PRESIDENTS COLUMN

20 ONE YEAR ON I have now served as president for a year so I thought that I would use my column to look back over the previous twelve months. I think I have achieved a lot of what I have set out to do. All general grades committee meetings are starting on time with limited agenda items. This is thanks to the co- operation of the general secretaries and the GGC and Council of Executive members. They have all worked really hard to make this happen. This means that more time can be spent studying the files and looking at resolutions properly. For the benefit of you the members. This is not a criticism of previous incumbents, it is just that I wanted to do things differently. I also wanted to clear up the backlog of work that had been referred to sub committees, especially the national sub- committee. I knew from my own time as a member of the Council of Executives, and membership of the national sub, how this work can soon build up. I was really pleased that all this work was cleared up in a couple of months thanks to the discipline and hard work of the members of these subs. They worked extremely diligently and often worked late in the night to make sure this was done. Of course now they have set themselves a very high standard of work rate that they will have to carry on into next year! Although I have been out and about round the branches, workplaces, and regional councils, I have visited nowhere near the amount that I would have liked to. I hope to remedy that next year. But the one thing I have found is the high standard of our members and their total commitment and dedication to the union. I have said it before, and will say it again, we are a high profile union, punching above our weight, not just because of the leadership in London, but because of the comradeship and true trade union beliefs of the rank and file members. We continue to fight out behalf of workers everywhere against increasingly difficult odds:- anti trade union laws, the forthcoming 4th Railway Package and the increasing obscenities that are zero hours contracts and agency working. We need to be vigilant, united, and I am certain that we can defeat these attacks. To achieve this we need to continue to recruit new members and to organise our current membership. People often ask me if I am enjoying being president and, of course, I am, otherwise I would not have put myself forward. However it does have its moments where it can be quite stressful, but I have had great help and support. I would like to thank all regional staff, the executive and general secretaries for all their help. I would especially like to thank the ‘unsung heroes’ of the union, the head office staff. They have helped, and assisted me enormously during the last year, and always with good humour, no matter how stupid my requests were! Finally, I would like to wish all the EC members that are leaving at the end of the year, all the very best for their futures. So Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all. Peter Pinkney President’s column