Executive Committee Report – February 2024

February has been a busy month for your Executive Committee as the union has celebrated Heart Unions week and LGBT+ History month as well as focusing on protecting and improving our members’ jobs, pay and conditions.

Your Executive Committee met for a two-day meeting on 6/7 February. The Executive Committee meeting was split into five sections covering: strategic reports, committee reports, TSSA democracy, politics & campaigns and administrative.

Strategic Reports

The Executive Committee began the meeting by noting the strategic plan. In this way all items of business brought before the EC can be deliberated with the strategic plan at the forefront of committee members minds. The Strategic Plan will be circulated to Branches next month for consultation before being discussed at this summer’s Annual Delegate Conference.

The Organising Directors provided a report on the key areas of their work and on the union’s recruitment campaigns. It was noted that a new series of legal webinars is being run by Morrish solicitors, members should look out for details of these fantastic courses in News On The Go.

The Executive Committee considered the union’s educational provision for reps and members, and a working group will be set up to discuss the content of education courses.

A recruitment tour organised by the union’s Trainee Organisers kicks off in February, and the EC considered the tour and discussed recruitment strategies.

Several other reports were considered, including membership and HR reports. A financial report was considered, the Executive Committee are committed to securing a financially viable independent union in which all members get good value for money.

Committee Reports

An audit and investments committee report and minutes were considered and noted by the Executive Committee.

TSSA Democracy

Your Executive Committee considered correspondence from Branches and Self Organised Groups on several topics. Such correspondence always helps inform Executive Committee discussions and deliberations whether they be about internal union policy or international events.

The EC took oversight of previous conference decisions to make sure that all items carried at our annual delegate conference are enacted. Branches should expect a report from our policy officer, Rob Jenks, setting out progress on all conference items soon.

The Executive Committee started planning for the 2024 annual delegate conference which will take place in Cardiff on 1-3 June 2024. The preliminary agenda and elections paperwork will be sent to Branches in March.

Politics and Campaigning

The EC had previously agreed to provide funding for a joint union research project that would commission Greenwich University's Centre for Research on Employment and Work to carry out some qualitative research on the effects of night work. The project aims to look at workers’ experience of night work, including in the context of shift work, the impact on their lives and the factors that may shape worker’s decision-making about night work, as well as how both organisational and labour market changes impact night work. This is an important topic for many of our members. This month the EC agreed to increase the number of interview participants that TSSA will fund.

The Executive Committee signed up to the Campaign for Trade Union Freedom’s resistance to the Minimum Service Levels (MSL) legislation. We are now part of a coalition of unions, progressive campaigners, and community activists asking local authorities to refuse to implement the MSL legislation. 

Following an advertisement in News On The Go, many young members applied to join the delegation as part of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign’s Young Trade Unionists May Day Brigade. The EC considered the applications and selected two delegates. Look out for a full report from the delegates in May where they will share their experiences of Cuba. Such international delegations are important because of the union’s longstanding commitment to supporting social justice issues across the world. Our affiliation to the Cuba Solidarity Campaign is a longstanding conference decision.

Following horrific scenes of the humanitarian disaster in Palestine/Israel the Executive Committee made a donation to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.

Administrative

Members who attended the 125 anniversary celebrations in Sheffield will remember the brilliant performance from Banner Theatre, who even wrote a commemorative song about the union. The EC agreed to donate £50 to Banner Theatre’s 50^th Anniversary financial appeal.  

Stephen Lawrence, member of the Scotland Retired branch, was granted Honorary Life Membership. Stephen has been a member for 24 years and in that time has taken on numerous positions including Branch Correspondence Secretary, Divisional Council Secretary, Company Rep and Executive Committee member.  

Finally, the Executive Committee noted several reports from Divisional Councils.

Elections

​Michael Higham has recently been elected on to the Executive Committee and will attend his first meeting in March. There is also a casual vacancy for the London North West EC seat, the nomination forms are currently with Branches and must be returned to Head Office by 15 March. If any member is interested in joining the union’s Executive Committee, they should contact their branch in the first instance.

If you have any questions for the Executive Committee, then please contact the President or your Divisional Executive Committee representative. The next scheduled meeting of the EC is 12 March.