NDMC OCTOBER 2023 EDINGBURGH 

This is the second NDMC and the first time I have visited Edinburgh. Due to time restraints my PA and I flew from Birmingham after taking a train from Hereford early on Friday morning. We arrived in Edinburgh at 1.30pm and took the tram into town. We arrived at the hotel just in time to check in. the hotel was really comfy and staff more than helpful. We had a walk-in shower which is great for me with my disability. Everything was clean and fresh and the buffet breakfast was really tasty.

We were able to spend Saturday orientating ourselves, finding the EICC and having a look around the sights of beautiful Edinburgh.

 

Saturday afternoon I attended a useful workshop – Negotiating reasonable adjustments passports and disability leave. I have already mentioned to my manager that we need to roll out a passport system using the Unison model. My workplace does not recognise the union or any union but there are about one third of staff in Unison making us a voice to be listened to – at least this is what I tell myself and management when I put forward any ideas or complaints.

Many tips and stories were voiced, and more details can be found in Unisons bargaining booklets on reasonable adjustments and disability passports. My aim to get disability leave policy and include carers in this as well at my workplace and the company we are subsidiary of - Thera. I also aim to get my employer to sign up to Unison’s Disability Employment Charter across staff and people we support.

At 4.30pm I attended the regional WM meeting. There were very few attendees as the Birmingham branch had been unable to make the conference partly due to their reasonable adjustments not been sufficient for their needs. The branch also has a very heavy workload due the collapse of the local authority – the largest in Europe. I had also been blocked from asking for reasonable adjustments on the conference website but had managed to get my carer signed up as my PA. unfortunately my PA never received the lanyard or paperwork in the post so the Unison community branch secretary James Hawker and Bex Butler were quick to sort this out at the conference desk and he was given a lanyard to attend with me.

At the meeting it appeared that the majority attendees did not support the entire motion 33 put by WM and/or the amendments. Advice was given that a delegate needs to speak for/against motion if they have an opinion as many attendees at this meeting were not in allowed to speak/vote on motion due to their status. Nici Moran and Alex were instrumental in writing the motion and offered to help anyone who wishes to speak.

Sunday was the usual start to conference at 9.30 am but we had a bit of a lie in due to the clocks going forward on Saturday night, result! This was a long day for me, so I had a nap after business before going out to dinner in the evening. I managed to find a non-allocated seat at a table so I could now use my tablet – it is impossible to use tablet on my lap. Conference didn’t start promptly at 9.30 to allow people to get to their seats. 

Motion 8 was Women and neurodiversity in the workplace – very interesting for me as I am a support worker for adults with learning disabilities. I am encouraged by the motion and its speakers to share the need for those I work with to join a union if or when they manage to get employment, as soon as I return home. Very interested by the stories of delegates who spoke for this motion. One piece of advice being find your passion and use it for work. Form filling for neurodiverse people can be especially difficult and any other paperwork which are common activities for work.

The general secretary Christine Mackanie gave a recorded speech to the conference, which was followed by Jon Richardson, assistant general secretary, giving a speech in person. Both speeches gave a sense of hope and motivation for our cause and to continue to fight for fairness for all.

All the motions and their amendment were carried during the rest of the morning session including motion 12 making hybrid workplaces more accessible for deaf workers, motion 14 the next steps for the disability employment charter, motion 15 mind the pay gap, motion five progression for all.

After lunch the Scottish parliament’s first wheelchair user MP, Pam Duncan Glancy, gave a fantastic speech. This was by far the best speech all weekend. If the past two days had not motivated the room this speech would do so in spades. She congratulated us all for the work we have done in raising awareness of disabled issues. She spoke about how reasonable adjustments are not employer costs but that they are investments in people. If all socialist politicians were as honest and motivating as Pam, then the next general election would be a landslide. Pam received a standing ovation.

4:00 PM was the community service meeting, again not very many attended this about a dozen. Toby Morrison was elected to take forward 2 motions to community conference in March 2024. Some easy read documents about unions and how they work had been published this year and were given out. I will find these very useful where I work with adults with learning disabilities post op i took four copies and I will e-mail four more should I need them.

After a break and some food, it was the social event at 8:00 PM. Well, this was a brilliant night. Lots of dancing laughing and talking to other people with similar thought to one’s own. We had a quiz which the quiz master had sold us as an easy quiz, but it quickly became apparent that it was not that easy! We didn't come anywhere near the top three! I had only expected to go for about an hour as I was very tired, but it was so much fun that even when the party had stopped, I was still talking to two new friends about their experiences – Vicki Walton Cole and Ellie.

Monday the 30th of October the conference started as usual at 9:30 AM. Libby Nolan, a doctor from Swansea and Unison President, gave a great speech again asking us all to keep up the fight and especially stand in solidarity with Birmingham unison members who are striking or going through the pay gap compensation scheme. She spoke about how unison had lobbied the Labour Party to ensure all the recent damaging strike legislation would be repealed if Labour came into power. She assured the room that labour would be taken to task if it did not fulfil its promises from that meeting.

There was a lot of work done on this last session notably past was the motion 20 for access ability for all on the railway network. It was announced through the media the next day that the government was scrapping its support for the railway networks idea of getting rid of manned ticket offices. I believe this has come about because of the pressure put on government through online petitions and answers to the consultation where many people including union members wrote about their anger that such a proposal would be instigated.

Other motions that were passed was motion 30 we need fair PIP assessment process which is fit for purpose, motion 16 get the Tories out, motion 22 access to hospital equipment, motion 25 health and disability white paper an attack on income and independence and motion 26 neurodiversity awareness.

After lunch the results of the ballots taken at last night's meetings were read out including Toby's election. The bucket collection had raised over £400 for three charities.

A highlight of the afternoon for me was motion 19 disabled people have the right to travel too. Toby spoke very eloquently and emotionally about his fear of travelling to see his wife or go on holiday with her in case this triggers a review and reassessment of his PIP. Toby and his wife live separately in different parts of the country due to their differing circumstances and living arrangements. It was highlighted that if people on PIP want to go on holiday or abroad to visit family then they must contact the DWP to notify them. This from people's experience often triggers a review and reassessment of the PIP recipient. There is a petition on Facebook to get the DWP to withdraw this illegal practise.

Ryan Benbow from the West Midlands region moved motion 33 making unison truly disabled friendly. Lady Lola moved the amendment 33.1 and both were carried. Motion 34 make our union documents and language inclusive to national reading age of nine. Vikki Walton Cole moved the motion. It was spoken about that a reading age interesting statistic is that the Sun reading age is 7 to 8 a Tory paper and the Guardian, a left-wing paper is age 14!

The morning passed quickly, and we managed to vote on nearly all the motions put forward which is unusual, every other conference I have been to there have been many many motions left at the end of the day without being voted on. Only two motions had fallen, and these were motion 24 men's mental health matters and motion 2 reasonable adjustments and young workers as both motions had nobody to move them which was a shame.

12:30 was when the chair gave the closing comments letting us know that the 2 motions going forward to NDC would be motions 14 and 25. After that we all rushed off to get our trains, planes and automobiles back home to our comfy beds. See you all next year hopefully.