Conference notes that school support staff have worked tirelessly in schools throughout the pandemic to support pupils, parents, and their communities – from ensuring free school meals provision, to deep cleaning schools, to covering classes when teachers were isolating. Conference believes they are the unsung heroes who rarely get the recognition they deserve by the […]
Conference motions
Conference notes that UNISON members in councils, schools and across local government have been on the front line of the fight against Covid and have been instrumental in ensuring that vital public services could continue during the pandemic. This has meant they have been more exposed than most to the physical and mental impacts of […]
Conference recognises that since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, UNISON members in local government have seen a dramatic change in how and where they work. According to the Office for National Statistics, in the UK 36% of the employed population did some work at home in 2020. UNISON’s 2020 equalities survey found that 40% […]
Conference, funding cuts and the government’s long-delayed plans to address social inequalities is one of the major causes of in-work poverty experienced by Black Workers and the cause of severe inter-generational inequality in Black communities. Recent funding increases have not undone £15bn of cuts in central government grants to local authorities between 2010 and 2020, […]
Conference picture someone working in the energy sector, and you are likely to mentally summon up an image of a white, middle-aged male. Although a lack of diversity isn’t unique to energy, it is an issue that needs solving. While the situation is improving, it’s not changing fast enough, recent events have rightly woken up […]
We are at a defining moment when it comes to climate change. Its impacts are global in scope and unparalleled. Climate change will affect every one of us on the planet, but its effects will not be the same for all. Greta Thunberg’s school strikes and climate strikes supported by the Trade Union movement are […]
Conference notes that in the past two years through a confluence of multiple crises including a global pandemic, a massive shift in the economy, and rising unjust violence against the Black Community, that Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Plus (LGBT+) young people everywhere faced issues that changed their lives. Unfortunately, we’ve seen these issues negatively impact […]
Conference notes that even before the pandemic mental health and stress at work were among the leading issues raised by young workers. Conference notes that the pandemic has only exacerbated young workers’ concerns about mental health, whether that is due to working in stressful conditions on the front line, or due to isolation from friends, […]
Conference notes addressing the climate change challenge requires a fundamental restructuring of the energy supply sector, moving away from the world�s fossil fuel-based system to one that relies on clean, renewable sources. The transition to a greener economy requires new skills. Skills needed for the newly emerging jobs, and skills needed for the adjusted existing […]
UNISON believes in integrated free comprehensive education, which provides lifelong learning for all across the UK. Everyone should have access to an education system that best fits their own unique talents and abilities. Diversity is a strength and should be celebrated. UNISON will continue to fight for equity and equality of opportunity for people to […]
Local councils across the UK have suffered huge funding cuts over the last decade. We have seen significant changes to the funding mechanism for local government, the functions councils carry out and thanks to devolution the actual make-up of local government. Throughout this time UNISON has sought to stop these cuts and highlighted the resulting […]
Conference recognises that: 1)The impacts of the climate emergency are already evident and have profoundly altered human and natural systems; 2)In the UK, we are witnessing more frequent and extreme weather events. In 2019, our communities experienced flooding and also summer heatwaves that resulted in nearly 900 excess deaths. There were more UK wildfires in […]
Conference notes that many energy members work in call centres and operational centres where they take calls from operational colleagues and customers. While most callers are reasonable, there is always a proportion that are unreasonable and some who are extremely abusive. In workplaces with generally high levels of stress, this can be intolerable. People who […]
Conference notes that since 1981, workplaces have been required to provide adequate and appropriate first aid equipment, facilities and people, to ensure that employees can be given immediate help if they are injured or taken ill at work. Yet in 2019, there is still no statutory requirement for employers to provide mental health first aid […]
Conference notes that apprenticeships are increasingly the way that young people in the UK enter local government as a profession, providing a structured way to recruit those fresh into the workforce by combining part-time education with the work they’ll be doing once the apprenticeship is completed. Conference further notes however that, while some local authorities […]