Blog Post

GROW The Union

Mark Fairhall • 11 February 2022

Report on the National Meeting held in London in Congress House - 10th Feb 22

Jane Loftus – CWU President

Jane welcomed everyone to the meeting and said how great it was to finally get off Zoom and back to in person. We then held a minutes silence for those friends, family and colleagues who had passed during the pandemic.


Dave Ward – CWU General Secretary

Dave opened the meeting and welcomed everyone back to face-to-face meetings and how great it was to see everyone in person.

Dave then introduced Jo Grady, The General Secretary of the UCU


Jo Grady- UCU General Secretary

Jo gave an update on the ongoing dispute with universities and colleges.

  • UCU members have worked tirelessly during the pandemic to ensure that universities and colleges kept on providing further education whether via online platforms or forced into workplaces.
  • Staff are still being employed on short term and zero hours contracts.
  • UCU are in dispute with the employer.
  • Please engage in UCU social media campaigns
  • Thanks for the CWU support over the last 2 years


Dave Ward/Tony Kearns

  • Please support UCU industrial action and engage with social media
  • Thanked our members for the last 2 years and how they have stepped up to the mark and provided the services to keep the country moving. Not only CWU members but we recognise the way that the whole working class has contributed and how they have faced the pandemic head on.
  • The clear direction of the union is to remain a single union and not merge with any other Trade Union.
  • Currently fabric of society is being disassembled by the Tories and there is no effective political opposition with Labour.
  • The working class need to stand up and fight the current political structure and trade unions are the backbone that can facilitate this.


Dave and Tony then went though some PowerPoint slides and here are the headlines from those slides:

  • Over the last two years the CWU has lost over 12,000 members
  • Forecasts overspend for 2022 is £1.4 million.
  • Cash balances for both CWU and branches are healthy, but we need to ensure we put plans in place to ensure the future of the union
  • What has happened under resign?
  • Staff in CWU HQ have reduced from 200 down to 150
  • Introduced staff pension reform
  • Independent review of Unionline
  • Alvescot sold
  • Agreement for sale of the Elstead hotel
  • Merged Equality and Education departments
  • New comms department
  • What we need to do?
  • Improve membership and whole union approach to the GROW the union campaign.
  • Finalise the plan for 150 The Broadway.
  • Further restructuring of other CWU departments.
  • Invest in new IT systems
  • Reduce expenditure and agree a new financial plan.
  • New model for Unionline
  • Implementation of key conference policies
  • Building collectivismAnti-racism project
  • 13 measures of success
  • Policy forum on the future of the CWU
  • Conclusion
  • Securing the future of the CWU as a standalone Trade Union.
  • The whole union must mobilise with key campaigns
  • Need to reassert trade unionism across society as we build in a post covid world.
  • CWU has a massive part to play in shaping the trade union and Labour movement.


Ray Ellis

  • No face-to-Face contact has had a massive impact on how we recruit new members, and we need to get back to basics and get into workplaces, picking up the staff that may have been missed.
  • It is a Branch responsibly and all branches should show they have robust plans to deliver the GROW campaign
  • The GROW Campaign is not just for one month but used kickstart recruitment for the future.
  • Campaign launch 28th Feb.


Chris Webb

Chris Webb then went through the comms support for the campaign and gave us a preview of the new CWU advert for the TUC Love the Union week.

 



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