Report of UNISON National Executive Council meeting 8th February 2023

1) Introductions

Obituaries were given. A minute’s silence was held to honour all those former members.

The passing of Jon Rogers was noted, a long-standing member of the NEC who had died a few days ago after a long illness. He will be sadly missed and the Vice-President in the chair who knew Jon gave a moving speech. Many will remember with a smile his amusing speeches at conference and his commitment to fighting for UNISON members. He also had an encyclopaedic knowledge of the history of UNISON and its rulebook.

Best wishes were sent by the NEC to John Jones, NEC member in the WET seat, who is unwell and in hospital.

Sympathy and solidarity was shared for all those in Turkey and Syria killed, injured, bereaved or made homeless and jobless by the earthquake.

Concern was raised that the Greater London Regional Council AGM had been moved to the same day as the NEC meeting, making it impossible for many members to be both at the NEC and accountable to their Region in their regional roles.

2) General Secretary report

Industrial action is taking place in several sectors: Health, Higher Education, WET (Environment Agency). Christina and the NEC sent messages of support to all of them. It was clear that all the strikes have public support and the government has no strategy except more anti-trade union laws. UNISON is challenging the new anti-strike laws in court.

Questions were asked by many NEC members about attempting to coordinate industrial action across UNISON and with other unions. On February 1st there were 500,000 workers on strike and huge demos across lots of towns and cities which raised the morale and confidence of all those on them.

NEC members expressed a desire for more coordination on 15th March budget day when several unions NEU, UCU, etc. had already declared the intention to strike. If we can name the day as soon as possible then those with live ballots can be asked if they want to join; also those branches with massive ‘Yes’ votes but not reaching ballot thresholds can plan to take part in other ways, such as lunch time demonstrations, etc. There was some criticism of the lack of UNISON involvement on February 1st.  Some NEC members felt we should stand with all pickets regardless of which union they are from and not criticise other unions’ strikes.

There is a strategy for winning more ballot thresholds. We need to look at messaging to encourage those who will not vote for strike action to vote in any case, as ‘No’ votes help us get over the 50% threshold. There was a TUC meeting today and Gloria Mills was attending for UNISON.

Responses from Christina were that UNISON was not part of February 1st because it is up to local branches and service groups in dispute. There has been no official discussion on March 15th budget day being the next day of action. ‘Coordination’ of strike action does not necessarily mean all striking at the same time, it could be a rolling programme of dates.

Ambulance Services have already agreed dates and 15th March is not in that list, but the week before is. We are asking for more strike pay for those at the bottom of the ambulance pay scales so they can sustain action for longer. It was felt better to do action separately as you get more TV coverage on more days.

Jon Richards (Assistant General Secretary) said the reason we only re-balloted in a few health employers was not because of lack of resources to do so but so that we target those with the best chance of winning. We have to say we are opposed to a general strike because it is unlawful to do otherwise and will be used against us by government. We may see legal action by employers based on public statements made by UNISON reps.

We want to ballot to win and strike to win. Action is isolated and this is a challenge. We need to develop a new strategy, such as that which began in Scotland: more targeted with systematic focus on phone banking and texting, disaggregated basis – we got 9 out of 32 across the line. We generally failed in the NHS. Re-ballots are much smaller. HE re-ballots had very bad outcomes. We need more lay ownership of systems. It is embarrassing that we are not leading the resistance to government attacks on public sector workers. We do have isolated pockets: Manchester Met University is heroically taking action today in a long-running dispute.

Question on how we can support people in Turkey and Syria following the terrible earthquake. Response: UNISON is speaking with unions in Turkey who are trying to launch an appeal but the Turkish government want it to be done through government. Syria is much more difficult as there are no free trade unions. We may be able to coordinate through Kurdish organisations, otherwise we would go through the Disaster Emergency Committee.

Year of Black Workers 2023: we would have special lanyards at national conference. Racism is on rise, fascists are increasingly standing in elections. There is an International Day of Action on Saturday 18th March with protests in all capital cities. UNISON will look to support this.

NHS demo: Save Our NHS / Support the Strikes on 11th March. UNISON is supporting this.

3) Presidential report

In the report there was a reference to National Delegate Conference 2022 and the reports the Presidential Team have received from upset and disillusioned delegates who felt the behaviour was disgusting and totally inappropriate for a UNISON conference. The Presidential Team do not believe that if such behaviour is repeated it should be tolerated this year. Examples included ongoing barracking of delegates speaking at the rostrum, including first-time speakers, and prolonged coordinated disruption of conference.

Some NEC members present complained that the intention to deal with such behaviour in 2023 was a ‘threat’ and intimidating. A Northern Ireland rep said that the Northern Ireland delegation will demonstrate and protest and will not be gagged. Other NEC members stated it was clear that NDC 2023 had been made a toxic event: we need a conference where everyone feels welcomed. We want the Presidential Team and Gen Secretary to work together on how to make this happen in 2023.

One NEC member asked for part of the statement which said she had disagreed with the General Secretary to be withdrawn and an NEC statement to be sent to all regional SOGs. In response, agreement was made to meet with the NEC rep.

NEC reps asked to hear more about a recent trip to Palestine by two NEC members and condemned what is happening there currently and called for UNISON to kickstart its support for the Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions campaign. It was agreed this will happen.

Question on Birmingham Equal pay campaign. Using job evaluation had not been maintained: no equal pay audits had been done. 600,000 won. But in discussions with the council, it is apparent Birmingham want to walk away from the scheme and use the Hay evaluation scheme, which is not appropriate for broad spread of jobs.

4) Motions to National conference

We had initially tried to have a motion on Hong Kong but had to drop this as the NEC is only allowed 12.

12 motions were therefore agreed by the NEC for NDC 2023 as follows:

Iran: Women, Life, Liberty Iran. Motion on the huge protests led by women against laws forcing the wearing of Hijab and also for Human Rights more generally.

Organising and recruitment strategy including plans for and a 10% target for recruiting new reps

Empowering UNISON members – political education courses to encourage participation

Taking effective action within the straitjacket of anti-trade union laws – how to overcome ballot thresholds, training courses on industrial action, learning from experiences.

Climate emergency post-COP27 and decarbonising. Crucial issue as the climate emergency becomes more acute daily.

Health and safety: the national crisis of stress and its impact on public sector workers.

Crisis in NHS and Social Care – urgent as services are increasingly broken with 600+ deaths a week due to delayed admissions.

Childcare, women and economic growth. UK has the highest childcare costs in world. Free childcare would boost economy by £13 billion.

Retained EU law and attack on workers’ rights. The clock could be turned back decades – removing protections on leave, TUPE, pregnancy, anti-discrimination, etc.

Defend the Right to Strike – new Minimum Services Thresholds Bill will deprive us of the right to strike.

Local Government and devolution

Effective use of our union’s resources to build our Industrial Action Fund and capacity to deliver effective industrial action.

Only Motion 12 received any significant debate on the day. Given this, we will publish separately the full motion and the discussion had at the Finance Committee of the NEC which agreed the motion.

On Motion 12, Effective use of our union’s resources to build our Industrial Action Fund and capacity to deliver effective industrial action, all NEC members agreed we need to grow our union to defend members. We need to support effective industrial action and that this is patchy at the moment, as we had heard previously in the meeting. We want to be able to do this better but need resources to improve. Some branches have very high reserves e.g. £250+ per member, which are never utilised. The union had a couple of exceptional years during the pandemic where reserves increased due to lower activity than usual. The motion proposes a one-off investment due to the current cost-of-living crisis, to use resources from those branches with the very highest reserves (over £113 per member), and this amount will be matched by national cash-in-hand reserves. The money will be put in to strengthen the Industrial Action Fund and projects to make us better able to meet ballot thresholds and take the action needed to win, such as rapid response teams to support industrial action in regions, improvements to phone and text infrastructure, etc. It still leaves those branches affected (197 out of 840) with very significant reserves of £113 per member.

As the government digs in we need to win more ballots to defend members’ pay, terms and conditions. Some NEC members argued we needed to postpone and wait. Others said we need urgently to improve our capacity to take action. In the North West, NEC delegates reported their own disputes team that mobilises support for any branch that faces possible industrial action and which has won many ballots as a result. It has never been more important for branches to be able to take action.  There is money out there in a minority of branches’ reserves which got much bigger during the pandemic. This would be a better use for that money than sitting in accounts with little interest and where it will never get spent. One NEC member was concerned if other unions do deliver positive ballot results and UNISON cannot. This could destabilise UNISON in the long-term if members leave for other unions. One teaching union had reported huge numbers of joiners since being the only teaching union to get over the threshold. Some NEC members stated UNISON should not have increased strike pay to £50 per day.

The motion was carried by 27 votes for, 15 against.

5) Rules changes to national conference

Non-gendered language to be applied throughout the rule book.

Honorary life membership: clarity that when nominated, members need to be in full membership.

All branches and UNISON meetings can be online, hybrid or face-to-face, which will enable branches who have not amended their own rules to hold online/hybrid meetings if they wish regardless of their own branch rules. (Best practice meeting protocols will be produced advising how to hold online/hybrid meetings.)

GDPR – all branch officers must do mandatory GDPR training within 3 months of taking office. There was some debate as whether this is in proportion to the level of risk and concern about what happens if officers do not do the training. Will officers be told they cannot be offices? Is it discriminatory towards low-paid workers, without facility time, who more likely to be female and Black? Carried 28 for, 10 against.

GDPR – the branch secretary must ensure the branch is compliant (this is an update to an existing rule).

6) Disciplinary issues
Agreed report.

7) Staffing report

Noted.

8) UNISON staff pensions

UNISON needs to pay into the Government pension protection scheme, a contingency plan all pension schemes pay into. We are using the UNISON centre as an asset to qualify for a saving on the levy. This saving has increased recently due to improvements in the position of UIA.

9) Finance update

The 2022 end of year management accounts were reported. These are still draft figures, which will be finalised fully in April. UNISON had a larger deficit budget than planned for, reflecting increased costs post pandemic, but particularly payroll costs for staff, and other inflationary costs.

Subs income was £172.6m, which was in line with budget but £2 million less than in 2021 (where membership had increased due to anxieties over Covid).

The end of year predicted deficit is £4.8 million (£2.7 million budgeted for) due mainly to Payroll costs. UNISON had budgeted for a 2% staff pay increase but the eventual settlement was much greater than this. Additional pension costs are also a key factor in additional expenditure.

UNISON had some savings from reduced costs: training held online, overhead costs reduced in regions, advertising budget was underspent.

UNISON also had some unanticipated overspends in some departments. The Finance Committee has discussed these and has asked for greater controls so that spending over agreed budgets is signed off formally on each occasion it happens, either by the Director of Finance, or the Finance Committee itself.

The NEC looked at projections for 2023-25. If Payroll grows at a time membership income is static or drops, this is problematic for the union. We need a long-term strategy for our Finances as the previous approach of ‘trimming back’ each year has now run out of road. Nevertheless, we are generally in a good financial state, with good reserves but need to develop a long-term strategy.

10) Organising update

185,000 new members had joined in 2022, the strongest areas being in Health and Scotland. Young member joiners are up 65%, which is a very positive trend.

UNISON ended 2022 with 4,000 new members net growth.

Biggest growth comes where ballots have taken place. Movement and peer to peer texting made a real difference.

Big gains are made where we are strategically organising e.g. NHS band 2 to band 3 campaigns.

Activist base – we had 2,279 new activists but overall it is a net loss.

11) Pay

Much of this was already covered in detail in the General Secretary’s earlier report and discussion.

Schools: £130m won in Term Time Only campaign. Case against NEU at TUC will be heard tomorrow.

Some NEC members expressed the need to draw in the mass of workers not currently on strike in health and local government, if we are to win on pay. There was a debate on the role of strike action and differing views expressed.

Report of UNISON National Executive Council 7th December 2022

General Secretary's report

A dispute with the NEU has been lodged at the TUC, as the NEU has been recruiting school support staff and actively seeking to discuss NJC pay for school and Further Education support staff. Christina was disappointed that 4 Socialist Party members of the NEC had criticised UNISON in a public statement about this. The chairs of Local Government, Schools Committee and Schools NJC made the decision.  Schools are over a third of local government branches. School budgets have been cut massively. The NEU is taking this up as they don’t want teacher pay rises to mean cuts to support staff. There was some criticism of UNISON informing employers of the inter-union dispute and our non-cooperation with the NEU, though Christina countered that the NEU were first to write to employers.

The NEU may get a positive ballot for action and our members will have to decide what to do. NEC members stated that circulars telling members what they cannot do at such times are unhelpful, and we need to focus on what members can do. There is a risk that more members will leave and join NEU. We do need to say we should show solidarity, in the morning before work and members should not do work done by striking colleagues.

In the heath ballot, Christina was disappointed that only 8 branches got over the 50% threshold but it was our best result ever with a 34% national turnout. 5 ambulance trusts will strike on 21st December and UNISON will reballot others that came close. 

Lots of unions are out on strike over pay, NEC members stated, many with increased intensity of strike days. We need to ensure real solidarity and there was a call for lunchtime rallies for ambulance strikers on 21st December.

Together We Rise campaign – there had been a lobby of Parliament and rally, which received good press coverage. Christina had been on a TUC delegation to Madrid, where it was refreshing to hear Spain has a socialist coalition government unapologetically speaking up for workers’ rights.

An NEC member reported on a legal ruling in Scotland regarding a UNISON member who wanted to stand in a local election and was sacked for this. She won in court with a discrimination claim. Christina would ensure this was reviewed for its implications by our own legal team.

Presidential Team’s report

The President’s charity (the Endeavour Project) removes barriers for victims of domestic abuse and violence to leave e.g. pet care, which can stop people leaving horrendous situations. There was support from the NEC for this. Thanks were given for presidential team attending disabled members conference.

Standing Orders for NEC meetings

Standing orders were agreed for NEC meetings. It is surprising that the NEC has no standing orders or rules for its meetings. These were necessary to help the NEC get through business. For example, points of order are now clarified as to what these are and how to raise them, which should reduce unwarranted interruptions to NEC meetings.

Organising update

There has been a big increase in membership particularly in health branches for October and November during the health ballot. Scotland has also done particularly well. In June 2022 we had lost 21,000 members net, but by November 2022 this had turned into a 6,000 net gain. Mobilisations over pay would continue into 2023 so there was every reason to be optimistic about membership.

The Assistant General Secretary for Regions confirmed the improvements to the paper presented which was much shorter and not consisting only of reams of crude statistics. Papers would in future deliver more analysis rather than bare statistics

Service Group pay campaigns

Pay is the biggest issue for members. There is a 2% public service pay cap for next year. There is a desire to take action earlier than UNISON has done previously on pay claims. UNISON is currently re-balloting 49 branches with HE members who were close to 50% previously. We will be using Movement, the union’s new phone banking system, which is much better than previous systems, as part of this.

We missed out on the environmental health ballot by one vote nationally, which shows that every vote really does count. There was discussion about tactics during ballots, and that publicity that appeals only to those already convinced of the need to vote YES could be complemented by publicity later in the ballot which seeks to persuade all members of the need to have their say, regardless of their views.

At the Environment Agency, members are much angrier now than previous years and got a good ballot result. Their action will start as action short of strike action, alongside some strikes in out of hours work (for which the pay is extremely low). This is being coordinated with other trade unions.

At CQC, there has been an offer of 2%, so we are moving to ballot.

In FE, local action is likely.

In Health, the consultation on an improved offer (worth 7.5% on the pay bill) ends next week in Scotland. If this is accepted by members, it makes clear there is a political choice to increase pay as this offer comes from the Scottish devolved government.

Northern Ireland has no government currently so nothing settled so far on pay. Action short of strike action will take place this week, and strike action starts next week.

England and Wales, where we have 300,000 members who were balloted: thanks went from the NEC to all who helped. Last time there was a national health ballot, the turnout was 14%, this time the average was 34%. 8 employers got over the line in England, including 5 ambulance trusts who had done work previously on getting home address data beforehand and who all had good pledge responses before the ballot.

The closest next 10 employers will be re-balloted quickly. West Midlands ambulance trust got 49.5% turnout, 17 votets short and where 19 members had spoilt their ballots. 81,000 members took part, up from 26,000 in 2014. 830 staff and activists helped phonebank with Movement through a whole-union effort. 140,000 members were emailed or accepted a call, Many said they would vote but we must conclude that many didn’t. Work will done as a matter of urgency to understand what members thought of the campaign and to learn lessons. We have commissioned research already: was it the message (too strong for YES, perhaps putting off NO voters from voting at all) or people being too busy, or something else. In 50 employers, 80% of members were contacted. We need to understand why it was less is many others.

The first strike will be on 21st December and will be mainly ambulance trust members. Rolling action will follow in January and February. We are planning now for: Industrial Action strategy; the re-balloting project; solidarity action to take for those members who cannot strike; learning from the ballot (research commissioned as above). We can regard the ballot as a building exercise. We have proved in some employers it can be done, we now have to use that mandate wisely and build elsewhere.

Coordinates strike action – does not necessarily mean all members coming out at the same time. We may sequence branches taking action after a first day.

Work is being done to improve donation levels to strike funds.

Industrial action report

The chair of the Industrial Action Fund reported that we are winning smaller disputes and reported back on Barnet’s successful dispute in local government, and several others. It was resolved that the NEC would write to all such branches and thank them. There are lots more ballots than ever before.

Finance

The management accounts for the 10 months to 31st October 2022 were approved. There was an operating deficit of £1.2m rather than £2.3m predicted for the first ten months. The Finance Committee will be reviewing the larger variances in budget lines at its next meeting in January where it will also have the draft full year results.

UNISON Direct

UNISON Direct is now directly governed by UNISON after UIA Insurance (which used to run it) was agreed to be wound down due to not being a going concern. The NEC will be asked to elect three nominees to support the work of governing and developing UNISON Direct henceforth.

National Standing Orders Committee

It was agreed unanimously that Becky Brookman would replace Amerit Rait, who could not stay on the committee due to becoming Vice-President.

Motions not reached at conference

The NEC was presented with a paper outlining which paid officers will pick up the motions, however it was agreed that it is easy to lose track as an NEC member the outcomes of the motions. The President acknowledged this and agreed to seek a paper from officers which would help to keep the NEC updated.

Motions not reached will go back to relevant committees for discussion.

Report of UNISON National Executive Council 12th October 2022

The meeting heard from Lesia Semeniaka, the international officer of Atomprofspilka, the Nuclear Power and Industry Workers Union in Ukraine. Lesia thanked UNISON for its moral and financial support. She talked of recent civilian victims of Russian attacks, together with attacks on infrastructure and on educational and cultural sites.

The NEC’s Chair of its International Committee thanked Lesia and stated the presentation had shown the horror of war. Putin should never have invaded and should pull out. War only benefits our rulers and the arms industry. The potential for escalation was frightening. There were people in Russia who were opposed to the war. The Tories were trying to get people to accept that the Cost of Living crisis was mainly down to the war.

General Secretary’s report – Christina McAnea. There was a new PM and Chancellor who were in favour of redistribution from the poor to the rich. There was no pretence at one nation Toryism any longer. The NHS pay ballot was a priority for the union with 400,000 members in the NHS balloted from 27th October in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Together We Rise campaign – the union wants every MP to be visited by a member at the lobby of Parliament on 2nd November organised jointly with the TUC.

An NEC member asked if UNISON was supporting the Britain is Broken demo on 5th November in London called by People’s Assembly and a number of trade unions and if so could we publicise it to members. In reply an Assistant General Secretary said we would advertise the demo but the priority was the lobby of Parliament on 2nd November.

The Presidential Team gave a report. NEC members have now been offered the Trans Ally training and this had been successfully implemented. The Development and Organisation Committee had been offered Show Racism the Red Card training and this was now being rolled out to all NEC members. The President called for volunteers to sign up to the Ambassador training. The President announced her chosen charity for the year: the Endeavour Project (a domestic abuse support service).

There was an item on proposed NEC Standing Orders on the agenda. The President stated that she has received complaints that papers are circulated sometimes up to the night before a meeting, the meeting is often dominated by points of order which are not technically points of order which holds up progress of meetings, and that some speakers are not managing the length of their contributions, all in all making it harder to get through business. The President also had concerns that access standards were not being met. It was surprising that a union like UNISON had no standing orders for its NEC meetings. In line with the proposed standing orders they had been sent out in advance of the meeting with a request for amendments.

An NEC member proposed they be tabled to another meeting as they had not read the papers. The President Andrea Egan stated that if there were any amendments they should have been circulated prior to the meeting as requested. Standing Orders would deal with timeliness of papers (being sent out a week prior to the meeting rather than tabled on the day), access issues, etc. The proposal to defer consideration of Standing Orders was lost. For – 22, Against – 27, abstentions – 3.

National Delegate Conference motions were discussed. The General Secretary had submitted a paper on this as had the Presidential Team. The General Secretary said she was in agreement with most of the Presidential Team’s document but would like a further discussion on Motion 11, around the vote of no confidence passed in the NEC. Issues referred to were rebuilding trust and confidence in the NEC from branches and regions, should there be symbolic resignations from the NEC, dealing with issues of factionalism, etc. The President said we were now coming together since Conference and dealing with the pressing issues our members face such as the cost of living crisis and pay ballots. The President reminded the NEC that Motion 11 stated that the NEC had been concentrated on internal issues at the expense of being outward facing and it was positive that work was developing on a number of fronts to deal with the challenges confronting the union and its members.

Another NEC member stated that some elements of the general secretary’s paper had been settled at the end of Conference. The NEC had voted against resigning en masse and also against symbolic resignations already. The new Presidential Team had a Black member and moves had already been made to address representation on NEC strategic committees. Progress was being made on relations with the Equality Liaison Committee. A Black members’ rep on the NEC has joined the NEC Staffing Committee. Factionalism was as old as the Labour movement itself and always existed in UNISON, said one NEC member.

An NEC member reported Rule I investigations had been controversial in previous NEC terms, with court rulings found against the union. They did not agree that because officers say something the NEC cannot disagree with it in a member-led union.

It was proposed some of the elements of the general secretary’s report be included in the Presidential Team’s report on the motions passed at NDC.

A vote was taken on the proposal for individual/symbolic resignations. Following debate on the union needing stability at this critical time and facing once in a lifetime challenges – this was lost. The NEC affirmed its position on this taken at an NEC meeting during national delegate conference.

A vote on whether to revisit a number of previous decisions taken on Rule I investigations was lost: For 23, Against 27. Debate centred around how far you could go back and for which decisions. There was a danger in opening floodgates to multiple requests to reopen processes.

A vote on rebuilding relationships with constituent parts of the union was carried: For 29, Against 2.

A vote on ‘compromise’ between factions on the NEC which would require changing the membership of strategic committees of the NEC: For 24, Against 28, Abstentions 0. An NEC member on their second term said they had served two terms on the NEC and there was always a majority faction and a minority faction. The issue was about discussing different strategies and how best we organise for members. This recognises union democracy and is necessary.

It was proposed to amend the Presidential Team paper to include that the general secretary reserved the right to advise that if NEC actions were outside the rule book based on legal advice, she would instruct staff not to implement them. For 23, Against 23. The Chair took the casting vote against. Therefore, the proposal was lost. The chair explained that the proposition was a given and did not require an amendment to the paper.

A vote was taken on the Presidential Team report on Motions 9, 10 and 11 from NDC.

Motion 9: For 42, Against 0.

Motion 10: For 29, Against 19, Abstain 1.

Motion 11: as amended (to work with Regions, etc.) For 36, Against 11, Abstain 1.

It was agreed to defer the item on Standing Orders to the next meeting after all as time was running short after previous lengthy debate and voting, with other pressing items still to come.

A Black NEC member was elected to the Staff Pensions Committee (providing governance and oversight to the staff pension scheme).

The Disciplinary Report was agreed.

NEC election procedures – these had been revised in the same way as Service Group election procedures. A pdf paper outlining differences between versions going forward had some of the words missing due to a document formatting error; the corrected version was recirculated during the meeting. Covid protocols had been removed. Branches can now hold hybrid meetings without the need for Officer attendance. Previously two signatories on nomination forms were required (the Chair and Secretary) – this was now amended to either the Chair or the Secretary. Officers explained that this would make the nomination process more efficient. The procedures had been through Development and Organisation subcommittee of the NEC.

The vote to adopt the new election procedures was carried. For 28, Against 12, Abstentions 8.

Staffing Committee – a pay offer had gone out to staff trade unions for consultation. Recruitment and Selection procedures for temporary appointments now included lay NEC members, which had been negotiated with the staff trade unions. The details of the pay negotiations are currently confidential to the Staffing Committee.

The Year of Black Workers 2023 – It was reported that £30,000 would be committed to this important campaign, should the NEC approve it. A vote for UNISON to make 2023 the Year of Black Workers was carried: For 46, Against 0.

Service Group updates – there was detailed discussion of how other parts of the union could help with the critical NHS pay ballot e.g. retired members and other activists beyond Health. The NEC encouraged members to make use of the new facilities that had been improved and provided to support ballots by the NEC, such as the new phone banking system (Movement), and peer to peer texting.

Organising update – it was noted that membership was growing slightly due to the various pay claims and campaigns. Industrial activity encourages new members to join. The work on the D&O Committee Organising Strategy continues and was reported. It was suggested this would possibly give end of year growth despite Health sector data cleansing over the summer to prepare for the strike ballot.

NDC motions booklet – this was noted. Motions will now be allocated to relevant sub committees.

There was a pro forma to complete by NEC members to review of National Delegate Conference. Feedback will be sent to the national Standing Orders Committee to aid planning for NDC 2023.

The meeting ended.

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