Advisory Committees elections. Nominations open today

LTB968/10 Election of: National Equality Advisory Committee Positions 2011

No. 968/10 Ref: TK/sn/PM Date: 04/11/2010

To: The Branch Secretary

Dear Colleague
National Equality Advisory Committee Positions - 2011
• Women’s Advisory Committee
• Race Advisory Committee
• Lesbian and Gay Bisexual and Transgender Advisory Committee
• Disability Advisory Committee

Branches will recall that Emergency Motion E1 was debated and carried at the 2010 CWU General Conference. For ease of reference I have reproduced the terms of the motion below;
Motion E1
Conference notes the publication of LTB 321/10 issued on 15/4/10 which advised branches of the reduction in the size of the advisory committees to take effect from the forthcoming election of advisory committee members.
  The NEC has not consulted or discussed any of the proposals relating to the reduction of numbers with any of the relevant bodies i.e. the advisory committees themselves or any of the regional equality committees. The decision that the NEC has made is arbitrary and will become a barrier preventing lay participation from the minority groups the advisory committees represent.
  Conference therefore instructs the NEC to reverse this decision until such time as proper consultation has taken place with all relevant parties as we believe the current proposals would severely affect the CWU policy of adopting proportionality and will not reflect the diversity of the CWU.

In line with the terms of the above motion the NEC consulted with the advisory committees via the Equal Opportunities Department and having considered the responses have revised their position regarding the composition, frequency and size of the advisory committee’s.
  Branches will be aware that the rationale behind the original decision (contained in LTB 321/10) to reduce the size of the committees was based on a genuine attempt to make a small but real attempt to reduce the unions overall financial expenditure. Following the consultation, that did not see a consensus for a preferred course of action, the NEC have now agreed that the number of elected members on each committee will remain the same but the number of meetings held each year will be reduced from four per year to three.
  The NEC would like to thank the advisory committees for taking the time to discuss this issue and advise us of their views, their assistance is greatly appreciated.
  Additionally the NEC have determined and would like branches to note that the term of office for the successful candidates for these positions will be for a period of one calendar year from i.e. 1st January 2011 to 31st December 2011.
  The timetable for the election of the advisory committees is listed below and please find enclosed the regulations, nomination forms and candidate biographical details/consent forms for the above elections.
  The timetable is as follows:-

Nominations open 5 November 2010
Nominations close 19 November 2010 (14:00)
Accept nominations 23 November 2010 (14:00)
Despatch ballot papers 25 November 2010
Ballot closes 9 December 2010 (14.00)

Any enquiries regarding this Letter to Branches should be addressed to the Senior Deputy General Secretary Department on telephone number 020 8971 7237 or email address sdgs@cwu.org.

Yours sincerely

Tony Kearns
Senior Deputy General Secretary