Not quite live blogging at the Regional Local Government Executive

Not quite live blogging here but I’m in a coffee break at the UNISON Greater London Regional Local Government Executive.

I think I can safely say that this is the only place on the internet where you can read reports of this august body as its meeting takes place…

We have looked at recruitment statistics, and thanked our Chair, David Eggmore for working out some percentages. Overall recruitment this year is disappointing but some branches are doing very well and we have agreed to look in more detail at success stories, and also at cases where recruitment is particularly poor.

We also considered a report back from Local Government Conference and instructed our representative on the Standing Orders Committee for that Conference, Malcolm Campbell about our concerns. It was absurd that the Conference could not debate pensions (and for those who believe that Regional Local Government Committees may not move Emergency Motions to Service Group Conference I would invite you to consider Rule P1.3.5 (and the punctuation in particular!)

There are also concerns at the inconsistent approach adopted to Rule P1.3.6 and to the increasingly restrictive approach of all our Standing Orders Committees who no longer seem primarily to exist to facilitate debate and discussion – perhaps a Rule Amendment will be required.

Immediately before the coffee break we considered the consultation on the pay dispute – the deadline for branches to communicate members’ views to the Region is 26 July and most branches appear to be planning to hold consultative ballots.

Update just after noon - we are back in session and debating pensions. Myself, Glenn Kelly and Malcolm Campbell have all just expressed the view that branches must be permitted to act upon branch decisions to recommend a "no" vote in contradiction to the national recommendation. The Chair has agreed that branches are entitled to make their own recommendations and that there is no need to seek further clarification. It has been agreed not to seek further clarification and to accept that branches may make their own recommendations.

Another update a few minutes later - we are moving on to discuss pay and grading reviews so I shall stop live blogging in case I inadvertantly say something about Equal Pay without adequate forethought. Anyway I need to recharge my batteries...