17. Should we elect or recruit our General Secretaries?
Scunthorpe and Goole Branch
(MFD) That this meeting of RCN Congress discusses whether the next General Secretary is elected by full membership ballot or is a Council appointee
Debate report
John Hill of the Scunthorpe branch introduced this debate in a measured and neutral manner, allowing fellow members to have their say before disclosing his own opinion that RCN general secretaries should not be elected by the membership.
As a multi-function organisation, the RCN is not constitutionally required to elect its general secretaries. The RCN Royal Charter stipulates that the elected governing council should appoint the chief executive and general secretary. Changing this, John pointed out, would require significant modifications to the RCN’s governing structure.
Subsequent speakers were keen to stress the status of the organisation, run by members for members. However, the majority of those who took to the stage opposed the notion to change the current practice of appointing rather than electing general secretaries.
Philip McCaffrey, attending his fortieth Congress, said: “There has to be a correlation between change and progress. I do not believe this would be the case”.
Other members cited “infighting”, “encouraging competition between the president and general secretary”, and “low member engagement and vote turn-out” as reasons to maintain the current practice of appointment rather than election.
Pauline Wright of the Lancashire branch said: “We already elect our Council. Let them get on with the job we’ve entrusted them to do”.
Background
The RCN Group includes a trading subsidiary, RCN Publishing Company Ltd, and an independent registered charity, the RCN Foundation. It is a large and complex membership organisation set up by Royal Charter. It is also a special register body.
Special register bodies originated in the 1970s when, to qualify as a trade union, the primary purpose of an organisation had to be the regulation of relations between employees and employers.
Professional organisations such as the RCN and the British Medical Association (BMA) did not qualify on those grounds and a special register was created for them. Organisations on the register had to be a body corporate (incorporated under the Companies Act or by charter), and their activities had to include the regulation of relations with employers.
Special register bodies were exempt from trade union legislation introduced in the 1980s requiring the election of various positions on the grounds of their corporate body status and because they are not set up solely for the regulation of relations with employers.
The RCN Royal Charter (Royal College of Nursing, 2013) provides for the election from the membership of its president, deputy president, chair and vice chair of Council, and honorary treasurer. It also provides for the appointment of a chief executive and general secretary by Council. In so doing, the charter clearly distinguishes between the governance functions, which are elected, and an executive post, which implements the decisions and policies of Council.
To make any changes would raise very important questions of principle about the status of the organisation. It would also require a special resolution at a general meeting passed by a two-thirds majority. It would then need further approval by the Privy Council and Her Majesty the Queen.
References and further reading
Parliament (1992) Trade union and labour relations (consolidation) act 1992, Norwich: Stationery Office. Available at: www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1992/52/section/117 (accessed 14/03/13) (Web).
Royal College of Nursing (2013) Royal charter and standing orders, London: RCN. Available at: www.rcn.org.uk/aboutus/our_constitutional_documents (accessed 14/03/13) (Web).
