CWU Conference 2022

Union Matters May 4 2022

Annual Conference 2022

This year’s Annual Conference in Bournemouth was the first face to face conference since the outbreak of Covid. It was also the first since the introduction of ‘Re-Design’ which radically changed the format of Annual General Conference and brought all sections of the Union together whilst maintaining the separate industrial conferences for the Postal and Telecoms and Financial Services constituencies. The decision to reorganise the Conference and the structure of the Union has proved to be a great success and that was apparent to all those who were at Bournemouth. The Union’s retired members played their full part in the proceedings, with retired members moving and supporting policies that were not only important to retired members but the membership in general.

Retired Members Motions

Conference debated a number of motions important to retired members that were submitted from branches around the country. Of particular importance were the two motions submitted following the Union’s online Retired Members Conference (RMC). These were selected by the Conference (the National Rules provide for the Retired Members Conference to select two motions for submission to the Annual Conference) and dealt with the Health and Care Bill 2022 and the Triple Lock/Social Care/TV licenses for the over 75s.

The motion on the Health and Care Bill 2022 was expertly moved by Retired Members National Committee Member Jeffrey Richards and was supported by no less than six retired members from around the UK. It was also supported by Norman Candy, Retired Members National Executive Lead on behalf of the NEC and was carried unanimously.

The second motion, dealing with the Triple Lock, which was also due to be moved by Jeffrey Richards was not heard because of lack of time. However, it remains RMC policy and the Committee will be promoting this policy in the coming months.

Fringe Meeting

A very well attended Retired Members Fringe meeting was held in the Bayview Suite where Tony Kearns, Senior Deputy General Secretary, answered a number of questions raised from the floor and Norman Candy chaired the meeting. The guest speaker was Sal Robinson from the Solent WASPI Community. Sal delivered a very comprehensive speech which explained the background to their campaign, how the campaign had progressed, where they were with the campaign and how the CWU could help them. Their struggle for pensions justice, for women born in the 1950s, has reached a critical stage. The Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman (PHSO) has announced that there was ‘maladministration’ over the way that the changes to their retirement age was communicated but despite this, the PHSO is yet to recommend compensation. Numerous questions and words of support were raised by the 70+ members who attended the Fringe and Sal thanked the Union for its support. A motion submitted by the Northern Ireland Regional Committee, Northern Ireland Telecoms Branch and the East London Postal Branch which pledged the NEC and Retired Members Committee to ‘fully support the WASPI women and campaign both within the TUC and the Labour Party for this matter to be brought to a satisfactory conclusion’ was carried unanimously.

Bob Collins, Retired members Lead Mount Pleasant International Branch, addressed the meeting on the issue of Prostate Cancer, with some important advice on how to recognise the symptoms, progress made in its treatment and what to do if you believe you might have developed the illness. A number of questions and contributions were made from the floor.

General Secretary Dave Ward also attended and presented CWU stalwart and SE Regional Retired Members Lead, Rod Downing, with Honorary Membership of his branch, SE No5 Branch.  Rod’s wife also attended to see him receive his well deserved Honorary Membership in appreciation for his lifetime contribution to the CWU and his fellow workers.

The Union decisions, outlined in this report and others adopted at the RMC, will form the basis of the Retired Members Committee’s policies for the coming twelve months. We will keep you informed via the Veteran, our Website and Facebook page on how you can help and the progress being made. Lastly the RMC would like to thank all those retired members who attended the Annual Conference for their support and participation.