The meeting was opened and initially chaired by Claire Williams, the UNISON regional convenor for the North. After welcoming everyone Claire took us through some of the issues Unison was championing. This included international matters, such as solidarity with Palestine and the G20 march in London, as well as domestic priorities such as fighting racism and organisations such as the BNP.

Claire recognised the hard work of everyone involved in setting up the Branch.

Joanne Maxwell then took the chair as the Branch's newly elected Chairperson. She proceeded to confirm the election of Branch Officers, Stewards and Branch Representatives to other bodies.

A full list of the Branch Officer posts will be online shortly.

One point that came up was that Ian Fleming would welcome someone from the West coming forward to take the post of Area Convenor (West) as he was successful in his election as Branch Secretary, along with Joyce Guthrie. If anyone is interested they should make themselves known to Ian.

The Branch rules were discussed, although it was agreed they would be ratified at the close of the meeting. The Branch rules are not final and are very much a work in progress. Consultation on the rules is open until the 31^st March 2009 and they are available to view on this site. Anyone with comments should direct them through the Members Forum.

Alan Culling presented the proposed budget for the upcoming year. As it is a new Branch a lot of this has had to be estimated and based on other Branch finances for the previous year. Importantly though, a balanced budget has been produced.

The next item was Joyce Guthrie and Tony Martin briefing on the progress of Local Government Reorganisation. As it stands consultations on the structures had ended and the Structures Group (Joanne Maxwell, Betty Renney & Liz Sturgeon) were meeting with the heads of service.

The process of consulting on the structures has been a very challenging one with the wealth of information to go through as well as trying to get the salient details from the County Council. Some departments had been more forthcoming and accommodating than others. The Structures Group had toured Northumberland to brief members and gathered in feedback. The Structures Group was rightfully praised for their continued hard work.

Joyce made clear that the situation regarding redundancy numbers was changing all the time. At one point recently it was 48 compulsory redundancies, then 123. The position of the joint Trade Unions continues to be no compulsory redundancies and will continue to work towards this goal. Tony Martin noted that the Liberal-Conservative alliance that allowed the County Council budget to be passed may be to the detriment of this goal as the Conservative proposed budget had put more emphasis on compulsory redundancies.

The floor had several examples of individual difficulties around the structures demonstrating how difficult this process was proving. It was accepted though that the more information that was known the better position we would find ourselves in.

Thompson's Solicitors gave a briefing on the services they provide free of charge to members. They involve all areas of personal injury, road traffic accidents and injuries from crime for both members of their family members.

As well as this Thompson's are consulting with Unison over TUPE and the potential for cases in this area. At present the County Council have not made any changes in this area so no action can be taken, but any incidents should be made known to Unison as soon as it occurs.

Forms relating to the services Thompson's provide are available on this site.

Ian Fleming introduced people to the Virtual Branch and how it is intended to be an extension on democracy for the Branch and a way that members can make their views known. Technical problems sadly meant a tour of the Virtual Branch was not possible.

The proposed international briefing could not be done as the speaker was unwell, but literature on this subject was circulated. The only other matters before the meeting closed were the recruit-a-friend prize draw and the ratification of the Branch rules.