Key priorities set at NW Region Conference
February 21 2017
More than 90 CWU representatives attended the CWU North West Region One-Day Annual Conference at the Mechanics Institute in Manchester – the birthplace of the TUC – last Friday (February 17).
Conference kicked-off with the regional sub-committees – Equality, H&S, Learning & Education, Political, Women’s and Young Members – holding their annual general meetings.
Afzal Khan MEP was the guest speaker at the Political Meeting, taking to political officers about their priorities for Brexit negotiations. Cllr Kieran Quinn, Leader of Tameside Council, and Cllr Chris Webb also attended.
Next on the agenda was the Regional Committee AGM, where former regional chair Richard Morgan received regional honorary 
membership from deputy general secretary (T&FS) Andy Kerr. Andy paid tribute to Richard for his 42 years of service to the union and, more importantly, members.
Andy then updated Conference on the talks taking place around iPSL’s proposal to close its site in Bootle, O2’s latest downsizing plan and Ofcom’s current Digital Communications Review, which is expected to report shorty. Praising the strenuous on-going CWU campaigning activity that has been taking place across the country to highlight the folly of those demanding the full structural separation of Openreach from BT, Andy paid tribute to NW assistant regional secretary Angela Teeling for her work lobbying MPs on the issue.
Finishing, Andy paid tribute to the North West Region as one of the better organised’ and a one you can always count on when called upon’.
Conference then heard from regional officers, who detailed their committees’ key priorities for the year ahead. These included:
Doing more on campaigns around health issues, cancers, and mental heath.
Promoting equality, fairness and justice as a moral imperative, especially where the CWU encounters the BNP and UKIP in politics.
Promoting CWU candidates and CWU objectives where candidates are selected for election to any office.
A re-evaluation of union reps’ training needs and greater promotion of the CWU Left Click learning platform.
Additional efforts to engage with hard-to-reach’ members.
Tireless campaigning for a National Health and Care Service that is free at the point of need and paid for through general taxation.
Campaigning for adequate Adult Social Care funding for Local Authorities in all parts of the country.
Highlighting the importance of young people registering to vote.
Raising political awareness with young members in the region and encouraging CWU young activists to become more involved in decisions affecting public life.
- Organising and delivering Taking Equality on the Road’ events during 2017.
CWU NW regional secretary Carl Webb said: “This event is now a permanent fixture in our regional calendar that brings together representatives from all constituencies of our union to discuss issues across all businesses, giving us the opportunity to see how we can tackle these as ‘One Union’.”
After lunch delegates were divided into three groups to discuss the future of CWU Training. Each group explored the pros and cons of residential and regional courses – and, while views were mixed as to which was the best model, a loose consensus was reached over the need for both to suit various needs. There was overall agreement that the training the CWU delivers to reps is of high quality, that it is effective in equipping reps with the skills and knowledge they need to fulfil their roles and that the wider use of mentoring for all new reps is a positive step forward. “A big thank you to regional learning chair Paul Newsham, Cllr Paul Pritchard and Lee Wakeman from the CWU’s Education & Training department for running the groups,” said Carl.
Delegates then discussed Labour’s Workplace 2020 initiative, which is about ordinary working people having a say about the challenges faced by UK workers today and identifying the changes that are most needed to give working people the deal they deserve.
“Nearly everyone took part in the discussion, with topics ranging all the way from specific issues in the sectors our members work in to the wider need for stronger trade union rights, occupational and state pensions, and major investment to improve the vital health, education and local services on which everyone relies,” Carl concluded.
Closing Conference, CWU NW regional chair Dan Lewis thanked all those who attended, the excellent staff at the Mechanics Institute for their help hosting the event and the various organisations and regional organisers who ran stalls.
A cash collection for the CWU’s humanitarian aid charity CWUHA netted almost £200 towards its next convoy to Moldova, and many delegates had also arrived with donations of toiletries. For more information on CWUHA visit www.cwuha.org