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This was the 8th year that the retired members have held their Annual conference and being the new kid on the block I have been asked by Carl to write a few words about the experience and comment on some of the motions put forward by different branches. I must admit I was looking forward to visiting the unions Headquarters because after being a unit rep for a number of years I had never been and I wanted to know were all the big decisions which effect all our members were being made, and to meet some of those Officers who made those decisions. After a hectic journey down to London then on the dreaded London underground, I arrived safely at the hotel to meet up with the rest of the North West Regional Delegates, to go through the motions on the Agenda paper and being told which one I would be seconding at the conference. The time table for the day was very tight with the Conference starting at 11 am and having to close at 4 pm for delegates to catch trains and planes home and with 14 motions and three guest speakers that was going to take some doing, the chairperson opened the conference welcoming everyone and asking for a minutes silence for all those members who had passed away during the year. First up was Billy Hayes the General secretary who in his address to the Conference went into detail of the struggles the union had been involved in over the last year, high on the agenda had been the Liberalisation of the universal service, post office closures, agency workers and that Sally Bridges was doing some work on that issue, Ken Livingstone was looking into a review of office Closures in the London area , Gordon Brown has offered a commission but the union was sceptical, Billy went on to praise the retired members who were playing a significant role in shaping the political debate on all aspects that effect older members in our society. Tony Kearns in his address stated that this year would be the Centenary celebration of the establishment of the state pension, and that the National Pensioners Convention will be organising a number of events throughout the year to celebrate this milestone, this was welcomed by the retired Members Advisory Committee who in the first motion to conference called upon the government to raise the state pension as a matter of urgency to at least £134 per week, this would at least take pensioners above the official poverty line ,conference welcomed this motion and called upon the Union to pursue with national government. Comparisons were made capering U.K.pensions with the rest of Europe. In 1908 you got 5 shillings a week (50p) which was 25% of average wages today we get no were near that. Motion 2 moved by Scotland Region called for an increase for the winter Fuel Allowance to be increased to £200 and called upon the RMAC to urge the CWU NEC to use its influence with the Government as a matter of urgency.
Motion 3 moved on behalf of the North West region by Doreen calling on this conference to deplore the lack of information regarding the conflicting statements of the surplus balances with regard to the national insurance fund which ranged from £27 billion to £39 billion, one MP stated that no such fund. Tony Kearns in reply stated that there was a lot of mis- information regarding the National Insurance Fund as far as he was aware some 2.5 % was paid to the NHS plus other benefits in 2006 the trust fund stood at some £34.3 billion rising to £51billion in 2007, with an estimated surplus by 2012 of £80 billion. This motion called for recognition that these monies are paid into the fund by working people and are therefore entitled to the publication on a regular basis of the balances to the fund. (Carried) Motion four on the agenda paper concerned the lack of support some members felt we were not getting from our CWU supported MP, s, during the debate EMAC were opposing this motion as too broad a brush statement, Billy Hayes in reply asked the mover for the name, Billy outlined all the good work that the sponsored MPs do for the union. Not carried
Conference welcomed Peter Raynor guest speaker from the National Pensioners Convention talking about the work being done by the NCP in lobbying parliament on behalf of pensioners this year being the centenary (1908- 2008) of the state pension, he also talked about the free travel concession bill as from April 1st 2008, during the debate which followed support was given to the work which the NPC was doing, but also criticized the T.U.C. on its lack of support for pensioners, also one weeks subs from retired members to go to NPC funds, this was opposed by RMAC . Motion 10 calls for this conference instructs the RMAC to liaise with the NEC to advertise the retired membership in the Voice magazine. (Carried) Tony Kearns in closing the Conference told members that the Associate members rate had been cleared by the N.E.C. two weeks ago the rate was 69p per week or £3 per month if not paying into the political fund, he also spoke about the Industrial issues in Royal Mail Group and Tele Com. and the long term future facing the union, also the CWU would be playing a major part in the Centenary celebrations also campaigning for moving pensioners out of poverty. Stan Skinkis (NW Retired Secretary) and Ernie were elected to represent the retired members at the CWU Annual Conference. The two motions elected to go forward to the Annual conference in the name of the retired members were motion 2 and 10. A vote of thanks was given to those who had organised the Conference, the delegation then made their way home after an exhausting but worth while day. May I add my thanks to all the delegates from the North West Region for their friendship during our stay at the conference. North West Delegates
NW Retired Members Advisory Member Visitors
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Tony Humphrys – East Lancs Amal reports: 
Motion 9 moved in the name of North West Region also talked about pensions and how pensioners were suffering because of the increased costs to Electricity, Gas, and Water bills, some companies like NPower had increased their prices by 17%, British Gas had raised their prices for gas by 13% Electric by 15% Water charges on average had risen by 8.71%, it was agreed by conference along with other recommendations to support the following: That Government shall bring in measures that will safeguard the low paid and pensioners who are fixed incomes, from joining those on fuel poverty which is about 4 million people, these include price controls, a programme of nationalisation, and get rid of the regulator.
Motions 5 6 and 7 concerned the NHS and Care Homes, calling on the Government to end the post office lottery /post coding when it came to pensioners access to treatment and personnel health care, either in their own homes or residential care homes. These were carried