Delegate Minutes July 2026

2026 minutes 0

Wolverhampton, Bilston & District Trades Union Council

Delegate Minutes Thursday 16th July 2026

Present: (delegates in bold): Nick Kelleher, John Clark UNITE WM/6150; Marie Taylor UNITE LE/372; Michael Vaughan UNISON Staffordshire; Ali Rahimi UNITE WM/5115, Dane Cross UNITE WM/7132; Graham Childs CWU; Jane Ceresa City of Wolverhampton UNISON; Penny Welch UCU; Sandra Whittaker NEU, Francisco Dominguez VSC
Apologies: Thomas Mohan UNITE WM6150, Karin Dannehl, Metka Potocnik UCU University of Wolverhampton, Si Goode ASLEF

  1. Minutes of last Delegate Meeting (June) agreed with correction of MV’s union; Matters Arising 1) Employment Rights leaflet
  2. EC report & urgent correspondence
  1. WB&DTUC accounts audit – MV has passed to auditor (AT)
  2. film show – ‘The Man With The Plan’ confirmed Thursday 26 Nov with Townsend Theatre and Midlands TUC at Gill’s. Free tickets via Eventbrite to be set up
  3. Workers’ Memorial Day stone – £2,870 of our £3,430 target was raised.
  4. 2026 Not affiliated to WB&DTUC: RMT, UNISON Acute, GMB X10, UNISON University, UNITE Retired, NASUWT
  5. Black Country & Enslavement research project – contacted Carol Hyatt and MV to collect for libraries in Staffordshire, also to be taken to Archives.
  6. Justice for Colombia – narrow victory for far-right presidential candidate.
  7. invoice paid £39.60 May Day greeting/advert Morning Star

3. Delegate reports:

  1. ASLEF – Avanti West Coast members are currently being balloted for strike action and action short of a strike with the ballot due to close on the 10th August over failure to negotiate on pay; deal made but Dept of Transport blocked despite it still being a private franchise. At this moment we have not been called to further talks and I personally am a little dumbfounded that yet again we find ourselves in the same position as we were 2 years ago under a ‘Labour’ government. Things may change once the new PM is in office. As regards the wider political picture our Comrades who work for LNER are being balloted for industrial action over pay with the finger being pointed at DfT interference. As always we remain resolute having just conducted a series of Zoom calls with our Avanti West Coast members to gauge feedback, answer questions and remind them of the mandate we need through the ballot result. I’m hopeful we can find a resolution against a backdrop of poor management both at a local and national level. Railways are understaffed and rely on overtime to function. Due to be nationalised under GB Railway in 2027, but will still have current anti-union management. On a positive note there was a strong ASLEF turnout at the 140th Durham Miners Gala this year with scant coverage in the mainstream media, but always a good rallying point for us during times of trouble.
  2. NEU – again active at Chainmakers festival
  3. UCU – Several organisational changes affect UCU and UNISON staff Management have once again shown little regard for workability of proposals and declined outright to adopt alternative proposals from staff who understand that the loss of expertise will put in jeopardy courses to be taught out and the new curriculum (this relates specifically to UCU members in the Humanities and Social Sciences) UCU secretary Jo Grady wrote to Vice Chancellors, including the University of Wolverhampton’s, to remind them of government having reduced employer contributions to the TPS (teacher’s pension scheme) – so far no response from management, who no doubt view the government announcing a £50M cut to university funding as sufficient reason for continuing to put new staff on inferior pension schemes. Work stress levels are reaching ever higher levels;  work stress levels, which are alarming in several areas, and we expect them to only get worse in September.  Nursing courses staff are on the brink of collapse (teaching continues through the summer).
  4. UNISON – national pay strike ballot ongoing. Successful 30th anniversary of the City of Wolverhampton branch event held at Racecourse. Reform UK council in Staffordshire threatening terms and conditions; lots of casework. Today’s announcement of two Unity authorities for N Staffs (Stoke/Stafford) and South and East Staffs. By 2028. UNITE – Village Hotel Walsall, management used strike busting and pressured workers resulting in failure of strikes. Reported that strikes in Glasgow were ongoing up to 10 July. IHG hotel chain includes Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn which have been used by unions previously UNITE Birmingham bin strike – deal still possible if agreed by workers and as a new council is formed. General secretary election result mid August. UNITE bus drivers had raised the issue of air-conditioning on buses with the Mayor but were told only for the new fleet, no retro-fitting.

4. Secretary report – we had a successful stall at Chainmakers £39 raised and distributed many copies of our Black Country & Enslavement research

  1. Wolverhampton Palestine Solidarity Campaign -18 July national Palestine demo, local coach
  2. any other business none

7. @8pm speaker Dr. Francisco Dominguez, Secretary Venezuela Solidarity Campaign

Obama and Biden had put 1,088 sanctions on Venezuela and Trump’s huge increase in sanctions has put a block on the whole economy,; particularly affecting spare parts and raw materials.

85% of hard currency. comes from oil exports. A drop in production from 3.5million to 200k barrels of oil produced per day.

Venezuela has large deposits of gold, whose sale has been blocked. $40 Billion dollars of overseas assets held by other countries. The Bank of England has seized. 31 tonnes of Venezuelan gold, worth £3 billion. Campaign to return the gold, EDM 474 is supported by 30 MPs so far.

70% of food consumption was imported, which has been blocked along with medicines. Venezuela has also been blocked from Swift, the international bank system.

Hyper inflation in 2018 had been reduced by 2020 and by 2025 the economy grew 8.5%, the highest in Latin America, despite the sanctions.

September 2025 a US war fleet including nuclear submarines surrounded. Venezuela. . Using air bases in Panama. Puerto Rico, Guantanamo and El Salvador, the US attacked cities and killed 200 people up to December.

January 3rd 2026 – four cities were bombed; 110 presidential guards were killed including 32 Cubans. Nicolas Maduro, President and Celia Flores, First Lady and elected Parliamentary representative, were kidnapped and are held on trumped up charges in the US.
The US expected to overthrow the government, but the Vice President was appointed and the government carried on.

24th June earthquake. $40 billion of damages to infrastructure. 4,829 died; 16,200 injured; 7,000 homeless. 6,800 rescued. Thousands evacuated. Most of the collapsed buildings were built prior to recent housing regulations.
Huge programme of house building under Maduro despite sanctions.

New VSC links to be put on our website. https://wolvestuc.org.uk/dr-francisco-dominguez-venezuela-solidarity-campaign/