Motions submitted to national conference re: the 25 year
review of UNISON would likely generate more work for D&O.
Recruiting – we were the best recruiting union in the UK –
the challenge was retaining members. Recruitment of young members was slightly
down. Recruitment was variable across the Regions. Our key challenge was in the
150,000 workplaces covering 35,000 employers – We needed more activists.
There was an agenda item the snappily titled ‘Every one of
our 20,000 activists to recruit 8 members’ – in our 25th anniversary
year we needed to recruit and turn members into activists’. An NEC member said
we needed to recruit definitely but we should think how we pitched this on top
of the work we had already got.
DOCAS (Deduction of Contributions at source) update – 95 to
96% of our income had been secured (Trade Union Act changes).
Learning and organising services – We needed to recruit more
Union learning reps. (ULR’s).
Schools campaign activity – there had been significant job
cuts. Schools in Scotland had faced a 20% cut. The £10 introductory offer by
the NEU (National Education Union) had been a significant issue last year. Roger
McKenzie, Assistant General Secretary referred to unnecessary competition
between unions going after the same people already in a union – this was not
growing the Trade Union movement.
RMS/WARMS update (UNISON membership system) It was good to
know we were already GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) compliant. I
asked a question about a recent occasion where there had been lengthy downtime
of the system over several consecutive days – this it was stated was due to
infrastructure changes. Audit certificate – for compliance we needed evidence
of when people joined, were lapsed etc. to show adequate controls were in
place.
Appendix 2 – guidance on the use of the new Appendix 2 (for
dealing with misconduct by members in relation to UNISON employees) had been
produced including guidance on investigation panels and the conduct of meetings
and this was agreed.
Women’s conference motions referred to D&O – these action
points were for noting.
National Delegate Conference (NDC) 2018 – provisional policy
on motions and amendments to motions and rule amendments – The motions were all
support except deferred was policy on M130, M131 - ‘a case system for UNISON branches’. This
would be discussed at the June meeting before national conference. A proposed
rule amendment from women’s conference to change male seats and black members
male seats on the NEC to general seats – this was left open to conference to
decide. John Jones, North West NEC member and from the Water, Environment and
Transport (WET) service group said WET Service Group Executive had mandated him
to oppose this – all on WET exec. Except one had been against. I said if the
NEC opposed outright it would be likely some would support for this reason. A
vote was taken – 2 voted that our policy would be to oppose the rule amendment
the rest (including me) to leave to conference to decide. Disciplinary action
(Rule I) – a motion from Bolton branch proposed to change the maximum period a
member could be barred from holding office from 3 to 2 years. The argument from
1 or 2 NEC members was that if the change was to 2 years and it was a serious
case there was more likely to be a dismissal (expulsion) from membership. An
NEC member from the London Region said that in the previous debates at NDC, 2
years was on the table but had been withdrawn to seek consensus and if 3 years
as had been stated was not used then leave it as is as a last resort. An NEC
member said that if an employer had 15 months for a final written warning and
we had 2 years – how would it look if the union was harder? It was stated that
if the alleged disciplinary offence was financial irregularity the member
usually resigned before it got to the discipline stage. A vote was taken such
that our policy was to oppose these rule amendments (RA11,12) 12 votes to 7. I
was one of the 7 (I.e. in favour of the move to 2 years from 3).
Branches in Regional supervision (this was usually by
Chair’s action). We were asked to endorse one particular case where there
appeared to be insufficient information provided and some including me were
uncomfortable in endorsing this. A vote was taken - 11 supported placing the
branch in Regional supervision, 6 opposed and there was 1 abstention. I voted
to oppose.
Certification Officer – there was nothing to report.
A number of nominations for places at the TUC Congress in
September were agreed.
Nominations for the TUC learning rep, Health and Safety and
organising and Women’s gold badge awards were agreed.
Chair’s actions – agreed that a branch in the North West - a
retired member could be Treasurer for a year. Another larger branch in the
Yorkshire and Humberside Region a similar request was refused – there was no
reason they could not find a full member to undertake the role. In response to
a query – unemployed members could not hold branch officer positions unless
approved by the NEC.
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