LGBT+ Branch Officer and Contacts Training

NOMINATION FORM CO-CHAIRS

TO THE EASTERN REGION LGBT+ SOG

2020

The following member of……………………….....……….Branch wish to be nominated for the Co-chair seats on the Eastern Regions LGBT+ SOG for 2020

I confirm my acceptance of the             

above nomination                                     

Signature…………………………             

Signature of Branch Secretary…………………………........

Print Name.............................................................................

Date........................................................................................

This nomination paper is to be returned to: UNISON Eastern, Higdon House

Kempson Way, Bury St Edmunds, IP32 7AR no later than 17 January 2020

ROLE DESCRIPTION:

As Co-chair you will be expected to:

• To chair four committee meetings per year including the AGM

• To chair the delegate/ visitor meeting at the annual UNISON National LGBT Conference

• To work with the LGBT Secretary

• To lead on Regional LGBT SOG work plan and projects

• To write any reports that may be necessary

• To contribute to the Regional LGBT SOG Newsletter

EASTERN REGION LESBIAN GAY BISEXUAL TRANSGENDER +

SELF-ORGAISED GROUP (SOG)

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (AGM)

SATURDAY 01 FEBRUARY 2020 AT HIGDON HOUSE

• REGISTRATION 09:30 - 10:00

• 10:00 - 12:30 AGM. OPEN TO ALL

• 12:30 - 1:30 LUNCH WILL BE PROVIDED

• 1:30 - 3:30 NEWLY ELECTED COMMITTEE MEMBERS MEETING ONLY

The Eastern Region LGBT+ Self-Organised Group’s Annual General Meeting will take place on Saturday 01 February, 2020 at the UNISON Eastern Regional Centre, Higdon House, Kempson Way, Bury St Edmunds, IP32 7AR.

You are invited to circulate this invitation to all members and are encouraged to send TWO LGBT+ delegates per branch to the AGM. A Delegate Attendance request sheet (White) is enclosed for this purpose and should be returned to the UNISON Eastern Regional Centre by Friday 17 January 2020. When sending delegates to the AGM, branches should be mindful of UNISON’s fair representation policy.

Branches are invited to submit motions (Blue) for consideration by the LGBT+ Regional SOG AGM and these should be forwarded to the Regional Centre to arrive no later than Friday 17 January 2020.

As this is the Annual General Meeting, elections will take place for the following seats:

• Co-chairs. One vacancy (General Seat) - PINK

• National Committee Representative: Two vacancies (One Female/ One general) – BLUE

The nomination papers for these seats are enclosed and you will notice on the back of each nomination form is a brief description of what the post entails and the commitment involved.

Attendees will also be contributing to the committee’s work plan for 2020 including, support for Pride events in 2020. Due to capacity the committee will be limited to supporting one Pride event per county; this is usually the main county event.

Please note local Pride events can be supported through the separate Campaign Fund process.

Please return your:

1. Attendance Confirmation Sheet (white)

2. Nomination papers (if nominating) (pink)

3. Motion (if submitting) (blue)

To:

UNISON Eastern Region

Higdon House,

Kempson Way,

Bury St Edmunds,

IP32 7AR

No later than Friday 17 January, 2020.

Yours sincerely

Alexander J Porter

Alexander J Porter

LGBT SOG Secretary

EASTERN REGIONAL LGBT+ SOG ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

ATTENDANCE CONFIRMATION

SATURDAY 01 FEBRURY 2020

The following member(s) will be attending of behalf of …………………………Branch

Signatures 1………………………………....................……   ………….............…………………

                                                                                                                        PRINT NAME

Signatures 2………………………………....................……   ………….............…………………

                                                                                                                        PRINT NAME

Signature of Branch Secretary…………………………...    .........................……………......…..

                                                                                                                   PRINT NAME

Date.................................................................................

This nomination paper is to be returned to: UNISON Eastern, Kempson Way, Bury St Edmunds, IP32 7AR no later than Friday 17 January 2019

1

Friends and colleagues

come together to celebrate

at LGBT+ conference

Following a very busy day of debate, workshops and meetings

UNISONON LGBT+ members took time to relax and enjoy

an evening in beautiful Bournemouth.

They had cause for celebration as all three of their motions had

successfully been passed and adopted in to practice with

motion three even being taken forward to the national delegate

conference. These included:

Motion 1: Encouraging a programme of LGBT+ Ally Training

across workplaces which gives non-LGBT+ individuals the

opportunity to explore what it means to be an ally and the

space to identify how they are going to create an inclusive

environment for everyone in their workplace.

Motion 2: Working to protect the Human Rights of LGBT+

People around the world and adopt this issue as a major

campaign focus, working with partners such as Amnesty

International and ILGA

Invite to AGM 2020

The LGBT+ Regional

Committee Annual General

Meeting will be held at

10am on Saturday 01

February 2020 at UNISON

Centre, Higdon House,

Kempson Way, Bury St.

Edmunds, IP32 7AR. Lunch

provided.

What will be covered?

1. Elections: Branch

Convener and

National Officers

2. Workplan: What

training and

development we plan

to deliver in 2020

3. Pride Support: Our

commitment to

supporting Pride in

each county

Please attend

If you would like to attend

then please get in contact

with your branch who will

ensure your travel and

subsistence cost are

covered.

If you have any questions

then please contact us at

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

LGBT+ AGM, to be held at Higdon House, Bury St. Edmunds, on Saturday 1^st February 2020.

Trade unions exist to improve the working lives of their members. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workers face harassment and discrimination. It’s hard to deal with on your own. As a UNISON member you  have a voice in the UK’s largest public service union, committed to working for LGBT rights.

LGBT members organise locally and nationally to support each other, to identify and challenge discrimination, to increase awareness of LGBT rights and to campaign for change.

UNISON fights discrimination and prejudice in the workplace on behalf of its lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) members.

We do this by building local and national groups of LGBT members, negotiating with employers and offering individual support to anyone experiencing discrimination. We also provide access to practical advice and legal information.

LGBT group priorities

UNISON’s LGBT group takes UNISON’s priorities into the LGBT community.

They are to:

• recruit LGBT workers into the union;
• encourage LGBT members to get involved;
• build our network of LGBT groups;
• support individual members;
• identify and challenge discrimination, informing the union’s negotiations with employers;
• defend and promote LGBT public services;
• campaign for equality.

How we’re organised

Branch activity: there is a growing network of branch-level LGBT groups that discuss local terms and conditions, support individual LGBT members with issues at work and debate issues affecting the LGBT community. The branch groups jointly feed into regional groups.

Regional activity: the 12 regional LGBT groups meet regularly. They represent LGBT members at a regional level, arrange training for activists campaign for LGBT equality and work with other self-organised groups and young members in UNISON. Each regional group elects two members who represent LGBT members at a national level.

National activity: there are two seats for each regional LGBT group on UNISON’s national LGBT committee, which works with the national executive council and service group executives. There are also seats for bisexual and transgender reps and for Black and disabled LGBT reps.

Black and disabled LGBT members

Because lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are just as prone to racism and disability discrimination as the rest of society, Black and disabled members meet as distinctive groups within the main LGBT group.

Bi and trans members

We organise as an LGBT group because we believe we are stronger together. But bisexual and transgender members also meet as distinctive groups within the LGBT group to make sure their issues are identified and heard.