On 23 November at 6pm, GMLC conducted its first ever hybrid Annual General Meeting, with over 55 attendees spread across the event in person and online. We set up a camera and microphone so that people could watch on Zoom, and kept some social distancing measures in place, with windows open and an air purifier to keep the room ventilated, and masks and hand sanitiser at the door. We also had copies of our shiny new GMLC Annual Report 2021.
As people started to arrive, it became clear we were going to have a lively meeting. Patrons, members, staff and volunteers at GMLC mixed with members of the public and people from groups invited to have a stall, including Northern Police Monitoring Project, Care and Support Workers Organise and Greater Manchester Tenants Union.
Opening the meeting, Ian Hodson, National President of the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU), spoke on the necessity of campaigning in the community: speaking to your neighbours, family and friends about the issues we face in our lives, and coming together to challenge power and effect change. BFAWU are signed up to the Right to Food campaign, which Ian spoke about in relation to BFAWU’s recent research, which showed that almost one in five food workers may have run out of food because of a lack of money during the pandemic. As well as raising BFAWU’s successful actions organising amongst Wetherspoons and McDonalds workers, he talked about the Yorkshire-based campaigns Sheffield Needs a Pay Rise and Leeds Get Organised, plus an upcoming campaign in Rotherham. The overriding message of the speech was: get organising, and if you want something to change, don’t wait for Parliament to do it for you.
Next, our Chair Andy Walsh and Director Jason Tetley gave speeches on GMLC’s successes over the last year and what we intend to do next. They highlighted the work GMLC have been doing to expand our services over the Covid pandemic, especially our employment services; they talked about the ‘hub and spoke’ model, reaching out to find clients through other organisations and working with others for change. You can read Andy’s written report in our Annual Report and see GMLC’s yearly case numbers, client stories and volunteer experiences here: GMLC Annual Report 2021. They made a callout for groups or individuals who may want to work with GMLC to reach out, as we are always keen to co-operate across advice agencies and organisations – get in touch with development@gmlaw.org.uk if this interests you.
Contributions from the floor were varied and interesting, including questions to Ian Hodson about how unions can avoid becoming depoliticised ‘servicing’ organisations, suggestions about how we can use social media to lobby for change, and a contribution from someone working with Veterans Into Logistics (who are seeking to get service veterans into work in logistics, which currently faces a labour shortage). The most amusing contribution probably came from one canine attendee, whose coughs briefly drowned out our Chair’s speech.
We elected Arwa Graf to the GMLC board alongside the re-election of existing trustees. Arwa has volunteered and worked with GMLC for years, but recently departed her job as Volunteer Co-ordinator to take a new role elsewhere. Her experience at many levels of GMLC will be invaluable on our board, which oversees our management and strategy.
Finally, we heard from Norma Turner, our Treasurer, who detailed the healthy position of GMLC’s finances – but she pointed out that ‘healthy’ still only leaves 3 – 6 months of expenditure in reserve, and so we always need to keep fundraising. She made an impassioned call-out for financial support from individuals through membership, as this creates a financial base for GMLC in a time of adversity for all legal aid providers. You can become a member or donate here – any small contribution is welcome, as it helps us keep an independent source of core income.
To close the meeting, we thanked Norma, as she is now standing down from the Board after being a driving force since the Law Centre’s inception. She will be continuing as the Employment Campaign Volunteer Lead supporting our activities with trade unions and employment rights campaigning. Thank you to everyone who contributed to buy her leaving card and present, and many thanks to Norma for her commitment and dedication to GMLC over the last few years.
More pictures from the AGM
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- Norma Turner’s flowers, as thanks for all her hard work over the last few years setting up and driving GMLC.
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- New trustee Arwa Graf addressing the room.
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- Attendees of the GMLC AGM chatting at the beginning of the meeting.
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- Jason Tetley, Andy Walsh and Ian Hodson at the front of the GMLC AGM preparing to speak.
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- GMLC employment lawyer Michael O’Donoghue speaks to the audience on what employment issues he is seeing most.
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- Attendees arriving at the start of the GMLC AGM.
