
Âé¶¹¹ÙÍø at TUC congress 2015
Report from TUC Congress, held 13-16 September 2015.
It was a busy time for Âé¶¹¹ÙÍø delegates at the 147th annual TUC congress in Brighton this week. On Sunday evening Âé¶¹¹ÙÍø NEC member Martin Levy kicked off the union's contributions in a debate about the importance and the future of regional newspapers. On the first full day on Monday, Âé¶¹¹ÙÍø's president-elect Rob Goodfellow secured support from the rest of the movement for Âé¶¹¹ÙÍø's campaigning work against cuts to post-16 education.
Later that morning Dave Muritu, Âé¶¹¹ÙÍø NEC member and chair of the black members' standing committee, spoke out in the extremism debate and warned that the government's definition of extremism could be too narrow and said staff in schools, colleges and universities needed to be wary of signing up to anything where the government dictated that definition.
Ahead of on Monday afternoon, Âé¶¹¹ÙÍø president Liz Lawrence moved the union's motion on casualisation -she warned that casualisation was not just something at the very margins of the economy and highlighted a recent Âé¶¹¹ÙÍø report that detailed the damage insecure employment has on staff and their families.
Richard McEwan, Âé¶¹¹ÙÍø NEC member and vice-chair of the further education committee, got things going on Tuesday morning as he spoke in a lengthy debate about the trade union bill. Later that morning, Âé¶¹¹ÙÍø NEC member Julia Charlton brought an amendment to a motion in the health debate that argued that the future recruitment of health educators depended on better pay conditions.
She used the findings of a recent Âé¶¹¹ÙÍø report to warn that, as well as fewer incentives for people to move into health education, over half of those currently in health education expect to leave the profession in the next five years. Jeremy Corbyn delivered his in the afternoon.
In Wednesday morning's pensions debate Âé¶¹¹ÙÍø vice-president Joanna De Groot argued in favour of final salary schemes and Julia Charlton highlighted the gender gap between men and women when it comes to pension provision, while Martin Levy spoke in defence of the trades councils.
Guest speaker, director of Liberty , talked about the need to defend hard-won rights and freedoms. Âé¶¹¹ÙÍø general secretary Sally Hunt finished off proceedings with a statement from the TUC general council about , which was prompted by an emergency motion from Âé¶¹¹ÙÍø.
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