BRANCH MEETING HELD ON TUESDAY 18 MARCH 2003 @ 2PM IN THE PICASSO ROOM St CLEMENTS HOSPITAL

      Present: Ted Moore, Ray Hill, Cliff Dawson, Marilyn Wright, Sandra Smith, Matthew Robinson, Philip Bloyce (Chair), Jamie Starling, Andy Wilcox, Judith Wilson, Julie Harrison, Linda Bird, Paul Taylor, Arthur White, Ken Abbott, Annette Petty (Minutes) and Ian Talbot

Apologies:  None received

1.   Minutes of the previous meeting

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

2.   Matters Arising

i)    Page 1 3.a                                                                                                                                                                                           Julie Harrison reported that the new restructuring plans are now in place with no problems arising at present.

ii)   Page 2 3.d                                                                                                                                                                                            Cliff Dawson reported that the meeting had taken place at Eccles Road discussing staff levels/equipment. Currently, there is no manager on site and Cliff has spoken to Julie Mayhew regarding the situation.

3.   Stewards Reports across the region

a)   Paul Taylor                                                                                                                                                                                             An O/T member on the pool at Walker Close wants to know how to resign from their pool contract, Paul has drafted a letter to be sent out to staff explaining the procedure.  Philip informed the meeting that the transfer of NHS Professionals begins in June this year. The car park problem is ongoing.

b)   Ray Hill                                                                                                                                                                                                  Ray reported that only 2 people attended the Felixstowe Branch AGM and 9 attended the Agenda For Change briefing which was a poor turnout. The CCTV problem is still ongoing, apparently there is condensation in the box. Ray is forwarding 4 incident forms and letter to Richard Lacey in Estates & Facilities.

c)   Ian Talbot                                                                                                                                                                                              Ian said he hoped to be returning to work on a part time basis next month having been off for the past 10 months. He re-iterated that it is every steward’s/rep legal right to take time off work union duties especially to attend the monthly branch meetings.

d)   Matt Robinson                                                                                                                                                                                     Matt is undertaking the Lay Tutors Course being held in London in April/May. It was suggested that an anonymous form is sent out on the internet to establish how many lesbian/gay members we have. The Improving Working Lives feedback to the 2003 Staff Survey has been passed to the local IWL groups, which concludes that stress is the top condition for sickness at work closely following by bullying/harrassment. 

e)   Marilyn Wright                                                                                                                                                                                    Adult Learning at Work Week is 10-17 May and 15 May is Adult Learning at Work Day, in June there will be bite size courses which Marilyn is organising at present. See Branch Education

f)    Philip Bloyce                                                                                                                                                                                       Philip reported that the PCT’s are organised, and staff side secretary but representatives are required for Ipswich PCT. The Trust Council has been poorly attended for the past 4 meetings and therefore is becoming an ineffective body.  We need a unison rep to represent the staff side on 20 March, Julie and Linda to attend.  The next forum is to be held in May – Philip to send out dates. Philip reported that we need to make the agenda for our meetings more interesting and asked the group to make suggestions for the next meeting.

g)   Ted Moore                                                                                                                                                                                            Ted has received a letter from a Company in Cambridge called FCL who work closely with debt counselling and advice - contact 0800 389 3302 with your membership  number for help. The group signed the National Pensioners Convention Petition for free/reduced rate bus travel locally and nationally. See LinkUp

h)   The remaining stewards had no report for the meeting.

4.   AOB

a)   Ratification                                                                                                                                                                                        Steve Cook, Easton Ward and Alison Brame, Learning  Disabilities, Walker Close were both ratified to become new stewards for the branch.

b)   Branch AGM’s and Election of Officers                                                                                                                                                      It was suggested that officers should be elected for a 2 year period instead of 1 year after the AGM’s are held. This item will be put on the agenda for 15 April meeting.

c)   Various Information passed to the meeting from different bodies within Unison included:-Latest TUC publications list, Unison National Women’s Week in July, Education Courses March, China Challenge, Positively Public Briefing Feb, TUC Courses Apr/July, Lifelong Learning Day April (MW attending), NEC Elections 03 List of Candidates, Unison Welfare Review of Structures, Unison Welfare Newsletter Winter/Spring, Pensions Conference 10 April, UIA Insurance Branch Newsletter Prize Draw, Bob Cotton Citizenship Award for 2003, Ipswich Labour Party National Policy Forum Consultation Documents and Equality & Diversity Conference May (MW to attend)

d)   Agenda For Change                                                                                                                                                                                 A further round of meetings have been arranged to get feedback from branches on questions and reactions to the proposals. The Ipswich meeting has been arranged for 2 April at 2.30pm, Main Hall, Co-Op Education Centre, Fore Street, Ipswich - 10 reps to attend - Annette to email d.smith@unison.co.uk

e)      Replacement Membership System Move                                                                                                                                                   A pilot of branches are now using this system of entering new members data which is automatically sent to RMS at Chelmsford, larger branches are in the process of being set up, IT/AP to investigate SHC position.

f)        Donation to Unison Welfare                                                                                                                                                               Brian Jones sent a thank you to the branch for our £200 donation to their appeal.

g)      Single Parents Group                                                                                                                                                                            Ian to forward a donation on behalf of the branch to the group.

h)      Disciplinary Workshop Thursday 15 May 2003 at the Abbey Meeting Room, Bury St Edmunds                                                            The workshop will be run by Geoff Reason, Philip Bloyce and Ian Talbot. Details to be confirmed by Annette in due course. Attendees for the workshop are:- PT/CD/JH/LB/RH/JS/

i)        Social Evening Out                                                                                                                                                                                The meeting decided to go to the Red Lion, Martlesham on Thursday 17 April, Annette to book a table for 20 for 7.30pm. Further details to follow in due course.

5.  Date/Time of Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, 15 April, 2pm, Picasso Room, SCH - Agenda items to Annette via email/post asap.

Mervyn Scourfield-Thomas our Branch Treasurer has been invited to the meeting to speak to us regarding Unison Membership.

There being no further business, the meeting closed at 15:45

ADP