The next meeting of Southend TUC will be held on:

Date: Wednesday 4th June 2008
Time: 7.30 pm
Place: The Ambleside Club, Ambleside Drive, Southend on Sea

Notes of meeting held on Wednesday 7th May 2008
 
Present: Rachel Heemskerk (RH) PCS, Ian Pope (IP) PCS, Derry Thorpe (DT) UNITE
   
Branch Reports
 
PCS - DWP
RH reported on the events on 24th April when the NUT, UCU and some PCS Groups had gone on strike as part of their pay disputes. There had been good press coverage, including a 2 page article in the Evening Echo. Along with Jerry Glazier, representatives of the UCU Basildon and Waltham Forest Branches, Rachel had addressed the Teachers' rally in Chelmsford, which had been attended by 150 members. Within the DWP the strike had been well supported with the strongest show of support in the pay campaign to date. The NUT may hold a further ballot of their members for strike action in September.
 
A message of support had been e-mailed to the local NUT for their strike on 24th April. It was agreed to write to Jerry Glazier to invite him, or a member of his branch, to address a future meeting regarding the NUT pay dispute.
 
PCS - HMRC
It has been announced that HMRC will be delaying pay negotiations until the Autumn. The Group Executive has voted against seeking interim payments as this may harm the PCS' negotiating and industrial strategy. The South East Essex Branch will be submitting an emergency motion to the forthcoming Group Conference, calling for compensation payments for each month that the pay settlement is delayed.
 
Southend Council Elections
The meeting expressed our regret that Denis Garne had lost his seat in the Kursaal by a very small number of votes. However, the result may yet be overturned due to alleged electoral irregularities.
 
Concern was expressed that although far right candidates had only received between 7% and 17% of the vote, they had beaten Labour into 3rd or 4th place in some wards in Southend.
 
Other Business
It was agreed to decide upon going ahead with our June meeting in the week before 4th June 2008.