from General Secretary Bob Crow

In my Circular No. NP/062/11, 4th April 2011, I sought to establish the views of Branches as to whether an advisory committee and/or conference be established for our member with disabilities. The five responses received were placed before the Council of Executives who noted and adopted the following recommendation:-

“That we believe that as a Union we should be taking the views of our members with a disability and their families into consideration. As a first step, the General Secretary is to hold an initial conference this year, 2011, to gather the views of our members on how best this conference/committee would run in the long term with a view to bringing a Rule change forward to 2012 on having a formal disability conference to be part of the Rule Book.”

Arrangements have now been made to hold such a Conference. It will take place on Tuesday, 8th November 2011 in the Friends House, 173 Euston Road, London, NW1 2BJ. Registration will commence at 11.30 am and the Conference will start at 12 noon. A buffet lunch will be served at 1.30 pm.

It is important that as many members with disabilities as possible attend this Conference in order that we can listen to their views on how best a conference/committee can be run. Nominations are therefore invited from Branches and Regional Councils. Delegate’s loss of earnings and travel expenses must be paid by the relevant Branch or Regional Council. The attached nomination form must be returned to Head Office by Wednesday, 26th October 2011.

Please kindly inform me well in advance of Conference if your disabled nominee has any special requirements by completing the relevant section on the nomination form. We will aim to provide for all reasonable access requirements but these cannot be guaranteed if the request is made after the close of nominations.

Please place this matter before your Branch at the earliest opportunity.