President, Josie Bird chaired the first online meeting of the NEC (lasting 90 minutes or so). It was reported the National Delegate conference in June had been postponed – a difficult decision but the right one. The names of 66 UNISON members who had sadly passed due to Covid 19 were read out and there was a minutes silence. There was also a tribute to Northern Ireland joint Regional Convenor Denis Keatings who had sadly passed.
It was agreed that the election of the Presidential team, which would normally happen at the close of the union’s National Delegate conference in June, will continue to be linked to a rearranged conference. This will be reviewed in October if a conference has not yet been held. The current Presidential team remains in place
Dave Prentis, General Secretary report.
Dave said the union condemned the brutal murder of George Floyd and also the brutality shown against Black Lives matter protesters. Every UNISON Black member should know we stand with you.
On Covid, the bargaining team had given out 60 pieces of advice on Personal Protective Equipment. The website had 1.8 M page views in a 2 week period. Dave Prentis said he had met the Presidential team 3 times a week. Dave was speaking to Chancellor Rishi Sunak later in the day. The union had evidence of failure to get equipment to the Frontline. People on the frontline were on the minimum wage putting their lives at risk. The Government had allowed untold deaths that should not have happened – the worst death toll per 100,000 people of the population. The Government failure was not just the last 10 weeks but the last 10 years with underfunding of the NHS, the Local Government funding gap, social care privatised and run for profit.
An NEC member referred to the doorstep protests organised by Stand up to Racism (SUTR) in support of Black Lives matter – could we get a message out to members. An NEC member referred to the disproportionate effect on Black members of Covid – we needed to ensure they are supported.
Dave Prentis said we had been working with Doreen Lawrence on a commission to look at the reasons for the high Covid death toll amongst Black people.
The NEC agreed through the Finance sub committee to launch a major appeal to branches to contribute to the ‘There for you’ welfare fund. There were heart-breaking cases in terms of the suffering members were going through.
