PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

This year is my last annual general meeting as president but also as a delegate. I am barred next year from standing, as are all Council of Executives who finish this year, but I have decided that it is time for younger people to be given their chance. The AGM is the supreme governing body and we should be very proud of that. I think we are unique, within the trade union movement, in that our rank and file run the union. Anyone can put forward rule changes, and steer the future of the union. The leadership do not decide the direction we go in, it is not compiled by experts or academics. This is done by you, although of course, they do have opinions. This year is a rule change year. People should remember that the rule book was, and is, written by the rank and file. Every rule is there for a reason. Our forebears had to look at every possible situation, and every difficulty that we might encounter, and try to have solutions in place for everything that might be thrown at us. This year is special in that we will be having an overhaul of the rule book. This has come about because of a resolution passed several years ago at AGM. The reason it has took this long is that we had merger talks with TSSA and everything had to be put on hold until these talks were completed. Because of the subsequent failure of those merger talks, we didn’t get round to discussing rule book and restructuring changes until 2013, my first year as president. I remember a lot of different academics coming in to offer their services but, unlike the last one which was done by Warwick University, we decided to do it ourselves. There were a few reasons for this:- cost, some academics wanted to be ‘bedded in’ with branches, workplaces etc meaning a long time to make decisions. Therefore we finally decided that our members were the best people to ask as they know what they want and are best placed to decide what is best for the union. To achieve this the CofE has conducted an extensive consultation with branches, regional councils and the membership resulting with a comprehensive document of the relevant rule changes that will be put to the delegates at this year’s AGM. They will have the final say in this. We would not have been able to do this without the hard work that was done by head office staff, the general secretaries and, of course, the Council of Executives. Whatever happens at AGM, I am sure everything will run smoothly. The amount of work put in is phenomenal. The logistics of running the AGM is mind boggling to me. My job is quite straight forward compared to the background work that is done. All the paperwork for the delegates, organising the overseas guests, hotel bookings, and social events all have to be sorted beforehand. I have enjoyed the AGMs over the years, both as a delegate and as president. The roles are very different and challenging in different ways. The position of president has a very real and close relationship with the AGM. It is to the AGM that the President can be called into account. That is how it started, the AGM delegates elected a president to go to head office to make sure, on their behalf, that their decisions were carried out. Although the position is now elected by the whole membership, the role is still the same. I will miss attending but, as I always say, it is not about individuals but about the movement. Peter Pinkney UNION RULES President’s column RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: june 2015 :: RMTnews 21 we have today you can trace back to the miners’ strike and the support of the NUM,” he told an enthralled conference. Looking ahead to the Pride march in London and union struggles in the coming years, Mr Jackson added: “LGSM will lead the Pride march and the Welsh area miners we supported will join us. “We put out the call to the entire trade union movement regardless of sexuality to join us on pride to bring some politics back to the event. “We have to organise educate and agitate our members – “If you exclude black and ethnic minority, women and LGBT activists you undermine your own union,” he said. Several RMT members shared their links with the miner’s strike. RMT delegate Jo Parry said that one of the reasons the strike was important to her was that her auntie who comes from mining village. She said that although LGSM activists were welcomed by the Welsh miners, prejudice was still a problem. Mr Jackson added: “We have a long way to go, our real experience during the strike was very good but there is still prejudice. “We will always be a minority and will never have emancipation on our own and we must have allies in the straight community. “How people treat LGBT people is a litmus test for how they treat other civil liberties,” he said. Other motions that were hotly debated included calling on British government to pardon people criminalised for just being gay. Delegate Colin Masters said: “So many people have been convicted for just having gay relationships - the association at the time was homosexual people were like paedophiles. “These convictions are still on record. “Only a blanket pardon is the right thing to do,” he said.