Wake up UNISON Greater London!

‎This morning, at a meeting of UNISON's Greater London Regional Council, I have listened to our Regional Secretary give a considered presentation about how UNISON should respond to the result of the General Election.

Although this presentation - in common with the contributions made this week by our General Secretary - didn't quite match the clarity and urgency which informed the decisions already taken by the Development and Organisation (D&O) Committee of the National Executive Council (NEC) - it was a wide ranging and comprehensive overview of the range of issues which we need to consider.

As has just been pointed out to me, the emphasis in the presentation on political education for union members echoes some of the lively discussion at yesterday's Lambeth Branch Committee.

We had a quorum at yesterday's Branch Committee - there were twenty people in the room when we agreed an Emergency Motion which has been admitted to the agenda for today's Regional Council.‎ The motion addressed the result of the General Election.

Unfortunately, the presentation given by the Regional Secretary was given to just sixty people‎ in Mander Hall, in the basement of the Headquarters of the National Union of Teachers. That's a long way short of the quorum which we would have needed to have been able to debate the Emergency Motion.

I've blogged before about why I think it is that we have not now had a quorate meeting of the Greater London Regional Council‎ (other than the Annual General Meeting) - and I'm not shy about criticising our Regional office when I think it right to do so.

However, it's a great shame that so many branch delegates weren't here this morning to hear the presentation from the Regional Secretary at a meeting which is part of the formal, organised structure of our democratic trade union.

If UNISON's Greater London Region is to be part of the response to the outcome of the General Election, which the presentation from the Regional Secretary indicates is necessary, we need a quorum of delegates at the autumn meeting of the Regional Council‎. Happily it is within the power of the Regional Secretary, through the many staff reporting to her, to encourage attendance at the Regional Council.

I hope this is the last inquorate meeting of our Regional Council.

Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone on the EE network.