EC Meeting Papers January 2020

EC Minutes 29 November 2019

And further dates were added 3 rd and 6 th in Manchester. Bro. Williams thanked Bro. Johnston for his trail blazer work and involvement and suggested dates could be circulated once. A special thank you was given to Sis. Woolley for delivering and leading a very successful ‘Young Members’ weekend that had taken place at Quorn last weekend. Sis. Woolley gave thanks to all those that attended and in particular Dan Warren of Community and Danny McGowan of Nautilst International who helped and had made great contributions to the event when speakers / tutors were unable to attend at short notice.

Bro. Nicholls reported that the Ken Loach film would be shown at Durham the following week.

Bro. Nicholls proposed an increase in affiliation fee’s from 98p to £1.00 per member. Bro. Draper and Bro. McGowan supported the proposal and it was put to the EC members.

EC Members agreed to the new affiliation fee.

Bro. Nicholls reported that during the last Educational Trust meeting it had been raised that as the Education Officer had not been replaced could the possibility of employing a skilled and experienced consultant for funding be explored. This would enable applications of grants and possible further developments. It was suggested the consultant be on the payroll for two years. Approx. salaries were in the range of £48-55k per annum. Bro. Nicholls confirmed this would not be in replace of an education officer. Bro. Williams suggested putting a proposal together to be discussed further at January’s EC meeting. Bro. Linn enquired if ‘Union Learn’ and the possibilities of a project manager had been explored and as Bro. Linn was on the board he agreed to look into this.

EC Members agreed to explore this further and discuss at January’s EC meeting.

13. Political situation and GFTU going forward.

Bro. Nicholls discussed welcoming political debates as a federation during the EC meeting and views and opinions were welcomed from affiliates. Bro. Nicholls reported on supporting the labour party and the youth service policy that had been publicised by them which had been circulated to EC members. Bro. Gillan gave praise to Bro Nicholls on his political paper in the run up to the General Election and spoke about current political issues from members and stated that they had remained neutral on the subject of Brexit. Bro. Lawrence briefly stated that todays ‘Independent’ newspaper should be read and raised the issue that racism should unite the movement. Bro. Lawrence stated that NAPO was a non-affiliated union but having looked at labour party policies within the manifesto he suggested making a statement to support the labour party. Bro. Draper discussed Brexit and the fact that the Labour party did not stop it. Bro. Draper discussed current issues and the impact of climate change, the increase in homelessness and poverty has on peoples mental health and how successful campaigns such as the £10 per hour victory can change life’s dramatically. Bro. Draper suggested to support the Labour Party whether being an affiliated union or not.

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