Executive Committee Report –10th May 2023

Much of the discussion at this meeting involved administrative matters, including conference arrangements. However, a few points are noted below.

Draft Strategic Plan

The EC approved a draft Strategic Plan which will be presented to this year’s annual conference. This is intended to indicate the direction of travel to members, but is not the final version.

Young Delegates (under-36)

As reported at the previous EC, there had been a good response to the call for young members to attend the annual conference. A diverse group of five has now been chosen. However, it was noted that there were no candidates from Scotland, Wales or Ireland, thereby posing the question of whether we can do anything more to encourage applications from those nations in future.

The Kennedy Report

The Interim General Secretary informed the EC that he had rejected the appeal against dismissal from the former General Secretary, Manuel Cortes. However, as per his right under the Rule Book Mr Cortes is taking his appeal to conference (virtually), which will be considered a re-hearing.

At the time of the EC meeting the Interim General Secretary was still considering the appeal against dismissal from Luke Chester, former National Organiser. Mr Chester has also submitted an appeal to the annual conference.

The EC discussed arrangements for these appeals to conference, as well as the timing of the address from Baroness Kennedy, with Luke Howard from the Standing Orders Committee.

HR Priorities

The EC received a presentation from Natalie Feeley (Interim HR Manager) in which she outlined the priorities for the year:

Establishment of a crisis management team (now done), staff conferences, implementation of report recommendations, review of policies and procedures, HR strategy & budget (career development & training), a review of the recruitment process, restructuring.

Crisis management group meeting

The group have been updating the tracker that tracks progress in implementing the Kennedy recommendations. The EC agreed that this document should be made available online.

Extension of Peter Pendle’s contract

It is likely that an incoming General Secretary will need to give up to three months’ notice to an employer. With this in mind, the EC approved a three-month extension to the contract of the current Interim (Joint) General Secretary, with the possibility of further extension if required.

The Print Room

Discussions are continuing with Karlssons regarding the contractual arrangements around the TSSA print room.

Tolpuddle Festival 2023.

Future TSSA are deciding if they are able to run a stall.

Annual Report

The annual report was received by the EC. It was noted that we recruited several hundred more members last year than the previous year, but we need to retain members.

Scrutineers report for EC election for Ireland

Barry Love (Belfast branch) has been elected unopposed.

ITF lay auditor vacant position (International Transport Federation)

Melissa Heywood volunteered for this position.

Cuba Solidarity Campaign

The EC appointed Will Boisseau as a TSSA representative to the campaign.

Anti-strike legislation – Minimum Service Levels – CTUF (Campaign for Trade Union Freedom) Affiliates Meeting

Marios Alexandrou agreed to attend on behalf of TSSA.

Donations

Donations were agreed to the following:

• £50 to York CLP (Rachael Maskell’s constituency), as requested by North East General.
• £50 to help establish the Strike Statistics website
• £50 to support Cardiff Transformed. Gemma has asked FutureTSSA if they would like to attend an give opportunity for young activists to network.