Congress motions

Motion

Motion title

Inequality crises in food, housing, health, social care and transport

Session

2023-2024

Meeting link

Annual Congress

Meeting date

29 May 2024

Status

Passed

Motion

17

Motion text

Congress notes that:
1. People are experiencing a cost-of-living crisis and social crises in provision of food, housing, health and social care and transport.
2. These inequality crises affect learning opportunities and educational attainment.
3. All these issues need raising in general elections.
4. The increasing amount of casualised and precarious work which is undermining existing terms and conditions
5. These crises affect people internationally, especially in countries devastated by war, such as Palestine, Sudan and Ukraine.
6. The inequality crisis impacts the life chances, education and employment opportunities for disabled people.

Congress calls on present and future UK governments to legislate and act to:
a. Enhance job security by banning Zero Hours Contracts and reducing insecure and casualised employment to an absolute minimum in line with existing union recommendations.
b. provide food security, via adequate incomes, better nutritional standards and acceptable, affordable food for the population, ending dependence on food banks;
c. Rapidly provide adequate social housing and enforce privately rented sector regulations;
d. Address the crisis of funding and staffing in health and social care;
e. Invest in public transport and return it to dependable public ownership;
f. Pursue international policies which tackle global poverty and provide humanitarian aid and just and peaceful settlements to countries devastated by war and/or climate change.
g. Make all public transport accessible for disabled people as a top priority
h. Fully fund and guarantee independent living for disabled people through building social housing which meets their needs.
Furthermore, anticipating a general election in 2024, Congress instructs the NEC to work with the TUC and others to lobby for the reconstruction of Britain’s shattered public services to be the highest priority for an in-coming government.

Proposing body

Yorkshire and Humberside retired members

Amended

Yes

Allocated to

Strategy and finance committee (SFC)

Notes