National Local Government Service Group
Conference 2012
17th - 18th June in Bournemouth
Branch delegates were to the fore at Local Government Conference. Branch Secretary, Inez Teece was busy in the role of Regional Delegate, not just speaking, but also supporting Scottish delegates to get into the debates. She moved Scotland's motion on support for Further Education.
Susan Kennedy spoke twice, once to support a composite on justice for school support staff, which included the Branch's amendment, and again to speak up for women's pensions. Kate Ramsden, Branch Chair told conference of Scotland's Fair Pay campaign and the focus on getting a living wage for all workers in the public sector and voluntary and private employers commissioned by councils.
Details of these debates are below.
Justice
for School Support Staff
Susan Kennedy gave a Scottish perspective to the debate as Local
Government Conference supported a range of measures to defend
school support staff, who have faced a range of attacks on their
jobs, pay, terms and conditions and job security across the four
nations >>>more
Stop
cuts to Further Education
Local Government Conference supported a Scottish motion moved
by Regional Delegate Inez Teece, and condemned cuts to the Further
Education sector throughout the UK. It strongly supported campaigns
in Scotland and Cymru Wales, and in the rest of the country for
improved funding, no job loss and to stop and reverse privatisation
>>>more
Campaign
for Fair Pay and a Living Wage
Scotland speakers, including Branch Chair, Kate Ramsden, were
to the fore as Local Government Conference threw its wage behind
a wide ranging strategy to challenge pay restraint, reject regional
pay and campaign for fair pay and a living wage of £7.20 an hour
more
>>>more
Enough
is enough - the battle for decent pensions for women
Susan Kennedy, Branch Equalities Officer spoke out as Conference
set out a range of measures to encourage women to join or to stay
in the Local Government Pensions Scheme and to become actively
involved in campaigning for improved pensions for women >>>
more
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Who's who and what's what?
Service group conferences bring together members across the country
doing similar kinds of jobs or working for the same kinds of employers.
Our branch's service group is local government. It has its conference
just before the National Conference and in the same venue.
The delegation
The branch is entitled to send four delegates to this conference
and must have regard to proportionality in line with the gender
balance etc in the branch. We tend to have the same delegation
as the Delegate Conference because of the distance to travel and
the fact that one conference follows on from the other. This year
we have an all female delegation to both Local Government and
Delegate Conference, with Ian McDonald as observer to both.
The Branch delegation to this year's Local Government Conference
in Bournemouth is:
Regional
Delegates: Two regional delegates are elected each year from
the Scottish Local Government Committee. They speak to Scotland's
motions and amendments and they keep Scottish delegates right
about conference matters. We are very pleased that for the second
year in a row, our branch secretary, Inez Teece has been elected
as regional delegate, along with Scott Donohoe, from Glasgow Branch.
Motions
Motions are passed by a straight majority of the conference
delegates on a hand vote. If it is close, conference delegates
or the chair of conference can call for a card vote. The number
of card votes per delegation is based on the number of members
in the branch.
The Branch has not submiited any motions to this year's Local
Government Conference but we have submitted an amendment to add
a Scottish dimension to a motion from Newcastle City on defending
school support staff.
As delegates we will vote on the motions and the rule changes
in line with branch policy, where we have that in place and we
can speak for or against any of the motions, amendments and rule
changes.
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