreshment breaks they are entitled to during working hours. 2) Staff are not being paid for overtime worked and pressure is being […]
The bus pass providing pensioners for free off peak bus travel in England and Wales has helped their mobility largely on a local basis. However, many pensioners find the cost of rail fares, even after using the 30% discount of a Senior Rail Card, an expensive hindrance to frequent visiting of friends and family across […]
Many forces across the country will have an experience of shared service arrangements between forces sometimes know as collaboration. The North West is no exception to this but is concerned at the growth of collaboration arrangements that have, in our experience, proved to be an excuse for empire building and an opportunity to try and […]
Conference with further attacks on the police budget scheduled under the new Tory government over the next 5 years, we will see the concept of neighbourhood policing severely damaged and in some forces disappear completely. A recent report carried out by UNISON, the biggest union for police staff, shows that neighbourhood policing has taken more […]
Conference welcomes UNISON’s Police & Justice report, “’Home Guard’ Of Police Support Volunteers To Fill In For Police Cuts”, published in October 2014, which shows the disparity between police forces in England and Cymru/Wales in their use of Police Support Volunteers (PSV), the roles they are asked to undertake and the extortionate cost of PSVs […]
Conference notes that communications between branch, regional and national levels remains unsatisfactory as far as UNISON retired members are concerned. Conference is also concerned that there has been a failure to produce updated literature on retired members matters such as the Branch Retired Members Secretary’s Handbook, the UNISON Code of Practice for Older People and […]
It is over 20 years since UNISON was formed and proportionality and fair representation were enshrined in the new Rule Book for the new union. After 20 years, the question must be asked – how well have we done on achieving proportionality and fair representation? Conference acknowledges the good work to date on developing mechanisms […]
Conference notes that in May 2014, 28 member states of the European Union (EU) elected 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to represent their interests. These elected representatives have a 5 year term of office in which to advance any number of common policies and promote a Europe that celebrates all its diverse members […]
Conference believes that inclusive language is important in ensuring that all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) women within the women’s movement and UNISON women’s self organisation feel welcome and valued. Conference also believes that language, and our understanding of language, is constantly evolving, and that as women, including LGBT women, we should always be […]
This Women’s Conference is concerned to learn about recent reports of abuse towards disabled women in the human trafficking industry. This is an industry where escaping is often met with even greater barriers than usual for non disabled women as accessible support systems are extremely hard to find, and their built environments and accessible information […]
Since the introduction of the Health & Social Care Act more care is expected to be provided at home, Women working in the NHS, Local Government and Voluntary Sectors are seeing the move towards a 24 hour / 7 day service being implemented at a rapid rate and more and more requests for flexible working […]
Endometriosis and Adenomyosis are chronic and painful conditions where cells from the lining of the womb are deposited in other parts of the body instead of being lost during menstruation. These cells continue to change in size and bleed in response to a woman’s normal menstrual cycle. This can affect bowel, bladder and kidney function, […]
This Conference remains opposed to all cuts in Public Services. We totally reject any employer asserting that cuts are inevitable. Kirklees Council have consistently underspent over the last 11 years, and like many Councils, could ‘save’ millions of pounds by maintaining all services ‘in house’, having a public service procurement policy, cutting private sector involvement […]
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 National Committee level; despite statistics nationally telling us that Black […]