Now -read the book!

Here is a link to my memoirs which, if you are a glutton for punishment, you can purchase online at https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/an-obscure-footnote-in-trade-union-history.
Men fight and lose the battle, and the thing that they fought for comes about in spite of their defeat, and when it comes turns out not to be what they meant, and other men have to fight for what they meant under another name. (William Morris - A Dream of John Ball)

Monday, July 30, 2007

TUC agenda - out today

The Preliminary Agenda for this year’s TUC is now available online. The Rules have changed so that whereas in the past UNISON has only been permitted to propose two amendments to motions on the agenda now organisations with more than one million members are allowed one additional amendment for each 500,000 members or part thereof.

So by my reckoning UNISON will have three amendments (assuming that it is each additional 500,000 members above the initial million…)

UNISON’s two motions are in Part Four of the Agenda, as are the motions from PCS and the NUT on public sector pay. UNISON’s delegation meeting on Thursday will decide on UNISON’s amendments. At the moment the only mention of the local government pay dispute (involving the largest bargaining group in the economy) is a short motion from the Association of Educational Psychologists asking the TUC to stick up for the small specialist unions in local government…

Does local government really need separate specialist unions for small professional groups, or should we be trying to build UNISON as an inclusive union that is able to represent particular as well as general interests?

One local government activist I’ll miss at this year’s TUC will be my friend and comrade Tony Staunton from Plymouth, who made a distinctive contribution to last year’s delegation and whose years of service to UNISON deserve respect and admiration.

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