The 7th Unite Policy Conference will take place from 11-14 July in Brighton.
See the agenda for the conference here.
Our Unite Policy conference in Brighton, will commence the day after the close of the two day Rules conference. Some delegates to the smaller Rules conference will be replaced for Policy conference and nearly 700 delegates will be present at Policy.
Regional delegation meetings will be held on the morning of Tuesday 12th, followed by any appeals to Policy Standing Orders Committee. Unlike the Rules SOC the appeals panel will be split in two with five SOC delegates on two separate panels hearing appeals or agreeing composited motions. Nearly 130 motions have made it to the conference agenda divided into 12 sections ranging from the economy and industrial issues to motions focused on admin issues.
Every branch and committee had an opportunity to submit a motion or amend a motion. Unite has nearly 3000 branches covering 19 industrial sectors as well as equalities committees covering BAEM, Women, Disabilities and LGBTQ+ members. There are also committees representing Young Members and Retired Members. The Policy conference meets every two years. It is often described as the parliament of the union. It is probably the largest meeting of organised workers in the UK.
The last conference in Liverpool in October 2021 was a subdued affair, in part due to the legacy of Covid at the time. Many debates were hurried and most motions had no real engagement or energy. Only one or two produced any lively interaction and most motions were agreed overwhelmingly often with no debate. This was a far cry from previous Unite conferences.
Group E on Energy and Environment has 17 motions plus amendments, with seven of these focused on fossil fuels which have been composited into Composite 6 Fossil Fuels.
Defence spending has always generated a lot of debate at conference and Agenda item 7 on Defence Manufacturing Matters puts forward a strong industrial case that it generates well paid jobs and apprenticeships. It then seems to go on to support the AUKUS initiative, which is a crude attempt to recreate NATO, but in the southern hemisphere and the South China Sea area.
Motion 48 is calling for abolition of NATO and should be supported.
There are four motions on organising, one of our most important functions and two calling for more involvement and focus on young members.
No Executive Statements have been announced yet and it is better for the democratic functioning of conference that they are kept to a minimum.