.

117 Section 28

All the more important to support this with Glasgow becoming the first council to fall foul of the legislation, leading to real funding dangers for many groups supporting people living with HIV and Aids.

Comp J: Branch Funding

for a joint review set up by last year's Conference. We are in the middle of the process and it should be allowed time to complete its work and report to Conference 2001 for debate. There will be an interim report to Conference 2000.

Amendment J1from Glasgow takes the constructive route.

Amendment J2, well are they serious?

Support J ONLY as amended by J1
Oppose J2

Motion 166 Political funds

The seemingly innocuous Motion 166 on UNISON's Political Funds has been widely trailed on the Conference fringe as an opportunity to open up an assault on UNISON's links with Labour.

UNISON's merger agreement with the establishment of two Political Funds - Affiliated and General - was ahead of its time. It provides us with a channel of influence within the Labour Party as well as substantial resources to mount independent campaigns in support of UNISON's policies.

Oppose Motion 166

By the way, Scotland priorities were

1. 190 Communications and the review of lay structures - 42 votes
2. 44 Pay in the public sector - 41 votes
3. 71 Equal pay and gender discrimination - 39 votes
4. 171 Developing a UNISON-wide student recruitment strategy - 36 votes
5. 33 Term-time workers - 35 votes
6. 116 Section 28 - Stagecoach - 33 votes

Glasgow Rape Crisis Centre £100 club

A large number of Scottish branches have made £100 donations towards the legal costs of the GRCC.

In an informal club, branches have been making the donations as a result of the crisis facing the centre after its legal action against the Tyson fight.

The GRCC will also have a share in yesterday's bucket collection at Conference.

Many thanks to Shirley Doig (South Lanarkshire) for all her hard work for the issue.

Conference - the SiU view

Well, it took until Thursday for it to happen.

To the surprise of many the first morning went by without too much faffing about and then, to even more people's surprise, contentious debate after contentious debate was followed by quite decisive votes that:

• rejected perennial navel-gazing
• rejected bite after bite at the same narrow agenda cherry
• supported practical and achievable strategies to defend our members and our services.

Could this mean that Conference was moving away from an "I'm more politicially pure than you” culture, towards a mature analysis not only of the problems but also of the solutions?

You might have thought so until the rules debate. But was this really a political debate?

When you have a hall full of branch negotiatiors who are used to small print and picking over codes and procedures, rules take on a much different context than policies.

There is a legitimate debate about fairness and justice but it can be manipulated by those will not hear concerns that disciplinary rules may protect harassers. Their agenda is to make it harder to deal with a minority who actively bend or break our rules and our collectivism.

The way the debate ended on Thursday was correct, but could we not find a sensible way to accommodate Conference's expectation that it would debate all four options, 17, 18, 19 or the status quo?

Well, it seems we could. With the help of Scottish branches who had no axe to grind (most were opposed to 19) the Standing Orders Committee found a way to debate 19.

*That is why it should be debated, not because of loutish behaviour by a bunch of wallies who think political progression is achieved by stamping your feet and shouting abuse.

*(Refers to the stamping of feet, slow claps and shouting of abuse by some delegates when Conference business ended on Thursday before Rule chnage proposal 19 could be heard.)

View from the platform

Expecting that Conference will begin in its usual fashion - griping, girning and grumping in the temper tantrum of a particularly irritable toddler.

But there is a pleasant surprise in store.

Following a well-received Presidential address, Conference moves swiftly into a surprisingly mature debate about reform of taxation. No angry, but spurious, points of order. With a few exceptions, no questions on the Annual Report designed to give the speakers a platform to launch ill-guided Exocet missiles at the NEC.

Of course, the Resolutionary Road to Socialism is still being advocated. If Conference accepted all the amendments calling for demonstrations and lobbies, public services in this country would grind to a halt. Maybe the real aim is to achieve a general strike by proxy. Are those advocating this programme cleverer than we previously thought?

On the other hand all that exercise might reduce the number of delegates requiring XXXL T-shirts. "A fitter, leaner union for the new Millennium?" Are we going to see that as the headlines in Socialist Worker shortly?

David's our new USA correspondent

Briefings Team member David Andrews (Orkney) leaves us next week for a new life in California.

David has been on the committee for nine years, milking us dry with his fares from Orkney.

David has been part of building the website, has been on the Briefings Team almost every year and has contributed a great deal to the Communications & Campaigns Committee - especially when it is such a hassle for him to get there!

He is also famous for the Orkney Newsheet "rabbit” which he keeps secret from mainland interference.

We all wish David the very best for the future. We did ask him to stay on the Committee because we reckoned it would cost about the same to fly him from Santa Cruz as Orkney, but he declined.

The Briefings Team presented David with a UNISON briefcase and paperweight to mark the occasion.