GFTU BGCM 2019 Minutes

everybody and not just based on privilege. I believe that no member

organisation has given the offer on education that we have given from the

GFTU and long may that continue.

Of course, the shared services, which was the brainchild of TSSA, is giving

unions the opportunity to collaborate together to get economies of scale on

items that have traditionally been seen as the most expensive within our

organisations. I am talking about items such as legal, accounting, finance and,

of course, IT which are now within our gift and are widely promoted throughout

all the union affiliates that we have.

It would be remiss not to mention the great victory, and I know we had a debate

about it before, that was gained this week by NAPO and whilst it might not be

100% of what you wanted, I think it is testimony to the fighting spirit of affiliates

within the organisation and all the time along we have been with NAPO as an

Executive pushing and supporting everything that you have done.

Motions on pay and the Living Wage have been fully complied with, both in

word and in deed, and whilst the GFTU leadership has no control over what

unscrupulous employers do, they have sought to put their house in order, whilst

campaigning with passion across the country to ensure a fair deal for all.

The motion from the Musicians’ Union on mental ill health has had widespread

sweeping implications and increased the recognition of the devastating effect

that it has on workplaces and the wider economy. The GFTU can rightly say

that they have fully supported this pivotal motion, but what is not advertised is

the fantastic response from other affiliates and the training being rolled out to

thousands of members. My own organisation has picked up the baton of the

example from the GFTU on mental health and developed partnerships with

national employers on the delivery of much needed training that has been sadly

lacking over the years. We have always enjoyed first aid training for the

physical problems, but the stigma that has surrounded depression, breakdowns

and other mental health conditions was largely ignored, so I would like to thank

both the Musicians’ Union and my colleagues on the GFTU Executive for the

kick up the backside that we all needed.

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