BECTU Rules Revision Conference 2005 agenda
Listed on this page are proposed changes to the BECTU Rules.
AR1 Rule 6(d)
Delete clause (d) and re-letter clauses (e) and (f) accordingly
AR2 Rule 7(b)
In third sentence delete "acknowledge receipt of the particulars supplied" and insert: "ensure that those particulars are processed by the union with due care and confidentiality"
AR3 Rule 7(e)
Delete "treasurers" and insert "other authorised officers"
AR4 Rule 7(f) [new]
Add new clause (f) as follows:
(f) Any applicant for membership who is joining simply to receive assistance in negotiating terms for redundancy will be liable for a full year's subscription up front, before their case is taken on by the union.
AR5 Rule 10(v)
Delete "0.8 of"
AR6 Rule 16(a)
Delete "and relevant branch secretaries and shall be deemed" and insert "who shall arrange for the relevant branch secretaries to be notified and for the member"
AR7 Rule 18(c) [new]
Add new clause (c) as follows:
(c) The National Executive Committee shall at its discretion invite pensioner members to join a pension forum and to participate in pensioner issues.
AR8 Rule 21(g) [new]
Add new clause (g) as follows:
(g) Legal representation under rule 21(a) in cases of personal injury is subject to any general conditions agreed with the solicitors instructed (and specific additional conditions may be attached in individual cases) and is on the basis that the member is liable for legal costs (which also includes legal disbursements, the premium for any policy of legal expenses insurance and opponents' costs) but is protected against having to pay those costs by such means provided or approved by the General Secretary on behalf of the union as he/she may determine: such means may be varied or amended by the General Secretary during the course of the case. The free advice service outlined in rule 21(b) is additional to the comprehensive representation of members in work-related injury and disease cases referred to in rule 21(a), which includes initial advice in such matters.
AR9 Rule 22
In second sentence delete "a minimum of £350, claimable on" and insert "£350 claimable within two years of"
AR10 Rule 28(a)(v)
After "for election to the National Executive Committee" insert "or to any office to be elected at conference, or to appoint or elect delegates to conference or to a divisional or subdivisional committee,"
AR11 Rule 29(a)
Add at end: "In the event of a branch, after due notice to convene a meeting has been issued, being unable for any reason to obtain a quorum, it shall be competent for the branch committee to take action required under rule 28(a)(v)."
AR12 Rule 29(e)
Delete "and/or someone authorised by the branch" and insert "or another branch officer specifically authorised by the branch for the purpose"
AR13 Rule 29(f)
Add at end: "That dispensation, however, will not extend to permitting branches which have not convened a quorate branch committee meeting in the preceding two years to make a nomination for election to the National Executive Committee or to any office to be elected at conference, or to appoint or elect delegates to conference or to a divisional or subdivisional committee."
AR14 Rule 31(b)
Add at end: "No such change shall, however, affect any election or appointment to office governed by statute or these rules until the respective term of office expires."
AR15 Rule 31(i)
Delete "the ITC, NTL, the Radio Authority" and insert "the regulatory and transmission bodies"
AR16 Rule 33(e)
Before "Only one job-sharing member" insert "Save for conference where both shall attend," then amend "Only" to "only"
AR17 Rule 33(f), Rule 40(a), and consequential and related rules
SOC note: The following group of proposed rule alterations are designed to provide eventually for biennial conferences closing with the end of the two-year term of office of the National Executive Committee. They are presented to the 2005 rules revision conference as an indivisible package subject to non-wrecking amendment. Words in [square brackets] are commentary from the NEC and do not form part of the proposed rule alterations. The SOC has accepted the following explanatory note by the NEC, which does not form part of the proposed rule alterations.
[The purpose of the following package of rule changes is to introduce biennial conferences - conferences every two years - synchronised to the two-yearly electoral terms of the NEC. To achieve this, the package first seeks to extend the current NEC's term of office, exceptionally, from two to three years, so that the next term of office begins with the biennial conference in 2007. (There would be no conference in 2006.) The next five alterations, proposed to clauses of rule 40 (the main rule governing conference), implement the biennial conference and link it to the NEC election cycle. Consequential rule changes in a range of clauses from rule 3 to Appendix D then follow. Next, provision is made for the continued publication of annual reports and accounts as required by law. Finally, provision is made for every second biennial conference to include a rules revision conference, in other words, a rules revision conference every four years as opposed to every three years as at present. The NEC regards each element of the package as essential, and will not accept amendment except in minor details. The NEC is grateful to the SOC for allowing it to preface the package with this explanatory note. It accepts that the package of rules changes is complicated to grasp, but hopes this explanation will convince branches that it is a key measure towards the future stability of the union.]
Rule 33(f)
Add at end: "Notwithstanding this, the period of office of the National Executive Committee elected in 2004 shall be extended exceptionally to three years ending under rule 40(d) with the close of the biennial conference in 2007 (when this provision shall lapse)." [This sentence to be deleted automatically in the next rules printing after the 2007 conference.]
Rule 40 [title]
Delete "Annual" and insert "Biennial"
Rule 40(a)
Delete "1993" and insert "2005", and delete "annual" and insert "biennial"
Rule 40(c)
In first sentence delete "annual" and insert "biennial", and in third sentence delete "annual"
Rule 40(d)
In first sentence delete "annual"
Delete second sentence and insert: "Commencing with 2005, conference shall be convened biennially in May or June and each two-year period of office of the National Executive Committee under rule 33(f) shall end with its close. The result of the elections to the incoming National Executive Committee held prior to the biennial conference shall be embargoed until their declaration by the General Secretary at the close of that conference. The members elected to the incoming National Executive Committee shall assume office immediately following the close of that conference."
Rule 40(h)
Delete "annual"
Consequentially, in Rule 3(a), (c) and (d), Rule 9(a)(i) and (e), Rule 19, Rule 20, Rule 26(a), Rule 27(f), Rule 31(b), (e) and (m) [divisional conferences also held biennially, but additional special conferences remaining possible under clause (n)], Rule 32(a), Rule 33(a), (l), (o) and (v), Rule 38(h), 41(a), (b) and (d), Rule 42(a), (b), (d) and (e), Rule 42(f)(i), (i)(ii) and (j)(i), Rule 45(b), and Appendix D by-laws 8(a) and 9
delete "annual" or "annually" and insert "biennial" or "biennially", as the case may be, in each instance relating to conference
Further, in
Rule 33(m)
delete "to annual conference" and add at end "which shall be published annually to branches and, in respect of both of the preceding years, in the National Executive Committee's report to the biennial conference." [annual reports, financial reports and balance sheets still to be prepared]
Likewise, in
Rule 34(c)
delete "to branches not less than fourteen days prior to annual conference meetings" and insert "annually to branches and, in respect of both of the preceding years, in the National Executive Committee's report to the biennial conference" [annual reports, financial reports and balance sheets still to be prepared]
and in
Rule 42(f)(i)
add at end "for each of the years since the previous conference." [annual reports, financial reports and balance sheets still to be prepared]
Furthermore, in
Rule 45(a)
delete "at intervals of three years commencing with 1993" and insert "every four years commencing with 2005" [rules revision conference every second biennial conference]
AR18 Rule 33(q)(i)
Delete "Equal Opportunities Commission and Commission for Racial Equality" and insert "and statutory equality commission or commissions"
AR19 Rule 33(v)
In first sentence delete "and area"
AR20 Rule 33(v)
In second sentence delete "Commission for Racial Equality" and insert "statutory equality commission"
AR21 Rule 33(w)
Insert new clause (w) as follows, and re-letter existing clauses (w) and (x) as clauses (y) and (z):
(w) Subject to the approval of the National Executive Committee and to the following sub-clauses there may be constituted a BECTU History Project (and such other specialist Projects as the National Executive Committee may from time to time determine).
(i) The History Project's object shall be the recording by interview of the working lives and experiences of practitioners across the audio visual and entertainment industries to form an accessible archive, fully compliant with such data protection and intellectual property rights as may apply, for the benefit of cultural, academic, educational or trade union and labour movement users and such other users as may from time to time be determined by the Project subject to the approval of the National Executive Committee. Users shall be required to acknowledge BECTU as the source in any published use of material.
(ii) Participants in the Project need not be limited to current or past members of BECTU, but non-member participants shall not be entitled individually to the financial benefits of the union. '
(iii) The Project shall be empowered to negotiate contractual arrangements with appropriate partners (which may include partners supplying funding and resources) for the furtherance of its objects, such contracts being made in the name of the union and subject to the prior approval of the National Executive Committee.
(iv) The Project may elect its own officers for the administration of the Project in accordance with standing orders approved by the National Executive Committee, and shall provide such reports (including financial reports) to the National Executive Committee and to annual conference as the National Executive Committee shall require.
AR22 Rule 40(e)(i)
After "to be appointed" insert "in accordance with rule 28(a)(v)"
AR23 Rule 40(n) [new]
Insert new clause (n) as follows, and re-letter existing clause (n) accordingly:
(n) The chair shall clearly explain to conference the consequences of procedural motions (especially the distinction between 'move to next business' and 'the question be put') at the time when one is made.
AR24 Rule 42(k)
Add at end: "with the exception of those results of National Executive Committee elections declared under rule 40(d) by the General Secretary."
AR25 Rule 45(a)
Delete "1993" and insert "2005, which can be increased to a maximum of five years with the prior agreement of annual conference"
AR26 Appendix D by-law 8(a)
Add at end: "Those arrangements shall provide that no representative shall have the right to vote who has not been elected or re-elected by the respective branch within the preceding two years. Branches shall elect their representatives at a meeting duly convened under rule 28(a)(v), but in the event of a branch, after notice of such a meeting has been issued, being unable for any reason to obtain a quorum, it shall be competent for the branch committee to make the election."
Enabling motion [not susceptible to amendment]
As part of its report to conference SOC will propose, at the conclusion of the business of the rules revision conference, the following enabling motion: "Conference adopts and approves the rules of BECTU as altered at this rules revision conference, subject to the incorporation of such numbering, cross-referencing, grammatical and other consequential changes of text as are required to implement the alterations to rules."