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Present: A.Buick, J.Carter (Gen.Sec), P.Deutz, B.Johnson (Chair),
T.Miller, G.Thomas (from 1.20pm), N.White, S.Wigley
Apologies: H.Roberts and P.McEwan.
Meeting commenced at 12.40pm.
1. Minutes of the 11th EC Meeting of the 1st of November, 2008
(a) A deletion was proposed by Comrade White, to Item 4 Matters Arising
on lines 5/6,delete ‘though one still gets a distorted noise’ as this a
garbled account of what he said. As Comrade Wigley was absent from the
last meeting he did not vote on this item. Agreed 7-0
(b) Correction proposed by Comrade Johnson to Motion 12, the Professor’s
name is Meadowcroft not Merrico. Agreed
It was agreed that the minutes, as amended, be accepted.
2. Matters Arising
(a) Notice of Motion (Thomas/Carter) “That the EC rescind Motion 9 of
its
October meeting”. Deferred until Comrade Thomas present
(b) Ballot Committee Report by Keith Scholey, Nominations for 2009 EC
and Party Officers.
Party Officers: Asst. Sec. T.Miller; Auditor B.Martin; Central Organiser
A.Buick; Treasurer G.Thomas; Trustees; H.Moss and S.Wilcox.
There are vacancies for the posts of General Secretary and Assistant
Treasurer.
Nominations for the EC are as follows: F.Allen; M.Browne; A.Buick;
J.Carter; M.Chesham; P.Deutz; B.Johnson; T.Miller; G.Thomas; S.Wigley.
326 Ballots have been sent out, 287 inland and 39 overseas.
Motion 1 (Deutz/Miller) “That a call for nominations for a General
Secretary and Assistant Treasurer is made with a returning date of the
16/1/09”.Agreed
Motion 2 (Deutz/Miller) “That a call for nominations for members of
Departments, Subcommittees and Head Office Organiser be made with a
closing date of the 16th of January2009”. Agreed
(c) Audio Visual Report on the use of additional microphones. Comrade
D.Chesham gave a verbal report. Comrades Thomas, White and he had met at
Head Office and experimented with the public address system we already
have with the loudspeakers positioned on the balcony. The system worked
well but they all thought that the acquisition of a couple of additional
fairly directional balanced mikes would be of benefit. This also
involves
getting a microphone mixer to use with the existing amplifier. The EC
will
receive another report at the January meeting.
(d) Fire Safety Report. Deferred until Comrade Thomas able to deal with
this.
(e)Premises Committee: (i)Resignation of Comrade Comber from the
Committee
Motion 3 (Wigley/Miller) “Move the acceptance of the Comrade Comber's
resignation with thanks for his work”. Agreed
(ii) Call for nominations for this Committee: None received.
(iii) Report re: the Front of Head Office. None received. Matter
deferred
until January 2009
3 Forms A and F
(a) Form A for Darren Poynton, East Anglia Regional Branch
Motion 4 (Miller/Wigley) “Moved acceptance” Agreed
(b) Form A for Jacqueline Shoedeke, South London Branch.
Motion 5 (Wigley/Miller) “Moved acceptance”. Agreed
(c) Form F for Martin Fletcher of South London Branch resigned due to
disagreement with the Party. Acceptance agreed
(d) Form F for Kathleen Deutz resigned, disillusioned with the working
class. Acceptance agreed
(e) Form F for D.V.Ford of Central Branch, deceased. Noted.
See item 8 for further Form A (R. Field, South London branch),
4. Accounts: None
5 Reports of Party Officers and Committees
(a) Campaigns December Update (As seen on spintcom)
(i).Campaigns Review: A meeting of members of the Committee has been
arranged for the evening of Wednesday the 10th of December.
(ii).January Meeting. Some EC members thought that a meeting /social so
early in the year was not likely to attract many people, and that light
refreshments would be sufficient.
Motion 6 (Deutz/White) “The EC does not agree the Campaigns
recommendation
for paid advertising for the January 10th Meeting”
(iii) The UKIP debate. South London Branch recommend that this be held
as
soon as possible.
(iv) The debate with the International Union of Sex Workers will not go
ahead as not all members of the Dept were in favour.
Report from Comrade Fred Allen re outstanding books. 85 are still
overdue;
some have been for 8 or 9 years. Should names be published in the
Socialist Standard? Suggests finding current prices of the books and
billing members for the cost of replacement.
. Another suggestion is that
members be written to just before Conference and ADM. as this is when
most
books are borrowed. Another that a £10 deposit be required.
Motion 7 (Miller/Deutz) “That the Library Department send borrowers of
library books more than one year overdue, a bill for their replacement
cost”. Carried 6-2.
6. Correspondence from Branches, Members and Companion Parties.
(a) South West Regional Branch 16/11/08.
“SWRB meeting on the 8/11/08 discussed their Motion sent to the EC and
dealt with by the EC at the October meeting when Motion 22 of that
meeting
was drawn up. Motion 22 referred SWRB to Motion 4 of the EC September
meeting which was a reply to Manchester Branch writing on the same
subject. The branch do not agree with the EC statement. The branch would
like to know why are Question and Answer and Interview type meetings not
permitted due to the hostility clause? The EC response raised another
question for SWRB upon which they would like clarification. Motion 4 of
the EC September minutes states “that branches are allowed to have guest
speakers provided that there is also a speaker to present the party
case”.
The question SWRB have is: does this mean that there has to be an
accredited party speaker present? If the answer to this is yes why would
the members present not be capable of responding to any points of
disagreement raised by the guest speaker?”
Motion 8 (Wigley/Buick) “That SWRB be informed that it is established
policy and practice that a Party Speaker has to be present when an
opponent is speaking at a meeting. The EC can’t change this. It can only
be changed by Conference“. Carried 7-0 1absent.
(b) Central London Branch 17/11/08
“At their meeting on the 12/11/08 Central London Branch with six members
present passed the following resolutions:
“Be it resolved that Central London Branch supports the EC Notice of
Motion to rescind Motion 9 of the October 2008 EC; in other words, the
Branch wishes the EC to further investigate options for replacing the
photocopier” Agreed”
“Be it resolved that the Branch endorses the floor resolution moved by
its
ADM delegate, to wit, ‘This ADM recommends that the EC resolution
regarding the purchase of a new photocopier be rescinded and that
further
investigations be made on this matter’”. “Agreed””
Noted
The EC then reverted back to Matters Arising and dealt with:
(2a) Notice of Motion (Thomas/Carter): “That the EC rescind Motion
9 of
its October meeting :“That the EC purchase the photocopier from Xerox as
per their proposals”” Carried 5-1-3 abstentions
Comrade Wigley proposed that we move to the vote. Notice of Motion:
Agreed
5-1 2 abstentions
Motion 9 (Buick/Thomas) “That any new photocopier the Party acquires be
not a colour one“. Carried 7-1
Motion 10 (Buick/Miller) “That Comrade Stair be asked to negotiate three
estimates for a black and white photocopier“. Carried 6-0 2 abstentions
(2d) Fire Safety Report. Comrade Thomas reports that he has asked for a
quote, so far without response. The fitting of the fire doors by Comrade
Helps has been delayed due to illness, though the material has been
ordered. Comrade Thomas will inform the Insurance company of the reasons
for the delay in implementation.
Resuming Correspondence:
(6) (c) Matt Culbert Webmaster, 30/11/08. Comrade Culbert, Internet
Dept,
wrote that he gets requests from companion party members to access our
Spintcom list, which he has to deny as we only permit SPGB members on
this
list. Following a request from Canada he sees that he can allow access
but
deny posting rights and he proposes doing this. Spopen is available for
postings by these Comrades.
Motion 11 (Miller/Wigley) “Move that the EC endorses this suggestions”.
Carried 7-0 1 absent
(d) Michael Muchinshi 26/8/08. The recently lapsed Comrade is applying
for
readmission. Difficulties in receipt of his post has meant he was not
aware of his lapsing.
Motion 12 (Buick/Wigley) “That the member be reinstated“. Carried 6-0 2
abstentions
Motion 13 (Thomas/Buick) “That Comrade Wigley Chair the next item”.
Agreed 6-0 2 abstentions
(e) Three members of South London branch, Comrades P.Hart, G.Thomas and
N.White wrote complaining of the disruptive, abusive and threatening
behaviour of Comrade Chris Robinson at their branch meeting on Tuesday 2
December at which they were present. Appalled at this incident, the EC
demanded an explanation from the Head Office Organiser.
Comrade Johnson gave an explanation on the presence of Comrade Robinson
at
HO. Comrade Johnson realised back in October and November that there
would
be a lot of work to be done at Head Office, with the Campaigns
Department,
four mailing-outs, and a demonstration at which it would be useful to
leaflet. When Comrade Robinson said he wanted to visit London, Comrade
Johnson suggested that he do work at HO including cleaning, and helping
with the large mail-out, and the climate change demonstration. They had
an
understanding that Comrade Robinson would do some Party work.. Comrade
Johnson was extremely shocked at his behaviour at the South London
branch
meeting. Comrade Robinson did clean the kitchen and cooker and handed
back
the keys to HO, but on Friday morning Comrade Johnson found the kitchen
much decorated with stuck up offensive notices and a message scrawled on
the wall near the cooker. Comrade Robinson threatened him when he was
told
that he wouldn’t be allowed back in. Comrades Johnson, Browne and
Scholey
removed all his stuff to the courtyard and he settled down there for the
might.
The EC still needs clarification as to which branch Comrade Robinson is
in. HO records show him to be a member of Edinburgh Branch and that he
joined in 1994 though does not seem to have attended branch meetings or
paid dues. EC members said that there were several issues to deal with,
why had he been allowed to stay, why had HOO who had said at ADM how
little there was to do at HO not asked London members to help with the
work, why had Comrade Robinson been given a key, and his behaviour.
The HOO responsibility for keys was quoted: “2. To be responsible for
the
keys to Head Office, maintaining a log book detailing keys on loan to
party members, and the issue and return of any Head Office keys be dated
and signed for. To loan keys to members only so long as they fill an
official party post, the HOO having the authority to decide which posts
need their holders to have keys to the building.”
Chris Robinson requested and was allowed to speak but would not stand
away from the table, restrict his gestures or his language and so his
speaking right was rescinded.
Motion 14 (Johnson/Thomas) “In view of the behaviour of Comrade Chris
Robinson whilst at Head Office during the week of 29/11/08 to 6/12/08 he
remove his belongings from HO forthwith and he be excluded from the
premises. And that a full account of his behaviour be referred to his
branch for any possible disciplinary action”.
Amendment to Motion 14
Motion 15 (Miller/Deutz) “Insert after ‘the week of 29/11/08 to 5/12/08’
“he immediately turn in any and all keys to the Premises he has”.
Carried
7-0 1 absent
Amended Motion: Carried 7-1. A division was called for:
For: Carter, Deutz, Johnson, Miller, Thomas, White, Wigley. Against:
Buick
Motion 16 (Deutz/Johnson) “That the Central Organiser be asked to liaise
with Edinburgh Branch in order to find out whether Comrade Chris
Robinson
is a member of that Branch and report to the EC in January“. Carried
unanimously
Motion 17 (Miller/Thomas) “That the EC censures the HOO for, contrary to
Conference rulings, having neither sought nor obtained permission from
the EC before inviting Comrade Robinson to stay at HO and issuing him
with
a key”. Carried unanimously
A discussion followed on the advantage or not of having a signing-in and
out system. It is possible to be in the building and not know whether
anyone else has entered or left. Suggestion that this be discussed at
the
next meeting.
(f) Veronica Clanchy 5/12/08. Comrade Clancy writes of the advantages
of having two stalls at Tolpuddle but that only one is allowed per
organisation so that they had booked one stall under the name of the
WFA.
Motion 18 (Miller/Wigley) “That Comrade Clanchy be reimbursed £30 for a
stall at Tolpuddle 2008”Carried 8-0
The EC thought it a mistake to use the defunct WFA title.
Motion 19 (Miller/Buick) “The EC authorises the disbursement of £45 for
one stall at Tolpuddle”. Carried 8-0
(f) Socialist Party of Canada Newsletter 4/12/08. Noted.
7. Correspondence
(a)Andy Kirkwood, MAD 28/11/08. Gen. Sec. reply
(b) Lambeth Planning 31/11/08 Noted
(c)R.C. Kirk10/11/08. Refer to the SSPC.
(d)Paul Boyce 7/11/08. Refer to the SSPC.
(e) Southern Gas 5/11/08. Noted
8. Any Other Business
Form A from South London Branch for R. Field. Agreed
9. Next Meeting will be on the 17th of January 2009, starting at 1pm.
Comrade Miller gave apologies, he will be absent from this meeting.
10 Meeting ended at 4.20pm
NOTICES
There are vacancies for two posts:
The General Secretary and the Assistant Treasurer.
Return date for nominations: Friday 16 January
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For the attention of Branch Secretaries, this is the first call for
branches to submit motions and amendments to rule for the preliminary
agenda of Conference 2009.:
The return date for motions and amendments to rules is Friday 23rd
January
2009
Conference is to be held on the 10th and 11th of April 2009
Standing Orders Committee, 6th December 2008
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A call for nominations for members of Departments, Sub- Committees and
Head Office Organiser is made with a closing date of the 16th of January
2009.
Nominations must be made by branches. Nominees must signify their
agreement to HO.
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