Future Divisional Meeting Structure

Discussion Document

Background

It has been recognised over a period of time that the Divisional Committee Meetings have become staid, less of a priority and more of an information download from the Divisional Officers. There are a number of reasons for this; Communications have become easier, the need to have more regular functional meetings hence repetition of information, representatives have become more time pressured and as a consequence attendance has suffered and the industrial/political wings of the CWU have become separated (this list is not exhaustive).

None of the above have been designed to create a void at the Divisional committee meeting but nonetheless the meeting structure and outputs/actions need to be addressed to make the meetings more relevant for all that attend and ensure that the relevance flows to the local reps to help them with their day job that is becoming increasingly challenging.

Discussion Points

All of the below are simply ideas to encourage debate. For ease of discussion we have split them below into four sections; your input into developing the items below will be essential to ensure that the meetings are informative, relevant and productive

• Standard Agenda Items
• Communications
• Industrial/Political
• Other ideas

Whilst these have been split obviously they will overlap and need to tie into each other.

Standard Agenda Items

• Report Back from IR Meetings (Div Reps). At the moment the divisional officers meet once a month with the heads of IR (North & West). This meeting covers the information (data pack) that the officers send out on receipt from the business. This includes any ongoing issues e.g. the implementation of the job security agreement/recruitment, live disagreements or any going trials etc… This would normally, merely be an update from the divisional officers. However very little feedback is given from the Area reps at Divisional Committee meetings on any actions taken in relation to the information provided. We believe this should probably change to form part of a two way conversation.

• Standard Reports (Area Reps)Following on from the above, in order to ensure we hold the business to account and the divisional officers have up to date information, report backs will be taken to identify any anomalies in the information the business has provided the Div Reps within these data packs compared to what is actually happening on the ground. Therefore, it is suggested that Area Reps have standard reports ready to be given at the Divisional Committee covering the areas in the Data Pack such as; Temp Contracts, Disagreements, Trial activity and highlighting any training needs that could be facilitated by the Division.

• National Policy Discussion (All)Over recent years’ big changes have taken place in our industry and further big changes are planned for the future. To ensure we get the best ideas to be able to best protect our members and have sound arguments to use with the business a topic will be chosen to debate such as OMP (optimised mail preparation). This should also assist us set policy on big ticket issues that in turn will help inform discussions on motions to conference and input as a Division to any Policy forums that may occur in-between.

• PEC Member report (PEC Member)This should tie in with the Divisional Officers reports to ensure none duplication of reports with a focus on any National Policy Discussions. We would want a full report on any PEC discussions to include any PEC documents that may have been cleared and of particular interest or relevance. Furthermore a two way discussion should be encouraged so as to enable the nominated PEC member to highlight/advance NW/NW policy/positions at PEC meetings

• National Campaign Update (Regional Secretary/Nominee)The new DGS(p) has made it clear that more integration between the industrial/ political wings of the CWU is essential going forward. With this mind the above agenda item would be a practical step towards this. For example, The Peoples Post Campaign is currently an Activist led campaign and is primarily the ownership of the Regional structures. However, if the campaign is to get into the workforce, which it has to be if the campaign is to be effective, it will require the input of the industrial representatives. Therefore input from the Area reps on how best this could be achieved in this particular circumstance will be an invaluable part of this discussion.

Communications

Communications going forward will be extremely important if we are to maximise membership participation in the unions’ activities in general. It is recognised that branches communicate to the members direct through numerous mediums.

However is there a need to update the Divisions’ communications to supplement this with the Area Reps/Local Reps/Members?

Is there a need for more communications through social media? How do we value social media and what role do we want it to play? Currently we seem to have a social media storm when we asking members to do something, however it is felt that we can’t turn it off and on and expect it to be effective only at times when we are asking them to do something in particular? (E.g. vote for a particular candidate for something or other etc…)

If so how do we achieve what we want from social media and what would you like to see?

Industrial/Political Tie in

As already mentioned, specifically in relation to national campaigns in addition we have been tasked by the DGS(p) to ensure that both wings, the Industrial and Political/ organising structures are working together for the good of the membership. To this end the below are again some ideas for debate to help achieve this aim.

1. At a special pre-conference Divisional meeting to discuss motions policy etc., region to be invited to give an update on general conference policy.

1. In keeping with the initiative to closer align the Industrial and the political it is proposed we Ensure that all Branch Secretaries receive invites to the Divisional meeting to ensure a joined up approach to industrial and political issues and to bring their own expertise to IR based national debate/discussions, with this in mind we would encourage Branch Secretaries to attend all of the Divisional Committee Meetings.

Other Ideas/ Suggestions for discussion (not exhaustive).

1. Once a year (utilising one local rep’s liaison meeting (all functions) host a forum where all local reps meet with the Divisional Reps/Area Reps to discuss their own issues. Branches would need to be consulted as this would incur cost. However we believe this would help with the development of local reps and the benefit of getting to speak with other reps and gaining a wider perspective would outweigh any cost implication.
3. On the Divisional agenda should also be membership density. This information is shared on a Branch by Branch basis. The Regional organiser should attend the Divisional Committee to give her analysis of the figures (that is shared by the Division) to identify where membership density is lowest and where it’s highest and obtain any learning from that. Possibly try and understand in conjunction with the Industrial representatives any root causes for leavers etc…This activity will enable the organiser along with the Industrial representatives/Branches to best use the Organisers resource. The Organiser then to report back on her activity to the Divisional Committee and to work with Area reps to identify strengths and weaknesses in units (membership density) so as to offer the appropriate support to the Branch/ Area / Local rep.
6. Area reps will no doubt have ideas and should be prepared to share these in discussion.
8. National representation from the Division/Region

As difficult as this may be, we need to address the ongoing under representation at National level from the North West.

How we select/Identify our candidate? What are the responsibilities of any prospective candidate? How we get buy in to that candidate?

1. Role of the Divisional Chair needs to be formalised to include roles and responsibility to take a full active role within the division.

All the above, as said is for the meeting to debate and decide on. This paper is only the embryo that will hopefully evolve and develop a better and more productive divisional meeting with the main aim of supporting all reps at all levels.