Mike Hayes explained about the challenges that the union was facing due to increased activity and campaigns that we have run. Our biggest challenge is maintaining momentum against the negative actions of the ConDem government. Our new headquarters was opened in April 2011 and we retain ownership of the former HQ at Mabledon Place. We will work with a developer and receive a lump sum of millions of pounds while maintaining the lease of the building for the future.
The real business got underway with Motion 33 - The Big Society, Nothing About Us, Without Us, Is For Us. The Big Society is a cynical programme designed to remove state accountability and sell off our services. Southern Cross was used as a typical example of how this government sees the future of our service delivery responsibilities. It was suggested that David Cameron should also offer us control of banks and big businesses if he wants us to have control as he claims. Margaret Thatcher said there was no such thing as society, only individuals, but now Cameron claims he wants a Big Society when a society made up on UNISON members was delivering on the premise all along. The cradle-to-grave welfare state is the great creation of the Labour Party and we are proud to state that we want a society run for human need, not corporate greed.
Motion 28 referred to the abolition of the Two Tier Code. This refers to the government attempts to remove TUPE tranfer protection from law. The attempted removal of this protection will increase the pace of the race to the bottom. There will be almost no protection for staff transferred and the private sector takes all the profit while the public sector shoulders the risk. It's really hard for us as activists to support staff in workplaces who are on different terms and conditions. The new concept of an 'Easy Council' was discussed - this being a council where all services were put out to tender and seen as easy pickings for private firms eager to cherry-pick profit-making roles.
Motion 70 dealt with campaigning Against the Tory-led Government. There is no strategy for growth in this Con/Dem plan to cut the deficit, merely the dismantling of our welfare state. We need to highlight the lies in government arguments about a 'bloated' public sector and show the real reason for the deficit. There is a movement of national industrial action growing and we want our union to be at the forefront of it. This neoliberal government believes in a small state where philanthropy and business deliver services. Cameron has no plans to reinstate services when the fortunes of our country change, proving that this is an ideological plan rather than an economic plan. The Labour rehetoric emerging from Milliband and Balls that the cuts run "too deep and too fast" is simply not good enough.
Motion 85 called for improvements to the current State Pension. The level recognized as being needed to move out of poverty is £178.00 per week and the state pension is currently £102.15, a £75+ difference. Pensioners are willing to take action over this, they want dignity, equality and no means testing. Pension credit is not claimed by many of those who are eligible and as trade unionists, we need to fight for an old age pension that promotes the things that pensioners want.
Motion 44 called for the support of Sure Start centres. There are about 55 Sure Start Children's Centres in Norfolk and these have now been structured into "lots". Those not currently under the control of a school (10 of them) are going to be put out to tender to external, probably private, providers and this is viewed as an undesirable outcome.
General Secretary Dave Prentis addressed conference after a video of the mass public protest in London on March 26 2011. Eric Pickles and Ed Balls were among the political figures discussed in Dave's address and he urged Cameron and Nick Clegg to go back to the bankers and tell them to clear up their own mess. He also stated that in future we will only support those MPs who support our values, our aims and our goals.
Dave also mentioned the tissue of lies spread by Treasury Spokesman Danny Alexander which failed to engage our membership. He rebutted the government claim that our pensions are unaffordable, stating that we have the fight of our lives ahead to protect our rights but that it is nonetheless one that we can win.
Comp E, named 'Cuts are not the Cure', looked at the government's attempts to remove the structural deficit within four years and doing so by cutting services rather than intelligently applying tax increases. This is a strategy that will hit our communities hard. It is the poor rather than the rich that will face the worst blows and those who played no part in creating the problem are being expected to pay for it. In Norfolk we saw this most clearly with the cuts to all Youth Services, including the Connexions. These young people had nothing to do with the banking crisis yet their future is being thrown on to the scrapheap without a second thought. We need a fair system that offers young people from disadvantaged backgrounds the same opportunities as those with privileged upbringing.
Motion 34 considered how women are hit more by the cuts than men. They are likely to receive lower income, are more likely to be reliant on benefits and are more dependent on the services being cut. Significantly, they are also more likely to be employed in the public sector and be UNISON members. At Norfolk County Council, women members with childcare needs have said that they were told that it's not fair that they should be able to have flexible working, a statement which fails to appreciate their legal right to request it.
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