UNISON : Single Equality Scheme

The purpose of UNISON’s Equality Scheme is to make sure that equality is promoted in everything the union does. They believe equality should be at the heart of the union, written into their rules and into their objectives and priorities. However, they recognised that they did not systematically check the equalities impact of everything they did or evaluate how well they were achieving their vision of equality.

Equality Works was, therefore, commissioned to help develop UNISON’s first Equality Scheme, which is for 2007/8-2011. The Equality Scheme includes equality actions for all UNISON functions and is inspired by, but not limited to, the statutory duties on public bodies to promote equality.

It is a single Equality Scheme, covering all equality strands and potential discrimination grounds. It provides a framework for checking and delivering equality across all UNISON functions, including recruiting and organising, negotiating, representation, campaigning, as a service provider and as an employer.

As a first step, UNISON identified a cross section of regions and head office functions to be trail-blazers. The targets for the trail-blazers were:

• For all staff to understand the purpose and scope of UNISON’s Equality Scheme and how it impacts on their work;
• For manager(s) and named equality scheme lead(s) to have a detailed understanding of the scheme;
• To know what useful equalities information they already collect, what gaps there are and how to fill them;
• To have built equalities impact assessment into their working practices; and
• To have competed the first draft of their three year equality action plan.

We initially worked with these trail-blazers to:

• Carry out an initial equality audit;
• Train staff in equality auditing; and
• Complete a first draft of their equality action plan.

The intention was that our work with the trail-blazers would provide a model for the rest of the union. Our commission, therefore, included writing up the findings of the project together with guidance and advice to other functions on completing the actions we had worked through. We also provided training in Equality Impact Assessment to further build capacity within the trail-blazers.

We now have an ongoing relationship with UNISON and deliver regular training sessions on Recruitment and Selection and Equality Impact Assessment refresher sessions.