Personal report of UNISON NEC sub committee Development and Organisation 18th November 2020

A shorter meeting than anticipated as we were supposed to be approving the NEC election procedures for 2021/2023 for submission to the full NEC of 10/12/20.

However, the replacement (same) body for the electoral reform society (ERS), - CES advised that the timescales were insufficient and they wouldn’t approve as they stood so we now have a 1 item D&O meeting on this subject in advance of the NEC.

Under the learning and organising report we noted that current branch Activists currently totals 15283.

Accessible online training for H&S Reps during the pandemic has now totalled 30 new Reps with further courses scheduled now and in January.

Recruitment and Organisation - there were big numbers after lockdown but the figures had levelled out. 

Under the RMS report it was noted that Merlin had been approved as the organisation to update the current system.

An update report was received on the UNISON CaseWeb system which generated a fair few questions including why this should be mandatory for all but mainly small branches where there was an annual cost associated. It was stated that to make this free would cost £700,000. An NEC member stated that if this system was mandatory it should be free.

Further concerns were raised regarding being unable to transfer information from existing systems to the new. A decision would be taken later whether we approve or not.

The data protection update contained concerns that it’s not always possible to fully comply with Subject Access Requests (SARs).

John Jones, NEC member Water, Environment and Transport outlined a case he was dealing with as a North West England based branch when the SAR was a member in the North East Scotland contact centre where there was only 1 Rep who is on long term sick leave and the employer was not Trade Union friendly.

An update report was given on the government’s plans to cease the Union Learning Fund as of 31/03/21.

Branches under Regional Supervision - there was 1 in the North West.  

A number of Honorary Life memberships were approved including Dave Prentis, General Secretary and Bernie Gallagher former NEC member of many years from the North West.

Under AOB - an NEC member from North West raised concerns that the Black members conference was not being held as a decision making conference. It was essential that we used every opportunity to maintain lay democracy throughout this period.

Personal report of UNISON National Executive Council 7th October 2020

The Presidential team was to continue for the whole of the second year of office to June next year 2021. This was agreed but no notice given to us of this proposal. 

Conferences - Looking at virtual decision making conferences for next year in case in-person conferences is not possible. Will not be exact replica, format will need to be different, but will be decision making body. We would need to engage with the relevant Service Group Executive. Health was the first conference cancelled this year and there is no desire to cancel two years in a row. No notice given to us of this proposal.  AGM (Annual General Meeting) - Need to provide clarity to branches, want them to run branch AGMs virtually if in person not possible and looking to facilitate this, Looking to reduce lead in from 12 weeks to 8 weeks. All work in progress, no absolute proposals. We do want accountability and lay democracy. 42 for 1 against. No notice was given to us of this proposal.  Wales Region NEC members had been mandated to suggest all AGMs should be postponed in 2021 and this was lost at NEC with almost everyone else against (Traditionally some Wales branches have wanted 2 yearly AGMs and seem to be using Covid to push that agenda) This type of rule amendment has appeared at several recent Conferences and been hammered every time so a nice try I suppose to introduce by the back door. There was a strong feeling that lay democracy for Service groups, Regions, National and branches must go ahead as much as possible and national must facilitate this. One branch said they have practised by having open meeting for all members every week and at first this was hard but then has got easier and makes branch accountable to members.  Obituaries. Including Raph Parkinson, Regional Organiser in the North West who was also previously an NEC member from the North West.  Dave Prentis,  General Secretary report. ‘Sad re staff member Raph who has died and will offer support to people in North West. Proud of staff and activists during pandemic – at times of uncertainty, and risk.  Members – courage and dedication. As Union we need to be with them. March closed down in 1 day and moved to home working to make sure staff were safe. All going the extra mile. “General  Secretary elections are always destabilising, but this time attacks are made on the union, by complainers, detractors, telling us what we are doing wrong, all the bad things UNISON is doing. No organisation is perfect, we are always trying to improve, to do better,  that’s what a union with a future does, Concerned in way people have trashed our union and staff and it has had an effect on staff morale. Impression given that nothing is happening in UNISON. Some challenge to this in discussion. The excellent Haringey carers victory was rightly mentioned and congratulated upon. 143k new members have joined UNISON to date this year, the most in memory giving a total overall of 32k taking into account leavers. UNISON Welfare through There For You has so far spent 1m during the pandemic assisting members and their families in need. It was reported that the Government had this very morning announced their intention to do away with the excellent Unionlearn fund from 31/03/20 which has been excellent for members who have never before had learning opportunities. Organisation. Have recruited more members but not more activists to support and organise them. Government just announced end of Union Learning Fund. Discussion – Value to fighting actively and organising protests and strikes to mobilise activists, lack of coordination across sectors, or across unions, made worse when seeing Frances O’Grady standing beside Rishi Sunak when he decimated furlough scheme.  Local government – massive attacks now on Pension, huge job losses/redundancies expected, pay.  Internal Rule I Unison disciplinaries. Question asked about the length of delays in getting these resolved. Many over 12 months, most others still at investigation 10 months after investigation started.  Chair of Development and Organisation sub committee said that hearings have been delayed due to lack of availability of NEC members during Covid . But that investigations have gone ahead by phone or online and are not delayed , and that no timelines or estimates of completion of investigation can be given as they are complex and multi-faceted.

Regarding finance, subscription income of £101m is £4.8m ahead of budget and is £3.7m higher than the corresponding 7 month period last year.

Net income for the NEC is £70.8m which is £2.2m ahead of budget.

Net operating expenditure of £67.5m is £1.2m under budget thus overall results are ahead of budget by £3.4m.

The net result is a surplus of £3.3m compared to a budgeted deficit of £0.1m.

General reserves are increased by £3.3m to £169.4m supported by fixed assets and investments of £115.6m, cash of £48.2m and other net assets of £5.6m.

 

Personal report of the UNISON National Executive Council 16th September 2020

In line with UNISON guidance, this 1 item agenda meeting to nominate the General Secretary was scheduled for 90 minutes but took 140 minutes without breaks bringing in to question, discrimination to those who have disability issues not to mention those who had a back to back meeting and consequently missed most of it.

Concern was expressed at the outset that no hustings were allowed at this meeting particularly as it was needed to be held remotely. Chair said no hustings on basis NEC members will know who they will vote for before the meeting. This I believe was unfair to 1 candidate who is neither an NEC member or Assistant General Secretary so who would not be known to most on the NEC. IT issues took a while to sort out.

4 of 5 candidates were proposed and seconded.

An NEC member supporting Christina Mcanea proposed an elimination ballot. A left NEC member challenged this saying it was unprecedented to propose this during the course of a meeting and should have been communicated beforehand. We were one hour 35 minutes into the meeting at this point already overrunning. The vote was 34 to 22 for an elimination ballot. I voted against.

A Roger McKenzie supporter proposed a secret ballot. A left NEC member said any delay in the meeting was due to those who introduced proposals that could have been raised in advance of the meeting - No curve balls.

The secret vote vote was For 27 Against 29. I voted against.

Subsequent rounds of the elimination ballot were: 1st round Christina Mcanea 22, Paul Holmes 22 Roger McKenzie 12, Hugo Pierre 4.

2nd: C.Mcanea 23, P.Holmes 25, RMcKenzie 11.

3rd: Christina Mcanea 29, Paul Holmes 26. 5 abstentions.

Christina Mcanea was nominated by the NEC.

Roger McKenzie supporters either abstained or voted Christina Mcanea on the final round.

Personal report of the UNISON NEC Development and Organisation sub committee September 2020

The meeting lasted about 50 minutes. We were asked to raise the hand up flag on Teams if we wished to speak. There was some discussion about us making sure we avoided having a democratic deficit under  current conditions - about whether we needed more frequent, shorter meetings versus having them longer with more breaks. It was unlikely there would be any physical meetings this side of the New Year. No conclusion was drawn. The Chair of D&O would take this up with the Presidential team. 

Online Stewards and Health and Safety Reps courses are being run in Regions generally via local colleges.

495 Stewards have been trained to date this year compared to 1139 in the same period last year.

108 Health & Safety Reps have been trained in the same period compared to 238 last time round.

21 Union Learner Reps have been trained compared to 67 last year.

182 Reps have achieved ERA accreditation versus 486 in 2019 to date.

368 have undertaken advanced skills training compared to 630 in the previous year to date.

569 members have undertaken other training this year generally around Covid 19.

1381 members have done some form of learning compared to 1840 last year to date.

2399 members have done skills academy training this year.

RMS/WARMS update - We were reducing dependence on paper. Using email was projected to save £100,000. It was stated that the process of collecting arrears from members had changed. More members had been retained in membership with consequently more subs collected. 

It was agreed new activists are required to complete a GDPR (General Data Protection regulations) e-note within 3 months. Support would be given. 

An NEC member asked if branches in Regional supervision be allowed to make nominations for NEC/General Secretary.

The Chair thought yes. An officer said yes depending on the type of supervision. The Region might supervise the meeting. 

The procedures for the NEC (National Executive Council) elections 2021 would be discussed at the next meeting.

 

Personal report of the UNISON National Executive Council July 2020

 Via a GoTo meeting. NEC members were asked by the Chair to type in the chatbox if they wanted to speak. Josie Bird, President was Chairing. Referred to Dave Prentis, General Secretary retiring. ‘We were well placed to face future challenges’.

General Secretary election procedures – The Chair asked any member present to leave the meeting if they were considering standing. Roger McKenzie, Hugo Pierre, Christine Mcanea and Karen Reissmann left the meeting whilst the procedures were discussed.

Election procedures had been through Development and Organisation (D&O) NEC sub committee. There were some changes due to Coronavirus. Nominations could be submitted online if the branch rules allow or virtual nominations out of rule could be made if a member of staff was present. The Region should be given 7 days notice (so someone can get there). Nominations were via an online portal (CES). Donations to candidates were £150 max per member. Candidates should keep a record of all donations including in kind so the investigating officer could investigate if a complaint was received.

All hustings should be virtual not physical. If one area was in lockdown we did not want to disadvantage a candidate from that area. An NEC member asked if a Region was unable to send someone to the meeting would it invalidate the nomination even if the branch had done everything right? We were assured a member of staff would be available for the nomination meeting. An NEC member said some disabled members in a vulnerable situation should not be expected to attend a physical meeting. The General Secretary procedures were agreed with surprisingly little controversy. The nomination period was 10^th August – 25^th September 2020.

General Secretary report – Dave Prentis referred to the work done by the union during the Covid crisis. The website had 1 million interactions in terms of traffic. It was updated 2 or 3 times a week. There had been heart-breaking stories of members unable to pay for funerals of family members. £500,000 had gone to the welfare fund. Staff had started to move back to the Regional Office. UNISON Direct had reopened. 1,000 emails a day were being dealt with during the lockdown. 34,500 had joined taking into account leavers. 50,000 new members had been called in the last 6 weeks by Local organisers, Area organisers and Regional Organisers. This was appreciated by members. The health crisis was going to lead to an economic crisis. There was a grim outlook. A £10 billion shortfall in Local Government. We had to ensure there were no compulsory redundancies. In Tower Hamlets, a Labour council, 1000’s of UNISON members were striking against imposition of contracts. (Sack and re-employ staff on inferior contracts).

Covid – we were calling for a public enquiry into what happened and wanted local and national stories from members to feed into evidence for a public inquiry. There was a separate item later on on Black Lives Matter movement.

An NEC member referred to the worry of vulnerable members with a disability after shielding ended in England on 1^st August.  Another NEC member referred to the unacceptable 0% pay ‘offer’ in Higher Education. An NEC member said the Covid crisis showed we needed a publicly run national care system not the current fragmented, privatised system that had been exposed in the current crisis. An NEC member from the North West said the Government had taken NHS staff for granted and we should ask for our pay award date to be brough forward 4 months to early December. This was a discussion that was taking place amongst the Trade Unions and we had the public on our side to get the proper pay award we should have got a long time ago.

Dave Prentis came back on a number of points raised. In relation to the Tower Hamlets dispute the 2 UNISON reps on the Labour party NEC had raised this and we were assured Keir Starmer’s office would intervene.

A strong statement had been put out in support of Black Lives Matter. We had given evidence to the Doreen Lawrence inquiry. We had written to the Prime Minister about the failure of Government action. Additional work was to be done to deal with the issues affecting black workers in relation to Covid. The lack of screening, advice and risk assessments. An assistant General Secretary said we needed real change to get rid of institutional racism. The Mayor in Tower Hamlets presumably supports Black Lives Matter but black workers and also women workers were disproportionately affected by the proposed imposition of worse contracts.

The Chair at the end of the meeting said there would be a meeting in the period 10^th August to 25^th September 2020 to make a nomination for General Secretary as an NEC.

 

Personal report of the UNISON National Executive Council June 2020

 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.

Report of the UNISON NEC Development and Organisation sub committee May 2020

Report via the prolific report writing fellow NEC member John Jones as I was unable to attend this meeting. 

'This was the first NEC meeting I’ve “attended” via go to meetings video conference but to be fair it worked ok.

27 lay and staff members were on the meeting which is a decent attendance.

We held as best we could, a minute’s silence for the recently deceased Northern Ireland Convener and all members and/or their families who have sadly died as a result of Covid/other means since we last met. 

Roger McKenzie, Assistant General Secretary advised that neither zoom or skype were permitted for online UNISON meetings as they’re both insecure.

When zoom was trialled, p**n/racist images appeared and the union’s finances were put in jeopardy.

I queried if the full NEC scheduled for the 3^rd June would take place via go to and it will so should be interesting with 70 or 80 people jockeying for position to speak!

Online Branch Committees are allowed with original guidance sent out now updated to include Regional Officers having to be in attendance if expenditure is likely to be incurred but best practice is an invite anyway. 

If Retired Members return to work (usually in health at present) they revert to full subs from day 1. 

The “4 week rule” is to be ignored if members join with covid related issues. 

The £570 death benefit amount is to be paid for all who are casualties as a result of the pandemic.

Honoraria amounts over the 10% threshold not agreed by AGMs must be referred to the appropriate region. 

UNISON subs remain for those members furloughed at the current rate. 

3 NEC by-elections are cancelled as the new NEC will be elected early in 2021. 

I queried why an email had been sent out the previous day extending the SGE elections by a further 6 weeks as in my opinion this was the remit of D&O. 

The (unsatisfactory in my view) answer was that the decision was made by the President/General Secretary but nobody else seemed unduly bothered by this. I of course would have supported the action but believe it’s the role of D&O to do so. 

Candidates will be informed ASAP of the need for an election or not but this needs to be physically done not remotely. 

The Chair of D&O said the TUC was off but I’ve subsequently looked at their website and it isn’t! 

A fellow Committee member queried the timetable for the General Secretary’s election as well as Conferences but again a “non” answer was given in my view. 

This will no doubt be addressed properly at the full NEC. '

John Jones, NEC member, Water, Environment and Transport Service Group.