This Energy Conference welcomes the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 which will impose a new Disability Equality Duty upon energy employers from December 2006. We believe these duties could help reconstruct a barrier free society and provide equality of opportunity for the millions of disabled people who are in work or wanting work but who need […]
Conference motions
Conference welcomes the growing recognition of the need to combat discrimination against LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) workers and the agreements reached with some energy employers to integrate work towards LGBT equality into their equality programmes. Conference further notes that some energy employers are seeking to introduce monitoring of workers’ sexual orientation and / […]
Male Energy members who work in the electricity and gas industries who have tried to donate blood have found that the National Blood Service has a ‘blanket’ ban in place against men who have ever had sex with other men, and so they are advised in their workplaces that their blood will not be accepted […]
Conference welcomes UNISON’s response to the Government’s Energy Review. We note that contrary to the growing clamour for a nuclear renaissance that there is no proven economic or environmental case for doing so. Conference believes that there remains an untapped potential to reduce the UK’s dependency on energy through energy conservation and savings measures. Conference […]
This conference welcomes welcome the increased participation by Energy Members at the 2005 LGBT Conference in Belfast. The Business and Environment Equal Opportunities Working Group (BEEOWG) has successfully engaged with Branches and Regions to raise the LGBT profile within Energy through specific LGBT events and, more recently, the successful Equalities Day. Conference is disappointed however […]
Conference notes with concern the growing number of energy utilities deciding to offshore work overseas. In the last twelve months npower, British Gas and Vertex have publicly announced their offshoring plans, each leading to significant reductions in their UK workforce. This trend is largely stimulated by the competitive pressures of the liberalised UK energy market […]
The Service Groups covered by the Business and Environment Unit held a successful Seminar of Health & Safety Reps at National level in the early part of this decade. Many Health and Safety related legislative changes that affect members in the Energy Service Group have occurred since this time and this Energy Conference calls on […]
Conference notes that the current Local Government three year pay deal expires on 31 March 2007 Conference further notes that the current pay deal has given us a rise of currently 0.6% in real terms. Conference believes that 3-year pay deals: 1)Weaken the bargaining position of the union and 2)Risk falling behind inflation However, Conference […]
This Local Government Service Group is appalled at the recent announcement by the Government to remove the Rule of 85 from the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), without proper consultation with the relevant stakeholders. The impact on many local government workers will be significant. In particular the impact on women will be enormous. This Service […]
We note the 3 year pay deal in Local Government. We also note that the ‘consultation’ period was conducted at a time when many activists were away at Conference. Some branches managed to get out the publicity and also made a recommendation to Vote NO based on information assembled by the respective branch committees. Conference […]
Conference is alarmed at the growing threat to jobs and the Best Value Code on the Two-Tier Workforce posed by shared service centres and remote processing of local authority services by contractors and other local authorities. Regionalisation of back office services through call centres is undermining local economies, local democratic accountability, jobs and responsiveness to […]
This Conference notes that the UNISON NJC Committee, the Scottish Local Government Committee, the Community and Voluntary Sector Forum, and FE & 6th Form Colleges Committee as National Sector Committees are represented on the Local Government Service Group Executive (SGE). However at present there is no provision for these committees to send substitute representatives. This […]
This conference receives the report of the Local Government Service Group Executive
Conference deplores the Government’s policy of creating “independent state schools” in England which will mean that support staff in these schools, like the staff in city academies, foundation and voluntary aided schools, will not be covered by the NJC Agreement. Conference therefore calls on the Service Group Executive to campaign against all aspects of the […]
UNISON notes the Government’s commitment to improving children’s services across the UK. Each country is designing specific programmes promising to be designed to meet the needs of children, young people and their families. However, the preference for external providers as expressed most clearly in the Child Care Bill 2005 in England, gives cause for concern […]