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.

Next

Report of UNISON National Executive Council 7th September 2022

This meeting was a second additional meeting to the usual cycle, following July’s, and was of a shorter length (3 hours compared to the usual 6.5 hours).

This NEC meeting focussed exclusively on NDC Motions 9, 10 and 11 and the NEC’s response to them. The discussions were ‘starred’ meaning they should not be reported on in public, at least for the time being. A good discussion was held though actions could not be definitively concluded in the time alotted. The meeting ended with the NEC agreeing unanimously it had made good progress in a helpful meeting and would take up discussion further at its October meeting.

Additional decisions:

The NEC agreed to remove Kath Owen (one of previous Presidential Team) as one of three Trustees of the union, at Kath’s request due to family reasons. It was agreed Libby Nolan as new Vice-President would replace her. Kath has also stood down as a Staff Pension Scheme trustee and an open nomination process would take place to find a replacement. 

The NEC agreed to a request from its International Committee to donate £5,000 to the Pakistani floods disaster appeal. 

It was agreed that National Black Members’ representative April Ashley would go on the Staffing Committee (as recommended by the National Black Members Committee).

Report of UNISON National Executive Council 26th July 2022

The meeting was an additional meeting to the usual cycle and was of a shorter length (3 hours compared to the usual 6.5 hours).

General Secretary report

Christina McAnea gave her General Secretary report. 

It has been a good TUC demo on June 19th.

Tories are tearing each other apart, but their drift rightward is a concern. 

On pay, the local government offer was £1,925. The claim was for £2,000 or RPI inflation. The offer has got nowhere near inflation except for the very bottom of the pay scale.

There has been a big meeting of the staff and lay leaderships (Presidential Team; Industrial Action Committee chair; Service Group chairs; Chair of Policy Committee) to discuss the cost of living crisis and what we need to do to get strike ready. There will be a meeting of Regional Secretaries also next week to discuss the same and the deployment of staff resources.

We do not underestimate the challenge. We have very large groups of public sector members. The only other union close is RCN with 400,000. We may ballot one million members. Scale is a real challenge for us which some unions do not face. But we have no alternative but to push ahead with this work.

We are talking with other trade unions. If UNISON’s 1,200 staff only did strike preparation work, it would still not be enough so need to build capacity on ground.

The Scottish ballot of 26,000 local government workers closes today. This will let us see if the efforts made there have worked. Several hundred staff have been doing phone banking, pls us the union has used text messaging.

The NEC’s Industrial Action Committee has offered full pay for the lowest paid members called on to strike in Scotland Local Government ballot.

Scotland Health are also doing a consultative ballot which finishes next week; the NEC sent a message of support.

Branches who do better generally with ballot turnouts have more activism before a ballot.

The union is looking at better, quicker, easier to access systems to do telephone banking, allowing us to be more flexible, with scripts etc so we can ring more people. There will be a report to the Development & Organisation Committee about this.

None of the pay offers are fully funded and government will try and play off staff and services.

The NEC agreed messages of support to AQA and OCS members who are on strike this week in the North West. 

The union is launching a Judicial Review regarding the Government change in law to bring in agency workers during strike action.

There has been a win on holiday pay for term-time workers in the Supreme Court. The NEC sent congratulations to the team who had worked on it.

It is good that the Rwanda flights have not gone ahead. UNISON is supporting the next day of action against this which coincides with the next court case in September. Credit is due to the PCS for their legal challenge to this. It was confirmed branches will receive notice of the September court case so they can support any actions around this.

There has been a good legal decision that Long Covid is a covered by the Equality Act. 

Presidential Team report

Amerit Rait, Vice-President, reported for the Presidential Team:

On equality, the Presidential Team has had several meetings with the National Black Members Committee on increasing participation.

Julia Mwaluke will join the Industrial Action Committee.

There has been discussion about a member of the NEC elected to a National Black Members seat joining the Staffing Committee. April Ashley is agreed to replace Sarah Littlewood as Sarah has asked to come off due to personal reasons. The four Black Members rep will meet again for a final discussion on this.

National Disabled Members seat representatives also asked for a place on the Staffing Committee. Two of the current membership of the Staffing Committee declared in the meeting that they had disabilities that maybe are not be visible to others but that disabled members of the NEC are represented.

Further meetings with other national Self Organised Group chairs are planned. 

There is a recommendation for a seminar on the cost-of-living crisis by agreement between Presidential Team and General Secretary. 

The UNISON TUC Delegation was updated to include the two new Vice-Presidents, Amerit Rait and Libby Nolan.

Two additional Labour Party Conference delegates were proposed by the Presidential Team, Mandy Buckley and Mark Fisher.

Cost of Living crisis

On the 19th September there will be a large lobby of Parliament held. 

Health have been offered £1,400 flat rate (one third less than local government). This will go to ballot but nature of ballot is yet to be discussed by the Health SGE.

A Higher Education ballot is currently underway.

To win ballots we need more activists. The union is looking at a formal category of activists: ‘Pay activists’. 

The TUC public services meeting discussed aggregate versus disaggregate ballots. 

Mileage rates is still a huge issue. Should we consider how we lobby HMRC or other forms of action by members, such as refusing to use cars when not contractually obliged to? New bargaining guidance on mileage rates is out. 

NEC members felt that it was right that the cost-of-living was a priority for the union. It was raised whether the union could hold a national meeting online similar to the one in December 2021.

A statement by the NEC on the Cost-of-Living crisis for branches and members was agreed.

Two papers on NDC conference motions were not reached and will be discussed at an additional NEC meeting to be scheduled in early September.

National Executive Council statement 26th July 2022

The NEC wants to thank and congratulate all UNISON activists, members, and staff who ensured we had a tremendous turnout on the 18th June TUC Demo in London. It was a great day and the level of engagement from our union, especially coming immediately after our National Delegates Conference, was deeply inspiring.

Demonstrations, however great they are, should never be stand-alone events. They need to lead to activity focused on delivering on our objectives – and there is no greater objective at the moment than defeating the cost-of-living crisis and ensuring fair pay for working people. So, it was wonderful to leave the demo and find ourselves immediately thrust into activity to support the RMT dispute – a dispute which has focused everybody’s minds on the inequality that exists within our society and the power ordinary people have to fight for what’s right. We congratulate everyone who made it to an RMT picket line or strike rally, or helped spread the message through social media that their fight is our fight. We will continue to support the RMT and other unions approaching key disputes, including Unite at British Airways and the CWU in BT and Royal Mail to name just a few.

Not only are we proud to support other unions in dispute, but we are especially proud of UNISON members and branches fighting back. We send our solidarity and support to OCS strikers in the North West, St. Monica’s strikers in the South West, University of Leeds strikers in Yorkshire and Humberside and all UNISON members everywhere demanding fair treatment and decent wages and working conditions.

At our recent National Delegates Conference, our General Secretary Christina McAnea made it clear that in order to secure the pay awards we deserve, our union needs to be “strike ready”. The NEC intends to do all we can to heed this call. As an NEC we are committed to taking action on the motions agreed at NDC and we fully recognise the urgent need to tackle cost of living crisis.

Starting with our own NEC and committee meetings, we will ensure that every meeting includes an agenda item on “How we defeat the cost-of-living crisis”, in order to guarantee this question is a clear focus of the work we undertake and that we are able to throw the full weight of our union behind tackling this urgent challenge. 

Our Industrial Action Committee has already raised strike pay, but this is not just a question for that particular committee. 

Our Finance Committee will be doing all it can to make sure our resources are directed to organising for ballots and the action that may follow. 

Our Policy committee will be working with Christina and her team to ensure our communications strategy continually reinforces our need to be strike ready, offering best practice examples from branches that are well-versed in achieving strong ballot results and highlighting testimony from members who are struggling under the weight of low pay. 

The Development and Organisation committee are already undertaking focus work on organising, and this will be incorporated into ongoing work plans. They will also be bringing forward our experiences around organising from all corners and across all representatives within our committees, locally, regionally, and nationally.

Notes that the Campaign Fund Committee has already committed significant funding to campaign on the cost of living crisis and encourages regions and branches to access the fund.

As an NEC we will play our part in showing UNISON members that we are up for this fight and we hope in turn that this will inspire branches to do the same, convincing members that when the ballots come, there is every reason to vote and every reason to vote for action if that is what is required.

We know that engaging and inspiring our activists will be vital if we are to succeed, so we intend to build on the activist rally we had last December and organise a similar (but bigger) event, a “Cost of Living Summit” with a clear focus on how we win on pay…and we want to use this and other initiatives to increase the number of UNISON activists because we know that makes us all stronger.

We aim to be as proactive as possible, and we want everyone reading this to feel the same way. We want service groups to know that we will help them to coordinate activity where possible and that if they want to organise activity in advance of ballots to capture the anger that exists over pay – lobbies of parliament, town hall meetings, online rallies – we will support them to do so. In fact, we want branches, regions, service groups, self-organised groups and anyone else to know that if you have a plan, or even an idea on how we can strengthen ourselves to win for our members, the NEC will support you.

It is vital that we deliver for UNISON members and the NEC doesn’t intend to leave a single stone unturned to do so. The time for action is now. Enough is enough. We demand better and UNISON is ready to fight for it!

Statement of the NEC, agreed at its meeting held on 26 July 2022. 

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.

 

 

 

Report of UNISON National Executive Council 6th October 2021

To start the NEC meeting, Kath Owen, Vice President welcomed us all to the meeting from the Conference centre on the 9^th floor of the UNISON centre in London. This was a hybrid meeting with most logged on at home or wherever based. Christina McAnea, General Secretary and other senior officers and committee chairs were in the UNISON centre.

Kath explained that she wished to bring a series of resolutions to the NEC meeting which had been circulated to all NEC members the previous weekend. Legal advice from the Executive office had also been circulated to members. (The latter about an hour before this meeting.) NEC members were reminded they were elected by their constituent members. The resolutions highlighted issues that had been encountered by the Presidential team since they had come into office and Kath stated NEC members had a right to have their say on the motions. We would need a record of who has been able to vote.

An officer stated that the legal advice sought and distributed just prior to the meeting was of the view that 4 of the 6 motions breached the existing rule book and would need rule changes to National Delegate Conference next year. Kath stated that the view of the Presidential team was that the resolutions concerned interpretation of existing rule, not creating new rules. The interpretation of rule was the NEC role in between conferences, as also set out in the rulebook.

A point of order was raised asking could we have a vote on whether the motions could be heard and could this be a roll call vote. The roll call vote was taken on whether to hear the motions and the result was:

For 37, Against 26, 0 abstentions.

Andrea Egan, Vice President introduced the motions.

Andrea reminded us that under Rule 2.1 management and control of the union between National Delegate Conference is vested in the NEC with full power and authority to act on behalf of the union in every respect and for every purpose falling within objects of the union and this is a member-led union where the role of staff is to carry out lawful instructions of the NEC. The motions are designed to assist in ensuring decisions of the NEC and those decisions where the NEC has delegated its powers are carried out efficiently and promptly.

Resolution 1 Pursuant to Rules D.2.1, D.2.8, and D.2.11.9 the NEC resolves to convene every other month and that the current cycle of Committee meetings will continue as at present but with each Committee reporting to the next NEC meeting.

An NEC member seconded the resolution stating more meetings would help as we have significantly overrun and run out of time at NEC meetings very often and this causes problems for disabled NEC members, those with caring commitments and when NEC members need to return to work. It would also give us more opportunity to mobilise and campaign effectively for our members. The NEC member noted that at the July 14 2021 NEC meeting we were told a simple motion setting the date of the next NEC meeting was unlawful but now the external legal advice sought by the Executive office agreed this was lawful, demonstrating how significantly legal advice can vary and change.

For 44, Against 20, 2 abstentions.

Resolution 2 Pursuant to Rules D.2.1 and D.2.9 the NEC appoints a Committee consisting of the President and Vice-Presidents (the quorum for which shall be two) to be known as ‘the Presidential Team’ to which it delegates, between meetings of the NEC, the NEC’s powers (including the power to direct the General Secretary from time to time as may be necessary pursuant to Rules D.2.13.1 and E.3.1) other than powers it has delegated to the Development and Organisation Committee. The Presidential Team shall seek the endorsement of the next NEC meeting for any such exercise of its delegated powers.

An NEC member outlined arguments for in seconding the motion: The Presidential Team effectively acts as a committee, but this is not properly codified; there are no clear guidelines or boundaries to work within; all powers are based on precedent, not all of which is clear to lay members or has an obvious rationale; the NEC needs clarity on what powers it is delegating to its Presidential Team and requires it to report back on decisions taken.

For 38, Against 26, 0 abstentions.

Resolution 3: Pursuant to Rule D.2.1, D2.9 and D.2.11.15 the NEC directs the Presidential Team to instruct (through the Union’s legal department or such other solicitor as the Presidential Team thinks fit) counsel of the Presidential Team’s choice, at such a time and in such terms as the Presidential Team consider appropriate, to advise the NEC on any matter which the Presidential Team consider warrants such advice.

An NEC member spoke whilst seconding the motion: Legal opinion is always open to interpretation. The Motion explicitly argues to go through the legal department, but gives the NEC, as the client, the right to choose in regard to which external counsel is used.

For 38, Against 26, Abstention 0.

Resolution 4 Pursuant to Rules D.2.1, D.2.9 and the preamble to Schedule D, the NEC delegates to its Development and Organisation Committee all its powers in relation to disciplinary matters which are subject to Rule C.7.4, Rule I and Schedule D. That Committee shall seek the endorsement of the next NEC meeting for any such exercise of its delegated powers.

An NEC member seconded the motion and stated that if we passed this resolution we would have codified and clarified what the situation is, which is all the motion seeks to do. 

For 38, Against 22, Abstentions 3.

Resolution 5 Pursuant to Rule A.2, D.2.1, D.2.11.1, D.2.11.2, D.2.11.3 and Rule C.7.4, the NEC rules that Rule C.7.4 gives jurisdiction to the NEC (and the Development and Organisation Committee exercising its delegated powers) the duty to consider the suspension of any member or branch suspended for more than 4 weeks where such suspension has not been considered by the NEC or the Development and Organisation Committee in the last 4 weeks and, as it thinks fit, remove or continue the suspension.

An NEC member stated in seconding the motion there was insufficient lay oversight of the process after a suspension has been approved. It can then go out of view. It is important there are checks and balances processes can drag on and we don’t want a suspension to become a sanction. The motion asks for a review every 4 weeks.

Another NEC member said this is not about whether people should or should not be suspended it is if people are suspended should that suspension be reviewed. No one should be on an indefinite suspension without review. There are currently no checks and balances and often cases have dragged on for years. We want a reasonable process - no one would sign up to a process where suspensions were not reviewed. Welfare support to suspended members is non-existent and should be reviewed.

For 36, Against 26, Abstentions 0.

Resolution 6 Pursuant to Rules C.2.4, C.7.1.1, D.2.1 and D.2.2.4, the NEC directs that any member holding elected office within the Union or holding an elected seat on a Committee of the Union who is dismissed by their  employer shall, on notifying the General Secretary within one month of such dismissal, continue to be a member of the union from the date of dismissal until such time as the NEC decides otherwise or the member resigns from the union, and whilst such a member shall be entitled to hold office in the union and, in particular, shall continue to hold every office and sit on every Committee in the union to which they have been elected or appointed for the remainder of the term of such office or seat, unless and until the NEC decides otherwise or the member resigns from such office or seat.

An NEC member seconded the resolution: We are a union that supports its activists should they go through a dismissal process. We want elected union officers and committee members to know this so we will need to communicate this new process to activists so they both understand the process and know that as a union, we have their back, particularly where they may be victimised by their employer. If a dismissal turns out to be fair, the membership can be terminated as normal. The motion put some process around rules already in place that allow the NEC to continue membership of dismissed members as it wishes. Any member dismissed could write to ask for their membership to be continued, which would then be reviewed at the next NEC meeting and could be terminated as normal if the NEC so desired.

For 35, Against 26, Abstentions 1.

The Vice-President thanked all for contributing and voting and asked the legal department to instruct Lord Hendy QC, the UK’s leading QC on Trade union law, to advise in writing on the 6 motions. If anything was found to be unconstitutional, motions could be nullified.

An Officer stated any instruction issued to staff based upon an unlawful resolution is not a legitimate instruction. The member of staff can decide not to comply without any disciplinary sanction. The Vice-Presidents agreed with this proposition but re-stated their view that the motions passed were lawful.

General Secretary report

Christina McAnea relayed that we had been trying to get YES votes in various pay ballots. A good result at the University of Dundee against detrimental changes to their pension scheme. Difficulty of getting greater than 50% turnout in consultative and statutory ballots was referred to. We have been looking at what do we need to be doing to improve turnout in ballots.

Black History month – a lot of work is underway, a priority for us in terms of the comms sent to members.

Health conference in September. This was thought to go very well. Sadly, we have lost Tam Waterson of UNISON Scotland who died, a big loss to the union.

Key focus of the next period will be what we do on Climate Change. There was COP26 at the start of November. Branches are encouraged to do something during COP26 and ensure a big Trade Union presence on protests. There would be regional protests.

The Chair of PDCC (Policy, Developments and Campaigns Committee NEC committee) Tony Wright read out a statement on COP26:

UNISON NEC fully supports the call for a UK trade union mobilisation to join the Day of Action for Climate Justice on the 6th November 2021 in Glasgow and other UK key cities and regions. UNISON was proudly one of the first trade unions to support the work of the COP26 Coalition. UNISON will work side by side with the Coalition to mobilise our members and to get workers voices heard so that governments hear loudly and clearly our demand for a just transition and public ownership to deliver a fair and just Climate Emergency response in solidarity with the Global South.

The Chair of Finance Dan Sartin raised the Liverpool conference centre decision to hold an Arms Fair there that has led to calls to boycott and discussions were starting to explore finding alternative venues. Disabled members conference will go ahead because it is imminent, but we will look at the branch and financial impact of not using the Liverpool conference centre and whether it has broken the ethical supplier policy. The General Secretary has been asked by the Finance Committee to intervene with the centre to make clear we will stop using it asap if they do not change course. Dan, as the Chair of the Finance Committee, was due to get a report from officers by the end of the week.

Labour Party Conference – An NEC member raised that many NEC members have been contacted by members complaining about UNISON’s vote on Labour Party rule changes, particularly the process for electing the leader, whereby they will now need 20% of Labour MPs to get on the ballot paper. Lots of Labour policies under the Starmer leadership are no longer UNISON policies, the delegate felt. The response given by an Assistant General Secretary was that the full delegation had a discussion and voted to support the package. A full report will go to the National Labour Link Committee.

A question about the makeup of the Branch Resources Review (BRR) implementation team that now has 3 regional convenors on it, and not all 12 convenors as representation. A request was made by one NEC delegate that all 12 Regions are represented. The Presidential team had received the correspondence from the delegate and has looked at the make-up of the team: we cannot meet everyone’s demands but the BRR will be a regular standing item on the NEC agenda, so progress can be tracked.

/NEC Report Ends

Personal report of the UNISON National Executive Council 7th April 2021

Kesk trade unionists in Turkey – we sent a message of support to those on trial and called on the Turkish government to drop charges on trade unionists.

There was an additional NEC meeting for discussion of amendments to conference motions - 7th May 2021.

Best wishes were sent to ex National Officer for Water, Environment and Transport, Dave Johnson as well as communications officer Lucy Hyndley who had recently retired.

The NEC passed motions ahead of the special delegate conference in June on the impact of COVID-19 on UNISON members, public services and working life and securing an equal and sustainable post-pandemic settlement. A presentation on how this will be run was subsequently received during the meeting.

Christina McAnea - General Secretary report

Sleep-ins ruling – disappointment was expressed, we were still fighting, model letters would be provided for branches to use with employers who might try and take advantage. The legal team were thanked for their hard work.

Public sector pay – there were different campaigns in different groups and different countries e.g. 4% to NHS in Scotland, another offer to Universities (disaggregated ballot in those that choose to be balloted) with a recommendation to reject.  

We were looking at a coordinated pay campaign across the public sector – fairness for public sector workers, we want to raise anger levels amongst members and need to get more information out to members. Our campaign was linked to the May elections – to get Labour elected where we can e.g. in Wales again, Mayoral and Council elections – “The results of these elections will have a direct impact on the lives of our members,” the general secretary said.

The TUC public services liaison meeting was chaired by Christina  – there was a strong feeling of needing to work collectively – to reverse pay freeze and cuts.

Local disputes were referred to - Fire and Rehire, changes to terms and conditions, failure to implement national terms e.g. Agenda for Change. Some long running e.g. Heartlands porters – significant hardship if implemented, still facing fire and rehire. UNISON Scotland were consulting on local government pay.

If we win at local level, it helps to build. If we do move to national ballots, we want to make sure it is successful. 

Our work was still supporting people through covid. We wanted a vaccine in all countries not just the wealthier ones. Look outwards as well as looking after our members. “We continue to be a union campaigning on wider international issues and will continue to ensure that vaccines are being made available in developing countries. This is a global pandemic and it needs a global response.”

We recommitted to the importance of member and activist education and union learning reps after the government closed the union learning fund.

NEC members raised questions and made contributions:

There was the outrageous Sewell report which denied the existence of institutional racism and whether we can do something to mark the anniversary of George Floyd’s murder in May.

Rules were broken in the recent General Secretary election - 67 complaints (85%) were upheld.

Questions on Public sector pay – are we coordinating, are we rejecting the Scottish NHS offer of 4%, if not this will lead to further demoralisation amongst NHS workers. What is the strategy about NHS pay, members are angry what they lack is belief in UNISON having a strategy. We need more joint union campaigns.

Not for the first time concerns were raised regarding the lack of information being provided to the NEC following the submission of some 80+ complaints regarding the recent General Secretary’s election. Additionally, 6 or so years on we still haven’t received the oft requested full report into the “UNISONGATE” affair.

Sleep-ins – the North West had asked all labour councils to continue to pay proper rate. Can we do this nationally? 

Can we start planning demos, particularly given the outrageous proposals in Police and Crime Bill? Answer - Lots to oppose in the Bill fighting to get as many changes as we can and whether we need to provide additional advice once we can do demos. 

Recruitment figures - re Health and Safety reps are better. 28 April 2021 was International Workers memorial day – Remember the Dead and Fight for the Living. 

Reports from committees:

Development and Organisation - Recruitment was good in January, most recruitment in schools. UNISON and National Education Union encouraged direct action using section 44. When we take a stand and do something we attract members. 

Trade Union education has been cut but looking at alternative provision. 

Disciplinary action report:

For the first time I can remember, a vote was taken on the acceptance or not of the disciplinary report due to the inordinate time (17 months in one case which is still not complete) and which would be unacceptable in the majority if not all of the employers UNISON organises in. The acceptance vote scraped in by 23/21 with nobody present knowing what to do if it had have fallen!

I voted against acceptance.