UNISON Rule Book 2002

Contents

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P    STANDING ORDERS FOR CONFERENCES

1.    Application of Standing Orders

2.    Standing Orders Committee

3.    Motions and Amendments—pre-Conference Procedure 

4-7  Conduct of Conferences 

8.    Voting 

9.    Tellers 

10.   Withdrawals of Motions and Amendments 

11.   Motions and Amendments not on the Agenda 

12.   Procedural Motions

13.   Amendments to a Motion 

14.   Limit of Speeches

15.   Points of Order

16.   Grouped Debates and Sequential Voting

17.   Reports by National Executive Council

18.   Reference of outstanding items to National Executive Council

19.   Suspension of Standing Orders

1.    APPLICATION OF STANDING ORDERS

1.1  These Standing Orders shall apply to all meetings of the National Delegate Conference and Special Delegate Conference held under Rule D.1 and of the Service Group Conferences held under Rule D.3.4.

1.2  In the case of a Special Delegate Conference or a Service Group Conference, the appropriate Standing Orders Committee shall have power (but is not required) to decide at the request of the National Executive Council or the Service Group Executive respectively that it is necessary that certain Standing Orders shall not be applicable to the Conference.

1.3  In application to Service Group Conferences, these Standing Orders shall apply, subject to the following modifications:

.1  “the Standing Orders Committee” shall mean the Standing Orders Committee referred to in Rule D.3.4.4;

.2  “the President” shall mean the Chairperson or Vice-chairperson of the Service Group Executive under Rule D.3.5.11 or such other person as the Service Group Executive or the Service Group Conference may have appointed to preside at the Conference;

.3  “the National Executive Council” shall mean the Service Group Executive;

.4  “the General Secretary” shall mean the Head of the Group;

.5  Rule P.3.1 shall not apply: the bodies who may propose motions and amendments for the Conference shall be (in addition to branches acting under Rule D.3.4.8) the Service Group Executive, Service Group Regional Committee and (where these are established) Sector Committees and self organised groups at the National level who may each submit a total of two motions to the Conference.

2.     STANDING ORDERS COMMITTEE

2.1  The members of the Standing Orders Committee shall hold office from the end of one National Delegate Conference until the end of the next National Delegate Conference.

2.2  At its first meeting after it takes office, the Committee shall elect a Chairperson and a Deputy Chairperson from amongst its members . 

2.3  The functions of the Committee shall, subject to these Standing Orders, be to:

2.3.1  ensure that the Union’s Rules and Standing Orders relating to the business of Conferences are observed, and notify the President of any violation that may be brought to the Committee’s notice

2.3.2  draw up the preliminary agenda and final agenda of Conference business, and the proposed hours of business, to be circulated in accordance with the timetable stated in Rule D.1.9.

2.3.3  determine the order in which the business of Conference shall be conducted, subject to the approval of Conference

2.3.4  consider all motions and amendments submitted for consideration by Conference and, for the purpose of enabling Conference to transact its business effectively the Committee shall:

.1  decide whether such motions and amendments have been submitted in accordance with the Rules

.2  group together motions and amendments relating to the same subject, decide the order in which they should be considered and whether they should be debated and voted on separately or debated together and voted on sequentially 

.3  prepare and revise, in consultation with the movers of motions and amendments, composite motions in terms which in the opinion of the Committee best express the subject of such motions and amendments

.4  refer to another representative body within the Union a motion or amendment which in the opinion of the Committee should properly be considered there; the mover shall be informed of the reason for so doing

.5  have power to do all such other things as may be necessary to give effect to these Standing Orders.

2.4   Any decisions of the Committee which are to be reported to Conference shall be announced by the Chairperson of the Committee and shall be subject to ratification by Conference.

3.    MOTIONS AND AMENDMENTS - PRE-CONFERENCE PROCEDURE

3.1  Motions, amendments and other appropriate business may be proposed for the Conference by the bodies set out in Rules D.1.10.3 and D.1.10.4. 

3.2  Motions and amendments shall be sent to the General Secretary in order that the Standing Orders Committee may consider them for inclusion in the preliminary agenda.

3.3  The date and time by which motions and amendments to be considered for the Conference shall be received by the General Secretary shall be stated in the timetable to be published under Rule D.1.9.

4-7  CONDUCT OF CONFERENCES

4.1  The National Delegate Conference shall meet in public session, except that by direction of the National Executive Council or by resolution of the Conference the whole or any part of a Conference may be held in private. In addition to the elected delegates and those who under Rule D.1.7 have the right to attend and speak at Conference, the only persons permitted to attend a private session of a Conference shall be

4.1.1  such members of the staff as have been authorised by the National Executive Council or the General Secretary to attend Conference 

4.1.2  such other persons as the President may determine.

4.2  The agenda for the National Delegate Conference shall be arranged so that the first session of the Conference shall be in public, subject to Rule P.4.1 above.

5.  Apart from the elected delegates and those persons who have the right to speak at the National Delegate Conference under Rule D.1.7, no other person shall speak except by permission of the Standing Orders Committee.

6.  Any questions of procedure or order raised during a Conference shall be decided by the President whose ruling shall be final and binding. 

7.1  Upon the President rising during a Conference session, any person then addressing Conference shall resume her/his seat and no other person shall rise to speak until the President authorises proceedings to continue.

7.2  The President may call attention to continued irrelevance, tedious repetition, unbecoming language, or any breach of order on the part of a member and may direct such a member to discontinue his or her speech.

7.3  The President shall have power to call any person to order who is causing a disturbance in any session of Conference and if that person refuses to obey the President, she/he shall be named by the President, shall forthwith leave the Conference Hall, and shall take no further part in the proceedings of that Conference.

8.     VOTING

8.1  The method of voting shall be by a show of hands of the delegates present, unless a card vote is called by the President or immediately after the result of the show of hands has been declared by at least 10 per cent of the delegates registered at the Conference.

8.2  On a card vote, the delegate or delegates of a branch or group of branches shall be entitled to cast a total number of votes in accordance with the card issued to them in respect of their branch membership and such votes will be cast as a single block or may be divided in line with a branch mandate.

8.3  In the event of a card vote being called or demanded, the card vote shall be taken immediately after it has been demanded, but no business shall be suspended pending the declaration of the result of the vote except that which in the President’s opinion may be directly affected by that result.

9.      TELLERS

9.1   Conference shall appoint delegates to act as tellers for the duration of the Conference.

10.    WITHDRAWALS OF MOTIONS AND AMENDMENTS

10.1  A motion or amendment which is shown on the final agenda may not be withdrawn without the consent of the Standing Orders Committee, whose decision shall be reported to Conference.

11.    MOTIONS AND AMENDMENTS NOT ON AGENDA

11.1  A motion or amendment which is not shown on the final agenda may not be considered by Conference without the prior approval of the Standing Orders Committee and the consent of Conference, which shall be governed by the following rules:

11.2  Such motion or amendment shall be in writing, signed by the Secretary and Chairperson of the branch or branches on whose behalf it is submitted and shall be sent to the Standing Orders Committee at least five working days before the commencement of Conference, except if it relate to events which take place thereafter. It will state at which meeting it was debated and adopted.

11.3  If the Standing Orders Committee gives its approval to the motion or amendment being considered, copies of the motion or amendment shall be made available for delegates at least one hour before Conference is asked to decide whether to consent to the matter being considered.

11.4  An emergency motion will not be given priority over other motions and amendments on the agenda except where the Standing Orders Committee decide that the purpose of the motion in question would be frustrated if it were not dealt with at an earlier session of the Conference.

12.    PROCEDURAL MOTIONS

The following procedural motions may be moved at any time without previous notice on the agenda:

12.1  that the question be now put, provided that:

.1  the President may advise Conference not to accept this motion if in her/his opinion the matter has not been sufficiently discussed

.2  if the motion is carried, it shall take effect at once subject only to any right of reply under these Standing Orders.

12.2  that the Conference proceed to the next business

12.3  that the debate be adjourned

12.4  that the Conference (or any part thereof) be held in private session provided that:

12.5  a motion under Rules P.12.1, P.12. 2, and P.12.3 shall be immediately put to the vote without discussion and no amendment shall be allowed 

12.6  the President may at her/his discretion permit a motion under Rule P.12.4 to be discussed and amendments moved.

12.7  no motion under Rules P.12.2 or P.12.3 shall be moved by a person who has spoken on the motion or amendment in question.

13.    AMENDMENTS TO A MOTION

13.1  When an amendment to a motion is moved, no further amendment may be moved until the first one is disposed of, subject to Rule P.16.

13.2  When an amendment is defeated, a further amendment may be moved to the original motion.

13.3  When an amendment to a motion is carried, the motion, as so amended, shall become the substantive motion, to which a further amendment may be moved.

13.4  A delegate shall not move more than one amendment to any one motion, nor shall the mover of a motion move any amendment to such motion.

14.    LIMIT OF SPEECHES

14.1  The mover of a motion or an amendment shall not be allowed to speak for more than seven minutes and each succeeding speaker for not more than three minutes, except where the Standing Orders Committee have decided otherwise.

14.2  No person shall speak more than once on a question, except that the mover of the original motion may exercise a right of reply for not more than three minutes, introducing no new material.

15.    POINTS OF ORDER

15.1  A delegate may at any stage in a Conference raise a point of order if she/he considers that the business is not being conducted in accordance with the Union’s Rules and Standing Orders.

15.2  Such a point of order must be raised as soon as the alleged breach occurs or at the earliest practicable moment thereafter.

15.3  The President’s ruling on the point of order is final.

16.    GROUPED DEBATES AND SEQUENTIAL VOTING

16.1  Where, in the view of the Standing Orders Committee, separate debates on specified motions and/or amendments dealing with the same subject matter would lead to undue repetition in the debates, a grouped debate and/or sequential voting may be adopted by Conference.

16.2  The following procedure will be followed:

.1   The President will advise Conference of the order of business and of the sequence in which motions and amendments will be moved and voted on following a general debate, and of the effect of certain proposals on others.

.2   All motions and amendments included in the debate shall be moved.

.3  The general debate shall take place.

.4  The President shall again state the order of voting and shall advise Conference which, if any, motions or amendments will fall if others are carried.

.5  Voting will take place on motions, preceded by relevant amendments, in the order in which they were moved.

.6  A debate being conducted under this procedure may not be adjourned until after all the motions and amendments have been moved.

17.    REPORTS BY NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

17.1  After the opening of Conference the National Executive Council shall present its report for the past year. The items of the report shall be discussed on a subject basis and in conjunction with any motion on the agenda which bears directly upon any part of the report.

17.2  If the National Executive Council presents a report to Conference which contains proposals or recommendations requiring approval and adoption by Conference, the Executive shall submit it under a motion seeking such approval and adoption.

18.    REFERENCE OF OUTSTANDING ITEMS TO NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

18.1  If at the end of the National Delegate Conference, the business of the Conference has not been concluded, all motions and amendments then outstanding shall stand referred to the National Executive Council. The National Executive Council in turn shall then report back to the appropriate branch or body its decision on these matters. All such motions and amendments shall be responded to at least one month before the deadline for submission of motions and amendments to the following year’s Conference.

19.    SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDERS

19.1  Any one or more of these Standing Orders may be suspended by a resolution of Conference in relation to a specific item of business properly before that Conference and to the proceedings thereon at that Conference, provided that at least two-thirds of the delegates present and voting shall vote for the resolution, or in the case of a card vote at least two-thirds of the votes cast are for the resolution.