Scrutinise NFU draft constitution
Scrutinise NFU draft constitution
By John Burns
NFU members have been warned to look very carefully at the third and latest draft on proposed changes to its constitution and rules, which were sent out last week.
Unless they studied every detail and made sure they got exactly what they wanted, they could find all their hard-won changes removed by HQ Council the following year, warned Devon NFU chairman Ian Pettyfer.
He said the third draft looked very much like the existing rules, which gave members a vote only at their local branch, and which director general Richard Mac-donald had described as a shambles. And he understood the draft was issued to stimulate debate among members rather than as a statement of what HQ would prefer. But there was real danger that it would become the new constitution and rule by default if members did not state firmly what they wanted in its place.
The campaign to changeand modernise the NFUs rules began with a 1997 agm motion proposed by Somerset NFU chairman Jim White, seconded by Mr Pettyfer. They called for a change to – "One member, one vote" – and for those votes to be usablein electing regional delegatesto London committees including NFU Council along with free-dom to attend the agm andcast their vote on any business.
Mr White wants every member to have a vote, or a proxy vote if they cannot attend themselves. "My main thrust is to make members sovereign in both policy decision making and in elections. The final position must be for members to have the ability to kick out representatives or management if they are not delivering.
The third draft from NFU HQ ignores both those points – a point acknowledged by senior union leaders.
Mr Pettyfer is keen to see London council delegates elected directly by members. "If you use the electoral college system, as now, delegates tend to be elected on the old boy network."