AGM 2014

Chair, Conference, it is my privilege to once again report on our work this year and a special thanks and welcome to Thompsons Solicitors for their material support for this event.

Welcome to the unity in Napo AGM, and a welcome to our many guests and partners who form an integral part in the life and fabric of this quite unique trade union and professional association. Scarborough is the place where I embarked on my trade union career and here is where I made my maiden speech to a conference all those years ago so I have fond memories of it.

Well you got here; just as you have always done! (and just as you did at the SGM in March) and you have got here despite the cynical and vindictive directives from the cabinet office and the attempts by NOMS to undermine the resurrected national negotiating council and the work of the three unions as reflected in the recent joint secretaries circulars, to deny you facilities time to consider issues that are of major concern to your careers and futures; and in spite of the attitude of some CRC chief executives to act like the private employers that some of them are so clearly in thrall of.

Last year my speech was described as arousing...well, whatever floats your boat and all that, but I will try and tone it down a bit this year.

So? (I am often asked) what has it been like for you over these last 12 months?

Well, I still have my hair for the most part; it’s still dark without the assistance of Grecian 2000! I am still reasonably fit and healthy for my age, and what a way to start this AGM with the news that Sadie Lawrence aged three days has become grandchild number 7 in the Lawrence family; congratulations to Bradley Lawrence his partner Laura and young Sadie.

Well enough about me, because as much as this last 12 months has been as testing for me as I expected, this AGM is about you.

To the Family Court Section, which as I reasserted yesterday morning at their SAGM, is an important and cherised part of the Napo family.

In the face of failing Grayling’s insidious agenda against legal aid our members in the FCS will take no comfort in finding themselves under the remit of the MoJ ; now affectionally known to all ye who enter here as 'castle greyskull', as they continue to grapple with the exponential rise of litigants in person, increasingly complex and bureaucratic case reporting systems on the one hand - and all to often - absolutely no use to anyone same day reporting, that leaves the judiciary in an even bigger state of confusion than they already started with.

I believe that I have delivered on my promise to our members within the FCS that Napo would reinstate the dedicated high quality professional support from Chivalry Road that they had prior to my election as General Secretary, Dean Rogers has worked hard to try and rekindle the relationship between Cafcass senior management and I am committed to forging a new deal between the section and Napo and ensure that FCS members get the share of resources to which they are entitled, and I can happily announce following my exhortation to the FCS AGM yesterday that I have heard that someone has stepped up to the plate to fill the vacant FCS national Vice-Chair position in the form of Jay Barlow and having worked with Jay for many years I know that she will be a massive attribute to the Napo officer group and the FCS membership so please show your appreciation to Jay?

And for our members within probation whether in the NPS or a CRC it’s been about the stress and pressure and huge workloads, it’s been about the chaotic state of operations before and after the imposition of the staff split. It’s been about seeing your profession vilified, patronised, misreported, blamed for the shortcomings of society, lined up for sale to a group of would be employers whose identities and geographical preferences for purchasing the 21 contract packages have been cynically concealed from all public and parliamentary scrutiny during a corrupt and shambolic procurement process that is supposed to result in preferred bidders being announced sometime this month with contracts due to be signed in late december.

Despite the veil of secrecy we know who you are likely to be:

• Carillion (union blacklisters)

• Sodexo (guilty of appalling discrimination against their own employees)

• Sentinel (pay as you go electronic monitoring with clients in the USA, owing shedloads of money at the end of their community orders)

• and – Capita (language interpretation in courts anyone? Oh sorry you will just have to make do with subtitles, or bizarrely, in one case I heard of, the accused’s own brother!

And in probation you have seen all the things that we predicted would happen under TR start to horribly unravel like some dreadful nightmare, only it’s no dream, no apparition ...... it’s living hell

IT - that is not fit for purpose causing delay and frustration for practitioners.the right cases in the wrong place. And offender management records disappearing into the ether, and your myriad examples of such operational chaos have been the catalyst for some of our recent successes in the media .

I know that the staff split has meant that many of you are not in your preferred organisation, but increasingly that’s looking like Hobson’s choice as members tell us they feel that they are working beyond their pay grade with little or no support and massive workloads leaving staff ill, stressed and unable to cope. And it’s not an anti-management thing to say this because we understand how managers have been left high and dry in al this.

It’s been a picture of disbelief...disbelief that that any sane person could have perpetrated such a disaster in the name of progress, but that, as we recognised a long time ago, was always going to be the problem. For we have been engaged in a struggle of reason versus ideology

But while we have engaged in that struggle, and we can be proud of how we (and you) have done so, we’ve seen a serious decline in the overall standard of service to your clients

And we have seen abject sadness as well....with the dreadful news of two of our members who tragically ended their own lives in the summer and a serious further offence which resulted in a worsening of that already shameful and perennial statistic that sees two women a week killed by an abusive partner or ex partner and we ask ourselves.... Why?

And while our thoughts obviously go out to the families and loved ones of all those individuals in the wake of such terrible tragedy we are obliged - and this union will never be in fear of asking searching questions on serious public interest stories - to ask that if service users are falling through the gaps already what will happen if or when share sale takes place? Who will pick up the complex cases that won’t be getting intervention because they either don’t produce enough profit for the CRC concerned, or because the NPS cannot function in the way it was intended due to excessive workloads and a lack of staff, and we ask.... Why?

Why has Chris Grayling allowed this to happen? And how has he suddenly found a piggy bank with 35 million pounds in it (on top of the estimated £4-500 million cost of his recklessly irresponsible project) to recruit 1000 new probation practitioners; whilst we welcome the news, we remain doubtful that the cavalry will actually arrive.

Meanwhile we still await the answers to the above and of course the outcomes of the necessary inquiries into those appalling tragedies but to follow on from the outstanding contribution made by John McDonnell yesterday, I will say again for the record what I said at the recent TUC: Mr Grayling, you have blood on your hands.

Moreover you can whinge and sulk all you want but this union will never stay silent on issues of vital public interest.

Well not everyone has been able to make it to Scarborough and that includes Chris Grayling and Andrew Seeloo (as he likes to be known). But just in case any of you out there get withdrawal symptoms we have arranged for an instant fix for you to now go on display to help you over your collective grief at his non-appearance.

[Display placard]

But I really must take issue with the member who suggested that this cardboard effigy might have a tad more charisma than Mr Seloo himself; aka last man standing for the job that nobody wanted.

But more about him and indeed them, later.

So just as I predicted last year, it has been the struggle of our lives and some - worse than we could ever have imagined.

Our campaign against TR is not without its critics and that’s understandable because we all want this runaway TR train to stop in its tracks. But each and every step of our campaigning work has been the subject of accountability through the Officers and Officials’ group and the regular meetings of the National Executive Committee and was the subject of a closed session at the SGM. And I want to recognise the energy and effort that so many of you have put in to support the initiatives from Napo centrally. A campaign which has been run across a number of strands and the debates here in scarborough will give all of us an opportunity to reflect on what we have achieved and what we have not achieved and why.

And for the record I have absolutely no issue with accountability, as everything I say, do and write either has my name on it, or is up there for scrutiny.

Conference, let me be clear, our two sets of industrial action were never going to bring the edifice crumbling down, but it gave our campaign profile and momentum, but none of your elected leadership underestimate the financial cost and, it has to be said. The divisions that have inevitably occurred.

Last year it was said by someone that if there was somebody who could successfully see us through industrial action and win it was me. No pressure there then? It was a tough ask, but the fact is that I and you, can only work within the parameters set by our members and it was quickly clear after the second strike, that the prospects of launching and sustaining further long term and escalated action was not a viable proposition. And it had nothing to do with a lack of resolve by our members or a lack of leadership from your elected officers, but all to do with the personal dedication and commitment to not let your clients down and compromise public safety. In short I believed, and still do that two weeks of all out action would do it for us but I and your officers listen to what you tell us, and we have had to move on with other strategies.

Two strikes where your resolve and sacrifice have been a shining example to other unions. And yes you did it without UNISON and I have listened to the disappointment and anger which many of you have expressed since then, but now is not the time for recrimination; it’s about trying our best to move forward together and I know how appreciative Ben Priestley and Neil Richardson were for the invite to AGM, as we move inexorably towards new national disputes on pay and workloads which prospective bidders would do well to heed.

And I've been proud to stand and march with our members during the strike rallies and have been out on the road in Tolpuddle, Southampton, and latterly Epsom, where the locals have been left in no doubt about where we stand and what we stand for.

But when Chris (I’m in a state of personal denial) Grayling, calls us an immature union he might want to redefine his understanding of the word in light of the grown-up approach displayed by his staff and when he claims that our recent staff survey attracting 1000 respondents was unrepresentative, then I challenge him and Andrew “(your members are excited by TR” - but then what would he ever know about excitement?) Seloo, to show me 1000 members who are claiming that TR is the best thing since sliced bread? Well, we all know conference that he cannot; because they don't exist. It’s self delusional denial once again!

He claims to have spoken to staff, like his trip to Crawley this week through the back entrance and out again?

I reckon he is desperately in need of some urgent clinical supervision! Any volunteers anyone?

Our campaign has included the signing of a national staff transfer agreement affording unique protections which other unions elsewhere have not achieved and which predictably is now under attack because the privateers have gone whinging to their mate Grayling.

And we have pursued those would-be bidders by writing to them on issues such as terms & conditions / future bargaining structures and their potential liabilities if they get involved in this folly.

And we have pursued it in parliament & through the excellent Justice Unions’ Parliamentary Group and I especially welcome and thank Simeon Andrews and Lori Malone of Union Services.

Yesterday you heard the testimonies of John and Elfyn which confirmed their views about the effectiveness of our campaign as we have engaged more parliamentarians than at any time in our history and how our weekly briefings and scores of meetings with MPs and the second recent of the two parliamentary rallies that we have held over the last 12 months have impacted upon MPs and trust me, they are straight talkers who would soon have told us if they thought our campaign was ineffective, and we have regularly engaged with the labour front bench, Sadiq Khan, Jenny Chapman, and have had meetings with Chuka Umunna, John Healey, John Cruddas and, Ed Milliband himself (but not over a breakfast roll thankfully!)

And through these 12 months we have needed the qualities of leadership more than at any time in our history and I want to pay tribute to your elected officer group and all the officials and staff at Napo and every member of the NEC and all their constituent subcommittees for their dedication and committment to the cause.