UNISON NDC 2011: Rule Change Schedule F Branch Finance

On Thursday afternoon at NDC it is rule change time.  This is my speech on supporting Schedule F.  I went to a Finance fringe the previous evening and quickly gathered that this proposed rule change was in trouble.  There were genuine concerns by delegates but also the usual suspects were just out to cause trouble. The rule change was lost. This is a shame, but there you go.  Here is my speech:

President, Conference, John Gray, Housing Association Branch, Greater London Region speaking in favour of this Rule Change.

Conference, I am speaking as a former treasurer of a large branch which employed staff and had hundreds of thousand pounds in various saving accounts and industrial action funds. We even had in our accounts, strangely enough for a trade union, two hundred pounds of British government War bonds from Second World War, which I tried to redeem, but couldn't since we had lost the actual certificates sometime in the dim and distance past. I have also been a regional finance convenor for the past 5 years. I am now a branch secretary with practically no reserves yet we employ four staff - so money and good financial governance is vital.  We have 4 workers saleries to pay each month.

Conference, I have done a number of different jobs for the union. But to be honest the job of branch treasurer was one of the most difficult and most worrying. Not being that good at maths probably didn’t help. But making sure that this huge amount of money, more money that I had ever come across before in my life, was safe and secure and any use was properly accounted for was a worry. I also felt that the interest we received was grossly inadequate and did not protect the union’s money against inflation.

I appreciate that the great majority of branches are already well run and have sound financial procedures. But we must face the facts that some are not. NDC all of us must take responsibility for enabling the union to safe guard all our monies not just NEC. 

Conference I think that this proposal is complex as all financial matters are but potentially a good move for branches and for the union. We can satisfy our external auditors and the inland revenue that our money is being looked after properly, legally and it is safe.  

It will remove some, not all, of the everyday headaches, that treasurers and branch secretaries face. It will also increase income to branches at a time when you will need every penny you can get to defend your members.

Finally conference, I understand people have concerns but we are in a union. By definition a union is a collective organisation. We have spent a great deal of time this week defending collective investments such as our pensions, collective rights and agreements over pay and conditions and taking collective industrial action to achieve our aims. 

A collective financial policy is better than a series of individual ones. Collective investments are going to be better than individual investments. Conference, Please support this rule change.

UNISON NDC Rule amendment 13 & 14

Conference , vice President, John Gray, London Region, Housing Association Branch, speaking in favour of Rule changes 13 and 14

Conference thank you for supporting rule change 9 and giving us in the Community and Voluntary Sector an opportunity to better participate in the union and to help us grow the union. But this by its self is not enough. We need wider change, we need to have structures and sectors in place that reflect the diverse and complex organising challenges that we face.

Take my own situation which is not I think untypical and I hope illustrates why we need sectors and occupational groups. I mentioned before that my branch has members in 140 employers all over London and the South East. But my own employer which is a very large housing association with 1600 staff has UNISON members in at least 7 different local government branches in 4 different UNISON regions. Many members are shift workers, many are part time, many work from home, many work regularly from at least two different office locations often over a hundred miles apart, nearly all “hot desk”. We have 6 different pay arrangements, 5 different staff handbooks, 5 different pension schemes and one central bargaining committee. We have members on performance pay working alongside those on TUPE protection who are not.

Housing associations also have specific employment related housing legislation and regulations from Assemblies, Parliaments, local authorities and Regulators.

Conference this is the world I live in and as mentioned before many CVS activists not just in housing would recognise this world. This is why we need as a sector to identify and develop better ways and systems of supporting activists, representing members and involving them in decisions. In such an environment we need to utilise technology better, we need to learn and communicate better. We need to plan and campaign better. To do this we need to have autonomy, we need co-ordination, we need flexibility, we need occupational groups.

Finally conference I have heard some delegates honestly expressing concerns about consultation and perhaps some things may have astray but to my mind I can honestly say that I think we have had consultation overload on this issue and we need to make up our minds and move on.

My very independent minded branch secretary states that she feels she “has been consulted to death”. Remember nothing is set in stone for ever and there is really nothing to fear and everything for the union to gain. Lets just get on with it.

Please support the rule changes.

UNISON NDC - Rule Amendment 9

Conference , Vice President, John Gray, London Region, Housing Association Branch, speaking in favour of Rule Amendment 9.

This proposed rule change is not just about fair representation and the need to give all members an equal voice. It is also about growing the union and its about organising in our sector.

My branch has over 3000 members spread amongst 140 different employers all over London and the South East of England. The branch and the vast majority of CVS activists from whatever background firmly support this rule change. There are to my mind 2 simple reasons why which I will now try to explain.

Firstly its about fair representation and having a relevant voice

Conference while I freely admit to being a bit of an anorak who actually enjoys going to the regional Local government committee. The other members of my branch who loyally respond to desperate pleas to attend from our office - are after the meetings bewildered by the business of the LG committee. Since that committee is quite rightly dominated by local government issues. So what happens? These delegates don't see it as relevant and fail to go again.

This year for Local government conference I had 3 first time delegates colleagues with me. At the end of the conference one of them said to me that while she had enjoyed coming to Brighton, meeting people,UNIZONE and the fringes - much of the business of conference were on issues that did not directly concern her or her workplace. She had never worked for local government in her life, her employer had never been part of a local authority and had offices in several different borough councils. Conference, again we run the risk that this delegate will not be coming back again to participate in her union.

Secondly it is about organising and building the union. Trade unions are needed everywhere but believe me they are absolutely imperative in the voluntary and community sector. Employment practices in many of these organisations are simply a national disgrace. Not surprisingly union density in the Voluntary sector is very, very low. So there are potential enormous recruitment opportunities but to recruit we need to make the union relevant to the sector. If we don't then Unite and GMB will fill this void.

Conference , this is a fantastic opportunity for not only current members but also those out there who desperately need UNISON in their workplace. Please support all the rule changes needed to bring this about. Thank you.

UNISON has a new "Community" Service Group!

Post from UNISON NDC conference floor. UNISON now has new service groups for “Community”; “Further and Higher Education” and “Police and Justice”. Hooray!

I spoke in favour of the Community Service Group. I'll post my speech next. Interestingly United Left tried to derail the whole process opposing an earlier motion about the structural changes. They were defeated but did not put up any speakers against the first rule changes.

They did come out against related amendments on the “Group Debate” (don't ask) and we are awaiting the result of a Card vote on these changes which are about trying to put the new structures into operation. I tried to speak on this as well but was “bumped off” by a point of order to close debate and go to vote. I thought the arguments against these changes were rather odd. But there are interested parties about. I'll post the result as soon as I can.