General Conference Round Up

Union Matters

Packed agenda at General Conference

Stepping up the fight for equality, health, safety and wellbeing at work and addressing the challenges of taking our union forward made for a packed agenda at the CWU’s general conference today.

These and wider issues, ranging from the economy to the Labour Party, from housing and transport to the environment kept hard-working delegates busy all day.

And conference still had time to give a warm CWU welcome to guest speaker John McDonnell.

 

Brexit – where we stand

We won’t be campaigning for a second EU referendum – delegates decided, after a lively discussion on the subject.

But if one is called, the union will hold a special policy forum to democratically decide our position – under the terms of the resolution.

“We won’t support a ‘no-deal’ and we won’t back anything that jeopardises either Northern Ireland or our members’ jobs,” explained general secretary Dave Ward.

“But we could support the right deal done in accordance with Labour policy and values.”

 

Equality priority

Getting more women and members of black and minority ethnic (BAME) members into local, branch, regional and national leadership positions is a challenge for the whole union, a packed lunchtime fringe meeting heard.

Latest data suggests they progress on proportionality has been patchy, and has even stalled in some respects, reported London assistant secretary Kate Dunning, who has been working with the equality department to produce a comprehensive survey.

“These figures show we’ve got a lot of work to do – and if we’re serious about proportionality, it’s a crucial task for every one of us,” she explained.

Ian Taylor, North West divisional rep, commented afterwards: “It’s critical that BAME and women activists do not solely stand for specifically BAME or women branch roles, but go and be encouraged to go for industrial representative positions.”

 

Wellbeing at work

Conference adopted a resolution calling for “stress risk assessment to be used in every workplace in the UK” while another proposition demanded that all suicides that happen in the workplace be “immediately investigated as a potential work-related suicide.”

On the issue of mental health at work, conference approved NEC plans for a “major national launch event” of the union’s strategy, which is focussed on providing appropriate support and training for representatives.

In June, the union will be fully supporting Cervical Screening Awareness Week – urging all women to undergo the tests.

Speaking for a motion raising the issue, Newcastle Amal delegate Katherine Wilson spoke movingly of how her own mother had died from this after never having had the test through embarrassment.

And the union will seek to include the menopause as a “protected characteristic” within the Equality Act, after delegates backed a motion from the Women’s Conference.

Explaining why this protection is urgently needed, Scotland No1 delegate Mel Gorrie told of a member she who had been disciplined by her employer after suffering quite extreme menopausal symptoms.

 

Union recruitment strategy

A new head of organising will spearhead the CWU’s revitalised recruitment strategy, which is intended to take our union’s fighting spirit into new companies within the sector.

“Industrially, the CWU has traditionally set a high bench mark in pay, terms and conditions in our industries,” pointed out Dave Ward.

But in the wider world of work, precarious employment and insecure contracts have grown and increased – although three-quarters of workers across the economy as a whole are not in a trade union.

“There’s a pressing need for a wider and much more ambitious recruitment and organising strategy.”

And other motions approved by conference – against zero hour contracts, for a higher minimum wage and collective bargaining rights for all – indicated clearly the enthusiasm among our activists for stepping up the fight against precarious employment and building the CWU’s presence.

 

Housing justice

First-time conference speakers Denise Rothnie and Quincy Raymond won big support for their Young Workers motion to affiliate the CWU to renters’ unions.

With house prices out of reach for more and more people, and rental costs rising, local renters’ unions are engaging communities, lobbying government and providing a voice” for tenants to collectively fight for justice and fairness.

 

Labour’s Better Britain

John McDonnell won a rousing ovation after he set out some of the Labour Party’s key economic policies.

Expecting an election perhaps as soon as this autumn, the Shadow Chancellor and his colleagues are ready for battle, he told delegates.

Fair taxation, investing in council housing, scrapping anti-trade union laws, renationalising water, rail and mail and setting up Post Bank were among the signature policies he flagged up to his enthusiastic audience.