SPECIAL NOTICE

FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR

DAVID MORRIS

 

NIGHTS PROCESSING

 

.

2^nd NOVEMBER 2015

11:30 AT PETERBOROUGH CREMATORIUM

Flowers welcomed, Charitable Donations welcomed, charity TBC.

Wake will be held in the Greenman

Labour Party Conference 2015: CWU Delegation Report 

The 2015 Labour Party Conference was held in Brighton from Sunday 27th September to Wednesday 30th September 2015.

 

The following is a report of the decisions taken by the CWU delegation at their meeting on Sunday 27th September 2015 at the Waterfront Hotel in Brighton.

 

CWU Labour Party Delegation 2015

 

PRESENT:​

Beryl Shepherd (Vice President), Dave Ward (General Secretary), Andy Kerr (Deputy General Secretary T&FS), Francis Banks, Jonathan Bellshaw, Gary Daw, Hugh Gaffney, Kate Hankey, Kate Hudson, Vera Kelsey, Brian Kenny, Joe Malone, Sajid Shaikh, Amarjite Singh, Alan Tate, Mark Walsh, Linda Woodings

 

IN ATTENDANCE:​

Jane Loftus, Simon Alford Andrea Snowden, Janina Dunn, Jane Loftus, Lionel Sampson, Chris Tapper, Bill Taylor, Andrew Towers, Meta Thomas

 

 

1. INTRODUCTIONS

 

Beryl Shepherd, Vice President welcomed all CWU Delegates particularly those attending the Labour Party Conference for the first time. She especially welcomed our youth delegate, Gary Daw.

 

The General Secretary also welcomed all delegates and observers to the meeting. He said that this was the first conference since the election of the new Labour Leader, Jeremy Corbyn and it would be a very important conference for him and the Party.  

 

2. APOLOGIES

 

Apologies had been received from:-

 

▪ Terry Pullinger – DGS (P)

▪ Phil Browne – (PFMC Chair)

▪ Karen Rose, NEC (who was unwell but hoped to join the delegation) 
3. LABOUR PARTY DOCUMENTS

 

The General Secretary ensured that all delegates had the appropriate documentation:-

 

▪ NEC Annual Report 2015

▪ National Policy Forum Report 2015

▪ Delegates Report  

▪ CAC Report No. 1

▪ Labour Party Annual Conference Guide

▪ CWU Policy Document: 2015 Summary

▪ 2015 Labour Party Rules booklet

 

4. CONFERENCE ARRANGEMENTS COMMITTEE (CAC) REPORT NO.1  

 

The Chair advised delegates that each day they would receive a Conference Arrangements Committee Report. CAC Report No.1 issued that morning, contained the day’s agenda and the full list of all contemporary motions submitted.

 

CWU Contemporary Motion

 

The General Secretary explained that Labour Party Policy was made via “Agenda 2015” – the Labour Party’s National Policy Forum (NPF) process. The NPF operated on a rolling programme across a Parliament to develop policy for a future manifesto.

 

The Policy Commissions considered submissions from individual members, trade union affiliates and other affiliated organisations. Following consultations within the wider party, policy documents would be agreed by the NPF and then formally endorsed by Annual Conference.

 

Contemporary motions to annual conference allowed constituencies and unions to address issues which could not otherwise have been raised through the NPF process. Each affiliate was therefore entitled to submit one Contemporary Motion to Labour Party Conference.

 

The CWU submitted a motion on “A new deal for working people”. This referenced the second reading of the Trade Union bill which took place on 14th September 2015, making the motion a contemporary issue. Those contemporary motions meeting the strict criteria go forward to the Contemporary Motions Priority Ballot.

 

In formulating our motion there was a requirement to liaise closely with other affiliates to agree the contemporary nature of the motion, consider composite partners and ensure it would be incorporated in one of the four subjects selected for inclusion on the conference agenda. The General Secretary explained that CLPs were also entitled to vote for four subjects, which may or may not coincide with those selected by the trade unions.

 

Priorities Ballot

 

The Chair advised that all Contemporary Motions were contained on page 13 – 55 of CAC Report no. 1 (see Appendix A).

 

As stated, trade union affiliates choose four contemporary issues and in accordance with colleagues in TULO the General Secretary recommended the following contemporary issues in the Priorities Ballot:

 

1) Employment Rights (CWU Motion)

2) Europe

3) License Fee

4) Austerity and Public Services

 

The contemporary issues were agreed.
It was further agreed that if TSSA were unable to secure ‘Rail’ as the subject of an emergency motion we should vote for this, instead of the ‘License Fee’ motion.  
Composite Meeting

 

The Chair advised that there would be composite meeting on Sunday 27th September 2015 and that CWU would be aiming to have the union’s motion in a composite with UCATT.

 

5. NATIONAL POLICY FORUM (NPF) REPORT 2015

 

The Chair drew to the attention of the delegation the NPF Report 2015 containing the final year Policy Documents and the Policy Commission Annual Reports.

 

1) Stability and Prosperity

2) Work and Business

3) Living Standards and Sustainability

4) Stronger, Safer Communities

5) Education and Children

6) Health and Care

7) Better Politics

8) Britain’s Global Role

 

     In addition there were two Appendices:

 

▪ Submitting organisations

▪ National Policy Forum membership

 

The NPF Report 2015 was agreed.

 

6. LABOUR PARTY NEC ELECTION (Trade Union Section)

 

The General Secretary advised that the Delegates Report contained details of the candidates standing for the Labour Party NEC.

 

There were 12 individuals to be elected, 6 of whom must be women.

 

TULO did not have a formal recommendation but following consultations the General Secretary recommended the following candidates

  
The recommendation was agreed.

 

The election would take place on Monday 28th September 2015.

 

7. EMERGENCY MOTIONS

 

The Chair advised the meeting that no Emergency Motions had yet been advised but it was likely there would be one on ‘Rail’.  

 

8. NEC CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS

 

Delegates were provided with the relevant rules from the 2015 Labour Party Rule Book.

 

Chapter 4, Clause II.2.B – Election of Leader and Deputy Leader (Page 14)

​​​​​​​​​

Support was agreed

 

Chapter 4, Clause II 6.B – Nominations for Auditors (Page 15)

​​​​​​​​

Support was agreed

 

Chapter 6, Clause 1.3 – Effect of suspension (Page 25)

             

Support was agreed 

                                                                       

Chapter 13, Clause II.2.C.i – 14 day letters (Page 48)

           

Support was agreed                                                                          

         

Chapter 13, Clause X.1 – Arrangements with other Parties (Page 50)  

           

Support was agreed

 

Chapter 13 – Clause x1.15 – Arrangements with other Parties (Page50)

 

Support was agreed      

 

 

9. CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS 2014

 

The Deputy General Secretary (T&FS) explained the rule changes and advised that the NEC would be asking for remission or oppose. The General Secretary said that TULO would be recommending to unions that they support the NEC’s position.          

         

Chapter 1, Clause V &VIII – Party Programme & NEC (Pages 3 & 5)

Liverpool West Derby CLP    

 

Oppose was agreed

       

Chapter 2. Clause III, 1A (i) – Membership Subscriptions (Page 9)

Wyre Forest CLP​​​​​

                                                                           

Oppose was agreed                  

 

Chapter 4, Clause III, A (i) c – NEC Elections (Page16)

Colne Valley CLP

Huddersfield CLP ​​​​

​ ​​​​

Oppose was agreed

 

 

 

10. CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS 2015  

 

These constitutional amendments were for Conference to note and would be submitted and timetabled for debate at the 2016 Labour Party Conference.

 

11. POLICY SEMINARS  

 

The Chair advised that there were nine Policy Seminars taking place in the Brighton Conference Centre and adjoining Hotels. The CAC Report No. 1 (page 9) contained the details and locations of all the Policy Seminars.

 

Monday 28th September 2015 (4.15pm – 5.30pm)

 

▪ Stronger Communities ​

▪ Better Politics ​            

▪ Work, pensions and Social Security ​

 

Tuesday 29th September 2015 (4.15pm – 5.30pm)

 

▪ Health and Social Care ​

▪ The Economy: Stability and Prosperity ​  

▪ Supporting our young people                                                      

 

Wednesday 30th September 2015 (9.00am – 10.15am)  

                         

▪ Britain and the World ​​

▪ Living Standards the Environment and sustainability                                                        

▪ Crime and Justice ​

 

Anyone who wished to make an intervention on any of these subjects would need to ensure this was in line with CWU Policy. All delegates had been provided with a copy of the 2015 CWU Summary Policy Document.

 

12. ANY OTHER BUSINESS  

 

The General Secretary advised the delegation that Maria Exall had been nominated by the union as Vice Chair of TULO.

 

He also advised the delegation that next weekend there would be a TUC rally and demonstration in Manchester at the Tory Party Conference (Sunday 4th September 2015). The following day Monday 5th October was the CWU Peoples’ Post Rally which was taking place in Manchester Cathedral. The General Secretary said that it was very important to be in attendance and to encourage as many members as possible to also attend.

 

The meeting concluded at 10.15a.m.

 

Any enquiries on this LTB should be addressed to the General Secretary on gsoffice@cwu.org quoting the reference GS14.12/LTB 677/15.

 

Yours sincerely

 

​​​ ​​

Dave Ward​​​​​​

General Secretary

Trades Union Congress 2015: CWU Delegation Report 

The 2015 Trades Union Congress took place from Sunday 13th September to Wednesday 16th September.

 

All Unions were entitled to submit two motions to the Agenda. The CWU National Executive Council agreed the following motions:–      

 

Motion 1

 

Reasserting trade union values in society

 

Congress agrees that in the aftermath of the general election it has never been more important for the TUC to come together and re-assert trade union values in society.

 

In the world of work we have seen a fundamental shift from fair and decent jobs towards insecure employment models characterised by exploitative contracts, bogus self-employment, agency work and low pay.

 

This has been mirrored in wider society with working people, and particularly the young, bearing the costs of austerity with declining living standards, a growing housing crisis, cuts to essential services, rising in-work poverty and the privatisation and marketisation of public services.

 

With the proposed anti-trade union laws, and welfare and public spending cuts that will hit the poorest hardest, we cannot sit back in the hope that a new government will come around to our way of thinking in five years’ time.

 

Congress therefore agrees that the union movement must develop a comprehensive strategy through the TUC which includes the following:

 – a joint campaign against anti-trade union laws;

– the development of a workers’ charter, pursued by every trade union signing up to a co-ordinated collective bargaining approach;

– a co-ordinated day of action in workplaces; and

– a national campaign engaging working people and a wider coalition of groups to redress the balance of forces in society and the workplace.

 

Congress agrees that the General Council should prepare a report outlining this strategy for a special TUC conference by March 2016.

 

Motion 2

 

The People’s Post

 

Congress is concerned over recent developments in the postal market. In the past year the collapse of Whistl’s delivery operations and City Link have made 5,000 people redundant, the government has started the final stage of Royal Mail privatisation and Ofcom has continued to push employers to engage in a race to the bottom on terms and conditions.

 

What has happened in the postal industry since market liberalisation has not been in the interests of the public or businesses – who rely on the daily delivery service that is now under threat – or the people who work in the sector, with insecure employment models becoming increasingly prevalent.

 

These trends are not unique to the postal market and underline a fundamental point for the labour movement: there is an urgent need for a re-balancing of forces favouring working people in the world of work and wider society.

 

What is completely unacceptable is the way the regulator Ofcom has started to undermine collective bargaining, criticising the CWU’s Agenda for Growth Agreement with Royal Mail and calling for it to embrace ‘flexible’ employment models. It has become a second tier of management without any accountability.

 

Congress supports the CWU’s People’s Post campaign calling for:

 

i. new legislation to protect daily deliveries;

ii. an overhaul of regulation;

iii. the retention of a public voice in Royal Mail;

iv. fair employment standards in the postal sector;

v. proper consumer protections; and

vi. a union-led workers share trust in Royal Mail.

 

It was agreed that Motion 1 stood alone and Motion 2 became part of Composite 18, both Motion 1 and Composite 18 were Carried.

 

The CWU was also entitled to submit two amendments. These were as follows:-

 

Amendment to Motion P18: EU Reform agenda and referendum from GMB – This was withdrawn by Conference.

 

Amendment to Motion P28: Pensions from TSSA – Composited C7 – This was composited by Conference.

 

The CWU submitted one Emergency Motion

 EMERGENCY MOTION

 

This Congress is appalled at the current refugee crisis and the woeful and wholly inadequate response by the British Government.

 

Trade unions are best placed to speak directly to their membership to ensure that anti-migrant rhetoric is challenged.  

 

Congress agrees that our movement has the ability to unite people to act collectively assisting those in urgent need.

 

Congress agrees to:-

 

• Maintain a position that puts pressure on the UK Government so that they should immediately make welcome tens of thousands of refugees and participate in accepting a European wide co-ordinated response to deal with this issue.

• Work with trade unions across Europe to develop a European wide workers position that demands all EU states accept a fair and equitable allocation of refugees, taking all meaningful and necessary measures that resolves this crisis.

• Work with trade unions across Europe to ensure refugees are not exploited in the labour market to undermine and devalue workers pay terms and conditions.

• Contact workers representatives in the countries where refugees originate to offer real practical help.

• Work closely with the British Refugee Council and other appropriate agencies to develop these real and meaningful responses.

• To continue to support trade union, civil society and campaigning organisations working for justice and peace in the Middle East in line with TUC policy.

 

Congress urges all affiliate Unions to offer logistical and financial help to those appropriate aid agencies and organisations who will house refugees in order to ensure that those seeking such refuge are made to feel welcome.

 

The above CWU Emergency Motion was incorporated into a General Council Statement on Refugees, which can be found at:-

 

http://www.tuc.org.uk/about-tuc/congress/congress-2015/general-council-statement-refugees

COMMUNICATION WORKERS UNION

 

2015 TRADES UNION CONGRESS – BRIGHTON

 

MINUTES OF THE TUC DELEGATION MEETING

HELD IN THE TENNYSON SUITE, WATERFRONT HOTEL,

ON SUNDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER AT 10.30AM

 

PRESENT:​Mick Kavanagh (Chair) Dave Ward (General Secretary), Tony Kearns (SDGS), Andy Kerr (DGS T&FS), Terry Pullinger (DGS Postal), Maria Exall (ex officio), Ali Moosa. Amarjite Singh, Ben Abrams, Bob McGuire, Jeffrey Till, Jim McKechnie, Joyce Stevenson, Kate Hudson, Nick Darbyshire, Sajid Shaikh

 

IN ATTENDANCE:​Bill Taylor, Andrea Snowden, Lionel Sampson, Andrew Towers, Jeremy Baugh, Chris Tapper, Meta Thomas, Janina Dunn

 

APOLOGIES:​​Jane Loftus (President) – Sick leave

​​Sylvia Beckett– Sick leave

​​Ian Taylor – Domestic

​​​​ 

 

1 INTRODUCTIONS

 

The Chair welcomed all CWU Delegates to the meeting in particularly those who were attending the TUC Congress for the first time.

 

He explained he would be chairing the meeting today as Acting Vice-President, in the absence of Jane Loftus (President) who was on sick leave and Beryl Shepherd (Vice President) who had other commitments.

 

Maria Exall was in attendance as TUC General Council (Section I) member and was on the delegation in an Ex Officio capacity.

 

The Chair welcomed Ben Abrams who had recently been re-elected Chair of the CWU Youth Committee – and also Daniel Lewis, who would be receiving the TUC Youth Award later in the week and who would be an observer at this meeting.

 

The General Secretary welcomed all delegates to the meeting. He advised colleagues that Tony Kearns, Senior Deputy General Secretary would be the Leader of the CWU delegation. The General Secretary said that the Trade Union Movement was facing one of the most difficult times in its history. He said we all had to oppose the vindictive Trade Union Bill, the attacks on the union movement and fight the Government’s austerity programme. He also stated that the election of Jeremy Corby was a victory in which the CWU had played a full part.  

 

The General Secretary encouraged all members of the delegation to engage in the Conference and to attend fringe meetings. He hoped that everyone would enjoy being part of this important event.

 

The Chair asked the delegation to introduce themselves. He reminded the delegates to complete and return the congress Monitoring Form and to hand these to Janina Dunn at the conclusion of the delegation meeting.

 

 

 

2​TUC AGENDA PACKS

 

Bill Taylor, Head of Research explained what documentation the Delegation should have for the meeting.

 

3​TUC GENERAL COUNCIL REPORT

 

The General Secretary went through each Chapter of the TUC General Council Report.

 

Chapter 1:​Overview of the year

Chapter 2:​Jobs, Growth and a New Economy

Chapter 3:​Fair Pay and a Living Wage

Chapter 4:​Good Services and Decent welfare

Chapter 5:​Respect and a Voice at Work

Chapter 6:​Strong unions

Chapter 7:​TUC Organisation

 

He asked if delegates wanted to raise any matters arising from the various Chapters. There were no issues raised by the delegates.

 

4​POLICY AND DECISION MAKING

 

The SDGS explained to delegates the process for submitting motions, and amendments – and the subsequent compositing process. He explained that the CWU had submitted two Motions, two Amendments and one Emergency Motion.

 

Copies of the Policy recommendation document and the emergency motion were issued to delegates.

 

He explained that discussions were continuing on the formation of a Composite motion which would aim to include motions 62 – 70. The CWU motion 63 would be included in this composite. A grouping meeting would take place at 1.30 that afternoon.

 

The Chair reminded the delegation that once policy had been set by the delegation it could only be altered if every delegate agreed by the completion of a consultation form. If one member of the delegation disagreed with the recommendation, a formal meeting would be held.

 

Following a break to consider the motions the Chair went through the policy recommendations.

 

The following policy was agreed.

   
    
   
GENERAL COUNCIL STATEMENTS (Page 30-31) of the GPC Report & Composite Motions)

 

Subject

Recommendation

General Council Statement on the Campaign Plan 2015 – Monday 14th September – during the General Secretary’s address

S

 

5​NOMINATIONS

 

The General Secretary is elected by right of office as agreed by the NEC. Maria Exall had been successfully elected unopposed in Section I – Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender.

 

There was a requirement for CWU to vote for 5 members of the General Purposes Committee.

 

It was agreed that the CWU votes for:-  

 

• Sharon Holder – GMB

• Michelle Rogers – RMT

• Chris Tansley – Unison

• Linda McCulloch – Unite

• Paddy Lillis – Usdaw

 

6​CWU MOTIONS AND AMENDMENTS – SPEAKERS

 

The delegation agreed the following speakers:-

 

Sunday 13th September 2015 – (4pm – 7pm)

 

Motion 3: Positive Consultation and Employee Engagement – Maria Exall
Sunday 13th September 2015 – (4pm – 7pm)

 

Motion 16: Support for Creative Industry Start-ups – Bob McGuire

 

Sunday 13th September 2015 – (4pm – 7pm)

 

Motion 35: People’s Post campaign: DGS (P) to move

 

Monday 14th September 2015 – (9.30am – 12.45pm)

Motion 50: Lifelong learning – Jeff Till

 

Tuesday 15th September 2015 – (9.30am – 12.45pm)

 

Motion 63: Reasserting trade union values in Society (to be composited) – General Secretary to Second

 

Tuesday 15th September 2015 – (2.15pm – 5.30pm)

 

Amendment to Motion 18: EU Reform agenda and referendum (GMB) – SDGS to Second

 

Wednesday 16th September 2015 – (9.30am – 12.45pm)

 

Composite 7: Pensions (TSSA) – Nick Darbyshire to second.

 

 

Wednesday 16th September 2015 – (9.30am – 12.45pm)

 

Motion 83: TUC Trades Union Councils Conference delegate to Congress – Amarjite Singh
The Emergency Motion on the Refugee Crisis is still to be scheduled

 

SDGS to move

 

The speakers as detailed were agreed and a letter would now be sent to the GPC.

 

 

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

 

Delegates were advised that Dan Lewis, CWU Bootle Financial Services Branch would be presented with the TUC Youth Award and this would take place on Tuesday 15th September at 2.15pm.

 

There being no further business, the meeting closed at 12.15pm.

 

 

The complete TUC Congress decisions for 2015 can be downloaded on the following website:

 

https://www.tuc.org.uk/about-tuc/congress/congress-2015/congress-2015-decisions-motions

 

Any enquiries on this LTB should be addressed to the General Secretary on gsoffice@cwu.org quoting the reference GS13.9/LTB676/15.

 

Yours sincerely

 

​​​ ​​

 

Dave Ward​​​​​​

General Secretary

  
 

 

 Proportionality Update and Priorities for Future Work

 

The purpose of this LTB is to provide CWU branches with a comprehensive report and update on proportionality and our priorities for the future.

 

It is now almost two years since we commenced our detailed discussions on proportionality in the CWU. It is therefore both timely and necessary to review the work that has taken place to date, to assess progress and to plan further priorities and interventions as required. Meetings have taken place between the General Secretary, The Equal Opportunities Officer and the Head of Education and Training to consider the next steps the CWU needs to take to move forward this area of work and the NEC have reviewed progress and agreed a new programme of work which is set out in this letter.

 

Progress

 

The document “Strength, Relevance and Equality through Proportionality” was published to Branches in January 2014 and was the subject of detailed debate at a well attended Branch Forum held at Congress House on 28 January 2014. Arising from this debate the NEC and General Conference agreed a number of key rule changes and policies that would support proportionality across our activist structures. These steps included creating stronger and more direct links between the NEC and the Advisory Committees through the abolition of the Equal Opportunities Committee, the right of the Chairs of the Advisories to attend NEC meetings ex officio, and the right of the Advisory Committees to submit documents to the NEC via the offices of the Equal Opportunities Officer.

 

We have seen the Advisory Committees begin to work much closer with their industrial colleagues on the PEC and T&FS. Engagement is key and the Advisory Committees remain committed to playing their role in supporting the Industrial Officers. We are beginning to see better use made of their expertise and experience in this respect. The aim is to ensure that the positive work undertaken by the advisory committees in conjunction with the Industrial Executives should become business as usual and not be confined to one off projects. Therefore, further discussions with the GS, the DGS (P), the DGS (TFS) and the respective Chairs of the Constituencies and the Advisory Committees will be convened to ensure a consistent and joined up approach can be adopted.

 

At Branch level, we also introduced a new role of BAME Officer and ensured that the Women’s Officer and the BAME Officer were named members of the Branch Committee under rule. New policy was introduced that ensured that Branches made available the necessary resources for equality activities and a new Branch Model Constitution adopted. Successful training seminars have been held for both Women’s Officers and the newly created position of BAME Officer. Over 70 people attended over the two training seminars.

 

We have delivered programmes of leadership training for women and BAME members to support and encourage them into activism and have recently supplemented this with training in mentoring. As part of our efforts to get the Mentoring Programme absolutely right, the Equality Officer has had meetings with Operation Black Vote, who are renowned in the mentoring area given their excellent previous experiences and projects. We have also established that CWU Ireland also have a mentoring programme and we are identifying best practice elements for our potential use.

Our collection of data has improved with the membership database now being used to store data on representatives. This is making it easier to measure participation by under-represented groups but we have a long way to go in terms of making sure that our data is complete. We still have significant under-reporting of BAME statistics and have no real reliable data on LGBT and Disability. Now that the CWU database is much more robust the CWU has an opportunity to develop relevant data more effectively. A branch census will be organised every 2 years, in line with Conference Policy and a further detailed policy document will be formulated by the NEC outlining precisely how this work will be carried out.

 

The data contained within this document is based on the data we currently have and in some cases this will be based on incomplete data due to non-reporting or non-collection of membership information.

 

Although we have seen some improvements in terms of participation at events and conferences, the delegation data from General Conference 2015 was disappointing in terms of both Women and Youth. BAME attendance was slightly better but this was down to the scheduling of CWU BAME day and may not be indicative of a trend. There have been some improvements in attendance at Equality Conferences, however, there are still too many Branches who do not send delegations.

 

Where we are now

 

In 2013/14 we published data on the make up of our membership, which helped us to see the extent of the problems in representation. This data is now updated to provide useful information on areas where progress has been made and where it has not.

 

• 91% of our total 195,439 members are not retired and are still deemed to be working in the industry.

• However 42% of our non-retired members are now over 50 years old.

• The total number of women members is 36,729 or 18.8%.

• 8.6% of the total CWU membership are under 30. If you exclude retired members from the total it is 9.4%.

• BAME members who have declared their ethnicity account for 7.2% of our total membership or 15.6% of those who provided us with this data . In terms of non-reporting104,285 or 53.3% of our members are not providing us with details of their ethnicity.

• We have a total of 13 Women Branch Secretaries and 9 BAME Branch Secretaries.

• BAME Branch Officers have increased since our last analysis from 33 to 38.

• The number of Branch Officers who are women has remained static at 112.

• 24.6% of our non-retired members are part-time workers.

We now have some data on Representatives as follows:

 

• Total number of reps entered onto the membership database is 3898*. Of those, 225 (5.7%) are BAME, 526 (13.5%) are women and 130 (3.3%) are under 30.

(All above data correct as of 14 September 2015. * Please note that this figure included reps with cross constituency roles.)

Appendix 1. (Membership Data as of September 2015; Constituency Breakdown)

  

*Some Reps have cross constituency positions and are not included in this total.

 

The National Executive has 19 members of whom, one is from a BAME background and 6 are women (an increase of 1). We now have one woman Regional Secretary out of 10 (also an increase of 1)

 

In terms of Branch attendance at the Equality Conferences the latest figures are as follows:

 

• Black Worker’s – 49

• Disability – 69

• LGBT – 53

• Women’s – 71

• Youth – 43

The number of BAME Officers – 38

 

The number of Women’s Officers – 112

 

The number of Youth Officers is 82 covering 69 Branches.

 

The Equality Conferences under the remit of the Equality Department are having a slight change to when the conferences take place. Previously these have always been on a Saturday but this year the Women’s and the Disability Conferences are being held during midweek, purely to see if this impacts positively in terms of attendance.

 

 

 

In terms of training of activists the outcomes for the first six months of 2015 are as follows:

 

Of a total of 982 reps trained in the period:

 

• 18.5% were women

• 13.1% were BAME

• 8% were under 30 years old  

We can also report that 13.4% considered that they had a disability of some kind and that 35.2% were over 50 years of age.

 

These statistics are a bit of a mixed bag. They are showing some areas of good progress and some areas where we seem to be going backwards or making no progress at all. Anecdotally, there is also a mixture of reported outcomes with evidence that many Branches are working extremely hard to improve their proportionality through investing in events, workplace committees and improving the representation of minority groups on delegations but there is also some evidence that several Branches are still struggling to improve proportionality.

 

Priorities for future work

 

The NEC always recognised that this would not be a quick fix and that long term sustainable activity would be required to develop this area of work according to policy and rule. However, it is also necessary to assess what is working and to consider new approaches where necessary. Therefore the following priorities have been identified and it is proposed that they form the basis for the next 12 – 18 months activity.

 

• Mentoring

There is a need to develop our capacity for mentoring new and existing activists across the whole union to provide vital development opportunities for those who can contribute more to the union now and in the future. This is not only good for proportionality but is essential if we are to effectively and systematically succession plan. We intend to develop mentoring skills in three ways:

 

Firstly, through setting up and piloting a formal mentoring scheme specifically targeted at Women, BAME and young representatives with the aim of broadening this to all activists following the initial pilot. This will involve training groups of mentors and matching them with potential mentees and piloting this in either one or two regions. This will be overseen by the Education and Training Department in conjunction with the Equality Department. This will be a 12 month project which will be evaluated by participants and by the NEC via the Education and Training Department and the Equality Department.

 

Secondly, we will include basic training and resources for mentoring on existing representatives’ courses and on CWU Left Click, so that the concept of mentoring or being mentored becomes business as usual for all activists.

 

Lastly we aim to develop mentoring skills in all CWU Officers and NEC, TFSE and PEC members so that they can take a lead in encouraging others to take on the role of mentor. It is also envisaged that a formal mentoring for leadership scheme can be set up further down the line to tap into the experience, skills and knowledge of those in leadership roles in the CWU.

  

Careful consideration will now be given to ensuring that the scheme has input from the industrial constituencies with regard to both the operation of the scheme and gaining the support of employers for mentors. Further detailed information on the programme will be issued to Branches in due course.

 

* Branch Visits

Visits to Branches were a key part of the proportionality programme and helped to inform our views and strategies. Over 30 Branches participated in these visits and the information and evidence they provided fed directly into the last report and recommendations on proportionality. However, it is now necessary to consider whether continuing with these visits is still as useful to the programme in terms of best use of resources. We also need to continue to give a chance for Branches to contribute as things move forward.

 

Therefore, the team will continue to visit CWU Branches to assess how they are developing proportionality and what the challenges are to this work. The next round of Proportionality visits have been tentatively diarised.

 

* Challenges to Succession Planning

We will be investigating the barriers and opportunities for newer activists to take on Branch roles and examining how we can provide better succession planning, whilst enabling a smooth and planned handover of duties when senior Branch activists leave employment in the industry. This work may well be influenced by the review of the status of Portability members agreed by conference.

 

* Data Collection and Reporting

Through the new Branch Secretaries Essentials course we are supporting Branch Secretaries with developing their skills in managing and using data more effectively. Part of this is also aimed at improving the quality and accuracy of the data we hold. We have agreed conference policy to improve the collection of data for LGBT members and members with disabilities and we will set up a small working group comprising the Chairs of the DAC and the LGBTAC, the Equal Opportunities Officer and two members of the NEC to produce a strategy for improving data collection generally and for these two groups of members.

 

* Training

We will continue to provide Women’s’ and BAME Leadership courses, as the feedback and evidence is that these are encouraging activists to get and stay more involved in union activity. We will provide mentoring training as described above. The Equal Opportunities Department has also delivered two training days for BAME and Women’s Officers in September 2015.

 

* Proportionality Branch Forum 2016

It is proposed that we hold a Proportionality Branch Forum in early 2016 to further consult with Branches on these new areas of work and to report on progress. At this forum, we will ask the Advisory Committees to each contribute a short presentation outlining their three priorities for improving proportionality.

 

 Further updates on our work around proportionality will be issued to Branches as the various priority areas of work are developed. In the meantime we are asking all CWU branches to fully consider the terms of this LTB at your next branch committee meetings and to continue to work in line with CWU policy to improve proportionality across the union. Any enquiries relating to this LTB should be directed to the General Secretary’s Office in the first instance.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

​​​ ​​

 

Dave Ward​​​​​​​​

General Secretary​

 

 

 

 

Linda Roy​​​​​​                 Trish Lavelle

Equal Opportunities Officer​​​      Head of Education and Training ​​