TUESDAY 15 APRIL 2003 @ 2PM IN THE PICASSO ROOM St CLEMENTS HOSPITAL

      Present: Philip Bloyce (Chair), Annette Petty (Minutes), Ian Talbot, Arthur White, Judith Wilson, Linda Bird, Paul Taylor, Marilyn Wright, Cliff Dawson, Steve Cook, Ray Hill, Ted Moore, Sandra Smith, Mervyn Scourfield-Thomas, Geoff Reason and       Jamie Starling

Apologies: Ken Abbott, Matt Robinson, Georgia Murray, Julie Cracknell, Wendy Arbon, Alison Brame and Julie Harrison

1.   Minutes of the Previous Meeting

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 18 March were agreed as a true and accurate record.

2.   Matters Arising                                                                                                                                                                                None

3.   Election of Officers 2003

Branch Chair                                                                                                                                                                                      Philip Bloyce, proposed Paul Taylor, seconded Ray Hill

Branch Secretary                                                                                                                                                                                  Ian Talbot, proposed Marilyn Wright, seconded Linda Bird

      Branch Treasurer                                                                                                                                                                            Mervyn Scourfield-Thomas, proposed Marilyn Wright and seconded Linda Bird

      Branch Health & Safety Officers                                                                                                                                                          Paul Taylor, Ray Hill and Glyn Reynolds, proposed Marilyn Wright and seconded Linda Bird

Branch Education Officer                                                                                                                                                                 Marilyn Wright, proposed Jamie Starling, seconded Ian Talbot

Branch Political Officer                                                                                                                                                                          Ray Hill, proposed Paul Taylor, seconded Jamie Starling

Branch Equal Opportunities Officer                                                                                                                                              Deferred to next meeting

Branch Lesbian & Gay Officer                                                                                                                                                       Deferred

Branch Welfare Officer                                                                                                                                                                  Deferred

Branch Women’s Officer                                                                                                                                                                   Judith Wilson, proposed Philip Bloyce, seconded Ian Talbot

      Black Women’s Officer                                                                                                                                                                          Sandra Smith, proposed Ray Hill, seconded Linda Bird

All the above officers were ratified at the meeting today 15 April 2003. 

4.  Ratification of Stewards

a)  The following Stewards were ratified at the meeting: Cliff Dawson, Julie Harrison, Arthur White, Paul Taylor, Gordon Morris,         Jamie Starling, Ray Hill and Carl Dosoruth.

b)  The meeting agreed that any new Stewards who had joined the Branch within the last 12 months do not need to be re-elected until 2004. Any reps who did not attend and have not joined the Branch within the last 12 months will be receiving a letter from the Branch Secretary in the near future. The Branch core rules will be amended accordingly.

5.   Report by Mervyn Scourfield-Thomas – Branch Treasurer

a)   Mervyn confirmed that the Branch account has a good healthy balance keeping just below UNISON's maximum cut off point for over funding a branch our size. A monthly revenue of £2900 is received on a monthly basis at present and is expected to increase in line with constituency size and membership growth.

b)   Subscription Bands Review                                                                                                                                                               Head Office are expanding their bands by increasing/decreasing where necessary, e.g. the average subs are increasing from £7.69 to £7.80 per month. The document stated that Unions are under increasing attack to get more members to join up and that there is a “pricing policy” in respect of members’ income. There are many competitors in the union market, Unison’s average subscription is “below the lowest rate” in comparison to other competitors i.e. RCN. Mervyn reiterated that the branches income is generated by our members and that we must all recruit as many members as we can for the good of our branch. The new subscription bands come into force in July. Philip queried that clearer information should be printed on the application forms for subscription deductions.

Geoff reported that in 2002 there were 35500 members in the Eastern Region, in particular a 20% increase in the Suffolk area for the year, equating to a 10% increase overall providing good services at a “local level”. 

At the Healthcare Conference last week the Indemnity Insurance cover has been proposed to be increased to £3,000,000. It is not yet clear if the indemnity will extend to members working casually though agencies.

c)   Pensions                                                                                                                                                                                         Mervyn briefly covered this important topic of members having sufficient pension funds when they retire and pointed specifically to the NHS Superannuation pension as an excellent scheme to join. He also reiterated that UNISON should be looking at increasing widows benefits. Retirement on Ill Health grounds was one of the issues raised at the Healthcare Conference and Geoff will be taking the issue of pension awareness sessions in respect of PFI to National Conference in June. 

6.   Disciplinary Day Workshop – 15 May

Annette confirmed that 12 candidates are attending the workshop (Georgia Murray, Julia Hunt, Jamie Starling, Ray Hill, Paul Taylor, Cliff Dawson, Julie Harrison, Linda Bird, Ken Abbott, Steve Cook, Alison Brame and Judith Wilson), a letter/map/details of the day will be sent out to each candidate by the end of April. The day will include presentations, role play and first level disciplinary cases and should benefit all attending.

3.      7.   UNISON Reps Social Evening Out

Annette has faxed the menu to the Red Lion - 18 to attend on Thursday 17 April at 7.30pm.

4.      8.   AOB

a)      Stewards Badges                                                                                                                                                                         Annette has received a quote for £6.35 + VAT per badge and will order a sample before the final order is sent in.

b)   Review of Branch Meetings                                                                                                                                                                     A mapping exercise will be carried out in the next 2/3 months by Ian/Philip/Annette to distinguish the reps and their constituencies they represent. Posters will be produced showing the steward/constituency/contact details for members and distributed around the County. We hope to improve the running of the branch by carrying out these exercises.

c)   Agenda                                                                                                                                                                                                   In addition Philip has drafted a new agenda format for the meetings and Annette to invite representatives fromBritannia Building Society, Medicash, RMS, Frizzell, UIA, Debt Service in partnership with Unison Welfare on a bi-monthly basis to address our meetings. There will also be an education session in between to address issues to help reps in their union work for e.g. PFI, how to deal with members issues etc.

d)      RMS                                                                                                                                                                                                   Geoff and Philip to investigate RMS become available on the internal system for new members joining/amendments.

e)      Healthcare Conference                                                                                                                                                                        Ray Hill attended conference 7/9 April and is currently working on a report which will be fed back at the next meeting. Agenda For Change was voted in at Conference which will be balloted 8-13 May to vote for implementation.

f)       Zero Tolerance                                                                                                                                                                                    Paul queried why the policy does not apply to Learning Disabilities, should we contact the Dept of Health on this issue? Philip explained that currently the LHP policy is in the process of being approved as a Trust entirety. There is currently a policy in place which applies to Learning Disabilities and Adult Psychiatry.

g)      IWL                                                                                                                                                                                                  Group Homes will be visited by assessors in the near future. The Regional Accreditation Panel approves all IWL suggestions that are put forward. There are 8 standards for consideration.

h)      United against Racism                                                                                                                                                                      March on 26 April in Manchester and Vote to stop the BNP on 1 May posters were given to the meeting to distribute accordingly.

i)        Benchmark Jobs                                                                                                                                                                                Geoff informed the meeting that he is awaiting information on A&C grades, qualified staff will commence on Band 5.

i)        “How to Handle”                                                                                                                                                                           website - Ian has written a section on our Branch website to help reps with any issues they don’t know how to deal with. The website address is www.suffolkhealthcare.com and click on the link for reps for further information. All Branch and H&S Minutes are regularly posted on the website for information.     

 Date of Next Meeting

Tuesday 20 May, 2pm, Picasso Room, SCH

There being no further business the meeting closed at 3.15pm.