At a special branch committee meeting on Monday 5 July 2021 the branch approved two motions drafted by the Disabled Members Officer Toby Morrison.
Toby was pleasantly surprised to have so much support from his fellow branch committee members and led a stimulating debate on the motions that he had drafted and proposed to the branch.
The first motion is on the subject of disability related absence and addresses the issue of some disabled members needing to take time off work due to their condition. The branch suggested that there should be a reference to the Equality Act 2010 in the motion and branch treasurer Peter Bell who was chairing the meeting drafted an additional paragraph for the meeting to consider.
Meanwhile Toby took committee members through his second proposed motion which covered the subject of Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) and focused on the usual 4-day waiting time before SSP became payable. Disabled members who have to frequently take one or two days off work owing to their disability can be adversely impacted by the current SSP rules. The motion calls on the National Disabled Members Committee to coordinate a lobbying effort to get the UK government to amend the SSP legislation.
Branch committee then voted on the amendment to motion 1 approving the insertion of the paragraph referencing the Equality Act 2010 and approving the submission of motion 1 to the Disabled Members national conference.
The meeting then considered a couple of amendments to motion 2 and voted through the amendments and then approved the submission of motion 2 to the Disabled Members national conference.
The branch also appointed four delegates to attend the Disabled Members national conference which is planned to be a face-to-face event in Liverpool at the BT Centre from Saturday 30 October 2021 to Monday 1 November 2021.
Further information regarding arrangements for conference have been published and a printed copy is available on request from the office.
https://www.unison.org.uk/content/uploads/2021/06/2021-Disabled-Members-Conference-Bulletin.pdf
If any member would like further details of the conference, the motions proposed by the branch, or is interested in attending conference, please contact the Disabled Members Officer, Toby Morrison by email disabledmembers@unisoncvob.org.uk or telephone the branch office and leave a message asking Toby to call you back.