Wednesday, June 27, 2007

1st NEC meeting

So on Friday I attended my 1st meeting of the NEC, the 1st of the 07-09 NEC. (I'm afraid I haven't had time to blog as soon as I'd like, but I've been working fairly constantly since).



It occurred directly at the close of Conference (which had the unfortunate consequence of not being able to go for a drink with other young members). The meeting was simply to deal with the elections of the President and Vice Presidents. It started off with Dave Prentis (General Secretary) in the Chair until the election of the new President. The Presidential election then took place, with Norma Stevenson elected unopposed. There was then a contested election for the two vice presidents with Sue Highton and Gerry Gallagher elected.



The task for me at the moment is considering my choices for NEC Committees. With the NEC having over 60 members the real work is done in these committees, so which ones you're on is incredibly important. My big decision is over Policy Development and Campaigns Committee or Development & Organising Committee



Policy Development and Campaigns Committee is the committee which deals with the unions external facing policy work and campaigning. Having campaigned in my election about putting young members views at the heart of our campaigning work this would be an important committee to take that forward.



Development and Organising Committee on the other hand deals with internal issues such as rules and how we organise our members. This is the committee were I could take take forward the issues I campaigned on around developing and supporting young activists.



It's definitely a dilemma, as you can only go on one of these big committees. And what I ask for still isn't necessarily what I'll get.