National Equality Conference 2018

Our National Equality Conference 2018 was hosted at the Golden Jubilee hotel, Clydebank by GMB Scotland region.

The hotel and adjoining hospital, as advised by Annette Drylie, NEF Scotland Representative, was built on the grounds of a shipyard where GMB members worked, as a private facility but is now the only NHS facility of its kind in Scotland.

Day 1 of conference started with a welcoming speech from GMB National Equality Forum chair Brian Shaw who outlined the tone of the conference and introduced members of the NEF and welcomed Gary Smith, GMB Scotland Regional Secretary to say a few words.

Delegates and visitors were then asked to spend time during an icebreaker session, to name their table after inspirational activists and there were some great names mentioned, from suffragettes, such as Rosa May Billinghurst, Emily Davison and Emma Sproson to a mash up of names Jayaben & Regis and on to someone who hasn’t yet existed in the GMB – a woman regional secretary – our Young Members have high aspiration, and good for them. The names chosen lived up to the Past, Present and future theme of conference.

The delegates were given an opportunity to have a group photo taken to show solidarity and support to the Justice for Grenfell campaign.

We had also commissioned a set of limited edition Equality badges covering all our strands which l proved to be very popular with the delegates.

We heard throughout the morning, motions on a wide range of subjects relating to equality and as is often the case at the National Equality Conference, there were some very emotional speeches. There were many first time delegates and first time speakers( majority whom were women) who were inspirational.

Conference welcomed Ged Killen MP during the afternoon session. Since the 2017 snap general election on 8 June; he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rutherglen and Hamilton West, Ged spoke to us passionately about the work the Labour Party are doing in Scotland and of the challenges that face them and he also took questions from the conference hall.

Following feedback from previous years conference, Attendees were asked to opt to attend breakout sessions during the afternoon and alongside GMB officers, organising workshops were facilitated by our NEF strand leads around their specialist areas. Feedback from the sessions was reported back by CEC members on Day 2 and all suggested 2 key areas to work on. This is something that the NEF members will take away to discuss and plan during the next meeting in May 2018.

Tim Roaches joined us and after being challenged on social media by our women’s lead (as he had missed the discussion on period poverty) he agreed to look with SMT at what GMB can do to support the campaign in our own offices, and congratulated the work being done in the Birmingham & West Midlands region. He spoke about the support requested from emergency motions around sexual harassment in Haiti and Yarlswood detention centres. Tim also praised the work being done throughout the regions especially in self organised groups around equalities. He also agreed with the motion from the NEF around access to training and discussed the development of training packages for a 21st Century Union.

As stated earlier, we were hosted this year in Scotland and therefore it was very fitting to be welcomed into the President’s dinner by the playing of bagpipes. During the evening thanks were given to Paula and Ann from our Equality department for their hard work and dedication. Ann is retiring after working in the GMB for 29 years and she advised us that when she was appointed she was the first woman to hold her position, and how pleased she is to see how the Union has changed throughout the years. We are certainly going to miss Ann’s enthusiasm and passion for equality. We also heard from Monica Lennon MSP at dinner.

Day 2 began with a feedback session from the CEC members following the workshops and then we were pleased to welcome GMB National Secretaries, Rehana Azam (Public Services), Justin Bowden (Commercial Services) & Jude Brimble (Manufacturing Services). All three spoke about the work being done in their areas and the challenges that face our members. This was followed by a Q&A session.

All the regions then informed conferences of their success and campaigns they had been working on in the last 12 months. It was inspiring to see so much Equality campaigns taking place across regions and we are sure delegates were inspired by the activism and took away best practice. An excellent session on sharing knowledge, experience, and skills.

The motions put forward by the Regions and debated on at Conference were amazing and it was apt that the motion delegates voted upon to go to Congress 2018 was on Congress Representation, an issue so important to our Equality Strategy and part of our General Secretary vision of a 21st Century Union. Prior to closing conference, the motion voted to go to congress was announced by Brian Shaw following the secret ballot - this is around congress representation and we also had the announcement of delegates to TUC and Labour Party conferences.

Following discussions around communication the National Equality Forum launched a new Equalities Twitter account, you can keep up to date with news and information by following @GMBEqualities.

Finally, we could hear from delegates from all regions about the work they have done throughout the year and celebrated their successes with a video montage.

Thank you to all delegates, visitors and staff for a fantastic conference, and a special mention to the National Equality Forum, Paula Keane and Lisa Johnson for their support in organising and facilitating in the absence of Kamaljeet Jandu, National Equality Officer. We send our best wishes for a return to good health.

Photos from conference can be found at GMB Union Facebook page and by visiting Twitter and searching #GMBNEC18