UNISON postpones annual conference

The union’s annual delegate conference – together with local government, water, environment and transport, and energy conferences – won’t now happen in June as UNISON members and activists are on the frontline of the COVID-19 crisis.

UNISON’s annual national delegate conference (NDC), due to take place in Brighton in June, has been postponed because of the crucial role that the union’s members and activists are playing in tackling the coronavirus crisis, together with government restrictions.

NDC is the union’s annual parliament and members of the national executive council (NEC) overwhelmingly endorsed the difficult decision taken by UNISON’s general secretary Dave Prentis and president Josie Bird.

The annual conferences for the local government, water, environment and transport (WET) and energy service groups will also not now take place as planned.

UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis said: “We have been keen to explore every option available to ensure we maintain our proud tradition of lay democracy across the union. Our intention is to restart the democratic processes and reschedule the conference as soon as it is safe to do so.

“We cannot at this stage determine when that will be and in what form it could take. We will also have discussions with the other service groups to agree a way forward in relation to their conferences.

“We are all living through the most difficult and worrying times, but I want to place on record again my personal thanks to UNISON members for what they are doing for all our communities across the UK.”