elections

Notice of Annual General Meeting 2024

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The Lambeth UNISON 2024 AGM will be held on Tuesday 20 February

Two AGM Sessions, both at Lambeth Town Hall

  • 1pm-3pm (Council Workers)
  • 4.30 – 5.30pm (Schools and Private Sector)

The purpose of the annual general meeting is to bring the branch committee and its officers to account:

  • agree policies and plans for the year;
  • to elect branch officers and branch representatives to external bodies for the coming year
  • to report on the branch’s finances;
  • to report on the branch’s activity during the past year ;
  • to receive a report on the annual assessment.

 If you would like to submit a motion or an agenda point to the AGM agenda, please email the full text of your motion to Ruth Cashman rcashman@lambeth.gov.uk or to UNISON, Room G.3. Lambeth Town Hall, 1 Brixton Hill, London SW2 1RW

Please see below if you would like to stand as, or nominate a candidate to be an Officer of the Branch. If so write to our nominations officer Paul at PDFitzgerald@lambeth.gov.uk If you have any questions about roles and responsibilities or particular officers do not hesitate to contact us.

Please see below for important deadlines.

12 December 2023: Nominations for Officer and delegate elections close
9 January 2024: Motions and rule change deadline, motions will then be circulated a few days later.
23 January: Alternative motions deadline. Due to nature of the AGM we cannot accept amendments, instead members are asked to write alternative motions.
6 February: AGM papers distributed
16 February: Deadline for emergency motions.

Officer posts at the UNISON branch

Branch Secretary                In charge of day to day running of the branch, overall strategy, campaigns, etc (5 days facility agreed)
Assistant Branch Secretary     Currently three roles for overseeing policy, casework and campaigns
Branch Chair                        The branch chair facilitates branch and committee meetings, and may also be a senior negotiator.
Branch Vice Chair               Chairs meetings when the branch chair is unavailable
Branch Treasurer                 Responsible for finances in collaboration with the secretary
Deputy Branch Treasurer   Assists the branch treasurer
Publicity Officer                    Helps produce newsletters, manage social media accounts, press releases and so on.
Membership Officer             Assists with recruitment and retention, managing our membership database.
Health and Safety Officer##  Watch that badly fixed light! Is work making you stressed? Health and safety is the name of the game.
Environmental Officer         Helps keep the branch up to date on green issues and develops campaigns and policy (will be a very important role in years to come!)
Equality Officer                    Is responsible for equalities issues, assisting self-organised groups and being a union lead on equalities at work
International Officer            Keeps an eye on the news, is informed about international issues and feeds campaign ideas into the branch (e.g. anti-fascism in Brazil, solidarity with trade unionists in Colombia, anti-war campaigning in the Middle East)
Welfare Officer                     The lead person for assisting members with any welfare issues and providing access to UNISON’s welfare fund.
Learning Co-ordinator#      Works with employers and co-ordinates the work of union learning reps in supporting members with lifelong learning and skills for life
Education Officer                 Helps arrange training courses and education programmes for members, stewards, health and safety reps and branch officers.
Returning Officer                 Oversees elections for the AGM and any by elections that may be held for officer posts or convenor roles.
Branch Auditor                     Checks over our finances and ensures we have complied with UNISON regulations.
Deputy Branch Auditor       Helps the branch auditor carry out their duties
Young Members Officer**  Coordinates campaigning and organising work among younger members – are you under 30 and interested?
Labour Link Officer++         A crucial role in liaising with local Labour Parties and coordinating delegates from UNISON to Labour to advocate for our unions agenda.
** must be under 30 at end of their term of office (early 2023)  
++must be a Labour Party member who pays into the Affiliated Political Fund
# must be a trained ULR        (training provided)
## must be a trained safety rep (training provided)

All posts are open to job share 

Labour Link elections 2021

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An election will shortly be held for regional seats on the union’s National Labour Link Committee.

These elections are absolutely critical to determine how UNISON’s policy objectives are taken forward within the Labour Party. As the UK’s largest union, how UNISON uses its voting strength within Labour Party structures and conferences can go a long way to shaping the kind of party Labour will be.

Branches were asked to nominate their preferred candidates prior to ballot papers being issued. Our branch has nominated Ruth Cashman for the London seat.

Ruth Cashman is a socialist trade unionist She has led strikes against cuts and section 44 action for safety in the pandemic. She will fight for UNISON to defend the left-wing policies of 2017-2019 and for the policies UNISON members need in such tough times.

She says “Covid-19  has exposed to the public how crucial public sector workers are, our union must be bold and confident in its political demands”

Ruth will raise:

·         Pay rises across public services 

·         An end to austerity and privatisation 

·         A nationalised and well-paid social care service 

·         Abolish all anti-union laws 

·         Mass council house building programme 

Only full members and retired members who pay the Labour Link APF levy are eligible to vote in this election.

Ballot papers will be sent to members’ home addresses and online ballot codes will be emailed to members’ email addresses as shown on our membership system. Members will have the option to vote online or by post. The ballot papers will include a prepaid envelope for returning the postal ballot to the scrutineer, and unique security identifiers for returning the vote online.

The despatch of ballot papers to members will begin on 7 September 2021.

If individual members have not received a paper by 13 September 2021 then they should contact the ballot helpline operated by UNISONdirect on the following telephone number: 0800 0 857 857.

The deadline for receipt of ballot papers is 5pm on Wednesday 13 October 2021.

Forms for 2018 AGM nominations

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Interested in getting more active in the union? Fancy helping to organise in your workplace to defend your rights and support your colleagues? Then all you need to do is fill out these forms and return them to us

The following are positions in Lambeth UNISON:

Branch Secretary

Assistant Branch Secretary

Branch Chair

Branch Vice Chair

Branch Treasurer

Deputy Branch Treasurer

Publicity Officer

Membership Officer

Safety Officer##

Environmental Officer

Equality Officer

International Officer

Welfare Officer

Learning Co-ordinator#

Education Officer

Returning Officer

Branch Auditor

Deputy Branch Auditor

Young Members Officer**

Labour Link Officer++

 

** must be under 27 at end of their term of office (25 January 2019)  

++must be a Labour Party member who pays into the Affiliated Political Fund

# must be a trained ULR        

## must be a trained safety rep

All posts are open to job share 

Fill out this form: unison-branch-officer-nomination-form-2018

Want to be a delegate to either UNISON National Delegate Conference delegate, Local Government Conference delegate, UNISON Regional Council delegate, UNISON Regional Local Government Committee delegate then please fill out this form:  unison-delegates-nomination-form

Forms for AGM nominations

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Interested in getting active in the union? Fancy helping to organise in your workplace to defend your rights and support your colleagues? Then all you need to do is fill out these forms and return them to us

Want to be an branch officer? (secretary, chair, welfare, etc) Fill out this form: unison-branch-officer-nomination-form-2017

Want to be a delegate to either UNISON National Delegate Conference delegate, Local Government Conference delegate, UNISON Regional Council delegate, UNISON Regional Local Government Committee delegate then please fill out this form:  unison-delegates-nomination-form

Lambeth UNISON Annual General Meeting details

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How You Can Get Involved

In January we will hold the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of our UNISON Branch. This is an important meeting at which we will elect the officers for the coming year and agree our policies.

As we have for the past couple of years we will organise a “rolling” AGM to maximise the opportunities for members to attend, with a main session (for which we will ask the Council for paid time off work) at lunchtime on Thursday 26 January, and two additional sessions in the days beforehand – one at the College and one (aimed particularly at school staff) after work at International House.

 

Activists

Our UNISON Branch has many enthusiastic activists – but we are always looking for more people to get involved and share the work! You can read about the branch officer positions which will be elected at our AGM on the UNISON website

The Branch Committee has agreed a timetable for the AGM and the important dates to note now are;

  • Monday 24 October – publication of notice of the AGM to all members;
  • Tuesday 6 December (5pm) – deadline for nominations;
  • Thursday 26 January 2017 (lunchtime) – AGM at Karibu Centre.

 

Get involved, become a shop steward!

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Would you like to become a shop steward in UNISON?

A union is only as strong as its members, and its members are stronger when they are better organised. Lambeth UNISON has a number of stewards across the council who help members with any issues they might have at work.  Our stewards are the front line support for our members, helping with organising, listening to members’ views, and promoting democracy and participation. They are also active in recruiting new members – a very important role because the greater the proportion of workers who are members of UNISON, the stronger we are when it comes to having our voice heard, and the more likely we are to win campaigns.

UNISON provides full training for stewards so you can feel confident and capable to represent members and offer advice.

If you would like to take up this opportunity then please print off and complete the following form.

UNISON Stewards nomination form 2016

Please return this form to Paul Fitzgerald, UNISON, International House, by 5pm on Monday 6 June 2016 (or
scan and email to JABlake[at]lambeth.gov.uk).

If you have any questions please email either Ruth Cashman  or Jon Rogers (Rcashman[at]lambeth.gov.uk and JRogers[at]Lambeth.gov.uk).