Suffolk Division 11th Nov
1.Present: Graham White, Martin Goold, Hilary Bucky, Eleanor O’Dwyer (N Suffolk), Tricia Andrews ( Ipsw), Craig Tournay-Godfrey ( Ipswich), Margaret Bulaitis ( Ipswich), Ian Duckett ( Lowestoft), Andrew Rowe (president and Ipswich), Paul Kinnard (Lowestoft), Linda Rutter ( West Suffolk) Max Phillips, (West Suffolk), Paul Widdowson (Assistant sec, Lowestoft), Andrew Royall (Treasurer) Both arrived half way through meeting having given apologies earlier.
2.Apologies: John Kreeger, Dave Seagrave, Bryony Smith, Peter Byatt
AR: Wished Graham a happy birthday on behalf of the committee
3.Minutes of 16th Sept.
andMatters arising
Hilary has already sent MB some technical errors to minutes which have affected the accuracy. These were accepted by the meeting and the amended minutes accepted
GW:41.15 Should read S.O.R not SRO
4 Reports
A)Nat exec- GW has already circulated report to secretaries. Graham spoke about the contents. GW asked for questions to be emailed to him
Martin Gould ask about replacement fund to TSN. Graham confirmed that the NUT fund does now exist and will circulate details.
Discussion followed and Graham confirmed that he would find out more details.
B)Regional.
Hilary Bucky: Dave Seagrave has emailed everyone a very detailed report. Training is going down well and we need to encourage as many reps to attend ,committee members too. Lots of reps have said that it was the best course they’d been on. Hilary suggested that committee members become joint reps if they aren’t one at the moment.
Hilary stressed how much the landscape has changed in each division and that regional staff can’t cover the vast number of employers we now have. We need to see this change as something positive as it will empower the reps in the school to be more confident and to use their industrial muscle in their own workplaces.
Each association has been given list of academies which haven’t paid in to facilities time and are being encouraged to contact schools/reps to pay in.
AR: spoke about the success outlined in Dave’s report and the confidence that has been built which could improve retention.
HB raised the possibility of someone attending the TUC women’s conference possibly in March
LR said that Jenny Digby maybe interested.
C)Division reports
I)Report from exec meeting 3rd November. Extract from meeting provided.
A Rowe said he was asking for a ratification of the report. Didn’t encourage discussion as exec committee had already spent two hours discussing this.
LR: Queried the 0.5 levy
MG explained that this was to get the books straight and would not extend into the new year.
HB clarified that this levy was to cover the period when the division was operating under the misunderstanding about the role of consultancy in the division.
MG Explained that the Division needs to call a SGM to change the rules to agree to the proposal.
GW explained his understanding that the sum in question £5382 was to cover any money owed to caseworkers up until December 31 2015
HB Concerned about a future AGM authorising future payments.
A lengthy discussion followed about casework/ facility time.
CTG: Wanted to clarify that at the SGM there should not be any more requests for more authorisiation of further expenses from December until AGM
A lengthy discussion followed about casework/ facility time.
It was established that honoraria will not be used for facility time but other work.
Ratification of recommendations of draft minutes of exec meeting
In favour: 9
Abstentions: 3
ii) Secretary’s report- GW circulated and spoke to. Stressed importance of reps training. Graham encouraged people to accompany him along to TUPE meetings at schools- would provide useful training. Casework increasing in numbers.
GW circulated a breakdown of casework
(Ormiston pay policy) Unions have agreed to most of it apart from the move from M6.
Samuel Ward Academy Trust has now paid into facilities pot a sum of £4100. Very welcome.
GW grateful to Martin’s Goold’s work with EOTAS issues
GW is retiring as Div sec in Sep 2016. He has circulated a list for officer proposals and asked colleagues to consider this.
CTG asked about how casework is allocated to him. GW said that most work comes straight to him and only a few cases from advice line.
HB drew attention to the proposed officer list. She told us that Hearth has model officer job roles.
She also talked about Advice Line and that this was a significant investment by the union. Advice Line is resolving 85% of queries.
The chain is as follows: Advice Line- Regional office and then allocated to division.
HB feels that Suffolk is using the advice line less than anywhere else. If we use it more then we can track the amount of casework.
Advice Line needs to be utilised before division starts to think about using members’ money to make up for the shortfall.
HB: reiterated that RO has the capacity to take on some of Suffolk’s case work but that this needs to happen from the outset.
MB asked about how to promote the need to use Advice Line
HB: on phone messages, all mail outs and whenever possible.
Minutes of SGM
AR apologised for oversight. Meeting discussed and minutes agreed.
Officer posts.
CTG asked whether they would attract honoraria. GW said no. HB asked about whether reps officers should not be under remit of associations. Not decided.
iii) Assistant sec report
PW apologised for arriving late to meeting.
PW: spoke about work he had been covering. Including lots of work with Alde Valley, other schools, meetings and advisory committees.
Tricia Andrews asked for help with circulating information about Leiston Education meeting. Christine Blower and representative from Bright tribe will be attending.
Discussion followed about possible good speakers. Ian Duckett suggested possible speakers
MG: asked about what was on the agenda for next scrutiny meeting as the previous meeting had been cancelled due to a lack of items!
The discussion started to meander at this point.
Ian Duckett queried that he hadn’t received notifications about this meeting of Division.
iv) EOTAS –numbers of teaching staff has diminished (30ish) MG talked about the issues facing staff and the difficulty in representing members.
V) Treasurer- apologised for being late. Circulated report. Report covered points raised in previous discussion.
AR reported that Christine Blower phoned AR in reply to the letter he had sent her.
AR summarised the discussion. AR will circulate a summary in the future. CB’s writing will guide us for the future.
CTG: Raised that there was no need to cover April 2016- 17 as this was covered by facilities and future arrangements.
GW: 2016-17 GW feels that the situation re facilties will be better than the current year. GW is more hopeful because of the Organising Agenda, schools’ forum increasing contribution and because the number of academies paying in is increasing.
CTG: Reitereated that we can’t pay for ‘facility time’ but we .
can pay for other work.
Another discussion developed about work for the union.
HB: raised questions about CB’s message and said that her written reply would be what we will have to work with.
Another discussion about this ensued.
HB: urged committee to use the resources that the union has put into place first and see that this works.
AR: Asked if he was able to send out request to associations re the 0.5 levy. Meeting agreed.
GW: possible date for SGM December 1st 2015
The meeting was adjourned for Graham’s birthday cake.
vi) Equal opps- KM absent
Students- LR nothing to report
Supply Teachers- SK not here but LR reported that she has done a lot of work. GW spoke about the excellent lobby on 26th Oct. Thinks we could do work locally.
vii) Local associations-
N Suffolk 26th Nov association meeting and of course 2nd Dec Leiston Education meeting. Everyone encouraged to attend and circulate details.
W Suffolk and Ipswich meeting on 26th Nov
viii) No motions received by secretary
ix) AOB: GW list of proposed officers. Asked for any other proposals or suggestions ASAP!
MG: Clarified that it is only Exec committee posts that need to be elected the rest can be appointed.
CTG asked for clarification that Ipswich is Ipswich association and not Ipswich and SE Suffolk.
The SGM: Graham Tuesday 1st Dec.
AR: Clarification about levy proposal. Needs to have it written up to present to AGM.
Meeting closed at 9.10pm
MB 15/11/15