Newham Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz reflects on her first 100 days in office

"Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz reflects on her first 100 days in office and pledges to continue to drive the change that Newham needs and for the benefit of all"

Why union branches have to follow the money...

Picture from last weeks packed Greater London workshop on branch finance in the UNISON centre. NEC Chair of the Finance Committee, Josie Bird, led the training supported by National and Regional officers.

The aims of the training were:-

• To understand the principles of activity-based budgeting (ABB) 
• Discuss the benefits of activity-based budgeting to your branch
• Consider how OLBA functions can help support the budgeting process
• To identify the next steps for activity-based budgeting within your branch

It was an exceptional turnout for a training on branch finance. It used to be the case in some branches that financial planning and budgeting wasn't all that important. They would just role over the last years accounts and add a bit for inflation. Thankfully this is no longer the case in most branches (I hope). The entire union movement is under attack by this Government and we have to make sure that all our money is used effectively to defend us.

I was there as Regional Finance conveyor. I closed the training by thanking the all those who helped organise this meeting and especially my NEC comrade, Josie Bird. I am proud that my union grows its rank and file lay activists, so they can take on such positions of responsibility.

I also pointed out I used to be a treasurer of a branch that had hundreds of thousands of pounds in reserves, which was very scary for someone who didn't have a finance background. I wish then I had the kit and support that is now on offer.

At the best of times it is vital that we have sound financial governance, never mind nowadays, the worse of times, when we need to make sure that every penny we have is well spent.

We must never forget either that our funds do not belong to the "union" nor to the "branches" they belong to our members and it is our absolute duty to make sure that they are spend properly and solely in their interests.

Picture of  London Regional Secretary, Linda Perks, leading discussion on workshop outcomes.

#undc13 Branch Resource Review fringe - Tuesday

Sorry this has been posted late but it has been a busy few days. Picture is of NEC Chair of Finance Mike Hayes at the fringe on Tuesday evening.

Mike spoke about the compelling need to change the way Unison resources its branches.

There is internal and external pressures for change.  From our auditors and from the tax office. Our processes are not safe enough to protect members money.

The fringe went really well and I was pleased that the finance rule changes went through on Thursday. See what happens with motion 107 later on this afternoon.