#UNDC13 Chair of Standing Order's tickling stick

Here we have the Chair of UNISON Standing Orders Committee, Clytus Williams, giving his traditional Friday morning final report to conference with the aid of music and a Knotty Ash tickling stick. 

We were after all in Liverpool and I think his version of the Ken Dodd classic was his best SO report ever. 

How can I ever forget the words  

"Happiness to me is a Group debate,  A Composite that we all rate".

 

UNISON NDC 2011: End of Conference

I’m on the crowded 5.15pm train back to London after the close of UNISON conference. Yet again I am amazed to discover there is life outside the conference bubble.

I was chatting to my fellow passengers - an Easy Jet pilot and a Northern Irish tyre production manager, who unbelievably have no interest, what-so-ever, in standing order committee reports, points of order, the two tier code or even the infamous UNISON Friday afternoon snake. What strange people?

I have a touch of the “conference lergie”, which I hope I can shake off when I get some sleep and fresh air.

On the whole, I thought it was a good conference. The union is very united when it comes to opposing the cuts, especially over Pensions. This is despite the best efforts of a small but vocal minority who constantly attack the union and want to divide us. There was a bit of a row over policy towards Palestine and a finance rule change. Which was a shame, but there was genuine concerns. I hope these issues are sorted by next year.

I didn’t have time to post that often during conference but will catch up over the next few days. These posts will be well out of sequence but bear with me.

In the morning there was a good debate on the stupidity of Police civilian administration staff being made redundant to “save money” then giving their jobs to uniformed Police officers who cost twice as much as them to employ.

The Chair of Standing Orders Clytus Williams gave his traditional end of conference final report. A Karaoke style musical finale - to loud applause.

There was a motion on supporting members in the private and community sectors followed by another one on campaigning with the community and voluntary sector to fight the cuts. I tried to speak on the 2nd one but the motion was closed down before it was my turn. I’ll post my speech anyway later. In the afternoon we (Housing Association branch delegates) were disappointed that we just ran out of conference time to move and debate branch our motion on “The Death and Rebirth of Public Housing”. But these things happen. But I can always post that speech as well!

The closing session is a vote of thanks to this years’ President, the no nonsense, Angela Lynes, for her term of office and past service to the Union. It is half humorous and half serious. The President is gently teased with pictures of her as a toddler flashed on the main screen while also recounting her time as President and her past service as the branch secretary of Glasgow City.

Straight after conference I went to my first meeting as a member of the UNISON National Executive Council. Which, when I catch up on my sleep (next month?) I will probably blog about.

So – a good conference. The forces of light and reason largely triumphed. UNISON is in very good shape to protect members and public services from this Tory led government and its ideologically driven hatred of public service workers and any form of collective provision.

Next year - Bournemouth.

(Caption shows Scottish newspaper “The Daily Record” in 1999 attacking Angela as being “hard left”.)

Last Day of UNISON Conference 2007 – Wreckers seen off.

Sorry this is a bit late. The last day of conference is always a little fraught. Your morning "routine” has to cope with the additional tasks of checking out of your hotel and finding somewhere to put your luggage for the day. Cumulative late nights (and hangovers) don’t help either.

Thanks to excellent trade union history blog Timemachine for NALGO (UNISON founder union) annual for 1939 (yes, it was called the "Beano"). I missed the traditional Friday “tongue in cheek” Standing order committee report. I hear that its chair, Clytus Williams, was on form and very funny.

There then was a good emergency debate on pay campaigns. Looks like it will be our first row with Gordon as Prime Minister (...and not our last). The scheduled order of business was finished off, then after lunch we had the start of the remaining order of business (the “snake”).

In 1 hour 45 minutes there was an attempt to debate 30 odd outstanding motions and amendments. First two motions which had been prioritised were health and safety motions. Sickness Absence Procedures and Attacks on Public sector workers: Violence against staff. Excellent news, real core trade union issues being prioritised and discussed. It was a pity that certain delegates prevented proper debate on such issues by raising a point of order and calling for a vote when only a couple of speakers had said anything. But no real surprise there.

Very pleased that Motion 101 “Pension Funds and Capital Stewardship – Toward the Citizen Economy” was the third prioritised motion (see Peter Gaskins, Cambridge UNISON pension rep

and new NEC member speaking in favour) and it was overwhelmingly passed. In fact I only saw one delegate vote against (by raising his yellow A4 voting card) and he was promptly hit on the head by a female colleague with her voting card for doing so. Quite right too. I’ll post something on 101 with a full account of the “Are we the New Capitalists” fringe. However, at the risk of sounding over enthusiastic, it appears that Capital Stewardship is coming of age in UNISON at last. Related issues came up time and time again during conference such as over the arms trade, Israeli, international solidarity, health & safety issues and the danger of “Private Equity”.

In the closing session the UNISON President for the year (Malcolm Cantello – elected by the NEC it is the most senior lay trade union post in UNISON) was thanked for his work not only in the past year but also for his entire trade union service. I always find this quite emotional and nostalgic. It is a shame that some delegates immediately leave as soon as formal business is finished and do not wait to listen.

Overall, a very good week. Real trade union business debated and moved forward. Pity that some nonsense crept through every now and then, but there you go.

Next year in Bournemouth….