Public and Commercial Services Union

• General
• Nominations
• Acceptance of nominations
• Election addresses
• Limitations
• Complaints

General

1. The following regulations have been agreed by the National Executive Committee (NEC) in consultation with the Member Trustees, in accordance with Supplementary Rule (SR) 6.31. These regulations shall govern the conduct of elections at the 2010 Annual Delegate Conference (ADC) and shall be binding on all members.

2. These regulations shall be circulated to all branches, and published on the PCS website.

Nominations

3. Nominations may only be submitted by branches, except that nominations for distinguished life membership may be made only by the NEC. Branch nominations may only be made following agreement by a properly constituted branch general meeting. Exceptionally the NEC can give prior agreement, that because of the scattered location of members, such a meeting is impracticable in accordance with SR4.4 the consent of each nominee to stand must be obtained. The General Secretary shall sign nominations for distinguished life membership, made by the NEC.

4. SR6.24 requires that no NEC member shall be eligible for election to the conference elected parts of the PCS delegations to the TUC, TUC Women’s Conference, TUC Youth Conference, Scottish TUC, Scottish TUC Women’s Conference, Scottish TUC Youth Conference, Wales TUC, Wales TUC Women’s Conference and Wales TUC Youth Conference.

5. SR6.20 requires that not more than one member employed by a particular employer shall be a member of the Standing Orders Committee at the same time. SOC members shall serve 4 years

6. A nomination shall only be valid if made on an official nomination paper with a certificate signed by the branch chairperson and secretary (or, if either is absent, by another branch officer), that SR6.28 has been complied with in regard to nominations being made at a properly constituted branch general meeting, and giving the date and place of the meeting. Completed forms must be received by the General Secretary c/o Theresa Busby, PCS Balloting Office, 160 Falcon Road, London SW11 2LN, by no later than 5.00pm on Thursday 4 March 2010.

Nominations received after this date and time shall not be accepted. Faxed nomination forms shall be accepted if received on 020 7801 2852 by the above deadline.

7. To meet TUC requirements, members who shall be more than 25 years of age at the time of the 2010 ADC shall not be eligible for election to the TUC Youth Conference. Nominations for members exceeding this age limit shall therefore not be accepted.

8. The maximum number of candidates who may be nominated by any branch for each election is limited to the number to be elected in that election.  An excess of nominations for an election shall invalidate the nominations so far as that particular election is concerned. Any alterations or deletions to nomination forms must be authenticated by the signatures of the branch chairperson and secretary (or, if either is absent, by another branch officer).

9. Branches should provide each member nominated by them with a copy of ADC/3/10, the candidate profile & acceptance form, and a copy of these regulations.

10. A branch nomination shall be a promise of the branch's vote; it may only be changed by a specially convened branch general meeting, and any change shall be notified to the General Secretary before the ADC.

11. If there are insufficient nominations for any position, nominations for the unfilled positions shall be called for from the floor of Conference, and a vote shall be taken. If any position remains unfilled, the NEC may fill it.

12. SR6.32 requires that the General Secretary shall satisfy himself that the nomination rules have been complied with, and that the consent of each nominee has been given. The General Secretary shall refer any case of doubt to the Member Trustees for decision.

Acceptance of nominations

13. A nominee’s name shall only be entered on the appropriate ballot paper if:

(a) the nominee has been validly nominated, in accordance with these regulations; and

(b) the nominee provides written notification to the General Secretary, c/o Theresa Busby, PCS Balloting Office, 160 Falcon Road London SW11 2LN, that they are willing to stand, clearly identifying the post or posts this applies to; and

(c) this notification is received by no later than 5.00pm on Thursday 11 March 2010. If written notification is not received by then it shall be assumed that the nominee is not willing to stand and their name shall not be included in the list of candidates.

Nominees may submit their notification by fax to fax number 0207 801 2852, by post to the General Secretary, c/o Theresa Busby, PCS Balloting Office, 160 Falcon Road, London  SW11 2LN, or send as a Word attachment to an email to janet.woods@pcs.org.uk  to be received by the required deadline.

14. The PCS Balloting Office shall inform nominees about each post for which they have been nominated, once notification is received from a branch. The Balloting Office shall also send the nominee a copy of  the candidates profile and acceptance form (ADC/3/10), and a copy of these regulations. Nominees should indicate their acceptance of nomination by the required deadline, on the candidate profile and acceptance form.

Nominees may provide written acceptance of nomination prior to receiving confirmation from the Balloting Office, and should do so if the deadline is near. The candidate profile and acceptance form, is available from branch secretaries and the PCS website.

Use of the candidates profile and acceptance  form (ADC/3/10) is not mandatory. However, to be valid an acceptance of nomination must contain the information set out therein.

Election addresses

15. Candidates may submit an election address for each post for which they are standing.  Candidates standing for more than one post who wish to use the same election address for each post must clearly state that this is the case. Candidates submitting a different election address for each of the posts they are standing for must clearly indicate which election address is for which post.
 
16. Each election address must not exceed 400 words in total. This includes biographical information. If the 400 word limit is exceeded, only the first 400 words will be printed.

17. In addition to the election address, the factual statement in the candidates profile and acceptance form will be printed (ADC/3/10).

18. Election addresses must be received by the General Secretary, c/o Theresa Busby, PCS Balloting Office by no later than 5pm on Thursday, 11 March 2010. Election addresses must be provided electronically either as a Word attachment to an email to janet.woods@pcs.org.uk  or on a CD Rom in the same format. A hard copy can additionally be provided, although this is not essential.

Election addresses will be acknowledged within 24hrs, if you do not receive acknowledgment by then please contact Theresa Busby on 020 7801 2810.

19. For verification purposes candidates must provide with their election address, either their membership number or their national insurance number. Any candidate may be required by the Balloting Office to verify their election statement.

20. The General Secretary shall have the right to refuse to have printed or published any part of a candidate’s election address which in his opinion, after taking legal advice, may be libellous or provide grounds for any legal proceedings against the union or any of its officers, agents or printers.

Voting

21. Voting shall be by branch ballot at 2010 ADC. The Member Trustees shall supervise the elections and give the President a certified statement of the results.

Limitations

22. After the counting of votes, the limitations required by SR6.20. SR6.25 (b) and SR7.34 shall be applied, as appropriate, in the elections for the SOC and for the TUC, Scottish TUC and Wales TUC delegations listed in SR6.24. Employer limitations do not apply to youth conferences.

Complaints

23. Any complaint as to an alleged breach of the PCS rules in respect of the conduct of elections at 2010 ADC shall be made in writing to the Member Trustees, c/o Theresa Busby, PCS Balloting Office, 160 Falcon Road, London SW11 2LN. Any complaint as to the validity of a nomination shall be made not later than Wednesday 5 May 2010. If the Member Trustees consider that the rules have been breached they shall, after consulting the General Secretary, decide what action, if any, should be taken, including whether the election should be declared void or any candidate disqualified. The Member Trustees' decision shall be final and binding on all members. The General Secretary shall publish the decision, together with the reason for it, to branches.