General conference Day 2

General Conference day 2.
13/06/05.

Conference started with guest speaker Jeanne Drake (TUC President) addressing conference.

Jeanne told conference how the CWU had gained assurance from the government that the Royal Mail would remain In public ownership.

The TUC has gained increased protection from dismissal for striking workers & increased rights for family friendly work patterns.

Campaigning for learning has been high on the TUC agenda, a target of 22,000 Union Learner Reps by 2007 has been set.

Internationally the TUC has assisted activists in Iraq to mobilise the workforce, campaign for workers rights & re-establish the Trade Union movement. Things that were very difficult to do under Saddam Hussein’s rule.

Tony Kearns (Senior General Secretary) then addressed conference.
Tony updated conference regarding the unions finances. Policy made at previous conferences is working & financially the union is well on the road to recovery.

The morning of conference was quite positive with motions 33, 34, 36, 89, 90, 92 , 95, 96 & 100 being accepted by the NEC. Motions 35, 37, 86, 87, 88, 91 & 98 were carried.

The afternoon session commenced with a guest speaker from the CWU Parliamentary Group. The speaker pointed out areas where Labour had made significant progress & also on areas that progress still needed to be made, such as pensions & the end of poverty.

The afternoon session of conference saw more motions being accepted (which is the new way for the NEC to speed up conference) or being carried.

Motions carried/accepted were:
101, 64, 65, 77 & 78.

One motion, 81, that was originally to be accepted by the NEC, until opposition to the acceptance was raised, would have seen the appointment (rather than election) of National Assistant Secretaries. This is a position that we as a branch have long been opposed to.
Several Branches entered the debate, many to oppose the motion, Steve Clarke from our branch took to the rostrum to oppose the motion on behalf of the branch.

The motion was overwhelmingly defeated.
A total of 10 motions were defeated through the course of today, those being motions:-
43, 59, 63, 66, 76, 80, 81, 82, 85 & 97.

In all it was a very good last day of general conference with many sensible decisions made & good policy carried.

Tomorrow the Industrial Conferences start.



Michael J Williams
Acting Branch Secretary.
Eastern 5 branch