Report of UNISON National Executive Council 1st December 2021

This was an in person and hybrid meeting. The Vice Presidents Kath Owen and Andrea Egan expressed concern about the late receipt of NEC papers and that no papers had been printed we hoped going forward this would be addressed with seven days notice in terms of receiving papers before meetings. There was a packed agenda and a balance would need to be struck between progressing the business of the meeting and allowing as many speakers as possible. We then moved to the obituaries. One obituary resulted in a ‘final message’ from a deceased UNISON member being read out by an NEC member. This message was to the effect that all the members of the NEC were as bad as each other: ‘you’re all a pack of bastards’. It is extraordinary that an NEC member would feel it appropriate to begin what was always likely to be a difficult and tense meeting, based on previous experience, with such a confrontational and inappropriate message.

There were some technical difficulties with the IT and all those in the room at the UNISON centre were asked to log off teams to avoid audio feedback being created. NEC members online reported that the audio was poor. At least 20 minutes was lost at the start of the meeting because of this.

Christina Mcanea, General Secretary report

Christina referred to current disputes and that today was the first day of the industrial action ballot in local government for England and Wales. We're doing all we could to maximise turnout and to give access to the Warm's system (UNISON membership) to more people in the branch. New guidance and scripts would be going out imminently on how to do phone banks that was GDPR compliant. There was further consultation in terms of the NHS pay ballot in England and in Local Government in Scotland there was an improved offer with a 76% yes vote to accept.

There was a report of legal cases – one had been a victory in terms of collective bargaining and inducements to break collective agreements at the Supreme Court congratulations were given and it set a good precedent for us.

The COP26 climate conference was referred to: Tony Wright as Chair of PDCC (Policy Development and Campaigns Committee) NEC sub committee had attended in Glasgow with Christina. A report was launched ‘Getting to net zero in UK public services: The road to decarbonisation’. There was a one hour live stream. But COP26 outcome generally way below what is needed. More action to be planned.

2022 was the year of disabled members. We will need to look at what we can do in all areas of the union on this.

The NEC was organising a ‘Fight for fairness’ rally open to all activists, reps and members - the first step to building and organising and listening to our reps - this will take place on Wednesday 15th December 2021 at 5:30 PM online, registration details would be out soon and activists were encouraged to sign people up.

An NEC member refer to the recent decision of the Industrial Action Committee of the NEC to increase strike pay to £50 a day from £25 and to pay it from day 1 rather than day 4. A question was asked would this apply in the current Local Government dispute where 375,000 members are being balloted and that would be around £18 million for one day. It was understood that the Chair of the Industrial Action Committee, Sandy Nicoll (who was not at the meeting but on strike happily at the SOAS picket line) had said this would not apply to the Local Government pay dispute. Sarah Littlewood, Vice Chair advised that the decision had been taken at Industrial Action Committee to increase strike pay as it had been a considerable number of years since any uplift. There were no votes against the proposal on the Industrial Action Committee and only 2 abstentions - it was confirmed we wouldn’t apply the revised rate to the Local Government pay dispute and this would be reported back to Local Government NJC (National Joint Council). The delegate’s outrage (‘the union might be bankrupted’) was easily rebutted by the Vice Chair.

An NEC member referred to the SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies) at the University of London picket line that morning before the NEC where a number of NEC members had attended to show solidarity. SOAS UNISON plus two other UNISON branches were taking strike action in addition to the action taken by the UCU (University and College Union) union.

An NEC member referred to the 19th March 2022 UN day of action against racism protests and asked that we should start publicising them perhaps in a standalone email sent out to activists. In terms of the Fight for fairness rally which is only two weeks away we should keep the date. A question was asked about the format would there be questions in advance, would there be a Q and A and what could we do to publicise this?

An NEC member mentioned the report ‘Misconduct in public office’ (Peoples Covid inquiry) concerning the Government's mishandling of the COVID-19 crisis. UNISON had put its name to a letter in the Guardian newspaper. We should be pushing that report.

An NEC member stated that in the indicative ballot for Industrial action in her Local Government branch there been an uptick in responses when information had dropped about the rate of inflation. The member was disappointed however that proper information on how to deal with phone banking had not yet been circulated.

In response Christina Mcanea, General Secretary stated that for the Local Government pay dispute a script and advice was ready to go out the following day. Ballot papers will be circulated to 370,000 members. It was not Christina's understanding that strike pay from day one would be paid in the Local Government pay dispute if there was a yes vote in the NJC ballot.

An Assistant General Secretary referred to the Fighting for fairness rally on 15th of December and that early next week a personalised invite would be sent to activists with a link to register for the event. We were trying to get the interest of those who wanted to become more active in the union. It was not just a case of look at the four people on the panel, great as they may be as speakers. We wanted to make the event interactive with members and it would be promoted on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. It would be a good way to end the year. Steve North, NEC member from the North West who was involved in organising the event said this should be a good positive event increasing communications with members.

Presidential team report

This was new and done to aid accountability and transparency of the Presidential team taking decisions made on behalf of the NEC in between meetings. There had been a positive meeting with the National Black Members Committee and a few future way of working was agreed going forward. On communications and publicity the Presidential team expected to have oversight and sign off of reports and minutes of relevant meetings for example the NEC. An anonymous and partial account of the meeting on 6^th October 2021 had been released without the knowledge of the Presidential Team. Christina Mcanea, General Secretary stated that there is no standard practice of the Chair signing off minutes, we have professional corporate methods of communicating and journalistic standards and a corporate way of working. ‘I'm happy to discuss with the Presidential team but I will not be agreeing it today.’

A proposal was put forward regarding the six resolutions carried by the NEC at the 6th October 2021 meeting in order to avoid risking a delay to the resolutions being implemented. It was proposed that the Head of the Legal department of UNISON, Adam Creme work with the General Secretary to instruct Michael Forde QC to work with Lord Hendy QC to urgently endeavour to resolve the differences that remain outstanding. Such a meeting would be normal and routine legal practice to avoid the cost associated with having to go to the High Court to get a definitive judgement. The NEC was confident the resolutions were not unlawful as they were only clarifications on existing rules. These resolutions were important as they go to the heart of to what extent UNISON is a lay member led union or not.

Lord Hendy QC’s legal advice had confirmed all 6 to be lawful. (This legal advice was provided pro bono – free of charge – to the Presidential Team.) Christina Mcanea, General Secretary stated that she did not see the point in this. It is not for the barrister's to backdown. I will not be instructing the barristers to sit down in the next 7 days. Other suggestions were 1) We accept the advice of Lord Hendy QC and 2) we ask the General Secretary and Presidential team to continue discussions and try and find a way forward or else we will end up in court.

An NEC member representing Black members confirmed that the meeting between the Presidential team and National Black members committee had gone well.

An NEC member stated that the resolutions have not been implemented and they needed to be. This proposal is an attempt to break the deadlock. The NEC are the people who make the decisions in between National Delegate Conference and the proposal was an attempt to do something about that. Also unbalanced information had gone out after the last NEC meeting from various quarters.

Kath Owen, Vice President stated that the two senior QCs Forde and Hendy were about 95% in agreement. Forde QC  was uncertain about the meaning of one of those resolutions.

Christina Mcanea, General Secretary agreed we were 95% in agreement. Resolution 6 is now not in contention and Resolution 2 there is an issue in terms of the powers of the General Secretary and the Presidential team and if it ends up going to court it ends up going to court.

Andrea Egan, Vice president said the two sets of legal advice were quite close and it would be helpful if they could meet in a room.

Another NEC member asked again what was the motion? The Vice Presidents confirmed it was asking Lord Hendy QC and Forde QC to get in the room and talk, discussing interpretation of the resolutions. The proposal was clear – that the General Secretary would work with the Head of Legal to instruct Forde QC to work with Lord Hendy QC in the next seven days to urgently endeavour to resolve the differences.

An NEC member raised an issue about access needs and reasonable adjustments to people and suggested the motion should be circulated in writing by email as we were approaching lunch. It was decided that the motion would be circulated in writing by email and then we would take the proposal after the lunch break.

On resumption, The Head of Legal services stated that you are seeking to enact one of the resolutions - resolution 3 - by instructing me to do something that would circumvent my role as Director of Legal services and this would be a breach of my independence. I would say the same to Christina if she instructed me to get specific legal advice. I do not see that getting the two QCs in a room is the right way forward for our union and they would be unlikely to agree given how far apart they are. To avoid external litigation I would argue to pursue a route agreed between the Vice Presidents and the General Secretary.

Andrea Egan, Vice President stated that the NEC proposal is to avoid risking further delay and to unblock the blockage. We are not happy with some of the motions presented to conferences recently. If the NEC passes resolutions they are owned by the NEC. We would ask that be respected by Officers and to move on. Asking the barristers is to me is a possible solution there is not a huge difference between Forde and Hendy's views.

The vote then took place on the words circulated in the email over lunch. The vote was as follows For 29, against 21, abstentions 3. Christina Mcanaea, General Secretary said it was not a competent motion trying to enact one of the motions which some considered ultra vires but I will agree to discuss with the Director of Legal Services. The rule book interestingly gives the NEC power under section D.2.11, D2.11.4 to bring or defend legal proceedings of any type.

Service Group Executive election procedures were agreed. The aim of the new procedures was to improve turn out and make the experience as engaging of and for members as possible. Turnouts have been very poor in the past often as low as 5 to 6%. Previous changes to the rules to tighten them up and make campaigning more restricted had done nothing to improve engagement or turnout and attempted to address problems of ‘external interference’ which did not exist in reality. The Certification Officer has only in fact found against UNISON in elections when there has been inappropriate staff interference, rather than external interference. A request for verbal amendments to the tabled proposals to be taken on the day was defended by the same NEC delegate who had opposed on the grounds of disability access a more simple verbal motion on whether the QC's should meet.

As all amendments raised through questions had been discussed and lost on the vote at the Development and Organisation subcommittee meeting held previously, and with time running increasingly short, it was agreed to take a vote on the proposals as a total package unamended. If that vote fell, we would return to amendments.

There was some conflicting advice with one officer suggesting that there was no need to take amendments and another stating there was.

The vote was taken on the Service Group Executive election procedures and the new procedures passed. 33 For, 28 against, 6 abstentions. The nominating period runs from 10th January 2022 to 11th February 2022. During the discussion on the Service Group Executive election procedures an NEC member stated that it was outlined in the NEC handbook that NEC members cannot be mandated on which way to vote at the NEC by either Branches, Service groups, Self Organised groups or Regions.

UNISON Staff pension scheme

The NEC received a confidential and detailed report from the UNISON Staff Pension Board of Trustees. The NEC agreed recommendations from the Trustees to ensure the scheme remained viable. The voting figures were unclear (’60-ish’) with one abstention, so clearly carried.