GFTU BGCM Minutes 2017

learning threshold. All of this is hugely welcomed, but NAPO’s view is that the

GFTU must be the catalyst for much needed further change in the emphasis of

how our activist community can deliver training and support and the networks

for our members that are not predicated on outmoded and in many cases not

especially effective processes and structures. For example, when Yvonne

spoke earlier about the demise of the probation service one of the things she

did not get a chance to say was that there was a huge impact on NAPO in

terms of our lay structures. Whole swathes of people were made redundant,

including seasoned representatives with 10, 20, 15 years’ experience, not easy

to replace and any regeneration plan, as strong as it is, cannot just put people

like that back in the frontline, so we need to look at things differently and that is

what we are doing. The attacks on trade union facilities time was a huge

setback, just as big a setback as the reprehensible Trade Union Act itself,

because both things sap at the very life blood of our existence and reason for

being as institutions and they break or seek to break that important linkage

between the rep at the workplace and the member to propagate what trade

unionism is actually about.

Our motion sets out a number of steps to assist reps, national officers, fulltime

officials and, just as importantly, manager members, often above criticism from

those at the hard end, they themselves are under pressure as well, let’s not

forget that. The motion talks about developing softer skills in terms of

communication and emotional intelligence in an attempt to get more people into

the culture of what trade unions are about. That is what we are missing these

days, because no longer can we simply rely on having a regular chain of ready

replacements to stand in for the vacancies that emerge across our lay

structures. We can assume nothing. Unions today need a huge selling job,

make no mistake and no longer can we make assumptions that all of our

members belong to a trade union because they inherently share the same

passions as we do about equality and justice for all. Make no assumptions, it

will be the death of us and no longer can any of our organisations keep on

doing what we have done in the face of a neoliberalist assault on our ethos and

material resources. So motion 3 provides a pathway to a strategic support and

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