Lib Dem staff elect reps to Federal Committees

By The Voice | Fri 17th November 2017 - 2:49 pm

Lib Dem staff at LDHQ in London have clearly not had enough of elections for this year! They have just held their own elections for staff reps to the federal committees.

An insider explained to us what the staff reps did:

Staff reps have two main roles. Firstly, each rep either sits on a Federal committee or is a social rep. Staff reps are non-voting members of Federal committees they sit, their job is to express to views of staff and communicate how plans that Federal committees propose will affect staff. The second part of the staff rep role is to act in the role of a union rep where they will be able to accompany a member of staff to a meeting with management if you are you’re facing a disciplinary charge or you wish to raise a grievance with your employer. Any member of staff employed by the Federal party can stand and vote in the staff rep elections.

Those elected are:

Federal Board Rep: Will Dyer

Federal Conference Committee Rep: Amy Westcott

Federal Finance and Resources Committee Rep: Christine Longworth

3 Comments

Paul Harding 18th Nov '17 - 5:11pm

Is this just HQ staff or does this include the staff we have working for local parties?
Steve Comer 18th Nov '17 - 7:42pm

This smacks a bit of employee Participation to me!

I remember the Liberal Party used to be an advocate of this back in the 1960s and early 1970s. It was a bold, distinctive and radical policy, and one of the reasons why I joined the party back then.
Then a few years later a duo called Marshall Laws had a hit called “Dancing in the City” (of London). The Liberal Democrats dropped such dangerous thoughts and the Book of Orange decreed that we should go forth as born again monetarists and worship at the alter of the unfree market.

Is Employee Particpation making a comeback in the Liberal Democrats?
Or is it just the party saying “don’t believe what we do, believe what we say?”
Gordon Lishman 20th Nov '17 - 3:51pm

The Party Constitution contained a clause until last year which mandated setting up a body for staff throughout the party as a reference body for negotiations. It was never implemented and eventually dropped.