Rules 2002

Rule 10
Officials of the union

(a) The salaried officials of the union shall consist of a General Secretary, a Deputy General Secretary, editor of the union’s journal and such other officials as may be deemed necessary.
(b)

(i) The General Secretary, Deputy General Secretary and the editor of the union’s journal shall be elected from members of the union. The NEC shall prepare a shortlist of applicants who have the required qualifications and submit the list to a postal ballot of the whole of the members qualified to vote, to be conducted on the principle of the single transferable vote. Before being considered for the shortlist, each applicant shall sign an undertaking that he/she accepts the terms and conditions of employment specified by the NEC.
(ii) Each ballot shall, subject to the provisions of these rules, take place every five years. In the event of the incumbent of any of these three posts dying, retiring, resigning or becoming permanently incapacitated during his/her term of office, the NEC shall immediately start the procedure for electing his/her successor. Elections for that particular post shall take place at five-year intervals thereafter.
(iii) An incumbent of any of these three offices may stand for re-election, but if such an incumbent is aged 55 or over on 1 January of the year in which the election for his/her office is due to take place, he/she shall not have to face re-election and shall continue in office.
(iv) During the election period for each of these three offices, the editor of the union’s journal shall give each candidate equal space for putting his/her point of view.
(v) The ballot paper shall be accompanied by a statement as to the union record and other qualifications of the candidates.
(vi) The ballot shall be taken in accordance with conditions to be laid down by the NEC. The NEC may impose a limit on expenditure by any member on behalf of or against any candidate. No branch shall incur any expenditure on canvassing on behalf of or against any candidate.
(vii) Severance pay shall be made by the NEC to any incumbent official who is unsuccessful in seeking re-election to any of these three offices.

(c) All other officials shall be appointed by the NEC.

(d) All the officials shall serve on the conditions of contract of service agreed between them and the NEC, including disciplinary procedures, except that in the case of the General Secretary, the first stage of any disciplinary procedure shall be dealt with by the President, Vice President and Honorary General Treasurer. A delegate meeting shall have the power to dismiss any official or call upon him/her to resign, subject to the terms of the contract of service.

(e) All vacancies for salaried posts shall be advertised externally at the discretion of the NEC. All vacancies shall be open to job-share candidates/applicants providing the NEC is satisfied that there is no conflict of interest arising from any other work either candidate may carry out. In the event of a post being held on a job-share basis, then the post will become vacant if either candidate resigns.

(f) The General Secretary shall be the chief officer of the union and shall perform such duties as he/she is required by law or these rules to perform and shall be engaged in furthering the objects of the union as directed by the ADM and NEC, especially in negotiations and as spokesperson and representative of the union. The Deputy General Secretary shall assist him/her and be his/her deputy. The editor shall edit the union’s journal and shall perform such other duties as directed by the General Secretary. Union website pages holding content taken from the union’s journal shall be under the editorial control of the editor of the union’s journal.

(g) Officials of the union shall have the right to attend and to speak at any union meeting.