Conference moved on to motion a149 on the planned closure of the Keele School of Business and Economics, including the well utilised Industrial Relations Centre, with the loss of nearly 40 jobs. Conference carried the motion to campaign against the closure and support those facing the job losses.
Motion a150 was designed to support the campaign against the proposed changes to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill, changes that would mean it would be illegal for members of the Prison Officers Association to take strike action. The motion was carried.
A151 was a motion to campaign for the raising of the national minimum wage to £8.25 per hour, which is two thirds the average male wage and also used as the international measure of the poverty line. The motion was carried with NEC support.
A151 was moved by the General Secretary on behalf of the NEC to increase activities around the make your vote count campaign, there was a certain amount of debate around the fact that proportional representation if adopted in the uk could help the right wing political groups (the BNP) gain more seats. This was addressed in the right to reply and the motion was carried.
The next section was the equality section, there aren't usually many contentious motions in this section as it is usually full of motions that are campaigning for raised awareness of legislation protecting members against discrimination on grounds of disability or race. Motions a181 to a189 were all carried.
The Conference moved on to the International section, which is where we debate how we can poke our noses into other countries business, but in a helpful way, not in the same way the Americans or Blair did. In all seriousness, it's normally with the blessing of the people involved and their trade unions. It's all about political lobbying and raising awareness for people, as well as raising the issues priorities on the political agenda.
The standing orders committee picked up about 5 motions that had fallen off the agenda for the guillotine motions section which were moved swiftly. All were carried (a6, a7, a112 with statement from NEC, a47 and a190 with statement from the NEC).
Conference closed without any of our motions being heard in the guillotine section, we had specifically asked for our pay motion to be included.
