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General Secretary’s Opening address. In his opening address Billy Hayes welcomed delegates & observers to the Conference stating that as always it was very well attended. Billy said there was great concern over the closure of a possible 2,500 Sub Post offices and that the Union are calling for a judicial review of the situation. He said that the Liberalisation of the Postal service has not improved the service and that there needs to be a review of Postcomm.
| 1. |
The first Motion before the conference was from the Retired Members
Advisory Committee (RMAC). This conference pays tribute to the trade
Unions who started the campaign in 1908, and congratulates the National
Pensioners Convention (NPC) for highlighting the Centenary of the old
age pension in 2008. It went on to ask conference to give its full
support to the NPC’s demand that the government increase the basic state
pension to at least £134 a week, and to increase yearly in line with
earnings or prices (which ever is greatest).!! When state pension was
introduced it was 5 /- a week, which equated to 25% of the weekly wage,
the average for state pension is now only 17% of the average weekly
wage. |
| 2. |
Scotland Region, Called upon the RMAC to urge the CWU NEC to campaign
for an Urgent up rating of the fuel allowance. One delegate stated that
we do not need allowances and that it should be incorporated into our
pensions, as Allowances can be taken a way. |
| 3. |
North West Region moved Motion No. 3. “That this retired Members Conference Deplores the lack of information with regards to the National Insurance Fund surplus.” Surplus balances have been quoted as £27Billion to £39 Billion. One MP stated that no such fund exists. The Conference instructs the RAMC and the NEC to seek support from other like minded organisations to urge the government to openly declare-
a) That the fund exists
Tony Kearns said that during 2006 monies paid in and paid out for
National Insurance resulted in a surplus of £34 billion, this equated to
three times more than is needed to be kept in reserve. There were over
2million pensioners below the poverty line. |
| 4. |
Motion 4 from the North west Region asked conference to express its
anger over the lack of support from and appearance’s, shown by CWU
sponsored MPs. After a short debate in which Billy Hayes stated that
this was a to general accusation and called on the region to give more
specific information on these charges. |
| 5. |
This motion asked that the RMAC to campaign through the TUC, NPC
sponsored MPs and other bodies to restore a minimum number of
inspections of care homes each year. During the moving of this motion,
it was stated that at present there are 4 inspections each year, 2
announced and 2 unannounced. There are proposals to reduce these to 1 a
year, which would result in 350 redundancies. |
| 6. |
Midland Region submitted a motion relating to the Postcode lottery on
the Drug or treatment of patients in the NHS. And called upon the RMAC
to request that the NEC campaign with other bodies to press the
Government resolution on this matter. |
| 7. |
This Motion by the North East Region was on a similar subject. This
asked the CWU by all means possible to call upon the Government to end
the Postcode lottery of pensioner’s access to NHS treatment and personal
health assistance in hospitals, residential, and their own homes. All
state pensioners resident in the UK to have equal access to all
Government benefits. |
| 8. |
Scotland submitted a long motion relating to the large utility companies
(Gas, Electricity Telecom etc), who introduce charges to customers who
do not sign up to direct debit schemes. It said that some pensioners who
do not have Bank accounts would have to pay larger bills. The motion
asked that the RMAC to seek assistance from the NEC to campaign against
these charges. |
| 9. |
Conference registered
grave concern that N power has already announced a 17% in its tariffs
before Christmas 2007 and has announced a further rise in its prices.
British Gas has raised its marker traffic tariff by13% for gas and 17%
on Electricity. It is forecast that there will be a 15% increase in bill
from all British Energy Companies. We urge the TUC and Labour Party to
come to the aid of the 4 Million householders in fuel poverty. (I.e.
spending more than 10% of their income on energy bills). We call on the
Labour Government to:- |
| 10. |
London Region asked that each issue of the Voice should include a
paragraph advertising Retired Membership, with a section to be completed
by the member indicating that he/she wish to apply for retired
membership. |
Peter Raynor Vice President NPC Address to Conference
Peter gave an address to conference on the issue of the New National Bus Pass.
Monies paid to the local authorities is not ring fenced, therefore concessions
will vary from place to place. The new Bus pass give you free travel on busses
from 09.30hrs –23.00.hrs. Some authorities may extend this to outside these
times and other usage (i.e. Trams Etc). Your Buss pass will not be valid in
Scotland or Wales. & N Ireland. If you require full details on this issue and
many others, you can find them on the NPC website
www.npcuk.org . If you do not
have access to a computer then please contact the Branch Office for Information.
These Motions in this report have been condensed in to my own interpretation of wording. Should you require a copy of the full version please contact me via the Branch Office.
Rod Downing
Class C Membership Secretary
SOUTH EAST NO 5 BRANCH - CLASS C SECRETARY

FRED PULLAN 18/10/1929 - 31/12/2007
It is with great sadness that we have to report that after taking ill suddenly over Christmas, Fred passed away in hospital on the morning of 31st December 2007. Fred was a stalwart of the Union, a Branch Honorary Member and held a number of Representative Posts in the UCW/CWU during his period with Royal Mail which included:-
Branch Secretary - Guildford Amalgamated Branch 1974 to 1992
Assistant District Organiser – South East No 3 DC 1976 to 1995
Class C Secretary - South East No 5 Branch 1995 to 2007
|
|
Fred Pullan, Branch Class C Secretary being presented
with |
Fred will be sadly missed by all of the Branch Officials as a work colleague but most of all as a good friend.
As a retired member of the CWU the following are just some of the benefits
available to you:
To visit Age Concerns Web Site click here, you will find advice, campaigns, research and education on issues affecting older people.
In his opening address to the conference, Billy Hayes referred to the
forth-coming election for the Labour Party Leadership. He said that we have lost
a large number of voters over the past three years, and there is much work to be
done to regain those voters.
He also referred to the closures of Sub Post Offices, and the effect this will
have on local communities. He said there are still many pensioners who collect
their pensions at the Post Office, with the loss of services offered by the Post
Office, we must think of ways to bring in other services, one being explored was
to install Internet terminals into sub offices. Many Post Offices are a part of
the community and a must not be lost.
Motions:
1. This motion deplored the fact that National Insurance
Contributions are not payable
above the upper earnings limit of £630 a week. It went on to
say that the NEC
should use its influence in the Labour Party and the TUC to
ensure that the
Government is no longer permitted to borrow from the current
NI fund surplus to
finance any initiatives that are unconnected with the fund.
This treasury practice
has constantly undermined the case for using the NI surplus
to improve the state
pension.
This Motion was carried.
2. This motion instructed the NEC to gain an amendment to the
Government
proposals on the State Pensions Saving Scheme. That payments
by individuals and
companies shall be paid into the National Insurance Fund, and
not individual/ Bank
Insurance companies to invest in the vagary of the stoke
market. In moving the
speaker said that any surplus could be used to increase the
state pension.
This was carried.
3. Motion 3 by the Scotland region, The CWU will campaign
through our relevant
affiliated organisations to achieve the following policy.
All households in receipt of State Retirement Pension should
receive an equivalent
discount in council tax as to that received by single
occupant households.
This Motion was carried.
4. The Retired Members Advisory Committee is to request the
NEC to campaign with
other interested groups, for the removal of the post code
lottery in the treatment
of cancer.
This was carried.
5. Council Tax. This motion said that the geographical
location for determining the
ability to pay is not in the best interest of our retired
members. Therefore the NEC
is instructed to resist any proposals by government bodies to
introduce Zonal
Banding.
This was carried.
6. Motion six dealt with Water rate charges in Northern
Ireland. And asked the N.E.C
to support the campaign against the change in the way water
rates are paid in NI.
Carried.
7. This motion expressed concerns the government funding for
hospices is as low as
26%, which means that hospices are subsidizing work th4y do
on behalf of the NHS
from other income. And asked the Executive to campaign
through the TUC and
Labour Party to get the government to increase the funding.
This was carried.
8. A motion by the SE Region on the need to have an
independent Pensioners Auditor
in Parliament, was NOT Carried. The opposition was that it
was not clear as to how
they would be either appointed or elected (if so by whom).
9. This motion by the Scotland region said that it was
disappointed that the policy
agreed last year, for the RMC to have a monthly column in the
voice had not been
progressed.
After some discussion it was pointed out that it was more
beneficial to carry Motion
10, which called for four issues of the link each year.
The Motion was not carried.
10. Motion 10 calling for four issues of the link to be published, was carried.
11. Motion 11 asked that there would be an amendment to Rule
3.2.2. Add at end that
there will be an Associate membership to the CWU
retired membership. This to
include CWU members who did not join within the
26 week rule.
Associate members will pay a
subscription agreed by the NEC but will not receive
the death benefit paid to retired members.
This was carried.
It was agreed that Motions 1&7 would go forward to the
annual conference.
GUEST SPEAKERS
The two guest speakers to the conference were Bob Laxton MP and Joe Harris
General Secretary National Pensioners Convention.
In his address to Conference Bob Laxton spoke of the need to maintain Sub
offices, but stressed these had to be viable. He also said the Post Office
Card account would be replaced by a new system by 2010, but the post office
would have to bid against other organizations to run the scheme.
He also gave the conference various figures on how the government had made the
Pensioners much better off than under the previous government. In a question and
answer session, where a member accused him of not living in the real world, he
admitted that his figures referred to those pensioners who did not have Company
Pensions.
Joe Harris in his address said that the Government keep saying that it cannot
afford to increase the state pension. However, the National Insurance fund is
£30 Billion in credit, which could be used to increase the Pensions, but the
government uses this money to invest in guilt’s to finance other things. The
government claim that if they do not do this they would have to put up taxes.
Rod Downing