The 69th Annual General Meeting of Britain’s only socialist daily newspaper will be May/June 2014
The paper is a co-operative owned by it’s readers. Anyone can buy shares in the People’s Press Printing Society which runs the paper.
The AGM is held in Birmingham, Leeds, Cardiff, Glasgow and London each year, though you can only attend and vote once!
Our Trades Union Council is a shareholder in the paper as well as a number of our delegates and local trade union branches.
What is the People’s Press Printing Society?
It’s the readers’ co-operative that publishes the Morning Star, and was established in 1945 when the title was still called the Daily Worker and selling over 100,000 copies a day.
Individual readers, local TUCs, constituency Labour parties and trade union branches can all become members by buying a share for as little as £1 and as much as £20,000. No matter how much you can afford to put in you only have one vote at our annual AGM.
Each year’s PPPS AGM elects a third of the board that oversees the running of the society’s business, although a lot of the day-to-day work is done by the team at William Rust House in co-operation with readers across the country.
An important rule change six years ago allowed trade unions to become PPPS members in their own right by taking out the full £20,000 shareholding.
Since then eight trade union bodies, seven national and one regional, have qualified for an automatic seat on our board – Community, FBU, GMB, NUM, POA, RMT, Unite, and the North East Area NUM.
Every time a trade union body joins, though, two reader-elected members are added to the management committee to ensure that the democratic character of the society remains.
What happens at the AGM?
The PPPS annual AGM is one of the unique things about your paper and allows you to come along, hear what’s happening at the paper and have your say, or even speak to resolutions if they’re in in time for the deadline each year.
The meetings deal with the nuts and bolts of the business – approving the accounts, electing the management committee etc – but also gives readers who are PPPS members a chance to have their say about politics and the business of the paper.
The editor and company secretary attend each sectional meeting. This year PPPS members will also have a chance to hear from Bernadette Keaveney, our head of circulation.
This year there’s just one resolution – the Scottish Morning Star Campaign Committee has tabled one relating to our June 18 drive north of the border.
Is it too late to become a member?
No – you only need to be a PPPS shareholder to become a member and you can join up on the day.
How can it just be one AGM if it happens all over Britain?
The PPPS rules allow for a single AGM to be held in sections, each of which has an identical agenda.
please consider donating to the Morning Star’s Fighting Fund to ensure we can keep publishing your paper. Donate to the Fighting Fund here
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