General Council Meetings - The STUC

network with members from community groups, trade
unions and voluntary sector organisations providing
support in this area.
2008 YOUTH CONFERENCE
The Youth Committee, as part of its work, has identified
that developing skills within the workplace can reduce
the likelihood of young people being exploited by
employers. The Committee also wants to increase the
involvement of young workers in the wider trade union
movement and particularly help young people develop
skills that will help them avoid exploitation in the
workplace. The STUC Skills and Lifelong Learning Team
has agreed to sponsor the Youth Conference in June, with
a view to developing relationships with the Youth
Committee and promoting lifelong learning and the skills
agenda to young workers. The theme of the Conference
will be “Unions Work, Empowering Young Workers
Through Learning”. The Skills and Lifelong Learning
Team and the Youth Committee hope to attract young
Union Learner representatives to attend Conference and
encourage greater participation of young workers on the
skills and lifelong learning agenda.
INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITY
The Youth Committee has a long established relationship
with the Youth Section, Avalot UGT, and young trade
unionists from Catalonia attend the Youth Conference
annually. Over the past year, we have identified
opportunities to work with other international youth
sections to promote young workers’ rights. Through the
Committee’s work with solidarity organisation, Banana
Link, it is hoped that a young worker from the
Ecuadorian Trade Union Federation, Fenacle, will be in a
position to attend the Youth Conference in June.
Following a meeting between the STUC and the
Venezuelan Ambassador to the United Kingdom, the
Committee is investigating developing contacts among
young oil workers from Venezuela studying in Scotland.
STUC Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual and
Transgender Workers’
Network
It was agreed by the General Council in 1999 to establish
a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Workers’
Network, in order to assist with its work in relation to
discrimination facing lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender trade union members.
The group was established in 2001 and has met
infrequently since. It has worked in partnership with the
Equality Network and has been involved in organising
GENERAL COUNCIL REPORT 2008
three Conferences at the STUC on LGBT issues. It has also
helped promote the Pride Scotia event to trade unions.
However, the LGBT network has struggled to gain critical
mass and previous consultative processes with affiliates
have failed to encourage adequate participation.
Therefore, a new consultation is now underway to
examine ways in which the Network might be
strengthened, and how the STUC can better support the
campaigning activities of other organisations working in
this area. It is envisaged that this should lead to a
reinvigoration of the Network during Congress year
2008/09.
Scottish Pensioners’
Forum
The General Council has continued to promote the issues
facing retired trade unionists in Scotland by working in
partnership with the Scottish Pensioners’ Forum.
Since the Congress in 2007, the Scottish Pensioners’
Forum has continued to campaign on many issues of
importance to older people, and representatives from the
Executive Committee have met with a range of politicians
to articulate their concerns.
The Scottish Pensioners’ Forum hosted a Scottish
Parliament Election Hustings, the third such event held
over the years, but very different from the previous two
and held in the City Chambers in Glasgow. Lesley
Riddoch, freelance broadcaster, chaired the hustings, and
the event became one of her “Big Debate” series,
“Scottish Votepods”, covering several issues, such as
health and housing, and was available as a “podcast”
throughout Scotland.
The 2007 Annual Conference was held in Perth in June
and was addressed by Nicola Sturgeon MSP, new Deputy
First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Health and
Wellbeing, and was one of her first engagements in the
post. She spoke on government policies on health,
transport and fuel poverty, and dealt well with the lively
question and answer session, which followed her speech.
The newly appointed Executive Committee held its first
meeting in July, when Elinor McKenzie was elected
Chairperson and Enoch Humphries was re-elected as Vice
Chairperson. Elections were also held for the Publicity &
Media Committee, one of several sub-committees, which
is responsible for the publication of the quarterly
newsletter “Scottish Seniors”, now at Issue 18, and for
organisation of the Annual Conference. The Scottish
Pensioners’ Forum also elected members to a Funding
and Development Committee, and a Constitution
Committee.
An important meeting took place in November 2007,
when the Scottish Pensioners’ Forum met with Shona
Robison MSP, Minister for Public Health. The Pensioners’
Forum raised the obvious topic of free personal care and
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