Our branch president, Dave Levy, presented a report to yesterday’s branch meeting on Congress. The branch for the second time in five years was not represented and this report was put together by talking to people who were present.
As reported Barbara Plant was re-elected as President.
The branch sent three motions, which was the limit, to Congress, on Windrush (M171), Bullying (M64) and economic support during the Covid 19 pandemic (M144). The CEC recommended remission/refer on the first two and qualified support on the last one and got their way. The Windrush motion instructed an affiliation and the CEC always ask for remission/reference to CEC to allow themselves to do due diligence on the organisation, they asked for remission on the Bullying motion since it asked them to do some work and had financial implications. (We instructed them to look for and consider legal test cases to increase member’s legal protection against bullying at work). The motion on economic support during the pandemic lockdown, was significant and comprehensive although written in the spring and the recommendation made when we thought that lockdown would end on June 21st. The qualification was that our demands may not be suitable for future lockdowns.
The biggest issue facing the Union is its response to the Monaghan Report. The CEC presented a paper, Positive Change, which details the progress and plans the union has to ensure that the Union is a safe place for women. The Monaghan Report update page was updated after the Congress and it points out that the Union has resurrected the Henry Report, which was a report into institutional racism in the GMB. The field work was conducted in 2002, and a paper establishing the National Equalities Forum together with other important reforms was presented to Congress 2007.
Additionally, papers on Energy, Procurement & Spending, Pay and the Cost of Living were proposed and carried.
The Union was addressed by Sir Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Labour Party.
The rule restricting the number of motions and rule changes a branch can make has been reversed. so these are now unlimited. This is good as it allows large, diverse branches such as ours to fully represent our membership both at Congress and within the regional delegation which issues mandates.
The motions booklet is available on the web site, as is the financial statement. There is a ,Congress documents landing page, and a 2021 Policy Book.
Congress can be viewed on Youtube.
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A number of the other hyperlinks on this page maybe in the GMB member’s page area and thus require a password.
The featured image is from the Morning Star. It has been copied because wordpress requires a local copy to show a featured image and a local copy allows us to manage both performance and longevity.
Posted: 16th June 2021