Public and Commercial Services Union

PCS Yorkshire and the Humber regional committee constitution

1. Title

The title of the Committee shall be the Public and Commercial Services Union (hereinafter referred to as PCS) Yorkshire and the Humber Regional Committee (hereinafter referred to as the Committee).

2. Status

The Committee shall be governed by the national rules and constitution of the PCS and will at all times conduct its business under these rules and in accordance with the policies of the union as decided by conference or the PCS National Executive Committee.

The Committee shall cover those branches with members working in the areas as set out in the attached Annex.

3. Main function

The main functions of the Committee shall be as follows:-

[i] To advise, assist and help coordinate the work of the PCS Regional Centre on the priorities for PCS in the Region in relation to recruitment, organisation, education and campaigns in accordance with National strategies and conference policy

[ii] To co-ordinate the PCS approach in the Region for dealing with any devolved tiers of government and any Agencies in which PCS is entitled to participate.

[iii] To co-ordinate the PCS approach in the Region for dealing with the TUC Regions and to promote the maximum participation of Branches and members in the activities of the TUC.

[iv] To co-ordinate the PCS approach in the Region for working with the communities within the Region in which our members work and live; dealing with community, anti-racist and other bodies and institutions including those organisations to which the PCS is affiliated.

[v] To work with and assist the NEC to help to co-ordinate national campaign activity.

4. Composition

[i] The Committee shall consist of 12 Members plus the Officers. A Branch must nominate the Committee Members and Officers. The Committee and Officers shall be elected by show of hands at the Annual General Meeting of the Committee.

Each branch shall be entitled to send 1 delegate to the AGM of the Region in which the majority of the members of the branch work.

[ii] No more than 4 seats on the Committee can be filled by members employed by the same employer.

[iii] If none of the Officers or Committee Members are a member who, on being nominated, identified themselves as being from a black racial group, the highest polling member in the election for the committee who so identified themselves shall displace the member with the fewest votes in that election (out of those who would otherwise be elected) who did not so identify themselves (only if such a replacement member is available).

[iv] There shall be [two] seats on the Committee reserved for Committee Members who are from Branches that are outside of group structures.

[v] All Members of the Committee must be employed in the Region. All Officers and Committee Members must be members of a branch eligible to send a delegate to the AGM.

[vi] All those nominated to the Committee shall be individuals elected to a Group or Branch position in accordance with the national rules of the union.

[vii] Full time Officers from the PCS Regional Centre shall provide secretarial support and will attend meetings of the Committee as and when required.

[viii] Members of the NEC based in the Region will be entitled to attend meetings of the Committee and to participate in discussions.

[ix] Any PCS members of the TUC Regional Council or its Committees will be invited to attend meetings of the Committee and to participate in discussions.

[x] All branches with members in the Region shall be entitled to send observers to meetings of the Committee who may participate but shall not be entitled to vote.

[xi] Each Committee shall have an NEC Member allocated as an NEC Liaison Officer.

[xii] The Regional Committee will have an approved budget with funds to cover the costs of Committee Members and Officers, which shall be the responsibility of the Regional Secretary to administer and authorise payments.

[xiii] Where there are established regional tiers of approved bodies or networks within the union, they shall be entitled to send an observer to Committee Meetings.

5. Voting

The Committee shall seek to reach decisions by consensus. In the event of a vote being required, it will be by a show of hands. Only elected Committee Members and Officers may vote. NEC Members and Regional TUC Members may not vote. If there is a tied vote, the chair will have a casting vote.

6. Officers

[i] The Officers of the Committee shall comprise of a Chair and 3 Vice Chairs.

[ii] The Officers shall be elected at the AGM. If nominations have not been received for any post then nominations can be accepted from the meeting. The election of the 3 Vice Chairs shall be conducted so as to ensure that the 3 posts will cover the following categories :– 1 from the General constituency, 1 from the Taxation constituency and 1 from the General Areas Forum or Private Sector. The Chair may come from any constituency.

[iii] The Secretary of the Committee shall be the senior Full Time Officer who is the PCS Regional Secretary.

[iv] The Officers Committee, which shall conduct the business of the Committee in between meetings, shall consist of:-

• Chair
• 3 Vice Chairs
• Secretary

The NEC Liaison Officer and NEC Members who are members of the Committee may attend Officers meetings.

[v] The Committee shall have the power to fill Officer vacancies during the year in accordance with the provisions of this constitution.

[vi] The Chair and three Vice Chairs shall be ex-officio.

7. Meetings

[i] There shall be at least four meetings of the Committee every year. The [June] meeting will be the Annual Meeting at which the election of the Committee and Officers will take place.

[ii] Each meeting of the Committee shall receive a report of NEC business from the NEC Liaison Officer.

[iii] The notice convening the meetings of the Committee shall be sent to all those eligible to attend as Committee Members and to all Branch Secretaries not less than fourteen days prior to the meeting together with the Agenda.

[iv] A special meeting of the Committee may be convened at the discretion of the Officers of the Committee or at the request of the NEC. Discussions shall be confined to the items notified in the Agenda.

8. Amendments

The AGM of the Regional Committee shall be able to recommend to the NEC, changes to the composition of the Committee and the elected Officers of the Committee by a simple majority of those branches eligible to vote.

9. Regional TUC

It shall be the responsibility of the Regional Committee at its AGM, to nominate delegates to the Regional TUC in addition to the Regional Secretary or nominee who will automatically be a delegate. The Regional Committee must also make nominations for any other posts in the Regional TUC.

The Regional Secretary will be responsible for forwarding all nominations to the TUC and reporting them to the NEC. 

Annex

Each Regional Committee shall cover branches with members working in the following areas:

Scotland

• All branches

Wales

• All branches

Ireland

• All branches

Northern

• The counties of Cumbria, Durham and Northumberland.
• The metropolitan districts of Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Sunderland.
• The non-metropolitan districts of Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesborough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees.

Yorkshire and Humberside

• The county of North Yorkshire.
• The metropolitan districts of Barnsley, Bradford, Calderdale, Doncaster, Kirklees, Leeds, Rotherham, Sheffield and Wakefield.
• The non-metropolitan districts of the East Riding of Yorkshire, Kingston upon Hull, North East Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire and York.

North West

• The counties of Cheshire and Lancashire.
• The metropolitan districts of Bolton, Bury. Knowsley, Liverpool, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, St. Helens, Salford, Sefton, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan and Wirral.
• The non-metropolitan districts of Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool, Halton and Warrington.

Midlands

• East: The counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Nottingham.
• The non-metropolitan districts of Derby, Leicester, Nottingham and Rutland.
• West: The counties of Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire.
• The metropolitan districts of Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton.
• The non-metropolitan districts of Herefordshire, Stoke-on-Trent and Telford and Wrekin.

Eastern

• The counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.
• The non-metropolitan districts of Luton, Peterborough, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock.

London and South East

• Greater London.
• The counties of Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex.
• The non-metropolitan districts of Bracknell Forest, Brighton and Hove, the Medway Towns, Portsmouth, Reading, Slough, Southampton, West Berkshire, Windsor and Maidenhead, Milton Keynes and Wokingham.

South West

• The counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire.
• The non-metropolitan districts of Bath and North East Somerset, Bournemouth, Bristol, North Somerset, Plymouth, Pool, South Gloucestershire, Swindon and Torbay.
• The Isles of Scilly.