1. BALLOT FOR EC VICE CHAIR POST VACANCY
Group Circulars GC 950/24 and GC 952/24 invited nominations for the above
EC vacancy. Nominations for four members were received, but two of the
nominees decided not to accept their nominations, so we have two members
contesting the post. A ballot will now be conducted, to the following timetable:
- Ballot papers are enclosed with this circular, which goes to all Groups
and Branches. Group voting strengths shown on the ballot papers are
as at the 2023 AGM (as of 30th June 2023). - Where groups have merged since the AGM, two ballot papers will be
enclosed showing the voting strengths of each group. These strengths
will be combined to support ONE candidate. - Also enclosed are brief biographies for those standing for election.
- Completed ballot papers addressed to The General Secretary are to be
received at CSPA Head Quarters by close of business on Friday 26
April 2024. - Notice of successful candidate communicated to all Groups in a Group
Circular issued after Monday 29 April 2024.
The relevant extracts from the updated (October 2023) constitution follow.
(f) Elections
(i) All elections shall be conducted by ballot on a card vote basis, see
Rule 7 (g)(i).
(ii) Those for the Elected Officers, five ordinary members of the Executive
Council and Standing Orders Committee, shall be voted upon by
representatives from Branches, representatives from Groups and
members attending not covered by Branches or Groups.
(iii) The nine Regional seats on the Executive Council shall be filled as a
result of votes cast by representatives from Groups and members in
attendance not covered by Groups.
(iv) Two of the remaining three members of the Executive Council shall be
appointed by Scotland Branch and one by Northern Ireland Branch.
(g) Voting
(i) Voting shall be by show of hands or, where either the Chair shall so
decide or at least 20 or more of those present so demand, by card vote.
In this event accredited representatives from Branches and Groups
shall be entitled to use voting cards representing the total members of
their Branch or Group, this to be determined on the basis of the number
of members shown by the CSPA’s membership records to be resident
in the stated area of the Branch or Group on 30 June of the current
year.
(ii) The decision regarding a card vote may be taken either before a vote
is taken, or upon the declaration of the result of a vote by show of
hands.
Pen Picture for Vice Chair Ballot for the CSPA Executive Council
Roisin Lilley
I started my career in the scientific side of the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS)
in the early 1980’s. This was a challenging time to be a female scientist as most of
my colleagues were male and of a different religious background to myself. I
experienced firsthand sectarianism and sexual harassment. This only strengthened
my resolve to fight for a better working environment and more equal treatment for all.
I had joined NIPSA, the largest Northern Ireland public sector trade union on
my first day in work and quickly became seconded to it. During my eleven years of
secondment, I carried out a wide range of functions and successfully represented
many members and negotiated with Management Side on a variety of issues,
including pay increases. I was proud to be elected as the Chair for NIPSA’s Civil
Service Executive Committee and in this capacity, I chaired not only our regular EC
meetings but Annual and Special Conferences. I held this position for three years. I
gained the wide respect of the Union’s competing factions for my ability to show
leadership, bring the best from Executive Committee Members and be a regular and
constant support for the paid officials.
I represented NIPSA for several years at the all-Ireland ICTU Conferences
and was one of the ICTU representatives on the Northern Ireland Health and Safety
Executive. There I ensured the safety and welfare concerns of the worker, across all
sectors were represented.
I later transferred to the administrative side of the Civil Service and finished
my working career under our locally elected Ministers. Again, this was (and still is) a
challenging time where I leant to deftly navigate my way through local politics in a
non-political manner.
I joined the CSPA on retirement as my late husband, Jim, was the NI CSPA
Chair, and later the Branch Secretary of our local Branch. I attended the CSPA
AGM as his guest for several years before becoming a member so was familiar with
the organisation and it’s working. I am now the NI Membership Secretary and
Treasurer, holding both posts for nearly three years. These are challenging and busy
roles as we have over 4,000 Full and Associate members and no office or staff in NI.
I was privileged to be elected to the newly created Women’s National seat on
the CSPA National Executive Council (NEC) and to then be returned as one of the
two reserved Women’s seats at last year’s AGM. In an ideal world we would not
need reserved seats. Unfortunately, humans tend to emulate what we see and if
female members of the CSPA do not see reflections of themselves on our governing
body, the NEC, they are less likely to get actively involved in the CSPA. This was
why I stood for the post.
I believe the experience that I have would allow me to serve the CSPA well as
Vice Chair, which is why I was delighted when my Branch suggested I stand for the
post. I think I would bring a different perspective while still respecting the history of
the CPSA. If elected to the Vice Chair position I would endeavour to serve and
support all CSPA members, local Groups and Branches as well as the Chair and our
paid officials.
Les Calder
I am supplying the details below as requested in relation to my nomination to be the next Vice Chair of the CSPA. It is not always easy to talk about oneself but firstly a few personal details about myself . I am married to Maggie and live in Bovey Tracey near Newton Abbot in Devon. We have one daughter, Sarah now as a former teacher working at Exeter University.
I am aged 76, having spent some 30 years as a Civil Servant between 1964 to 1994 working for the same department which over the years had numerous titles between MPNI and latterly in my case DHSS (now DWP). I have had various different posts within the Executive Grades all of which I quite enjoyed be it in Fraud Investigations, Compliance or Management. Due to a road accident, occurring whilst working, I eventually had to retire early medically in 1994 after which I very shortly joined the CSPA, whilst I was living near Truro in Cornwall, which makes me a member of the for Alliance around 30 years.
Throughout my working life in the Civil Service I was a member of, at all times, the appropriate Civil Service unions to cover my grades including the CPSA followed by SCPS and then NUCPS. I served for some years as Union Representative in the Truro office (DHSS) for the CPSA and latterly SCPS in addition to being the Whitley Representative for the higher grades in the office.
Regarding the Alliance, I was Treasurer of the West Cornwall Group (now unfortunately closed) for several years before moving from Cornwall to Devon in 2007 at which time I became a Committee Member of the East Devon Group (based in Exeter) and have been Chair of this group since March 2013 until the present time.
As a Delegate I represented West Cornwall each year at Conference from the the mid 1990s until 2007 and then moving to Devon that year became Delegate for East Devon shortly after and then combined this with being also Chair a position I still hold.
In October 2021 I was nominated to be the South West Regional Representative and have followed in the able footsteps of Colin Fender (Bristol) in working to keep as many Groups open as far as possible. Having served on several recent CSPA Working Parties clearly the future must entail a hybrid type Regional Structure to ensure that those in Closed Groups are still represented. I wish now to be your Vice Chair to help, at these difficult times, preserve the future of our CSPA.