The CWU Annual Conference took place in Bournemouth from 21 to 26 May 2006 at the Bournemouth International Centre.
Branch Secretary's Report
General Conference 21 – 22 May 2006
The CWU President, Pat O’Hara, opened General Conference in the BIC Bournemouth at 9:00am on Sunday 21 May.
At this conference the Agenda included propositions on Health Safety & Environment, Pensions, Policy, Education, Finance, Organisation, Membership services and Equal Opportunities. This list is not exhaustive but gives you an idea of the weight of subjects being discussed. There were several keynote speakers including Peter Hain M.P. and John Hendy Q.C. both very accomplished people in their field. Peter is of course minister for Northern Ireland a very challenging and still hazardous job, he made light of this by inviting hecklers, before reminding them that he was accompanied by his close protection force and they might be forced to shoot anyone who became too troublesome, this raised a few nervous laughs. John Hendy is the CWU’s lawyer, a leader in the field and spoke with great authority on trade unionism the law and the effect legislation has on the ability to act in times of dispute.
In general business terms two things directly affected our branch, in membership services proposition 85, we were asked to accept the Legal Services rationalisation of the solicitors’ panel. This in effect ended our ability as a branch to choose the solicitor that provides the legal services to our branch members; the decision is now taken centrally. We voted against this but a card vote was held and the proposition was carried 2-1.
The other thing dear to this branches' heart is of course the Education centre at Alvescot near Carterton. Proposition 49 moved, passionately, by Judy Griffiths of the Coventry branch asked conference to support the development of Alvescot, alongside the extension of regional training, the main thrust being to bring some certainty to the staff based at Alvescot Lodge. Unfortunately this was defeated.
I hope this gives you a flavour of the importance of and the type business carried out at General Conference. We have within the branch office a full record of all propositions put and the outcome of the debates if you have a particular interest in any area please do not hesitate to call.
Telecoms Industry Conference Tuesday 23 May – 26 May 2006
The CWU President Andy Kerr opened Conference and invited Senior Deputy General Secretary Jeannie Drake to address the delegates.
Jeannie set out to conference the recent major issues that have affected today’s Telecoms Industry and outlined some of the challenges that lay ahead within the industry and how we the CWU can affect them. She touched on a myriad of subjects including, Convergence, 3G, Local Line Unbundling, Voice Over Internet Protocol, 21st Century Network, Equivalence and of course the Telecoms Strategic Review. Jeannie described how much input the CWU had into the Ofcom review the main thrust of which was to fight against the break up of BT.
Conference then moved to emergency proposition (E1) that dealt with the closing of a factory in Northern Ireland by the company Trivirix and the subsequent hardship and devastation to the local community caused by this. The branch representative Lillian Short made the most moving speech describing how some people had been affected. She cried when she thanked the CWU for their generosity in the aftermath of a decision that came as a great shock to the community. I was struck by the way this employer had dealt with the situation with scant regard to the effect of the closure on the community. In fact the CWU with the aid of local authorities organised the workforce and assisted with benefits clinics, employment opportunities and re-training programmes; the company basically retreated to America. Sad as it may sound it does not end, there our brothers and sisters who work for a company in South Wales called Selectron are going through a very similar experience, the work due to be carried out at the factory on behalf on IBM has been transferred to Singapore therefore leaving the Factory in Cwmcarn, Wales at risk. A proposition was carried to fully support these workers.
We went on to debate many issues, such as Health and Safety, Reviewing Grades, agency staffing, pay, recruitment off-shoring at work (becoming more of an engineering issue with the potential off shoring of SGMU etc), Annual Leave, disciplinary processes, once again this list is not exhaustive.
We received several presentations at conference, all very interesting, these included: Pensions, Recruitment / Organisation and a very interesting presentation from the International Labour Organisation, this talked about the recent events in France and how a social dialogue had been struck after some draconian laws were introduced that affected young workers rights.
Your delegation represented you on approximately 140 propositions in this conference we of course listen and decide and hope to vote in the manner that we think represents the majority view within Branch. If you would like to discuss any item I have reported on please do not hesitate to call.
Chic McGlynn
National Executive Council Elections and
National Officer Elections 2006
Conference Delegates – Chic McGlynn, Andy Bushrod, Dean Pullen.
Conference Observers – Clare Hedge, Jeff Ryder.