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General Council Report 2002: Chapter 14

Issue date

General Council Report

TUC organisation

14.1 Introduction

This chapter reports on links with affiliates; the work of the General Council that has not been covered in earlier chapters; and the internal TUC organisation including finances, information services and staffing.

14.2 Affiliations and amalgamations

In January, two unions, the National Association of Educational Inspectors Advisers and Consultants and the Association for College Management, were accepted into affiliation.

In November, the Engineers and Managers Association and the Institution of Professionals, Managers and Specialists merged to form Prospect. In January, the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union and Manufacturing Science Finance merged to form Amicus. In May, WISA - the Union for Woolwich Staff transferred its engagements to Unifi.

During the course of the year two unions have been wound up as a result of job losses amongst the members they represent - they were the Military and Orchestral Instrument Makers Trade Society and the Britannic Field Staff Association.

Three unions have changed their names during the course of the year: ANSA (the independent union for Abbey National Staff) has become ANGU (the Abbey National Group Union); the Independent Union of Halifax Staff has become ACCORD; and the Guinness UDV Staff Association has become the Diageo Staff Association.

14.3 Congress awards

The General Council have selected, from the nominations received from unions, the following trade unionists to receive the Congress 2002 Awards, which will be presented at Congress.

Women’s Gold Badge - Lilian Kennedy T&G

Men’s Gold Badge - James McDougall of UNISON

Congress Award for Youth - Kate Farrington GMB

In June the General Council agreed to consult unions on the future of these awards, which recognise the contribution of lay members to the trade union movement. Unions were asked to comment on proposals to revamp the awards in order to give additional recognition to the various different roles now played by lay activists: as shop stewards, safety representatives, organising reps, learning reps and promoters of equality in the workplace. Unions were invited to submit comments by the beginning of December so that any changes could be introduced in time for the 2003 Congress.

14.4 Congress

The decision to conclude the 2001 Congress in the wake of the 11 September terrorist attacks on the United States was accompanied by a number of measures to ensure that Congress business was completed in a dignified and orderly fashion.

Congress adopted the Scrutineers Report which had been circulated to delegates in a written form. A copy of that report is also set out below.

Congress also formally adopted the General Council Report and the statements it contained on Europe and public services and remitted all outstanding motions, including composite and emergency motions, to the General Council on the understanding that the General Council would communicate their response on each motion to all unions as a supplementary report. The General Council considered that report at their special meeting in October and the supplementary report was circulated to unions as a separate document with the November issue of TUC MAIL. The report was also included in the Report of the 2001 Congress which was published during the course of the Congress year and circulated to unions. The action taken on remitted motions is also reported throughout this Report.

In addition, the presentation of the gold badges of Congress to retiring General Council members Dennis Scard and Mohan Dhamrait, which would have taken place at the end of Congress, instead took place following the December meeting of the General Council, at a reception to which all general secretaries were invited.

The presentation of the gold badge of Congress and Congress bell to the president of the 2001 Congress, Bill Morris, will take place at an early stage in this year’s Congress.

In June, in considering the arrangements for the 2002 Congress, the General Council reviewed the long-standing practice of electing at Congress the TUC delegates to the two principal North American trade union gatherings, the Canadian Labour Congress and the AFL-CIO Convention. They noted that the practice had been established at a time when such overseas invitations were rare, but that now invitations to visit other national centres were much more common and the usual practice was for the General Council or the Executive to make such nominations. It had also become the practice that the only nominee for the North American conference delegations was that of the current or outgoing president. In light of these facts and bearing in mind that neither conference would be held during the next Congress year it was decided to bring the practice for these delegations into line with that for other delegations from next year, with the nomination being made by the General Council or Executive.

Results of elections for General Council, General Purposes Committee and Delegation

General Council Section A

UNISON (six members) Dave Anderson, Veronica Dunn, Dave Prentis, Alison Shepherd, Liz Snape, Keith Sonnet

Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union (four members) Danny Carrigan, Sir Ken Jackson, Maureen Rooney, Dougie Rooney

GMB (four members) Sheila Bearcroft, John Edmonds, Jean Foster, Paul Kenny

Transport and General Workers’ Union (four members) Barry Camfield, Peter Landles, Bill Morris, Marie Vannet

Manufacturing Science Finance (three members) Sharon Allen, Roger Lyons,

Paul Talbot

Communication Workers’ Union (two members) Jeannie Drake, Tony Young

Graphical, Paper and Media Union (two members) Tony Burke, Tony Dubbins

Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (two members) Marge Carey, Bill Connor

Public and Commercial Services Union

(two members) Gwenda Binks, Barry Reamsbottom

National Union of Teachers (two members) Pat Hawkes, Doug McAvoy

General Council Section B

UNIFI (one member) Ed Sweeney

National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (one member) Nigel De Gruchy

Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (one member) George Brumwell

Association of Teachers and Lecturers (one member) Peter Smith

General Council Section C

(eleven to be elected)

Jonathan Baume FDA 556,000 *

Brian Caton

Prison Officers’ Association 528,000 *

Paul Gates KFAT 500,000 *

Andy Gilchrist

Fire Brigades Union 713,000 *

Michael Leahy

ISTC - The Community Union 564,000 *

Ian McGarry

Equity (incorporating the

Variety Artistes Federation) 220,000

Judy McKnight

NAPO - The Trade Union

Association for Family Court

and Probation Staff 780,000 *

Paul Mackney

NATFHE - The University and

College Lecturers’ Union 422,000

Joe Marino

Bakers, Food and

Allied Workers’ Union 137,000

Ged Nichols

Independent Union

of Halifax Staff 555,000 *

Doug Nicholls

Community and Youth

Workers’ Union 92,000

Paul Noon

Institution of Professionals,

Managers and Specialists 593,000 *

Brian Orrell

National Union of Marine,

Aviation and Shipping

Transport Officers 520,000 *

Mick Rix

Associated Society of Locomotive

Engineers and Firemen 770,000 *

Richard Rosser

Transport Salaried Staffs’

Association 581,000 *

Arthur Scargill

National Union of Mineworkers 129,000

General Council Section D

(four to be elected)

Clare Clark

Alliance and Leicester Group

Union of Staff 60,000

Julie Grant

Association of Teachers

and Lecturers 695,000

Anita Halpin

National Union of Journalists 816,000 *

Penny Holloway

Association of

University Teachers 1,213,000 *

Lesley Mercer

Chartered Society

of Physiotherapy 1,057,000 *

Jenny Thurston

Institution of Professionals,

Managers and Specialists 1,068,000 *

General Council Section E

(one to be elected)

Mohammed Taj

Transport and General

Workers’ Union NO CONTEST

General Council Section F

(one to be elected)

Leslie Manasseh

Connect NO CONTEST

General Council Section G

(one to be elected)

Sharon Liburd

Association of Teachers

and Lecturers 219,000

Gloria Mills UNISON 6,179,000 *

General Council Section H Member representing trade unionists with disabilities

(one to be elected)

Sally Bridge

Communication Workers’ Union 2,961,000

Mark Fysh UNISON 3,556,000 *

General Council Section I Member

representing lesbian and gay trade unionists

(one to be elected)

Maria Exall

Communication Workers’ Union 944,000

Gerard Kelly

NATFHE - The University and

College Lecturers’ Union 61,000

David Lascelles GMB 3,775,000 *

Tim Lucas

National Union of Teachers 1,779,000

General Council Section J

Member under 27 years of age

(one to be elected)

Simon Baugh

Amalgamated Engineering

and Electrical Union 1,982,000

Phil Pinder

Transport and General

Workers’ Union 4,423,000 *

General Purposes Committee

(five to be elected)

Frank Cave

National Union of Mineworkers 822,000

John Cogger

National Union of Rail,

Maritime and Transport Workers .6,645,000 *

Roger Maskell

Amalgamated Engineering

and Electrical Union 6,212,000 *

Andy Smith

Transport and General

Workers’ Union 6,391,000 *

Pauline Thorne UNISON 6,389,000 *

Gerry Veart GMB 6,600,000 *

Canadian Delegation

Bill Morris NO CONTEST

No nomination for AFL/CIO Convention

NOTE:

ELECTED CANDIDATES ARE MARKED *

14.5 General Council

At the time of going to press the General Council have met eight times during the Congress year and will meet again in the week before Congress.

At their meeting immediately following the conclusion of the 2001 Congress they elected Tony Young as the Chair of the General Council and President of this year’s Congress. They also agreed that Penny Holloway, Alison Shepherd and Gwenda Binks be invited to join the Executive Committee.

A special residential meeting of the General Council was held at the Ramada Hotel, Maidstone on 23-24 October. General Secretaries of unions who are not members of the General Council were also invited to attend this meeting. An extended discussion was held on the work of the Promoting Trade Unionism Task Group and its report Reaching the Missing Millions, which had been adopted by Congress. Leslie Butterfield and Helen Edwards of Butterfield8 who had worked with the Task Group assisted in the presentation of the report, and the decisions taken following this discussion are reported in chapter ten. The meeting also held a discussion on economic issues around a presentation made by Ed Balls, the Chief Economic Adviser to the Treasury, and on changes in the British industrial relations around presentations made by Rita Donaghy, Chair of ACAS, and Keith Sisson, Emeritus Professor in Industrial Relations at the University of Warwick. Charles Clarke, Minister without Portfolio and Labour Party Chairman, also introduced a discussion on relations between the Government and the trade union movement.

In December, Penny Holloway resigned from the General Council following her appointment as Director of Arbitration and Conciliation with the Labour Relations Agency in Belfast. Julie Grant, as the next highest candidate in the election for Section D, was invited to join the General Council.

The December meeting, to which general secretaries who are not members of the General Council were also invited, was addressed by Neil Kinnock, Vice President of the European Commission.

A special meeting was held in January to consider a number of inter-union matters which are reported later in this chapter.

The February meeting was addressed by Berenice Celeyta, Head of the Human Rights Department at the Sintraemcali trade union centre in Colombia. The meeting also received a report of the delegation from the General Council which had recently returned from a visit to Colombia - further details are given in chapter seven.

Further meetings of the General Council were held in April, June and July.

14.6 Lead responsibilities

General

Overall responsibility as lead

spokesperson for the TUC The General Secretary

Senior representative

throughout year of office The President

Sir Tony Young

Specific areas of responsibility

Employment law -

fairness at work Bill Morris

Europe Monitoring Group John Edmonds

International Sir Ken Jackson

Women Maureen Rooney

Race Relations Gloria Mills

Disability Mark Fysh

Lesbian and Gay Rights David Lascelles

Learning and Skills Tony Dubbins

Partnership Bill Connor

Pensions Sir Tony Young

Public Services Dave Prentis

New Unionism Project Tony Burke

Health and Safety George Brumwell

Environment and

Sustainable Development John Edmonds

Stakeholding Roger Lyons

Transport Bill Morris

TUC Regions Bill Morris

Trades Union Councils Tony Burke

Local Government Doug McAvoy

Energy Roger Lyons

Construction George Brumwell

Compensation/legal

services/personal injuries Jenny Thurston

Youth Phil Pinder

14.7 TUC structure and constitution

Among the motions remitted due to the curtailment of the 2001 Congress were two which dealt with constitutional issues. The first, in the name of the Communication Workers Union, which had been selected for submission to Congress by the Black Workers Conference in line with the new procedures adopted by Congress in 2000, called for future motions submitted through this process to be moved and seconded at Congress by delegates selected by the Race Committee. An amendment sought to extend this principle to motions from other equality conferences, with the movers being selected by the relevant equality committees. The General Council, in their supplementary report to unions, said that they would have sought remission of this motion on the grounds that, whilst it identified a real problem - the fact that Congress does not represent the diversity of the workforce, the proposed action would not address the problem and the new procedures introduced in 2001 should be given longer before being reviewed or revised. This view was confirmed by the General Council, in June, when they reviewed the various constitutional changes introduced at the 2001 Congress.

The second motion, titled TUC Youth, called for the Youth Conference to be reformed so that it holds elections for the Youth Committee and for the TUC to explore the feasibility of the Youth Conference featuring motions to Congress and having a seat on the Executive. Again the General Council reported that they would have sought remission of this motion on the grounds that they were not convinced these measures would have an effect on the recruitment of young people into the trade union movement. The issues raised in this motion are the subject of continuing discussion and consultation by the Youth Forum and the matter will be considered again by the General Council after it receives a report from the Youth Forum.

The requirement that nominees for seats on the General Council must be delegates to Congress was questioned by one union last year on the grounds that this effectively prevented smaller unions with few Congress delegates from making nominations for some of the sections which were subject to election. The General Council have decided to seek unions’ views on whether the requirement should be waived, either in whole or part. The matter will be considered again after closing date for comments, which has been set at the beginning of December.

One change which the General Council have agreed to make is to rename Section I of the General Council as being 'one member representing lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender trade unionists'. This required a change to Rule 4 and is subject to endorsement by Congress. The change brings the title of the section into line with that for the committee and conference.

14.8 Disputes between unions

During the year the TUC has continued its efforts to conciliate in disputes between unions which have been reported by unions, or which have come to the notice of the TUC.

The TUC conciliation meetings normally follow a national level meeting between disputing unions where an agreed resolution of the issue(s) in dispute could not be reached (a national level meeting between disputing unions is a requirement of the TUC Disputes Procedures). Conciliation between affiliated trade unions is carried out either by the general secretary, deputy general secretary or by the union relations officer, Brian Ward.

Conciliation meetings, as well as dealing with an immediate issue, can also help to identify areas of difficulty between unions and potential difficulty between unions where specific inter-union procedures for the avoidance and settlement of disputes and spheres of influence agreements would be advantageous. Where it becomes apparent that such procedures and agreements would be of advantage then the conciliation discussions are developed in this direction.

During the year, 15 disputes were reported to the TUC under the disputes machinery of Congress. These were either dealt with by the unions after advice by the TUC on procedure or the issue in dispute or both, or resolved through TUC conciliation meetings.

Two disputes could not be resolved by conciliation and each had to be referred to separate Disputes Committees for adjudication. The taking of evidence and attempts to establish, if possible, an agreed solution were continuing as the Report went to press.

A number of very difficult disputes concerning single union agreements remain outstanding. Efforts continue to seek to establish a basis upon which these might be resolved by agreement rather than binding arbitration. If these efforts are not successful then TUC Disputes Committees may need to consider particular cases.

Given the very difficult nature of disputes that now arise concerning recognition and recruitment, consideration continues to be given to whether further amendments might be necessary to the Disputes Principles and Procedures to assist the TUC in dealing with inter-union disputes.

In regard to three particular inter-union disputes:

- UNISON and T&G: Middlesbrough Borough Council;

- GMB and POA: HMP Wolds, Buckley Hall and Altcourse, and Certain Court Service Contracts; and

- TGWU and RMT: Roadline/Lynx

-

it was reported to the General Council in October 2001, that certain difficulties had arisen over the implementation of the terms of the Awards which had been made by Disputes Committees in each of the above cases. The General Council decided to establish a small committee of the president, Tony Young, former president Tony Dubbins and the general secretary to seek to make progress in resolving these three outstanding issues (also see paragraphs below ‘Cabin Crew 89’ and the AEEU (now Amicus)). The President’s Committee met the general secretaries of UNISON, the AEEU, the T&G, the POA and the then acting general secretary of the RMT. In January a special meeting of the General Council was called to receive a report from the Committee. In the first two cases, the General Council endorsed the findings of the President’s Committee that the Awards should be implemented without delay. In the case of Roadline it was recommended that the general secretaries of the two unions concerned be invited to meet the Committee jointly. It was subsequently reported to the June General Council that obligations in regard to the three Awards had now been discharged by the T&G, POA and RMT.

Cabin Crew ‘89 and the AEEU (now Amicus)

A further issue referred to the President’s Committee when it was established in October 2001 was that of the difficulties that had arisen over the acceptance, by the AEEU, of a transfer of engagement from Cabin Crew ’89, a breakaway organisation from the T&G.

On this issue, the President’s Committee reported to the special meeting of the General Council held in January, and referred to above, that, in 1992, discussions had taken place between the EETPU (then outside the TUC) and Cabin Crew ’89 about possible links. This had been taken up by the TUC with the AEEU in the context of the possible re-affiliation of the EETPU as a result of merger with the AEEU. From 1 May 1992 the AEEU comprised two sections (Engineering and EETPU Section) and the AEEU were asked to give a categorical assurance that they would terminate their relationship/agreement with Cabin Crew ’89. After a series of exchanges the AEEU replied on 17 June1992, and the relevant part of their letter is as follows:

'I have to say to you this placed our union in an extremely difficult position. Our Executive’s view was our EETPU section had done no more than that agreed by the General Council in regard to the relationship between BALPA and the Cabin Crew ’89.

In addition to that of course the agreement signed by the EETPU Section of our union had a substantial beneficial effect to our union and the abrogation of that agreement as demanded by you raises the possibility of legal steps being taken by Cabin Crew ’89 against our union.

Having said the foregoing and following lengthy and difficult discussions, the AEEU Executive Council has decided, and is in consultation with our lawyers to this effect, to terminate our relationship with Cabin Crew ’89 as expeditiously as we can'.

The assurance (and the resolution of a number of separate inter-union difficulties involving other affiliates) cleared the way for the affiliation of the AEEU as a whole. The issue rested there as far as the TUC was concerned until 1988, when, following a highly publicised dispute between British Airways and the T&G cabin crew, there were reports of a possible AEEU merger with Cabin Crew ’89. The general secretary took up these reports with the general secretary of the AEEU, who confirmed that talks had taken place. The general secretary of the AEEU advised the general secretary of the history of Cabin Crew ’89 and his concern for the implications for trade unionism of a possible merger between the AEEU and Cabin Crew ’89. In light of the commitment given to the TUC by the AEEU at the time of the EETPU/AEU merger (as reported above); the earlier action taken by the General Council under the TUC’s rules against BALPA; the danger of a breach of TUC policy in relation to breakaway organisations and the implications for the Fairness at Work legislation, the general secretary advised the AEEU against proceeding further.

In August 1998, the general secretary took an initiative in seeking to intervene between Cabin Crew ’89 and the T&G. A series of informal talks took place. The T&G made an offer designed to provide a basis for conciliation but that was not acceptable to Cabin Crew ’89 which argued that at this stage they could not accept re-entry into the T&G. They had two years earlier been prepared to re-enter the T&G but potential settlement terms had not been approved by the T&G Executive. The T&G dispute with BA had considerably worsened relations.

At the end of January 1999, the TUC received reports that a ballot of Cabin Crew ’89 members on a transfer of engagements to the AEEU had been completed and that there was a clear majority for the transfer. The transfer would take effect on 19 March. The general secretary then wrote to the AEEU general secretary asking the union not to proceed with the transfer. The AEEU indicated that, given that the ballot had been completed, their legal advice was that they could not withdraw without the agreement of Cabin Crew ’89. Enquiries were made but this agreement was not forthcoming and the transfer of engagements was completed. Extensive efforts were then made through TUC conciliation to resolve the matter by means of a voluntary agreement between the AEEU and the T&G. This did not proved possible. The T&G maintained their view that the action taken by the AEEU in accepting the transfer of engagements was in breach of the TUC’s rules and, moreover, in breach of specific assurances given to the TUC at the time of the affiliation of the AEEU as a whole.

After the discussions with the general secretaries of the AEEU and T&G the President’s Committee reluctantly concluded that an agreed resolution of this issue was not achievable and therefore the matter must be dealt with under TUC rules.

An earlier BALPA involvement with the Cabin Crew was dealt with in 1989 under rule 13 and a direction was issued by the General Council. The terms of Rule 13 specify that any direction must be to require the union concerned ‘to discontinue such activities forthwith and undertake not to engage therein in the future’. BALPA accepted the direction and accordingly pulled back from accepting a transfer of engagements. In considering the current position the President’s Committee were mindful that there are significant differences between the present case and that of BALPA. Cabin Crew ’89 had been outside the ‘official’ trade union movement for ten years or so when, despite the TUC’s earlier efforts, the transfer of engagements was completed in 1999. This presented the TUC with a fait accompli. Critically, the law of course changed in 1993, giving individuals the right to belong to any union for which they are appropriately qualified. It was this legal change that led Congress to amend the TUC’s Disputes Principles and Procedures to provide for financial compensation in respect of lost members rather than requiring unions to exclude the members concerned.

The President’s Committee having received appropriate legal advice, concluded that the General Council could not lawfully direct Amicus to exclude Cabin Crew from membership, nor - given the very precise terms of rule 13 in respect of General Council directions as quoted above - could they use the provisions of Rule 13 to determine an award of compensation to the T&G.

The President’s Committee had given close attention however to the terms of Rule 12, and in particular to Rule 12(e) which states that 'whenever he/she considers it necessary the General Secretary may investigate cases of dispute or disagreement between affiliated organisations and may decide on the most appropriate method of resolving the issues.' Operating under this rule, the President’s Committee therefore proposed to the special meeting of the General Council that the President’s Committee should be constituted as a Special Committee and given specific authority to adjudicate on the most appropriate method of resolving the issue. The General Council endorsed this proposal and at the time the Report went to press the Special Committee still had the matter under consideration.

14.9 Co-operative Action

It was reported to last year’s Congress that, as part of the follow up to the report of the Co-operative Commission, which the general secretary chaired, the TUC was working with the co-operative movement and the Labour Party on the establishment of a foundation whose purpose would be to promote the principles of co-operation and mutuality and to translate those principles into practical action. Such a foundation would be funded principally from the community dividend of co-operative societies. In April, the foundation was launched as Co-operative Action, at an event attended by the Prime Minister, the general secretary and Labour Party Chairman Charles Clarke, together with leading members of the Co-operative Movement. In June the General Council agreed that the TUC members of Co-operative Action Board should be the general secretary and Bill Connor, who was also a member of the Co-operative Commission.

14.10 Personnel and Training

During the past year the personnel and training team have been involved in extensive recruitment, particularly in the area of Learning Services, where staff are employed to help support organisations in raising standards in areas such as basic literacy and numeracy and information technology skills for their staff.

To support the ongoing training and development needs of staff and the organisation’s continuing commitment to Investors in People (IiP), the TUC has been undertaking staff development activities in line with the recommendations outlined in the previous IiP assessment report, including:

· extending and continuing with the programme of coaching training to managers and supervisors;

· designing and delivering a programme of training and development activities to

· support the regional restructure which took place in 2000, including ongoing development of regional secretaries and regional co-ordinators

· developing initiatives to improve team development across the organisation

· continuing senior management development to enable continuing effective leadership and communication

· delivering the revised and updated induction training for all new staff joining the organisation, to ensure their effective transition into their new positions and to enable them to meet and deliver the organisation’s key objectives.

Over the coming months the TUC will be preparing for its IiP re-recognition under the newly revised standards and will be working towards re-assessment in early 2003. Following the recommendations of the staff survey carried out at the end of last year the personnel and training team will be continuing to develop training and development activities and initiatives to ensure the organisation maintains its standard and status as an Investor in People.

Over the past two years the TUC has been reviewing the need for a more comprehensive computerised HR system to facilitate its management reporting. Following a review of various systems it was decided to purchase a system called Snowdrop, which offered the flexibility to incorporate many of the in-house procedures in the area of recruitment, personnel information and training and development. In time the system can be expanded to enable managers to view records of staff in their department and staff the facility to view their own records and request, book and get authorisation for leave and training on line via the intranet.

The system is currently being customised to fit the organisation’s needs and will be implemented by end August. Following implementation and training of the team on the new system, a staff profiling exercise will be undertaken to ensure that all the relevant and up to date staff information is captured on the system. Initially the system will operate on a pilot basis within one of the regional offices and will then be rolled out by beginning of 2003 to all staff and managers following the evaluation of the pilot programme.

The new system will provide managers and staff with access to information in a more flexible and readily accessible way and provide up to date management information in a more accurate and usable format.

As reported to last year’s Congress, the Personnel and Training team has been supporting a comprehensive organisation-wide grading review. Following a pilot scheme to look at and evaluate a sample of benchmark jobs across the organisation, work then started on the wider evaluation programme, including:

· setting up a joint staff and management working party with guidance from ACAS;

· developing a grading questionnaire based on a factor plan consisting of eight factors: knowledge, managing resources, managing people, impact on TUC standing/effectiveness, communication/representation, complexity, creativity, and autonomy, which were specifically designed to reflect the work of the TUC against which jobs could be evaluated;

· setting up an evaluation panel consisting of staff and management representatives from the joint working party to evaluate all the jobs in the organisation;

· undertaking an external job comparability exercise, carried out by Incomes Data Services (IDS) on a number of capsule jobs in the organisation and comparing these with similar jobs in a range of other organisations in the trade union movement, employers’ organisations and public, private and voluntary sector;

· a sub-group of General Council members will then consider the implications of the comparability study.

This process is still ongoing, although much of the work on evaluating all the jobs in the organisation is near completion. In addition the joint working party is continuing its work on designing a new grading structure and developing a policy and procedures for ongoing grading and an appeals mechanisms, which is still under development. It is intended that, subject to General Council approval, the new pay and grading structure will be in place by April 2003.

Throughout, Sue Hastings, a specialist adviser on grading and structures, has been undertaking equality audits at each stage of the process to ensure that the process is being carried out in line with recognised equality best practices.

14.11 TUC finances

The TUC’s accounts for 2001 (see appendix three) show that, in line with the forecast made in last year’s Report to Congress, the organisation had a surplus last year of just over £520,000. This position owes much to three factors each of which is described below: to the ongoing success of the conference facilities at Congress House; the increase in financial support for TUC Learning Services; and the continued effective controls over the day-to-day running of the TUC’s finances.

Congress Centre

The income from Congress Centre - the name used for the conference facilities at Congress House - has continued to grow. The extensive new works in the main hall and reception area were completed during the year and, whilst this meant some loss of income for the period of the work, turnover for 2001 still increased to £1.25 million. This improvement is expected to continue during 2002 and is proving to have a very beneficial impact on TUC finances.

TUC Learning Services

During 2001, the impact of the new framework came into effect. This meant that we received core funding from the DfES of about £1 million plus additional funding through a variety of regional sources including local LSCs, European Social Fund Objective 3 and Regional Development Agencies amounting to almost £1.5 million. All this was, of course, matched by expenditure on projects.

Effective controls

The significant increase in income has meant that expenditure has also risen considerably over 2000. However, the majority of this additional expenditure was fully covered by grant income. During 2001 we invested in a new accounting system which has considerably enhanced reporting and control capabilities thus enabling strict controls to be maintained over all areas of TUC finances.

Development Fund

In 2001, £1.17 million was allocated to the Development Fund, whose function is to promote new work and initiatives by the General Council. This was used in a variety of projects with the main initiatives being:

Promoting Trade Unionism

New Unionism and the Organising Academy

Partnership Institute

Stephen Lawrence Task Group

Health and Safety

Employment Rights

Statement of Accounts

The annual Statement of Accounts and Balance Sheet as at 31 December 2001 is set out in appendix three. Overall there was a surplus of £520,000, of which £455,980 was attributed to the Admin Fund (covering day-to-day office running expenses and staff costs) and £66,553 to the Development Fund (covering campaigns and other initiatives).

The Balance Sheet shows a further improvement in net assets to £8 million. During 2001 we received a Capital Grant from the DfES to fund the installation of computer suites, this is shown under the ‘Financed by’ heading and will be written back to the accounts over the useful life of the assets acquired. Although cash funds were down compared with the 2000 figure there was still a healthy cash flow position.

Prospects and Developments

The General Council agreed in October 2001 that the affiliation fee should increase by 10 pence with effect from April 2002 and by a further 10 pence in January 2003. As a result it is anticipated that the TUC’s finances will continue to be in surplus, though less than in 2001. In part this will be due to the need to increase the employer’s contribution to the TUC staff pension scheme to maintain the statutory Minimum Funding Requirement, and affiliation fee income too will reduce as a consequence of the fall in union membership.

14.12 Congress Centre

Over the past year there have been several significant changes within the Centre, which provides meeting and conference centre facilities at Congress House. During the year it was agreed that all Sodexho staff would be transferred to direct TUC employment, making the operation in house, whilst still using the expertise of Sodexho for purchasing, sales and marketing and support services. The refurbishment of Congress Hall was completed and now offers state of the art facilities with built-in audio visual facilities for up to 500 delegates. To complement this, work is being undertaken this summer to refurbish the fifth floor meeting facilities, including the General Council Chamber. Sales have again increased by 36 per cent this year to date and, as is noted above this has provided a positive contribution to TUC finances. The goals set for the Centre are to continue to develop and enhance Congress Centre as a successful premiere conference venue in London and offer the highest standards of customer hospitality through motivating, training and coaching.

14.13 Information Service

The Information Service developed a number of new website services during this Congress Year.

The first initiative involved the implementation of an e-commerce facility for TUC publications, allowing users to browse available titles and make purchases online via the TUC website.

The learning Services website, initially developed within the Information Service during this period, was handed over to the learning services website developer, following that appointment.

A website presence was also developed for Congress Centre as part of a wider marketing strategy to attract new clients to the venue and raise awareness of the full range of facilities.

During the early part of 2002, the Information Service implemented a new development strategy in close consultation with TUC staff. This provided a useful opportunity to reflect on achievements to date and identify new priorities for the future.

As a consequence of this exercise, a number of new projects are currently underway and at various stages of development.

Preparatory work has commenced towards enabling a web-based library catalogue which will be launched in the coming year. This will allow TUC staff to search for relevant publications from the library collection directly from their desktop PC.

The Information Service subscribes to a number of online information services, such as Employment Law Online, Reuters Business Briefing, Datastar and Lexis Nexis. In order to enhance access to this growing collection of web-based research tools, the resources have been presented within a searchable web-based gateway via the TUC’s extranet service, allowing TUC staff to search the collections from any internet connection.

Access to the Companies House Direct service continues to provide a useful facility for affiliated unions, who often require company reports at short notice. This service is currently being promoted more widely to affiliates in order to raise awareness of its potential and increase usage.

Work has also commenced on the investigation of appropriate infrastructure, protocols and procedures for the effective storage and management of electronic documentation. This stems from a desire to ensure effective retrieval and preservation of documents in the longer term and the requirement to reduce the burden on space within the hard copy archive at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick. The issue is of common concern to a number of affiliated unions and other similar organisations. As such, the Information Service intends to work closely with others in its approach, in order to share resources and best practice where appropriate.

14.14 TUC Library Collections

An event in February 2002 to mark the fifth anniversary of the transfer of the Collections to the University of North London was addressed by John Monks and the University Vice-Chancellor. The cataloguing project, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, is now almost completed and British trade union publications published before 1980 or after 1998 are now listed on our online catalogue at www.unl.ac.uk/library/catalogue. The Collections continue to attract a wide range of researchers, interested in both the history of trade unions and their current activities and policies.

The UNL/TUC Partnership Initiative, funded by the New Opportunities Fund, to create an online library of resources to illustrate the history of the trade union movement is now underway. The project, entitled The union makes us strong: TUC history on-line, will be based on documents and images from the TUC Library Collections and will include digitised images from the Matchgirls’ Strike Fund Register of 1888 and The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell.

During the year, the librarian has participated in a number of regional and national archive and library strategies, and listings of material held in the Collections are now available on several websites. Further information on the Collections can be obtained from the Librarian, TUC Library Collections, UNL Learning Centre, 236 Holloway Road, London N7 6PP [email: tuclib@unl.ac.uk]

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