Monday 19 January 2015

Campaign Update

This Saturday the campaign held its first meeting at the Mechanics Institute in Manchester.

Over 20 branches were in attendance.

The meeting was chaired by Annette Wright from Manchester and Salford branch and introduced by John Moloney from DfT London and South East. John spoke for 10 minutes giving a background to the reasons for the campaign.

After much discussion and debate the meeting voted to endorse the following positions:

• To endorse the statement on this blog and continue to encourage branches to debate and pass it.
• To endorse the statement initiated by those NEC members who voted against the decision.
• To use our union’s structures to overturn this decision and to refuse - on a matter of principle – to use the certification officer or the law and encourage others to behave in the same way.
• To write a crib sheet of FAQ’s about the NEC decision, including alternatives to the suspension of elections.
• To establish a web discussion forum so branches and activists can keep in touch and share information in the period between now and the end of AGM season.
• To publisise this model motion for branches to submit to this year’s Annual conference through AGM’s
• That a group of 5 activists from the North-West would act as a temporary secretariat for the campaign.

We continue to encourage branches to support the statement to get involved. Please contact using the box to the right to be added to our email list.



Wednesday 31 December 2014

Calling all branches!

This site has been launched in reaction to the decision of the PCS NEC to suspend NEC and Group elections for up to 12 months. As the statement makes clear below ‘The sole purpose of this campaign is for NEC and GEC elections to be held at the usual time or if that does not happen then they must be held as soon as possible and for the union’s constitution, as presently drafted, regarding elections to be followed’. This campaign is not factional.

The undersigned branches call on other branches to support the following statement and send delegate(s) to a campaign meeting in Manchester on the 17th of January:

STATEMENT
The decision by the emergency NEC in late December 2014 to suspend NEC and group elections was wrong.
  • We will work together in a campaign to seek to get that decision overturned and for NEC and group elections to be held at the usual time. If that does not happen then they must be held as soon as possible.
  • We will agree motions or a motion for the ADC that will achieve elections as soon as possible after the conference.
  • We will seek to get as many branches as possible to agree this statement.
  • We will use social media (be it a blog, Facebook page etc.) to gather support for our campaign in the union and in the wider labour movement
  • We accept and respect that each branch will have differing views on who to support in elections. The sole purpose of this campaign is for NEC and GEC elections to be held at the usual time or if that does not happen then they must be held as soon as possible.
ENDS

R&C Bootle St Johns House Branch 
DWP East London Branch 
DfT London and South East Branch
DWP Preston Central Office Branch
DWP South London Branch
CLG National Branch
DWP Wigan Area Branch
PSg Electoral Commission Branch
DWP Cheshire Branch
DWP North Merseyside Branch
DWP Manchester & Salford Branch
R&C North Wales & North West Branch
DWP Sheffield Branch

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The following individual activists support the statement currently in a personal capacity:

Gail Bradshaw, DWP West Pennine & Oldham Acting Branch Secretary (pc)
Paul Vargeson, DWP West Lancashire Branch Secretary (pc)
Andy Knowles, DWP East Lancashire Branch Secretary (pc)
Christine Hulme, DWP Berkshire Branch Secretary (pc)

Please add your branches or your individual support by filling-out a 'Support the campaign' box to the right-hand-side. Please note by doing so your name or that of your branch will then appear on this site.

There will be a campaign meeting on Saturday the 17th of January in Manchester. This will run from 13:00 at the Mechanics Institute on Princess Street. Map here.