Several local UNISON members have been attending the National Local Government conference and UNISON's National Delegate conference.  The events were held in Liverpool, and our branch chair Brian Smith has sent reports of each.  Here is Brian's report from the Local Government conference.  His National Delegate conference report will appear in a later blog post.

Dear friends

Here is a short report about the National Local Government Conference, held in Liverpool on 16-17 June, attended by branch development officer, Averil Simpson, and me as delegates.

The conference kicked off with a powerful speech of welcome by Joe Anderson, the mayor of Liverpool. Joe is a UNISON member, and he and his administration have tried to mitigate the cuts prescribed by government.

The first debate was about the onslaught by many councils on facility time for trade unionists. This is not a situation that our branch has faced; my hair stood on end when I heard what some employers have been doing.

There was much about the bedroom tax, and about how much it is costing councils to implement. There was some annoyance about a circular that UNISON had sent branches warning that everyone should co-operate with it.

There was an excellent debate on Sunday afternoon about pay. You will have noticed that in England and Wales a very poor turnout of 12 percent of members voted two to one in favour of the employers' offer of 1 per cent. The service group executive was heavily criticised for not running a campaign, and had the grace to look embarrassed.

On Monday there was an excellent debate about fighting cuts and privatisation, and about UNISON's relations with councillors here and there who try to withstand cuts. An amendment by the executive warning about the legal consequences of dealing with such councillors was heavily defeated.

Jane Carter, a young labour economist at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees gave us an excellent talk about the horrific extent of privatisation in the U.S., and the tactics she and her colleagues use to try to thwart it.

There was a superb presentation about the union's new Ethical Care Campaign. We heard about how private care companies are restricting care at home to 15-minute packages and 'employing' workers on zero hour contracts, with no payment for travel.

The debate on deregulation and attacks on health and safety was very good. One speaker likened the government's performance on this subject to two UKIP supporters sitting in a pub moaning about the good old days!

All the best

Brian