More

Lewisham Deptford CLP’s AGM has been postponed in order to allow its biggest branch to rerun its delegates election. However, the Regional Director has also been asked to audit the 2017 affiliations to ensure that these confirm to Labour’s rules. The outrage I feel and the solidarity expressed by comrades in Newham has led me to support their crowd justice campaign to undertake a judicial challenge to the Newham Mayoral trigger ballot.; their complaints are about questionable exclusions and bogus affiliations.

The image above is hyperlinked to the appeal.I suppose I should add that they’d better get a move on as the election campaign starts in the New Year. …

Equifax

Bruce Schneier testified to Congress on the Equifax Breach and posted his testimony onto his blog. .Because of the political nature of the content, he is frequently much more technical some of the the comments are very superficial, complaining about the need for more regulation.

The problem is, as he says, that without regulation business wont keep personal data secure. The problem is bad corporate behaviour.

His testimony, in my mind, shows the weakness of seeing this as a consumer protection issue. Much of the bad behaviour comes from 3rd parties; the data subject is not the customer and thus have no rights of tort and in the US, the FTC can’t pursue the data controllers. By placing privacy in a consumer protection framework, they also leave it to the victims of breaches to prove harm.

In the EU, our rights based legal framework means that a breach is harm, because our human rights to privacy have been infringed.

Schneier raises the GDPR as an example of how companies can confirm to better standards and raises the spectre of the EU imposed fines on US companies. He also hints at the fragility of safe harbour/privacy shield. …

Again

Over the summer, the balance of power on Labour’s NEC changed and it decided to increase the cadre of CLP representatives by three. We are now in the process of nominating candidates. Here’s the Centre Left Grass Roots Alliance slate.

  • Yasmine Dar – who is a member of Gorton CLP and a Manchester councillor.(Membership Number: L1173052 )
  • Rachel Garnham – who is secretary of Mid Bedfordshire CLP and a member of the National Policy Forum. (Membership Number: A777413)
  • Jon Lansman – who is a member of Bermondsey and Old Southwark CLP and a long standing campaigner for progressive policies and democracy within Labour.(Membership Number: A018501)
 …

Quorum

We have finally got to the issue of Quora. The rule is in Chapter 15and so applies to meetings. Rule 15.I.D.i says,

The quorum for business meetings of (this body) shall be 25 per cent of those members entitled to vote in attendance {or a fixed number to be agreed with the regional office of the Party}.

I understand that the NEC have agreed that for all member meetings, a quorum of 25 members can be agreed but delegated the decision as to whether the latter quorum can be used to the Regional Directors, some of whose decisions may seem capricious at times.

Here is the document, allegedly, no logo, no imprint, and no chain of custody, NEC Quorums guidance 17 January 2017

  …

Term Limits

Appendix 7.IV.6 states that elected delegates to a General Committee only serve for a year.

The term of office of a delegate shall commence with the opening of the annual meeting of this CLP following their appointment or the date of their appointment if after the annual meeting. Unless terminated by their resignation, death or for any other reason by the affiliated organisation or Party unit which appointed them, the term of office of a delegate shall extend to the conclusion of the next following annual meeting of this CLP but they shall not be entitled to attend except as members of the Executive Committee of this CLP to tender reports to that meeting but not to vote unless reappointed as delegates for the appropriate year. All delegates who qualify under these conditions may be reappointed.It shall be the duty of the secretary of this CLP to invite affiliated organisations and Party units to elect their delegates prior to and in time to be called to the annual meeting and to assist this the Executive Committee may set a reasonable deadline for the appointment of delegates for that meeting.

 …

Shenanigans

Three branches of the local Labour Party elected their GC delegation by placing gender quotas on classes of delegate, Secretary, Open Place & Youth and thus elected a valid delegation under the rules as stated in Chapter 8.

The  training on AGMs issued by the Party makes it clear that meeting the branch gender quotas is a matter for the branch.

There is a Chapter 15 rule that states that efforts should be made to ensure the delegation is gender balanced, but because it’s Chapter 15, this remains a matter for the branch. (These are rules for a meeting.)

The Secretary thus has no standing in determining if the delegation is valid. Nor any authority to order a recount. To attempt by decree to rule that last year’s delegation should be reinstated is arbitrary, capricious, perverse and irrational. It is these things even when backed by Region’s advice. It is also in complete contradiction to Rule Appendix 7.IV.6 which states that a delegates term lasts until the beginning of the next AGM. …