Conference notes that pensioners who are sent to hospital long distances from their homes are being denied hospital transport. Large parts of the country have no direct public transport to hospitals, forcing some pensioners to pay as much as £100 return taxi fare to attend a hospital appointment. Even pensioners needing chemotherapy treatment for cancer […]
Conference motions
In view of the fact that the rights of elderly people in private rest homes are not covered by the Human Rights Act, Conference urges the National Retired Members’ Committee to take note of recent well documented cases of abuse of elderly people in these institutions and to campaign for the section of the Human […]
Conference believes that council tax is an inherently unfair tax which does not properly reflect people’s ability to pay. More importantly it is not based on an equitable system for calculating amounts that should be paid. This is most clearly demonstrated by the current system of council tax collection, which specifically affects pensioners who pay […]
Conference condemns the decision to remove the entitlement to concessions for pensioners attending day and evening classes other than for those in receipt of pensions credit. For many decades all pensioners could access day and evening classes either free or at a nominal cost. This allowed many people who had not previously had access to […]
Conference calls upon the National Executive Council and the National Retired Members’ Committee to pressurise local authorities to stop the closure of public conveniences, as this particularly affects the older people and the disabled. Provision of toilets should be a statutory requirement for local authorities.
National Retired Members Conference is to be congratulated on producing the Annual Report for questioning by members in advance of the National Retired Members Conference. However, the time scale for questioning in 2006 was inadequate. There does not appear to be any reason why the Annual Report is not circulated to retired members in June. […]
Conference notes with despair the continuing outsourcing of local authority services. Many of the services have a direct effect upon retired members. The latest services currently being targeted for privatisation is homecare. Retired citizens are the major users of this service. Conference therefore , whilst congratulating UNISON on its Save Our Homecare Services Campaign which […]
This Conference congratulates the Local Government Service Group Executive on the work it has undertaken to protect local government workers pensions. We especially applaud the work of the UNISON negotiating team for their diligence in ensuring, wherever possible, equality for all participants. Our pension’s campaign is also concerned with the rights of disabled people; disabled […]
This Special Conference believes that the current package of proposals for the new LGPS represents substantial improvements in benefits for all UNISON members and their families, namely: ·The retention of a final salary scheme ·1/60 accrual rate ·A more flexible definition for period for pensionable pay ·Improved early retirement factors ·Pensions for unmarried partners ·Increased […]
Conference notes the continuing inhumane policies of the Government in relation to asylum seekers. Conference notes that UNISON members working in local government provide many services to asylum seekers and that many services are of a statutory basis. It is noted that legislation concerning asylum can contradict or in some cases over-ride other legislation in […]
This conference notes that the probation service in England and Wales has a tradition of working proactively on equality issues and well established equality networks for the various diversity strands. Conference expresses concern that this is not being effectively carried forward in the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), particularly in the context of the mixed […]
Conference welcomes the new duty on local authorities and other public bodies in England, Scotland and Wales to proactively promote gender equality, following the similar, longer-standing duty in Northern Ireland. The gender duty requires local authorities, when carrying out their functions, to have due regard to the need to: 1Promote equality of opportunity between women […]
Conference notes the results of the UNISON 2006 Young Members Survey, which demonstrated that the policy issue of greatest importance to our young members is improved pensions provision, which was rated as important or very important by 89% of UNISON young members. Conference therefore expresses our great concern at recent and current attacks upon pension […]
Following on from previous Local Government Conference decisions, this conference welcomes the movement towards establishing a national framework for school support staff in England. Conference notes that over one third of schools in England are already self governing, with staff directly employed by the school, and that this figure is likely to increase. Given this […]