Report of First amicus North West Regional Council

 

Today's North West Regional Council meeting went very well - all the elections were won by the candidates supported by the Gazette.  This report highlights the main results, but also a few other points of interest.

 

Everyone did very well - now we've clearly got a big job to do to bring the region to life.

 

 

 

NEC members were referred to as "observers".  They were allowed to speak, but were seated separately from the Regional Council, and the whole setup discouraged participation.

 

Chair: John Boardman beat Bob Braddock 14-7.

 

RC members were invited to send suggestions for amending the Standing Orders to the Regional Secretary, for consideration by the Regional Council Management Committee.  Some considered proposals could then be submitted to the NEC.

 

Conference Arrangements Committee: Glyne Greenwich beat Anne Trafford 14-9.

 

TUC 2004: Caroline Kavanagh (22) and Andrew Wheatley (14) beat Dave Jones

(10)

 

Finance: Peter Bury beat Bob Braddock 15-9

 

Health & Safety: Martin McMulkin beat Jack Skinner 15-8.

 

Education: Mike Gaskell beat Dave Jones 14-9.

 

Equalities: Caroline Kavanagh beat Brenda Warrington 16-9.

 

Regional TUC: We were told that December's Joint Executive had decided that current delegates should continue until the end of the year, so no election was necessary.

 

GPMU in the North West have 4 branches with 12000 paying members and 12 officers.

UNIFI in the North West have 12 officers covering 18000 members.

This would bring the region to well over 120,000 members.  There were also moves to get back some of the people in the region who were allocated elsewhere for historical reasons.

 

Our Regional Secretary told us that the Regional Council budgets would be from 1 January 2005 onwards, and that the 2% was not available for 2004.

Some funds would be available to tide us over.  He said the GP&FC would provide more guidance.

[This was news to everyone.  I think this is against rule - the funding is clearly set out.]

 

Jane Lewis, one of the right wingers on the GP&FC, told us that the UNIFI merger had been delayed until 1 October, to coincide with the GPMU merger.

 

Regional Council members' contact details will be circulated to each other.

 

We referred the question of how the various forums could meet more frequently to the Management Committee.

 

A donation of £500 towards Manchester Pride was agreed.

A request from Justice For Columbia for support was referred to the Management Committee with a recommendation to support.

 

Future dates for RC meetings were agreed: 21 June, 23 August, 18 October, 13 December (all at 10:30am).

Most people wanted the meeting on a weekday.

The date for the first RCMC meeting will be 26 July.

 

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