EC Meeting Papers July 2018

GENERAL FEDERATION OF TRADE UNIONS EDUCATIONAL TRUST

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2017

The trustees present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 December 2017. The trustees have adopted the provisions of the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) “Accounting and Reporting by Charities” (FRS 102) in preparing the annual report and financial statements of the charity. Objectives and activities for the public benefit The Trustees confirm they have complied with the duty in the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the general guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit. The principal objective of the Trust is to provide educational course and seminars for the individual members of the trade unions that are affiliated trade unions. It also produces publications and carries out project work in support of these activities and for the wider benefit of the community. Review of education provision. We have sought to re direct our educational partnerships towards higher education and work more closely with supportive academics. We have adopted a clear set of principles to underpin our educational work which have taken into account the near disappearance of government funding for trade union education, the pressures on FE colleges, the urgent need to politicise the curriculum and re develop a sense of history within it, deploy and advocate for progressive arts and cultural work and to ensure that our curriculum meets the needs of GFTU affiliates more closely. We have also taken a significant professional lead in cross fertilising the related disciplines of popular education theory and practice with trade union education. We are committed therefore to changing the way trade union education is delivered and what it delivers. We have a tradition of supporting university students in their studies through bursaries. For the next three years we are funding Edda Johnson to produce an up to date history of the GFTU at the University of Wolverhampton, we have given a bursary of £1,500 to the President of BECTU to study trade unionism and free-lance work, and we have donated small £100 prizes to students in the Industrial Relations Department at De Montfort University. In addition Dr Shirin Hirsch has been appointed to a post doctorate at Wolverhampton which enables her to contribute some time to our education work. We occasionally donate to worthwhile educational and historic projects. This year we have donated £1,500 to the Marx Memorial Library to restore some Spanish Civil War Banners, £1,000 to the Radical Book Fair as author prizes, £2,000 to Banner Theatre to assist in the compilation of a book of the songs of Dave Rogers with music transcription and photographs. We have donated also to assist in the production of a film about the London Recruits, those brave young trade unionists who went to South Africa to undertake clandestine work against the Apartheid regime. We have established a good new platform and now is the time to consolidate it and market our new initiatives more fully. The Trust is offering its biggest and most comprehensive education programme in 2017/2018. This seeks to expand the subjects delivered, improve the way they are taught, generate business for the hotel through new public events and operate more flexibly. Several new elements to the offer are included which will be highlighted at our meeting. The Trust has supported two new initiatives. Quarterly meeting opportunities under the banner of Continuous Professional Development for various specialist trade union officers namely, education officers, HR managers, Health and Safety Officers, Finance and Admin Officers. We also support two meetings a year of General Secretaries. To extend and deepen the debates on education and union development matters the Trust supported a GFTU Summit in 2015 and a Union Development Conference in 2016. Staffing. Eight of the nine staff at the GFTU have a percentage of their contracts dedicated to Educational Trust work. Two post-holders dedicated nearly 100% each to the Trust left our employment in 2016 and their responsibilities have been shared between the General Secretary and the Operations Manager. Significant activities We have over the last three years adopted an interrelated strategy which considers our finances, organisation, purpose and important professional development issues about trade union education. Risk assessment of our work is ongoing.

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