SERTUC (South East Region Trade Union Council) meets on a Saturday morning every 3 months at Congress House. Each TUC region will hold similar meetings.Beforehand UNISON representatives held a pre-meeting where we discussed the agenda and agreed our positions.
The first main item of business is the President’s report. Martin reported on the recent strikes in the construction and engineering sector. Workers on the “Blue book” terms and conditions. He considered that the successful outcomes of the strikes should be considered as “victories” for the workers concerned especially during these times. The Fight still goes on since employers are trying to use the recession to attack workers. He praised the CWU strike action in support of the post office. The likelihood of action by the Fire Brigade over the attempt to Privatise support services. Mind you the FBU don’t need lessons on defending themselves. Congratulations to those in this region who fought the BNP. But 2 BNP MEPs are two too many. He pressed the government to use the banks that they now own to support British companies. He reminded Council that today was the 91st birthday of Nelson Mandela. “Congratulations”. He reaffirmed our solidarity with our brothers and sisters in South Africa who are still struggling to bring about fairness.
Next the inevitable “minutes/matters arising”.
Our First Speaker was Kate Hudson – who is the Chair of CND. She led on the recent Guardian poll that 54% of the public are opposed to having nuclear weapons. It is also the first time a majority of Labour Party supporters oppose the Trident programme. The highest level of opposition is in the 18-24 age range (no surprise there). Amongst social classes CDE there is the greatest opposition at 63% (which is surprising – to me anyway). She thinks that there has been a victory that the decision on Trident will have to come back to Parliament and that there will be a 9 month delay. She argues that research shows that more jobs will be created if Trident is scrapped.
Labour MEP Claude Moraes was to speak on the European Elections results but unfortunately his Dad is sick so he has had to fly to Edinburgh. He will speak at the next meeting.
The Regional Secretary had submitted a written report on which she accepted questions and comments. She reminded us about Burston School Strikes Rally. A CWU speaker reported on the ongoing dispute in Royal Mail. We were told to expect further industrial action. Our delegation leader asked for an update on proposal to make “Workers Memorial Day” officially recognised. There is supposed to be a DWP consultation on this. Megan was not sure how much substance this proposal has but will check it out.
The only motion was the Greater London UNISON motion on “shared surfaces”. Which I kept referring to as “shared services” (which is another trade union issue). This motion had voiced opposition to the whole concept. This is (very basically) the Dutch idea that you improve road safety by merging roads and pavements. The Executive wanted the motion to be remitted. But an amendment was submitted which appeared to do away with their concerns. Many disabled groups are opposed. Nicholas Russell from London Voluntary Organisation branch moved the motion and argued “How can you feel safe if you can’t tell the difference between the road and the pavement”. There was however a good debate by speakers opposed to the motion who believed that Shared Services can actually improve road safety and that we need fresh thinking. Despite this the motion was passed with overwhelming support.
The only items of AOB – was a request for everyone to sign the petition to save Vauxhall and invite everyone to join the UNISON Beastly Boris “chicken feed” event on Tuesday.
There were 66 trade union reps present form 19 different affiliated trade unions and 20 reps from county Trade Union Councils.
(usual health warning on the accuracy of my “speed typing”)
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