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Discuss the motions at Congress 2011

We’re adding all the motions to Congress to this site, to let people inside and outside the event have their own say on the debates.

Comments policy

  • We’re moderating all comments, so they won’t appear immediately on the site, though we’ll try to approve everything as quickly as we can.
  • We want a discussion that anyone can contribute to, without being flamed or scared off by trolls. We obviously aren’t going to approve anything we find disrespectful, derogatory, discriminatory, or needlessly off topic.
  • As a rule of thumb, if you don’t think you could say it from the podium at Congress, you probably can’t here.

About motions and Congress jargon

Exactly what is and isn’t a motion can get a bit confusing, so we’ve tried to simplify a little.

Motions are submitted to Congress by our affiliated unions, and by some of the TUC’s standing conferences. Unions are then entitled to submit amendments to each others’ (or their own) motions. The proposing union can choose to Accept or Not Accept an amendment. If it’s accepted, Congress votes on them as one unit. If not accepted, the motion and its amendment are voted on separately.

Sometimes several motions, or motions and multiple amendments are composited together into one bumper motion, where there’s considered to be enough agreement in what they all want. Composites have a different set of numbering (eg C1, C2…), and because they can include several of the original motions, they can cause hiccups in the numbering process for other motions – don’t worry, those motions aren’t missing from the site, just included in composites.

For the purposes of this site, we’re adding composites where they exist, rather than the original motions that they’re made out of. We’re also adding all the suggested amendments onto the same page as the relevant motions, so a discussion around the whole issue won’t get broken onto separate pages.

Congress also generally sees unions introducing several emergency motions over the course of the event, where they relate to issues too topical for the longer term motion setting process. We’ll be adding these to the site as we get them.

At Congress, the President calls speakers to speak for and against the motions and amendments, and then holds a show of hands to vote. If it looks close, a card vote can be called to check more precisely. If motions are passed, they become TUC policy, and help set the priorities of the organisation and labour movement for the coming year.