YOUR UNION

This month RMT News looks at the role of the union’s executive committee Your Union T he “supreme government of the union”, the Annual General Meeting, meets for one week in the year. So what happens for the other fifty-one weeks? The union is run by the Council of Executives (or ‘the Executive’), which consists of the president, the general secretary, two assistant general secretaries and fifteen representatives: eleven from the General Grades (ie former NUR) and four from the Shipping Grades (ie former NUS). A detailed list of the powers and responsibilities of the Council of Executives can be found in the Rule Book in Rule four: broadly speaking, it is responsible for the general administration of the union. WHO’S WHO? The general and shipping grades representatives stand for election in a geographical area and get elected for a three-year term of office. During this time, the General Grades representatives are released from work, paid a salary by the union and work from Unity House for most of the week. Shipping Grades representatives do not get release other than to attend specific meetings, conferences or other events, subject to negotiation with their employers. Under rule, the Council of Executives is required to meet four times a year. These are known as the statutory meetings, or ‘stats’, and take place every quarter. Additional meetings are held as necessary. In addition, the General Grades representatives and the Shipping Grades representatives have their own meetings, dealing with items relevant to the grades they represent: the Council of Executives is the only body that can deal with matters affecting the whole of the Union’s membership. A record of the decisions made in all these meetings is sent to branches every month. Branches can appeal to the Annual General Meeting against decisions made by the Council of Executives. This sounds like a lot of meetings, and it is. However, this is the way in which the business of the union is dealt with, whether it be discussing the progress of a particular set of pay negotiations, formulating recruitment strategy, deciding what motions to put on the agenda of the TUC Congress or setting the membership subscription rates. ELECTIONS Donny Shannon of Glasgow No’s 1 & 2 branch was recently elected to the General Grades position on the Council of Executives representing Scotland, to fill the vacancy created by Frank Cochrane’s untimely and tragic death. Donny has worked in the rail industry since the age of 16, when he started work as a junior in a signal box. He is currently a stores team leader at Glasgow Queen Street, working for ScotRail. He has always been active in the union, and is secretary of the Scotland Regional Council, chair of his branch as well as a Company Council and local level representative. Donny sees being on the Council of Executives as a new challenge and is looking forward to making decisions on behalf of the Union’s membership. “It is a great responsibility,” he says, “and with that responsibility comes accountability to the membership”. Members of the Council of Executives are elected by all the members in the geographical area they represent and, as such, they are accountable to that membership. They attend and make regular reports to their Regional Councils, as well as being involved in their Region’s recruitment activities. It is at these meetings that they can be asked for further details about issues that have been dealt with and, if necessary, called to account for their decisions. As Regional Council secretary, Donny is well aware of the importance of having one of the people taking the decisions present at the meeting to make the report. He also makes it clear that, like other members of the executive, he will be more than willing to attend branch meetings to talk about issues of particular interest to that branch. www.rmt.org.uk :: september 2006 :: RMTnews 13 PARLIAMENT: The union is run between annual general meetings by the executive committee and the general secretary. Donny Shannon of Glasgow No’s 1 & 2 branch