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To:UNISON Branches, Regional and Branch LGBT Groups, National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Members’ Mailing List
130 Euston Road
London NW1 2AY
Tel: 0845 355 0845
Direct tel: 020 7121 5587
Direct fax: 020-7121 5101
E-mail:
27 August 2013
Dear Friends
PRELIMINARY AGENDA:
UNISON NATIONAL LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND
TRANSGENDER CONFERENCE
Enclosed are the preliminary agenda and standing orders for the UNISON national lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender conference, which takes place on 22 - 24 November 2013 at the BT Convention Centre, Liverpool.
Amendments to motions are now invited from branch and regional lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) groups, the national networks of Black and disabled LGBT members and bisexual and transgender members, the national young members’ forum and the National LGBT Committee. Amendments should be submitted using UNISON’s Online Conference System (OCS) by 12 noon Friday 27 September.
The Standing Orders Committee has asked that the following advice contained in National Guidelines be drawn to your attention:
“Amendments should not be used to promote essentially alternative motions or as merely a substitute for voting against a motion. Therefore amendments are likely to be ruled out of order (as wrecking amendments) if they:
- Introduce a direct negative into the motion;
- Reduce the motion to a mere restatement of existing policy;
- Seek to change fundamentally the purposes of the motion.”
The Conference agenda is used in a number of different formats including standard and large print, Braille and tape. Amendments which refer to specific lines or the position of words in lines in one format, may not make sense in other formats.
When wording amendments, avoid using phrases such as:
delete the third and fourth line of the first paragraph; or
after the fourth word on the second line, “insert the following…”
Better practice is:
insert “urgently” between “instruct the National LGBT Committee” and “to appoint”, in the second sentence of the first paragraph; or
insert “and local” between “national” and “campaigns” in the last sentence of the final paragraph.
MAKE SURE
i) That it is clear where the amendment is to be inserted or to which part of the motion it applies.
ii) That the instructions accompanying your amendment will be clear to all delegates.
iii) That the amendment is presented in the simplest form possible.
May I remind you that the deadline for proposals for motions/amendments to rule for the 2014 National Delegate Conference and service group conferences is 12 noon Friday 27 September. These should be submitted using the OCS.
Nomination of delegates for the 2014 National Delegate Conference, service group conferences, 2014 TUC LGBT Conference and for seats on the 2014 National LGBT Conference Standing Orders Committee is also noon Friday 27 September. Forms and guidance are available on the web at
Motions on the Preliminary Agenda have been divided up into the sections of the National LGBT Committee’s Annual Report as follows: Negotiating, Organising, Campaigning and International.
START AND FINISH TIMES
In addition to the full conference sessions, there are a range of meetings for caucuses and other groups. The full programme will be included in the conference guide. To help members plan their travel we include the following information on first and last sessions now.
Conference sessions start at 1.30 pm on Friday 22 November with a caucus meeting for transgender members. This is followed by meetings for bisexual members (2.15pm) and disabled members (3.15pm). The first regional meetings are at 4.15 pm, followed by service group meetings. Conference opens formally at 9.45 am on Saturday 23 November and closes at 1.30 pm on Sunday 24 November.
PRIORITISATION OF MOTIONS
Please note that in October the OCS will generate an email which will be sent to regional lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) groups, the national networks of Black and disabled LGBT members and bisexual and transgender members, the national young members’ forum and the National LGBT Committee. The email will ask these groups to detail, in order of preference, 6 motions from the final agenda that they consider should be given priority for debate at conference.
FURTHER INFORMATION
For enquiries about delegate registration and practical arrangements, contact the UNISON Conference Office on 0207 551 1123 or e mail: ; for enquiries about the preliminary agenda, contact Colin Derrig 0207 121 5587; for policy matters, contact Carola Towle on 0207 121 5241 or email: .
A timetable leading up to Conference is attached.
Yours with best wishes
Colin Derrig
Colin Derrig
Secretary, National LGBT Conference Standing Orders Committee
The timetable leading up to the Conference is as follows:
13 September / National Meeting of Black LGBT Members14 September / National Meeting of Disabled LGBT Members
27 September – 12 noon / Deadline for delegate registration and:
- amendments to motions
- proposals for motions/amendments to rule to 2014 National Delegate Conference/motions to national service group conferences
- nominations for delegates to 2014 National Delegate Conference/national service group conferences/TUC LGBT Conference/general seats on 2014 LGBT Conference Standing Orders Committee
- motions from National Meetings of Black and Disabled LGBT members
25 October /
- publication of final agenda
- notification by regional groups of nomination of tellers
8 November - 12 noon / Deadline for questions on the annual report
15 November - 12 noon / Deadline for submission of:
- emergency motions
- amendments to proposed National Delegate Conference motions/amendments to rule/motions to national service group conferences
- amendments to motions from National Meetings of Black and Disabled LGBT members
- prioritisation of motions
22 - 24 November 2013 / UNISON LGBT Conference - Liverpool
1
NATIONAL LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL
AND TRANSGENDER CONFERENCE
LIVERPOOL
22-24 NOVEMBER 2013
PRELIMINARY AGENDA
INDEX
SECTION / PageAMENDMENTS TO STANDING ORDERS
SO 1 / Amendment to Standing Order 3.3.2 / West Midlands Regional LGBT Group / 6
MOTIONS
1 / No Place For Transphobia / Scotland Regional LGBT Group / 6
2 / Stop The Monstering Of Trans People / Greater London Regional LGBT Group / 7
3 / Bargaining Against The Bullies / National LGBT Committee / 8
4 / Privatisation Of Public Services And TUPE / Eastern Regional LGBT Group / 9
5 / Alcohol And Drugs – A Workplace Issue / Bisexual Members’ Caucus / 10
6 / Mental Health Issues For Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual And Transgender People / Scotland Regional LGBT Group / 12
7 / Domestic Abuse, Male Violence And The Role Of UNISON / North West Regional LGBT Group / 13
8 / Ethical Care / West Midlands Regional LGBT Group / 14
9 / Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual And Transgender Equalities Training / South West Regional LGBT Group / 15
10 / Building A Stronger Union – Recruiting And Organising Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual And Transgender Members / National LGBT Committee / 16
11 / Zero Tolerance Of Biphobia / Bisexual Members’ Caucus / 17
12 / LGBT Monitoring Of UNISON Structures And Activities / National LGBT Committee / 18
13 / Monitoring / West Midlands Regional LGBT Group / 19
14 / LGBT Officers’ Training / West Midlands Regional LGBT Group / 19
15 / Shameless Self-Promotion Is Good / North West Regional LGBT Group / 19
16 / Caucuses Supporting Regional Participation / South East Regional LGBT Group / 20
17 / Intersex Members / Lambeth Branch LGBT Group
Greater London Regional LGBT Group / 21
18 / Engaging Retired Memebrs / National LGBT Committee / 22
19 / The “F” Word / North West Regional LGBT Group / 23
20 / New UNISON Website / West Midlands Regional LGBT Group / 24
21 / Fighting The Cuts, Finding The Evidence / National LGBT Committee / 24
22 / Campaigning And Challenging The Austerity Agenda With Social Media Tools / Eastern Regional LGBT Group / 25
23 / We Won’t Be Fooled By UKIP’s Lies / National LGBT Committee / 26
24 / The UKIP Threat To LGBT Rights / University Hospital Branch LGBT Group / 27
25 / In – Out: Why Europe Matters – LGBT Equality In Europe / National LGBT Committee / 28
26 / Equal Treatment For Lesbian, gay, Bisexual And Transgender Asylum Seekers In The United Kingdom Asylum System / Scotland Regional LGBT Group / 29
27 / Stop Legal Aid Cuts For Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual And Transgender Asylum Seekers / Dover Local Government Branch LGBT Group / 30
28 / Unfinished Business / Islington Branch LGBT Group / 31
29 / Equal Marriage – Keeping Up The Pressure / Transgender Members’ Caucus / 32
30 / Inequality In Equal Marriage / North West Regional LGBT Group / 33
31 / Equal Pension Rights For Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual And Transgender Couples / Scotland Regional LGBT Group / 34
32 / Sexual Orientation – A Public Matter / Newcastle City Branch LGBT Group / 35
33 / Hate Crime – We Must Report It / Newcastle City Branch LGBT Group / 35
34 / Supporting Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual And Transgender Young People / Cymru/Wales Regional LGBT Group / 36
35 / Compulsory Personal Social Health Education (PSHE) Including LGBT Issues In Schools / South West Regional LGBT Group / 37
36 / Consent Is Sexy! / North West Regional LGBT Group / 38
37 / Tackling Homophobia In Sport / Scotland Regional LGBT Group / 39
38 / Equality In The Independence Debate / Scotland Regional LGBT Group / 40
39 / Export Embargo / North West Regional LGBT Group / 40
40 / Gender Equality Solidarity Initiatives The First Step In Raising Awareness For Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual And Transgender Equality? / South West Regional LGBT Group / 41
41 / From Russia With Love….? / Northern Regional LGBT Group / 42
42 / Anti-LGBT Crackdown In Russia / North West Regional LGBT Group / 43
RULED OUT OF ORDER
Celebrating Our History, Renewing Our Vows / National LGBT Committee / 45
LGBT Communities And The NHS / Eastern Regional LGBT Group / 46
Stop The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual And Transgender (LGBT) Housing Crisis / South East Regional LGBT Group / 47
Raising The Agenda And Support For LGBT Police Staff / South West Regional LGBT Group / 49
Beyond Charity, Towards Global Justice / National LGBT Committee / 49
Targeting Of Trans Women In Greece / Manchester Metropolitan University Branch LGBT Group / 50
Lesbian, Gay, bisexual And Transgender (LGBT) And Sex Worker Organising And The Fight Against HIV / Greater London Regional LGBT Group / 51
STANDING ORDERS / 53 - 61
AMENDMENTS TO STANDING ORDERS
SO 1AMENDMENT TO STANDING ORDER 3.3.2
Add a new standing order 3.3.2, re-numbering remaining standing orders accordingly:
Notwithstanding the generality of 3.3.1 above, any member of a Regional Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Group attending the conference as a regional or branch delegate may be appointed by their Regional Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Group to move a motion or amendment submitted by that Regional Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Group.
In (existing) standing order 3.3.3 delete ‘3.3.2’ and substitute ‘3.3.3’.
West Midlands Regional LGBT Group
MOTIONS
NEGOTIATING
1.NO PLACE FOR TRANSPHOBIA
Conference welcomes the progress made over many years by trade union activists in negotiating for equality in our workplaces. However, Conference also is concerned that equality considerations fall down the agenda in the face of cuts, reorganisations and redundancies.
Conference is further concerned that transgender workers face particularly extreme discrimination when seeking work and once in work. To seek to avoid this discrimination, many people delay their gender reassignment for many years.
However, they pay a high price for this in terms of their health and wellbeing.
Conference notes that many managers are unaware of their responsibility towards trans staff and prospective staff. Further, many workplaces do not have equality or anti-harassment policies that refer specifically to gender identity or gender reassignment. Nor do practices or policies address the particular issues that may arise for trans workers in relation to sickness absence policies, dress codes, criminal records checks and other pre-employment checks.
Conference calls on the National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Committee to:
1. Liaise with organisations, such as Scottish Transgender Alliance, and collate information from them on what resources they have on transphobia and issues affecting trans workers; and
2. Publicise the results to branches and regions to let them know what information is available and how to access it.
Conference further call on branches and regions to:
Make use of, and publicise the UNISON guide to Transgender Workers Rights to review workplace policies to afford better protection for transgender workers.
Scotland Regional LGBT Group
2.STOP THE MONSTERING OF TRANS PEOPLE
This conference notes with deep regret the tragic death of Lucy Meadows, teacher and National Union of Teachers member, who was found dead after being hounded by the media following a disgusting transphobic article about her by Richard Littlejohn in the Daily Mail which particularly focused on attacking Lucy's right to work in a school.
While Littlejohn's piece is one of the most vicious examples of transphobic harassment, we also note the substantial submission by Trans Media Watch to the Leveson enquiry cataloguing many other examples and their effects on trans people.
The groundbreaking report on trans mental health published in 2012 by the Scottish Transgender Alliance and others shows that out of 525 trans people surveyed 51% felt that the way the media portray trans people had a significant negative effect on their emotional well-being.
We also note the fact that such attacks by the media not only affect the person directly targeted, in this case Lucy Meadows, but lead to a general increase in transphobic bullying and hate speech, including in the workplace. This takes place in a context of cuts, privatisations and reorganisations in the health service and across public services which make the lives of many trans people both as workers and service users even harder.
We note the huge wave of anger that followed from the trans community and their supporters, including many trade unionists, who signed up to petitions condemning the actions of the Daily Mail.
We welcome the formation of the new Trades Union Congress trans caucus and agree to send it a message of support as well as to Trans Media Watch.
We further call on the National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Committee to commission articles for Out in UNISON around:
1.Successful attempts to negotiate specific policies on transitioning at work, in advance of the need for their implementation rather than after an issue has arisen;
2. Highlighting the particular issues around absence management for people transitioning at work and workers with a trans history;
3.Highlighting the particular issues about confidentiality for people transitioning at work and workers with a trans history;
4. Raising awareness of and seek to implement workplace policies in relation to the specific issues facing Black transgender workers.
We also ask the National LGBT Committee to seek publication of similar articles in other UNISON publications and consider other ways in which it can work to strengthen the awareness of UNISON as a whole of the importance and relevance of these issues.
We further ask branch and regional LGBT groups to:
A.Draw the attention of negotiators and equality reps to UNISON’s bargaining advice ‘Transgender workers’ rights’;
B.Draw the attention of workplace reps to UNISON’s ‘Introductory guide for trade union reps supporting trans members’;
C.Consider asking branches and regions to invite speakers on issues of the monstering of trans people in the media and other aspects of trans rights.
Greater London Regional LGBT Group
3.BARGAINING AGAINST THE BULLIES
Conference notes with concern the rise in bullying and harassment in the workplace as a predictable consequence of cuts to public services. Increasing budgetary pressures lead to top down pressure on managers to achieve greater output from an increasingly over-stretched workforce. Bullying and harassment of staff follows all too often.
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) tenth biennial safety representatives’ survey, published in November 2012, highlights that bullying and harassment has become an even more widespread concern, listed as a top-five concern by 41% of safety representatives. Just as worryingly, ‘violence and threats’ is now the ninth most commonly cited hazard in the survey, with some 20% saying it’s an issue.
Commenting on the survey, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “Fears about how austerity is affecting peoples' jobs and their families is having a real impact on the health and well-being of UK workers. As jobs are cut, so the workload of those left behind increases. As the workload rise so do the stress levels of over-worked employees, which lead to a greater risk of bullying and harassment as stressed-out supervisors take out their frustrations on staff.”
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) workers can find it particularly difficult to stand up to bullying and harassment at a time when our jobs are often the first to be cut.
Conference reaffirms that everyone is entitled to work in a safe environment, free from intimidation or abuse. There can be no justification, including reasons of budgetary pressures, for bullying and harassment in the workplace.
Conference therefore calls on the National LGBT Committee to:
1Revise and update our LGBT bargaining factsheets so issues of bullying and harassment are fully included and develop new factsheets where necessary;
2. Urge regional and branch LGBT groups to encourage branches to revisit workplace bullying and harassment policies to ensure they are bi and trans inclusive;
3.Promote safe ways of reporting bullying and harassment to our LGBT members;
4. Seek to ensure all UNISON’s materials and training on tackling bullying and harassment are inclusive of LGBT members’ experiences;
5. Promote UNISON’s workplace representation of members experiencing bullying and harassment as a recruitment tool, strengthening our local organisation against the bullies.
National LGBT Committee
4.PRIVATISATION OF PUBLIC SERVICES AND TUPE
Increasing privatisation of our public services means that many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) members are being transferred into the employment of the private sector. For many, TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings Protection in Employment Regulations) has been a saviour to maintaining hard won employment terms and conditions and the protection from discrimination, with sound public sector equality policies and procedures.
TUPE means that the new employer "steps into the shoes" of the old employer and is bound by the terms of the contracts of existing employees, with the exception of pensions (although the new employer still has to provide a minimum level of benefits) and employees retain their continuity of employment.