RETIRED MEMBERS’ ANNUAL REPORT TIMETABLE

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Conference
2012 National Retired Members Conference
Date
19 June 2012
Decision
Carried

This Conference recalls that a motion was submitted by the South East Region to last year’s Retired Members’ Conference agenda, on the above subject, which was ruled non-competent by the Standing Orders’ Committee being ‘Beyond the Remit of the Conference’ since the timetable for all UNISON’s annual reports is set by the National Executive Council. The rejected motion had called for an extension to the very short time allowed for the submission of supplementary questions. Since then, the South East Region has made a direct request to the National Retired Members’ Committee (NRMC) to take further action on this matter, which it was not minded to do. It seems, therefore, that the only way of drawing the attention of the NEC to this matter is via the Retired Members’ Conference.

The current timetable allows a week, including time for the postal services to work in two directions, for the submission of supplementary questions to the National Retired Members’ Committee. While this short time might be considered reasonable for working members it is unreasonable for retired members because:

(i) They do not have a geographically cohesive ‘shop’ in which to consult;

(ii) They are less likely than working members to have access to and training in computer technology.

The current timetable effectively prevents retired members from being able to put supplementary questions and therefore discriminates against them.

This Conference therefore instructs the National Retired Members’ Committee to liaise with the National Executive Council with the object of obtaining a change in the timetable for retired members’ conferences so that the time between the despatch of written responses by the NRMC and receipt of supplementary questions is two weeks.