Tuesday, 21 September 2010

UNITE 2011 Rules Conference timetable and SOC

Today the UNITE Executive Council agreed the first parts of the timetable and arrangements for the union's first full rules conference.

  • First Quarter 2011: Regional Industrial Sector Committees (RISCs) and National Industrial Sector Committees (NISCs) elect delegates to the Rules Conference (1 delegate per 4000 members)
  • First Quarter 2011: Each branch and each Constitutional Committee can submit one rule amendment
  • Week commencing 9th May: Regional meetings of delegates assign responsibility for moving rule amendments from branches
  • 13-16th June 2011: Rules Conference, Liverpool
No amendments to rule change motions will be allowed.

The Standing Orders Committee (SOC) for the Rules Conference will consist of 20 members elected from Regional Committees, with seats allocated to ensure at least minimum proportionality:
  • East Midlands: 2
  • Ireland: 2, including at least one woman
  • London & Eastern: 2, including at least one BAEM
  • North East, Yorkshire & Humber: 2
  • North West: 2, including at least one woman
  • Scotland: 2, including at least one woman
  • South East: 2, including at least one woman
  • South West: 2
  • Wales: 2
  • West Midlands: 2
SOC members should not be delegates to the Rules Conference, but SOC members will be treated as delegates for the purposes of electing the 2015 Rules Conference SOC (at the 2011 conference).



3 comments:

Ian said...

This EC didn't in the end take a final decision on the distribution of seats for Rules Conference, as there are still a few glitches that need to be ironed out.

The intention is to elect delegates by and from RISCs or NISCs. Where delegates are elected from NISCs, they will have to ensure regional balance.

IT & Comms is likely to get 3 delegates (including at least one woman), all elected from the NISC.

Electrical Engineering & Electronics is likely to get four delegates, all elected from the NISC.

In both cases, this would mean the NISC electing no more than one delegate per region.

Overview said...

Ian please don't take this as a criticism of yourself because it isn't intended that way.
We need to avoid the same confusion that emerged with electing delegates to the Special Rules earlier this year. We had some RISCS electing delegates and then were told it was NISCS that elected them.
We need to stick to RISCS electing delegates because this allows for those not on a NISC the chance to get to conference.
Personally I think 1:4000 members is too restrictive but I suppose that would be a rule change.
One way of solving the issue might be to elect from RISC and then any RISC that does not meet those seats go to the NISC for electing. There are some RISCS that don't meet , Metals has at least 2.
In this way we maximise the opportunities for people to attend what is a very important conference and allow others the chance to attend instead of the usual suspects who grab everything.

Ian said...

Steve,
you're absolutely right about the confusion last time. That shouldn't be repeated this time. The EC saw a draft paper with specific seats allocated to particular RISCs and NISCs. It was problems with some of the details that held this up.

It will be done via RISCs where possible, but it isn't always. Some RISCs don't have 4000 members, so can't get a delegate to themselves. In other cases, the proportionality requirements (women, BAEM) could not be met doing it region by region.

I think something clear will come out of the next EC meeting.