"Newham Co-op continued"

An excellent account of the meeting last week by James Beckles. There is another more pointed post here by another Newham Co-op member. You can click to a link to my post on the rerun AGM 2016.

"On Wednesday 8th March Newham Cooperative Party welcomed Claire McCarthy our General Secretary.

It’s not everyday members of the Cooperative Party or any party for that matter with the sight of a General Secretary checking membership details at the door. But that’s the beauty of the Co-op movement and the state of play of Newham.

After members had been signed in everyone took their seats. There was some tension in the air as you would expect from the last heated meeting. But chaired by a London region representative the meeting kicked off. There were some noticeable absences including the Chair of Newham branch, Lester Hudson, who we were told was attending an awards ceremony. Nonetheless the meeting began.

The positions not filled at the last meeting were up for contention. These included Secretary, Treasurer, Membership Officer, Assistant Secretary and the New position of Events/Social Secretary. All candidates had to submit prior to the meeting a 100 word statement for the position they were standing for and it was good to read supporting statements and what candidates would do if elected.

There was a point of order or clarification raised whether candidates who were nominated would be on the ballot. The representative from London region was clear that all Newham Co-op members were afforded the opportunity to stand for a position as long as they submitted a statement.

Onto the vote for Secretary, Gill Hay vs. Neil Wilson. A tense ballot and count and Gill was victorious. The Treasurer was next, as there was only one candidate, Averil Donohue who is current Treasurer, they were duly elected.

Membership Officer again had only one candidate, Alan Griffiths, he was duly elected. Assistant Secretary, currently John Gray, was elected as the sole candidate.

Then came the exciting part. The positions no-one submitted statements for. These included the new post of Events/Social Secretary and the Auditors (x2).

The candidates for Events/Social Secretary were Sugathan and Neil Wilson. Both spoke on the spot and gave good reasons why they should be elected. The ballots were distributed and counted. The winner we Neil Wilson.

Finally the heralded positions of Auditors. This I where I dear reader come in. I was nominated by four fellow cooperators and I was duly elected. Thank you!

The second Auditor elected was Conor McCauley and much desired.

Finally the highlight of the evening was the speech by Claire McCarthy. In consistent Newham fashion those who were there solely to vote left and those I assume who were generally interested in hearing from our General Secretary stayed.

Claire gave a clear and impassioned speech about co-op values, ethical politics, supporting Labour councillors who wanted to stand as Labour/Co-op councillors (which I think would be advantageous and I may consider it) and continuing to build a cooperative and mutual based society in Newham and beyond.

Overall the evening was well ordered and considering the positions up for grabs it was good natured. Perhaps having Co-op HQ present officiating made certain potential offenders behave on the night. But we do need more meetings like these where it’s about speakers, debates about policy and positions, development of co-op values at a local level that is inclusive and supportive of Newham’s communities.

Again I sign off by saying I look forward to the next Newham Co-operative Party meeting and hope I will be able to attend."

(hat tip to James for one of the pictures in collage and to Tower Hamlets Co-op for stealing their logo and amending it)

"Newham trigger ballot results tighten but Sir Robin Wales maintains race lead"

See the latest report from the Newham Recorder on the trigger ballot. 

I do think that it is a genuine shame that Cllr Clive Furness when expressing his views about the Mayor does not declare that he is a full time paid employee of the current Mayor. 

Thinking about it all the 22 paid Councillor "advisors" to the Mayor are employees on zero hour contracts? 

"Attempts to unseat Sir Robin Wales as Labour’s automatic candidate for the borough’s 2018 mayoral elections have edged closer.

Two Labour branches and affiliated organisation Newham Co-op voted “no” in the latest round of the trigger ballot process this week, bringing the total number of wards pushing for an “open selection” election process to six.

However the Recorder understands a complaint has been formally lodged with the London chair and national chair of the Co-op party about “process and conduct plus missing ballot papers” at its vote on Monday.

But Chair of Newham Co-op Gill Hayes said the the person in question was being written to tomorrow to clarify that the process was in fact valid.

She said: “After investigation, it shows 73 ballots were issued and 73 ballots papers were returned.”

Stratford and Newtown ward voted Yes: 36 to No: 37 while Little Ilford ward voted Yes: 23 to No: 36.

Despite the wins, the “yes” votes still lead with nine wards in favour of keeping Sir Robin as the selected Labour candidate for Mayor of Newham.

Cllr Clive Furness, who represents Canning Town North, said he was supporting Sir Robin Wales for automatic re-selection.

“He has an excellent record and the drive to achieve more, we should focus on defending local people from the vicious attacks of the Tories and because when Labour spends time talking to itself we lose touch with our people,” he said.

A further six Labour wards are yet to vote and the majority of these are expected to take place next week.

West Ham, which votes on Tuesday, is expected to vote “no” but the other wards could go either way, the Recorder has been told.

Cllr John Whitworth, who has declared that he is “prepared to challenge” Sir Robin Wales as the 2018 Newham mayoral candidate should an open selection election process be triggered said next week’s votes would be “key - and really exciting”.

“As predicted, the argument for an open selection process did better this week with three straight wins, with two by massive majorities,” he said.

“It is becoming clear that it is the popular will of ordinary Newham party members that they want an open selection.

“It appears that other contenders are considering whether or not to declare.”

A further 11 affiliated organisations are also in the process of voting and have yet to declare.

A spokesperson for Trigger Democracy said: “From Stratford to Little Ilford, Labour members from all across Newham have been voting for democracy and choice.

“Trigger Democracy will carry on making its case as more wards meet next week.”

Newham Co-op Party AGM 2016 (Rerun)

Back this evening from a rerun of the Newham Co-operative Party AGM. Due to "irregularities" at the AGM in January the AGM was rerun with Co-op Party officials chairing the meeting.

I was really pleased that longstanding Co-op Party stalwart, Gill Hay, was elected Chair. The Vice Chair was won by Jeanette Dye from East Ham. Neil Wilson was elected unopposed as secretary and Averil Dohohoe as Treasurer.

Alan Griffiths who has done so much for the Co-op Party and turned our branch into the second biggest in the Country was re-elected as Membership secretary. I was elected unopposed as assistant secretary as was the auditors.

I was also elected unopposed with 3 others to the Co-op London Regional Council.

The Co-op delegates to East Ham and West Ham Labour Party General Committees will be decided later by a preference count of votes cast last night.

The evening was marred by the abusive and threatening behavior outside the meeting by one Co-op member towards another, which I will be bringing to the attention of Party officials. Such behaviours are not acceptable in the Co-op Party or any other progressive organisation. 

Phil Wilson MP at West Ham GC on the Trade Union link

The guest speaker at last months West Ham Labour Party General Committee was Phil Wilson, MP for Sedgefield.

I was late due and missed the main part of his speech supporting the proposed reforms of the trade union link. He finished by stressing he wants not to break but to "mend the link".There was then a lively Q&A.

Daniel Blaney, an Unite delegate thought that the arguments for reform are inconsistent. What happened to "Refounding Labour" and why was this proposal not discussed then?

My question was that if the Party followed the UNISON model only about 1/3 members pay the Labour Party political levy and if the other unions reduced their affiliations by 2/3rd we are going to be broke.   The Tories are going to outspend us as usual and we will need every penny we can get to defeat them in 2015.

Phil said that this will take at least 5 years to implement and and that there will be no reduction in levy income until after 2015 General election.

I also said that a pilot London wide primary to pick the next Labour candidate for London Mayor is too risky and there is a real danger that we would have a candidate selected by the Evening Standard. We should experiment first with a CLP. One member suggested to widespread merriment that we should instead experiment with the a primary for the Newham Mayoral election next year!

Unite delegate Terry "Red" Paul spoke strongly in favour of keeping the union link. 

Phil reminded us saying Labour is a movement not a monument. Things have changed. When he grew up there was 100k coal miners and people automatically voted Labour.

Gill Hay, an UNISON member supported the reform because she thought it will encourage trade union members to consciously and positively join the Party. Alan Griffiths, also from UNISON thinks unions are already incredibly weak and can do more.

Phil finished by stressing, once again, that to him this is all about strengthen the union link with the Party.