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National Delegate Conference 2017 Blog – Day 1 – Morning Session

Welcome to the opening of the UNISON National Delegate Conference 2017

Carol Sewell welcomed everyone to the conference and covered housekeeping, safety arrangements and paid tribute to Eric Roberts President of UNISON who sadly passed away last year.

Carol went on to introduce International Speakers that will be delivering speeches later on in the week. Following this she talked about those who have passed away over the past year and paid tribute to all of these activists a short film was shown with names of all those that have passed away, and also paid tribute to the tragedies in Manchester, London Bridge, Grenfell Tower and Finsbury Park.

Now conference is under way and there is a report being delivered for the Standing Orders Committee reports. the First SOC report was accepted and discussions are now being held around SOC report two this report highlighted the important areas for debate this conference, this covers Social Care, budgeting, public service campaigning, LGBT Rights, the UKs exit from the European Union, Mental Health issues. Questions were put against some legalities for the second SOC report and responses were given by the Standing Orders Committee for referencing back to conference.

Guest Speakers this week will include, Dave Prentis UNISON General Secretary, Jeremy Corbyn will be addressing the conference on Friday, Stephen Lewis form AIDS Free World., video presentation featuring Huber Ballesteros from Columbia, there will also be other Guest Speakers that will be revealed later in the week.

There will be an official collection at conference for the Red Cross to assist victims of the terrorist attacks in Manchester, London Bridge and Finsbury Park and victims of the Grenfell Tower fire. However the SOC have received a question that will be referenced back to conference on the working conditions of the Red Cross following a recent report and will be reported back to conference.

The Annual Report is now being introduced  by Margaret McKee, vice-president, junior and the motion to accept all parts of the report was carried by conference it can be read here…

 

 

 

 

 

Josie Bird presents the Financial statement to conference and explains the differences between this
year and last year. Josie went on to cover significant areas of the report including pensions for staff, fraudulent activity, branch spending and the industrial action fund. and that Union is in good financial position but must be used effectively and efficiently to further strengthen the union.

The report was agreed

This can be read here.

 

Look out for the next blog post which will cover the motions and discussions that are to take place shortly.

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Local Government Conference 2017 Blog – Day 2 – Afternoon Session

Carol Sewell Vice President welcomed all back to the UNISON Local Government Conference and introduced the International speaker for this year as Dulce Maria Inglasias Suares, General Secretary of SNTAP the National Union of Public Administration Workers.

The discussions continued from this morning on the motion “Bullying of Black Workers in the Workplace” this motion was carried.

Saving the LGPS and good pension schemes for our members is the next motion on the agenda for discussion. The motion was carried. Tier 3 ill-health pension to be paid for life motion was also carried. Pension funds costs and charges motion is now being discussed, and this was carried

Now we recieve an annual report update around Anti Privatisation and service delivery

The next motion to be discussed is “Defending our Libraries” which looks to provide campaign materials that branches can use against closures of library services, provide guidance for library staff on the issues facing them, setting up social media support networks for library staff, am organise a national demonstration on 5 November 2017. This motion was carried.

the next Motion is around “Privatisation” and the effects this will have to our members and the local government services which can have a detrimental effect on how services are provided, how private organisations can provide these services but will do it by gaining profits that wont be used to improve services but the standards will drop.

“The impact of the policing and Crime Act on the fire and rescue support staff” motion was discussed  and carried. This motion aims to encourage recruitment from the fire and rescue service, working with thew police and justice service and fire and rescue service to develop a joint approach to the policing and crime act at a national level, support branches to campaign, develop bargaining advice for branches on the policing and crime act, and raise concerns with the Labour Party.

Now motions from Day 1 that were not brought to conference are being discussed. These can be found in the following document..,

Firstly the motion for “funding for health and social care integration is being discussed” this motion was carried. Now for “Social Care is now beyond a crisis” this motion was carried, “Crisis sun Social care – call for a special conference”  this motion was carried, “Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs), health and social care integration and the funding crisis in social care” this motion was carried, “The LGBT impact of cuts too local government services is now being discussed this was discussed in length at the LGBT conference in November 2017  you can read the report here…

This motion was carried and aims to include the findings from the LGBT research in campaigning against local government cuts and for pay justice, highlight the LGBT impact, Encourage branches to work with community organisations, and remind local government employers that they are responsible for the welfare of members and service users.

This concludes the Local Government Conference hope you find this blog informative and useful. look out for the National Delegate Conference converage coming up tomorrow.

 

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Local Government Conference 2017 Blog – Day 2 – Morning Session

Day 2 begins with a report from the Standing Orders Committee and an introduction by Heather Wakefield on Section 5 of the Annual Report.

Now discussions are being held on the motion “Closing the gender pay gap in the local government” this motion was passed. This motion asks the Service Group Committee a number of actions. It asks the committee to put pressure on employers to take positive action to close the gap, issue guidelines to branches on how this information gathered in recent activities to make progress on closing the gender pay gap within their local authority, and to continue their work  with the wider union to take more effective measures to close the gap.

“Bullying and harassment of local government workers must stop” is now being discussed this motion was passed. This Motion asks the service group executive to prioritise bullying and harassment policies and practices in negotiations with local government employers. campaign in young workers month (November 2017) on the theme of bullying and harassment in various ways.

A motion covering “Youth Work” and the work that they do has now been discussed and agreed, this motion seeks to ensure that the a service group executive to use various social media channels to ensure retention of young members, campaign against threats to cuts and restructures to youth workers as part of the “Save Our Local Services” campaign. apply pressure to the employers, survey youth support workers, produce recruitment and organising materials focussing on youth work professional issues, and to ask Cymru/Wales region for a report on its initial experiences of registration for youth workers and youth support workers In Wales.

“National Joint Council (NJC) pay claim and campaign 2018 onwards” motion is now being discussed, this motion was passed and seeks to create a union-wide campaign calling for an end to public sector pay restraint, a campaign that demonstrates UNISONs determination to achieve, pay aspirations to the Local Government Association and highlights low pay in local government and schools to the public.

A minutes silence was be held at 11am in light of the Grenfell Tower tragedy and to remember the work of the residents and all this that have been involved in assisting them.

Now a guest speaker from Mo Baines from the Association of Public Service Excellence delivers a speech covering Austerity, the Social Housing Crisis and the experiences she has seen and also where she sees public sector work and funding in the future.

Now for discussions on Composite A (Below) – Workplace mental health in local government, includes motions 14 and 19 and can be read in the document by clicking it here.

this composite seeks to campaign for improved support for workers experiencing mental health issues, review current UNISON guidance on mental health, encourage branches to raise with their employers the need for occupational health services that deal appropriately with mental health issues, promoting UNISONs guidance across the union, and other measure to ensure that workplace Mental Health is at the top of the agenda across all areas of Local Government.

Emotional accounts of support for this composite was given by many members which highlighted how important Mental Health is for our members and aware of the pressures that the cuts to funding for services has and can increase issues surrounding Mental Health for the individuals affected by the cuts.

This Composite has been agreed.

 

 

 

We now move to the the next motion covering “Food Standards Agency – pay, terms, and conditions” this motion has been passed and it seeks to oppose privatisation and deregulation of the FSA, increase campaigning presence in all parts of the UK oppose animal welfare abuses and working with animal welfare groups, making UNISON national media and communication resources avaliable to highlight their campaign, oppose performance related pay reductions, educate the public, and work to highlight the importance of state employed, independent meat inspectors and official vegetarians.

Inclusive equality policies in local government motion is now being discussed this motion seeks too review the NJC and SJC national agreements to urge branches to review local policies for unnecessary gendering, work with women’s and LGBT self-organised groups on guidance ion inclusive language in agreements which raises awareness of non-binary identities, promote the guidance on non gendered dress codes to local government branches when available, encourage the negation of inclusive language in local government policies, practices and procedures across our local government workplaces. This motion was agreed.

Other motions that were discussed include..

National Pay Bargaining for Wales / a Welsh National Joint Council which was approved unanimously

Bullying of Black Workers in the Workplace – with the motion will continue to be discussed at the afternoon session.

This concludes this morning session and check back later for the afternoons coverage.