Women’s National Conference
From 1/2/18 – 3/2/18
Attended Michelle Cooper and Norma Guyver-Cole
We set out Wednesday morning on the 31/01/2018, greatly relieved to find we were travelling by jet
We arrived in the beautiful city of Liverpool on the afternoon of 31/1/18, and made it safely to the hotel Premiere Inn Albert Dock, where the staff were extremely helpful, friendly and pleasant.
On the morning of 1/2/18 the conference doors didn’t open until 11:30 so we made a visit to the Albert Dock museum and visited the exhibits that were open , the first one being the slavery museum (quite emotional) and the next was the shipping museum , unfortunately the Titanic exhibition was closed for refurbishment .
And then to the conference centre.
Anyway we were among the first in the conference and visited all the stalls collecting information and helpful guidance especially if it was to cover us both in our new roles as joint Women’s officers. We were given our rosette which we wore all weekend and along with our new Unison bags, we went to the first meeting Regional South West. The motion that was to be put forward for South West was to have the role of Women’s officer recognised in the rule book, there was some debate on it being last on the list and there not being time to vote on it . Amanda did manage to get it moved up the agenda and the motion was carried.
I can honestly say it was quite daunting for us both being the first time at a national conference but we very quickly made friends with our sisters in the South West and were made to feel welcome. Once the conference was underway and after a speech from Margaret Mackee we got into the swing of things. There were some very inspirational speeches and it showed the passion for what we as Unison really stand for.
We attended the national disco on the Thursday night it was a ticket do and was well attended, apart from the disco (some of us really like to dance!!!!), there was a quiz and of course our table won, with help from our sisters in the Northern Ireland branch. We got to know lots of ladies from other areas and are now in possession of a list of contacts for Unison reps from up and down the Country covering different roles and subjects.
Friday was another full on day and we attend all the debates, in between we attended the mental health seminar and the local government seminar, both were very good, well attended and very informative. In the afternoon we had a speaker from the Birmingham City Council care workers, who explained the ridiculous new rotas the council are trying to impose on the care workers and the effect it will have on them. No wonder they voted to strike, the rotas are so bad it’s a wonder they didn’t resign on mass and be done with it. We gave her a standing ovation. We then had a speech from our general secretary Dave Prentiss, who pledged to support the Birmingham strikers and go up to visit them in person. We finished the day mid non binary debate and headed back to get ready for the South West dinner that evening. We got the taxi to a lovely venue in the middle of the city and enjoyed a great evening, we even managed to talk the staff into making us a dance floor (some of us really like to dance!!!!). During the evening there was a presentation for Vicky Burrows as she is retiring from her Unison role in March. We took this opportunity to gather more contacts from other reps and came away with a plan for our role as Women’s officers. (Michelle is very good at gathering contacts and Norma is learning a lot from her.)
The last day got underway and we picked up from where we left off on Friday on a debate that we weren’t that confident in and had left on Friday thinking we might have to abstain, as we really didn’t understand the issues. But having spoken to fellow reps the night before at and after the South West Region do,(not all dancing)it became very clear and we knew we going to support it, so much so Norma got up and did her speech (there is video evidence),
Norma did a great job and got mid speech applause and a huge one at the end, needless to say after a very close call the motion was carried.
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Later in the morning Dr Helen Pankhurst spoke to the conference about her research for her book Deeds not words, she took time at the end to take some questions.
Then back to the debates. We both had to leave conference slightly before it finished due to travel arrangements and to make sure we got out flight on time. We wanted to stay to the end, it was such an uplifting experience.
We both thoroughly enjoyed the conference, it was great to listen to all the debates and emotional speeches.Some were quite tearful and heartfelt but there was always someone happy to go up and give them a hug of support.
And even at the airport we were still making contact with our fellow reps and members. We met the Aberdeen delegate in the departure lounge and a Unison Health member in the queue to get on the plane. Which was not a jet, but it got us home anyway.